Catalyst 317 Named Digital Content Agency for Andretti Autosport, Honda Off-Road Racing Team

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Catalyst 317 Named Digital Content Agency for Andretti Autosport, Honda Off-Road Racing Team

INDIANAPOLIS (March 5, 2019) – Catalyst 317, the Indianapolis-based creative agency founded by Mike Kitchel and Christopher Cross, announced today that it has reached an agreement with Andretti Autosport and the Honda Off-Road Racing team to become their digital content provider for the 2019 race seasons. Catalyst 317 was formed in 2017 and specializes in video production, communications, graphic design, freelance writing and photography.

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Indianapolis Pole Day Flashback: When IndyCars Were Flying Through the Air

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Indianapolis Pole Day Flashback: When IndyCars Were Flying Through the Air

By Mike Kitchel
Motorsports isn’t a world for people obsessed with sticking to a plan or those who draw comfort in the monotony of working nine-to-five. Part of what makes this business fascinating is the inevitable consistency of the unexpected. It’s remarkable, at times, to analyze just how far you deviate off the map and still manage to hit the mark. No matter how much you prepare, or how deeply in stone your original plan is etched, a time will arrive where its relevance becomes moot.

Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of professional sports’ true anomalies – even within the very sport that’s made it an annual staple for over a century. Here, a collection of the world’s most brash and fearless athletes – explicitly wired to exceed speeds most humans cannot comprehend – line up to dance along both sides of the razor’s edge.

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Digital Momentum: Top 10 Keys to Your Social Media Playbook

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Digital Momentum: Top 10 Keys to Your Social Media Playbook

By Mike Kitchel
Social media has exploded – and continues to expand – as one of the most essential components of any brand’s marketing plans. Never before have you been able to engage so directly with your customers and fans. For some newcomers, social media is an intimidating world and the thought of simply getting started can be overwhelming. For others, blindly jumping into this adventure gung-ho and guns blazing can backfire and make you look like a complete novice. An effective startup plan falls somewhere in between. Sure, you need to do some homework before you dive in, but you also don’t need a PhD before you’re allowed to hit ‘send’ on a social media post.

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Mason Daniel: Stock Trader by Day, Racecar Driver by Night

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Mason Daniel: Stock Trader by Day, Racecar Driver by Night

By Mike Kitchel
The life of a racecar driver is unique. Particularly for a young sprint car racer who spends a majority of his days waiting impatiently for the moment he can leave for the racetrack each night. For a typical teenager this would amount to wasting time through an effortless mix of sleeping in, playing video games and aimlessly drifting through a cell phone.

But Mason Daniel isn't your average teenage racecar driver. driver is unique. Particularly for a young sprint car racer who spends a majority of his days waiting impatiently for the moment he can leave for the racetrack each night. For a typical teenager this would amount to wasting time through an effortless mix of sleeping in, playing video games and aimlessly drifting through a cell phone.

But Mason Daniel isn't your average teenage racecar driver.

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Lionheart: Remembering Dan Wheldon

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Lionheart: Remembering Dan Wheldon

By Mike Kitchel
My youngest son is unbelievably particular. Everything must be organized perfectly or he gets irritable and restless. He’s very selective about what he wears and refuses to put on any piece of clothing he doesn’t pick out himself. His shoes, specifically, must always be immaculate. Anytime he’s in a room, he’s the center of attention with no exceptions. He’s disarmingly charming and a damn good-looking kid – which is complicated by the fact he knows it. Max Daniel is three years old.

My son’s similarities with the behavioral nuances of Dan Wheldon, while eerie, are merely a coincidence. His name is not. It serves as a constant reminder for our family to embody the distinctive qualities that made DW’s impact on us so profound. The race wins, championships and Indianapolis 500 victories made him a legend, but there is no statistic for what truly made him great. It wasn’t just the charisma, the compassion, the engaging sense of humor and the legendary practical joking. Or the relentless drive for excellence, meticulous attention-to-detail or brutal unwillingness to accept anything less than perfection.

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