This might sound silly but Josh goes in to talk to a sponsor ( as he has since the start at 8 years old) with any newspaper clippings grade cards anything he does away from the track and letters from people that believe in Josh.
To you it's a paint job to them it's how are you going to pay for what I have given you, tell them what your going to do then bust your a^% to go beyond what you promised.
I can tell you when HalfMoon came on board at the meeting Chris said he was comming on board because of what Josh did off the track as much as he did on the track, We have been in the top ten at Kokomo and Gas City since day one in a sprint car, one feature win and a ton of smaller wins yet until Chris we were unable to get anything that paid most of the bill's, Chris also said that it looked like Josh ran clean regardless of what was at stake, the fact that most of the drivers we ran for respected Josh made a huge difference along with the fact that when there was a problem ( very seldom) Josh was the one that had the helmet on Josh was the one that took the ass chewing. Sarah and I think that if your man enough or lady enough to strap in you are man/lady enough to take what you have comming and with that in mind we stay out of racing deals, I would hope no parent would stick there nose in between two drivers that had a problem, we look at Josh as a driver not some kid.
If Josh had a chewing out comming it is his, I'm not going to stand by and let you hurt my driver but if he did something stupid and deserved an ass whippin or a chewing out that comes with putting a helmet on, that also comes with finding new sponsors and keeping old ones on the car.
We told Josh at a young age the people you are sitting next to at Dairy Queen may be your next sponsor so act like they are who you are meeting on Monday.
I know I am rambling but you would be suprised who may hand you the next check or for that matter buy your dinner after a tough night then the next week tell you to keep the change, we have a guy that pays our pit passes and sends checks at the perfect time, we have people that stop at the trailer and when we are cleaning up we find a hundred, fifty, twenty or a five and do it without asking for anything in return other that making them proud on and off the track.
Before HalfMoon most of our help came from in kind deals, hair cuts ice on the weekends or like I said Taco Bell after a tough night, everyone of the people that helped with what they could meant as much as the person that wrote a check and used it as a tax write off, the deal at Spencer Racing is weather you bought a pit pass, took our picture for free or bought our dinner, you were just as important as the people that handed us big money, in short they all count and without all of them we could not do it.
Sometimes I get down because the people that run dirty or wad cars up keep getting the breaks and the big checks when I know Josh has just as much if not more talent than them, then we get a check from somebody that works forty hours a week and does it because they are friends of Spencer Racing.
I guess in short there is no copy of a sponsor letter you can use if you really love what your doing tell them, then talk them into loving the sport just as much as the dumb a%^ guy typing this way too long response to a very easy question.
They may start as a sponsor but if they end up being your friend we all win.
One last thing, we stay as long as we have too to talk to the fans after a race, sponsor see that and like the fact that you are there for the fans, tell the people that you have no problem showing up for there events and you have no problem hanging around until all the fans have had a chance to see and talk with there driver, if you think about it you work for the people that are on your car.
Good luck and stay safe.
Jerry #66j
stida.com/ HalfMoon Resturant & Brewery
www.joshspencer.com