1-have someone do a drawing how the car would look with the co. logo2- most have enclosed trailers do the same lord knows how many cars pass you on way to track. 3- when going to meet sponser dress up it will not kill you. 4- t-shirts the guys at williams grove speedway sell more t-shirts than the whole state of in. that it for now!!!Randy Smith

Tony is a natural spokesperson. If he ever gets tired of racing, he could have a full time career in commercials.

[QUOTE=Pat O'Connor Fan;14206]It is all about who you know................
Here is a press release about a new big $$ sponsorship:

Armor All Goes All In With Tony Stewart

Car Care Pioneer Aligns with Racing Champion in Season-Opening

NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Daytona and World of Outlaws Sprint Series in 2008



CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 12, 2007)

Chuck, Here's your answer.

It just doesn't work.

I get racers of all walks of life in my shop asking for help. I have helped a few, and more times than not, I never see or hear from them again. No picture, no t-shirt, no e-mails. Nothing. I don't even know if they put my name on their car. The ones that do appreciate the help, and keep me in the loop are great guys, but I have yet to have a customer come to me and say "Hey I saw your name on a race car and it reminded me to come in." I do have folks come in and tell me that they heard my ad on the radio, or saw it in the newspaper. The race car "ads" at the dirt track level just do not work. I suspect the large corporations have figured this out.

You just opened up a much larger issue. I do put some of this on the driver, some on the team, and some on the racetrack you're racing at. Do we want driver interviews to sound like NASCAR, no, absolutely not, but would it really hurt to have interviews at the track during downtimes, and a driver say "thank you to Billy Bob's Welding service for putting this car back together last week". Are you going to get a return investment, no, not right off the bat. Just because you put a decal on the side of the car doesn't mean anything for exposure. It's all about what you do with it. Look at Josh Spencer, when he ran 600's (and I'm sure he does it still), they would actually GO to the sponsors place of business, and have a fan day, or a day where the employees can come out and get some pictures taken, or maybe even sit in a car.

I don't buy it for a minute that a driver can't stay around after the races for a little while and sign some autographs. Why do you really think that the WoO does this so well? All those little autograph cards the drivers have that they hand out with sponsor logos all over them, so the fans can see them in their suits with sponsor logos all over them, looking at the cars with sponsor logos all over them, buying all those damned t-shirts with logos all over them. You have to make a complete package in order to get a big time sponsor like that, just having a decal on the car isn't enough. You have to become a salesman for that company. A long time ago in a SC&M magazine, they interviewed Travis Rilat, and he talked about Haulmark sponsoring him, he became a "salesman" for them, and would literally bring people to Haulmark dealers and show them the quality of their trailers.

Nobody is going to give you money if you give them nothing back in return. The very few amounts of sponsors I've had through go-karts and micros have all enjoyed being associated with me becasue we would go to their place of business, and have an open house, and you know what, that stuff works. It's not all about getting to the track, or staying on the track, it's more of what you're going to do for them OFF the track.

Well said Bus.

Josh still takes the car to the sponsors at the beginning of the year, he also calls each and everyone of them on Monday regardless of how we do. Once a month a news letter is sent with updates, we do as many car shows, fund raisers and public displays as possible. Josh visits the schools to talk to the kids about staying out of trouble and staying in school. (Sprints and Midgets Stay in School Program) We have got the Joe Roush award (last to leave the pit) most every weekend due to the fact Josh remembers getting to the pits as a kid only to find everybody had pulled out. It is still hard to find sponsors in the land of baseball/basketball.

Jerry #66j
www.joshspencer.com

I don't think it's always a matter of if the racers will stick around. But when you got four and five classes running tracks and won't let fans in the pits after the sprint feature. WHO WANTS TO STAY A EXTRA HOUR just till they can? Also late shows well, Look how many just leave after the headliner feature?.

Tony Stewart also promotes his sponsors, Weather he's obligated too or not is beside the point, That taking out a car (You"ll need a blah blah power sander for that one Joey) Scrape the wall (Some blah blah paint for that wall there steve)
He'll even sniff his stinky arm pit for Old Spice.

I think it all comes down to the EXPOSURE (Media) is the key, Once you've tapped it, The limits are unknown.

It also don't help much and I apreciate VS network for showing them, But they lable the sprints and LM races they show as MOTORSPORTS HOUR, Not USAC/CRA SPrint cars.

Thursday night Thunder? WHERE ARE YOU?
Chuck, who thinks NW sprints could be every bit as EXPOSED as the lidded cousins.

I've been to a track before and I can't remember where it was, that had a pen area between the pits and the stands that was separated off where the mostly younger kids would wait and the drivers would stop in and sign autographs and shake hands throughout the night. A lot of the interaction was before the race. Some racers had assistants that kept up with their boxes of hero cards or programs so the drivers could autograph them.

I'm surprised more tracks don't have setups like Lawrenceburg where vendors can set up tents. More drivers should do this. The best way to gain exposure is to meet as many people as you can, sort of like door-to-door sales people. It's a matter of numbers and exhaustive work. It's not easy.

I think it would go a long way if drivers would take the time and effort to take a picture from the winner's circle or other shot, print an 8 x 10 at the local store, sign it, date it and write or text in using a photo editor, the name of the track. I knew a former IRL car owner that had a house and office full of photos that drivers had sent him. He would go through and tell a story about each one.

Like I said Chuck, it is partially the racetracks fault, among other things. The SOD (Sprints on Dirt) in Michigan, is ALWAYS the first class to race wherever they go, and you know what, people wait around, and when I went to Hartford this year, we were there till at least 12:00am before all the races were over. Why does everybody wait till 1:00am to get into a WoO pit? I have some validity on this one I do believe.

Want to know why NW racing isn't as exposed as Winged racing? It's rather simple. Ted Johnson. Non-wing racing hasn't had someone that has taken non-wing racing under his arm and said these are the baddest assed guys on the planet, you better come to pay and watch them race. Marketing marketing marketing. THAT is why NW racing hasn't "grown" like it should have. Is the racing better, sure it is, but why doesn't it get the national exposure? Other than Ted Johnson, nobody has really put winged sprint car racing on the map.

And as far as Tony Stewart, yes, he understands, he's not stupid, don't bite the hand that feeds you. If he was sponsored by Tampax, you bet your butt there'd be a tampon stuck up there. That's what part of his job is. Most drivers forget that in order to stay racing there is more to racing and working on the car. Hustling sponsors is what really has to be done, and is what seriously bothers me. I've held meetings with people about sponsorship, and am told the same thing on certain cases, which royally pisses me off. "We've sponsored racecars in the past and wasn't presented really well". Well now what in the world do I say other than sending them monthly results, photographs, and for one I even made a DVD once a month, and you know what, the next meeting went just as well as the first.