Racing Sponsors - Searching For Saturday Night Money

You're driving down an interstate highway when a truck pulling an enclosed trailer passes your vehicle. It's the type of trailer you might see at short tracks all across the country, but this one is nondescript, with nothing on the truck or trailer to indicate what's inside.

"You wonder if there's a race car in there or equipment for a landscaper," says Ernie Saxton, owner of a motorsports marketing and communications firm based in Pennsylvania.

What Saxton sees on the side of that trailer is lost opportunity. A trailer used to pull a race car to the track each week is a prime location to gain exposure for a race team's sponsor. Saxton maintains that having the name and logo of a sponsor on the side of a team's hauler will generate more interest than having them on the side of the race car itself.

Exposure, of course, is the driving force behind sponsorship. Joe Businessman sponsors a race team primarily because he expects his business to gain attention-and ultimately customers-by aligning with that team. And whenever a racer is searching for a sponsor, he or she must realize that exposure lies at the heart of all sponsorship decisions. Everything included in a sponsorship proposal must recognize and respect that precept.

Still, the search for a sponsor can be a racer's biggest challenge. Like the adjustments made on a chassis or the steps taken to tune an engine for more horsepower, though, the search for a sponsor has basic rules to live by.

Knowing where to look is one of the most basic parts of securing sponsorship, and it's an area where racers sometimes put themselves at a disadvantage. A racer who lives 50 miles from the track where he competes each week should focus his search in the area around the track, not around his home. Businesses within a 25-mile radius around the track are good places to begin your search. Most small to medium-sized towns have a good mix of businesses that should fall within your guidelines.

Saxton says local banks are in a very competitive business climate and many of them are eager to get involved in promotions and marketing. "Car dealers who are used to spending money on advertising are also good target areas for sponsorship," says Saxton.

Also, many mom-and-pop operations grow into regional chains. This is especially true of tire stores, grocery stores, convenience stores, and so on, and all are excellent prospects for sponsorship.

Don't overlook that local McDonald's or Burger King, however. Saxton says many people wrongly assume that national or international companies aren't potential sponsors for Saturday night racers. "The large chains have franchised dealer associations throughout the different areas," says Saxton. "Where I live, in the Philadelphia area, there might be 30, 40, or 50 McDonald's that belong to a franchise dealers' association and would be interested in looking at something like that on a local or regional level. Don't be afraid of going after somebody just because they're a major corporate name."

One way to get to know local business owners and managers is by joining a local charity or a civic or business organization. The networking opportunities found in organizations of this type can be extremely valuable in a search for sponsorship, and the positive PR benefits gained from such an alignment are priceless.

In today's multimedia world, a racer has numerous ways to market his team. Maintaining a Web site, for example, can offer advantages for a local racer out to catch the eye of a sponsor-if the site is done in a professional manner. Misspelled words, images of poor quality, or an overall amateurish design can do more harm than good, so proceed with caution. If you have someone offering to establish and maintain a site for your team, make sure you view examples of his or her work, and don't hesitate to seek the opinion of others.

The need to maintain a professional image extends to all areas of a racer's public and private life. Never walk into the business office of a potential sponsor while wearing a greasy shirt and blue jeans with holes the size of lug nuts. Remember, you could be representing the business you are seeking for sponsorship, and it's a safe bet the owner wouldn't want a slob representing his company. The same goes for personal appearances at sponsor functions and at special events hosted by the track.