One of the more interesting businesses in the NTT IndyCar Series paddock has undergone a significant change since the final race of the year.
Dream Digital Services, the media company formed by two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden and former IndyCar communications boss Brian Simpson — which was responsible for the popular “Bus Bros” videos and social media content for a number of IndyCar, Indy NXT and IMSA drivers — has been dissolved.
Simpson, who ran Dream and led its creative team, has formed Stillhouse Studios, a new Indianapolis-based media services company, and has retained the same photography and videography talent that produces content for Alexander Rossi, Scott McLaughlin, Jack Harvey, James Roe, Robert Wickens, Graham Rahal, Ed Carpenter Racing, Harry Gottsacker, Meyer Shank Racing and others.
“First and foremost, I wouldn’t be in this position if Josef hadn’t taken a risk on me six years ago and talked me into leaving my job in IndyCar and coming to work for him, and ultimately the trust he put in me to start Dream and branch out and work with other drivers and teams and sponsors,” Simpson said.
“But we are moving on; we’re going to go and do things separately. I’m excited because the client list beyond Josef is going to stay the same and most importantly, my team is going to stay the same. We’re going to be a different name. Dream Digital is not going to be a thing anymore. Our new name is going to be Stillhouse, and I think we’re positioned to do some really cool stuff here in the future.”
Simpson’s rebranded team, along with Indy-area companies like Catalyst 317, CoForce, and Sunday Group Management, are among the leaders in the growing racing media services sector. Prior to their respective formations, open-wheel and sports car teams mostly relied on in-house personnel to generate digital content. With the expanded list of offerings from the aforementioned companies and others, a significant number of teams, drivers and sponsors now rely on outsourcing their photo and video work to firms like Stillhouse.
As a result, the quality of the visuals found on the social media channel for most of the open-wheel and sports car paddocks has steeply risen since teams of dedicated photo and video professionals have been tasked with attending each race and generating the content used in multiple daily posts across Instagram, X, Facebook and TikTok.
To the public, the source of the amazing images and video shorts are rarely known, but in most cases, it’s from one of the sub-contracted service providers who help to fill timelines with high art. Along with some of the great veteran photographers at LAT and the inventive shooters at Penske Entertainment, Stillhouse has a few of the best in the business in its camp with Alex Wong, Barry Cantrell and Shawn Gritzmacher. The trio are the pride of Simpson’s offerings.
“I said this earlier, but I’m very lucky and incredibly thankful for the group around me,” he said. “Alex and Barry, and Gritzmacher — who’s been a part of my team since I started in IndyCar — they’re three of my best friends. They’re wildly talented. The thing I learned long ago with those guys is you don’t need to do much managing. They know what the mission is, and I stay out of the way and let them go create and they always come back with unbelievable things.
“I’m honored that they put their trust in me to work for me and be a part of this business. They’re world class. I mean, Alex Wong does things that don’t make sense to me with a camera. And I’ve tried to pry knowledge out of him to make myself somewhat better than mediocre in terms of photography, and I just don’t understand what he does.”
While at IndyCar, and at the urging of his former bosses CJ O’Donnell and Daniel Incandela, Simpson moved the series away from its heavy reliance on print media and into digital media. All he established at the series has been the foundation of what’s followed at Dream and now with Stillhouse.
“The biggest thing that I’ve always recognized in this space and through this journey is you can’t be afraid to take risks, you can’t be afraid to push the boundaries a little bit,” he said. “But the one thing that [Incandela] always told me was, ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t do it.’
“So we have to be able to know if something was a success or a failure, and you can’t just be shooting in the dark. While we take a lot of shots, not all hit the target, right? But you at least know what does and what doesn’t hit the target.”