A social network is kind of like having tens or hundreds of thousands of people in one place at one time, all sharing information and interacting with one another about their commonalities. What better place to develop one than at a NASCAR race, where hundreds of thousands of people are gathered to share in an experience?

Last month I attended the Crown Royal 400 in Richmond, VA, as a guest of International Speedway Corporation (ISC), which owns a number of the tracks where NASCAR events are staged, including the Richmond International Raceway. I was there to observe and participate in the development of ISC's RacingOne.com community page, where the company is building an online community of race fans who attend these weekly extravaganzas.

At Racing One, users are invited to create blogs, post forum messages, upload pictures, and create "race day experiences," where they can share their stories and memories from a race at the track. (My Richmond experience can be found here). The community is built by Neighborhood America, which tailors social networking software to the look and feel of an existing site so that the community fits the style of its sponsor, in this case ISC. The Racing One community tab launched in conjunction with? this year's Daytona 500 in February, with the expectation that by the time next year's opening race rolls around every track's page will be filled with content.

The benefit to ISC comes from how it can use what it learns on Racing One to boost revenues on the company's RaceTickets.com site, which sells travel packages to every NASCAR race. The social network gives the company a better understanding of who is in attendance, as well as their contact information. NASCAR fans are extremely loyal, a trait ISC knows well. You don't have to look further than a few feet at any event to spot a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. This year he changed his sponsorship from the red #8 Budweiser car to a green #88 Mountain Dew/Monster Energy Drink car. Less than six months after the change, I didn't spot a single red Budweiser shirt at the race, but saw a sea of green merchandise everywhere. I still see people wearing Brooklyn Dodgers uniforms at Mets games, but even the #8 tattoos have an extra "8" added to them now at NASCAR races.

Over the summer ISC also plans to add a mobile component to the campaign, asking fans on race day to respond to a contest via SMS that will direct them to the RacingOne site and further populate the social network. I was skeptical that a mobile campaign would be effective at such a large event, which can be spread over hundreds of acres, until I saw the planes flying overhead with banners advertising other mobile contests and watched hundreds of people take out their cell phones.

Social media may be new and confusing to some companies, but its business goals—like driving loyalty, building awareness, and creating stronger branding—are very familiar. It's not about what you've got to lose, it's about what you've got to learn.