Gatorade To Debut "Origins 4"

The extremely popular and effective Gatorade "Origins" spots will continue to evolve on Sunday, as the fourth iteration will debut during the broadcast of the Daytona 500 on NBC. The new 60-second spot tells the story of NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth who, according to the commercial, had a "dehydration-related crash" at Charlotte in 1999. The spot includes Kenseth, broadcaster Buddy Baker -- who was announcing that particular race, Dr. Bob Murray of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute and the voice of all the "Origins" spots, broadcaster Keith Jackson. Gatorade is using the spot to tout its real world use and specifically how its Gatorade In-Car Drinking System (G.I.D.S.) has helped drivers who have to endure long races and never have their hands completely free to sip a drink. Here's Kenseth: "During a race, my car is like an oven with temperatures exceeding 130 degrees. After my experience at Charlotte, I knew I needed to solve my problems with dehydration by making big changes to my in-race drinking strategy."

Kenseth credits his working with Gatorade to solve this problem as one of the factors that led to his 2003 Nextel Cup championship. The commercial is a very good spot. I just have one problem slight problem with it. Kenseth says that in the commercial, he hit the wall at 200 miles per hour and then forgot what happened next. But seven years later, he could recall that the fact that at the UAW-GM Quality 500 on Oct. 11, 1999, he was dehydrated? I'm not saying it wasn't possible. Although he crashed, he went for 231 laps that night and had participated in the Busch race the day before. With the other three "Origins" spots, there was factual evidence that these things happened. We know that Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd said that Gatorade gave the Florida kids an advantage because it was in the paper. And we know that the Kansas City Chiefs used Gatorade because it was in the newspapers and we know that Ironman Chris Legh was dehydrated as a result of what happened to his body. But, aside from Kenseth saying this happened, is there any other evidence? I scrolled through Lexis-Nexis and could not find a single refence from this race that shows that his crash that day was because of dehydration. Now, to be fair, Kenseth was a NASCAR newbie at the time and the fact that he had a bad race and crashed wouldn't exactly make him newspaper fodder to begin with. But I'm just a little surprised that Gatorade would rest the whole "Origins" franchise on trusting Kenseth. Am I wrong here? Tell me what you think.

Comments

[David Evertsen]

Matt could have been suffering from some sort of dehydration. How will we know? Not sure. I have heard of drivers being relieved do to exhaustion in my years of watching NASCAR on TV. That race being in 1999 was probably on TNT or TBS and they where more like FOX now, trying to make a story. Instead of telling what was really going on in the race. Several things could have happened. Matt being a Busch Regular in 1999 ran only 5 cup races. The difference between 300 miles and 500 miles is a big deal especially mentally. Take in effect that he was not used to the extra length of the race. Not into fitness yet and working out. He had run 300 miles the day before and hadn't recovered from the heat of that race and was not prepared for the race the next day, physically or mentally. He could have popped the wall early in the race causing an exhaust leak into the cab the car heating things up even more or just plain was not used to that much work in the heat over the weekend. Busch series races vs. Cup races length is alot, if you have not run that much before but, mentally it is extremely tough.
In the late 90's NASCAR teams (all series) where just starting the whole physical fitness thing. It is a sauna for 300 miles of 500 miles being the October Charlotte race. He would have gone to the Infield Care center and been told several things not released to the media. One of which he was flat worn out like you in your Marathon when you had problems and he had to find a better hydration strategy. It is not too much of a stretch if you look at it like that. Also the teams in the late 90's where swapping between cool suits and just cool air to the helmet which causes problems. They where also trying to solve Carbon-Monoxide entry into the cab. Sorry for the rambling let me know if I did not connect all the dots...

[Eric Helwig]

I really like the new Gatorade rain, I think that the flavor although a little less, is a nice breath of fresh air. Or as some could say a fresh drop of rain? I think that the Lime is the best flavor, but all are good. It seems to be something that fellow college students like myself, enjoy. Not the full taste of Gatorade, but not just yucky plain Klarbrun bottled water. A good choice for someone who wants to try something new. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

[WENDY]

I like the gatorade rain it's not as thick I like the taste of all the flavors. I would like to see it more around.

[Darren]

Wendy,
It seems like you are in the minority of readers here. Most people thought it was good, but nothing remarkable. We will see if it is successful by watching if Gatorade rolls out more Rain flavors. I give them until next summer to do that.

[Kenseth Fan]

Matt isn't exactly one to lie, but who cares anyway? It's a commercial, and he's making his sponsor happy. You'd do the same thing.