sponsorship for a fledgling

[cullenwinter]

I am having way too much fun with all the track time I've had this year, so far, and am quickly realizing that going belly-up financially is imminent. I am looking for advice on seeking sponsorship. Warralton, I am interested in how you have gotten sponsors, especially since you also are at the HPDE 3 level.(Lisa says no problem on the brake diagnosis, glad it worked out) I have found a number of proposal letters and outlines on the web to get me started, but I'm not sure how to use some of the approaches I've found, since I am not a "real" racer yet. I have a number of small time ideas soliciting some of our local (Taos N.M.) businesses, but feel that I should be thinking bigger and contacting outfits like Cobb or ScoobyTuner. Does it take blowing a lot of smoke up their butts, or what ?? Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[Warrtalon]

I'm not sure if my model will work for you, since mine really have nothing to do with road racing, but I'll give you the low-down just in case.

I started out by getting my Evo and applying some basic principles for going fast that I learned from my 3 1G DSMs (90 Talon, 91 Eclipse, 93 Talon - all turbo-4s). Using just a few basic mods, I was able to run some very fast time at the drag strip. I did 13.1 stock, 12.8 with an SAFC, 12.6 with a cat-back, 12.2 with race gas and increased boost. Based on how well I was doing and my deep involvement in the DC-area Evo community, I convinced a local speed shop who wanted to specialize in Evos to sponsor me. They agreed, gave me some exhaust parts, installed them, then I went out and ran 12.01 with only the most basic bolt-ons and race gas.

Building on this, I then got my ECU flashed and ran a 12.26 on straight 93oct. This landed me a sponsorship with that flash tuner who then talked to Buschur Racing and Forge Motorsports about how influential I was in the online Evo community (nationally now, not just locally), and they both agreed to hop on board. At this point, people started contacting me, so I haven't been having to do big solicitations or formal sponsorship requests. Each of my sponsors after that already knew who I was and either approached me, or they were give a heads-up by other sponsors so that when I called, it was a done deal.

By now, I have 9 separate sponsors who mostly cover different categories: 1 shop for installs/dyno, 1 former shop sponsor (DC) that now provides all brake parts, a clutch company (Exedy), a leading Evo/DSM parts vendor/manufacturer (exhausts, intercoolers, piping, intakes, etc) a specialist parts manufacturer (boost controller, wastegate actduator, blow-off valve, brake duct kit), an online parts vendor (cosmetics and miscellanous mods), a cam manufacturer, and a custom tuner (ecu flash).

The 9th sponsor is the only one who sponsors me specifically for my organized racing (circuit, auto-x, and drag), which is Evotuners.net run by Ludachris on this board (new graduate to HPDE3 as of La Junta!). He tries to promote LEGAL racing, so he sponsors a driver each year by providing entry fees and some parts in exchange for big write-ups with pics and vids.

I've been completely unsuccessful when trying for a tire sponsor (wheels, too, but that's less important than tires). I got pretty close with Discount Tire (Colorado Region), but they sat around and never really took it seriously. They have no individual sponsorships - just high-level like NASCAR. I tried to convince them that sponsoring a Grassroots guy would do wonders for increasing regional sales to the average joe who doesn't watch NASCAR. They got my most formal and lengthy proposal ever complete with pics, track results, and videos, but they never pulled the trigger. My next sponsor looks like it might be one for suspenions, since I have no suspension upgrades yet and plan to do a nice setup over the winter in preparation for competing in TTA or TTU next season.

Hope that helps (if you actually read it all, haha).

[leggwork]

you have to keep trying to think of ways that sponsoring you will help them get more business.
cheers,
bruce


I am having way too much fun with all the track time I've had this year, so far, and am quickly realizing that going belly-up financially is imminent. I am looking for advice on seeking sponsorship. Warralton, I am interested in how you have gotten sponsors, especially since you also are at the HPDE 3 level.(Lisa says no problem on the brake diagnosis, glad it worked out) I have found a number of proposal letters and outlines on the web to get me started, but I'm not sure how to use some of the approaches I've found, since I am not a "real" racer yet. I have a number of small time ideas soliciting some of our local (Taos N.M.) businesses, but feel that I should be thinking bigger and contacting outfits like Cobb or ScoobyTuner. Does it take blowing a lot of smoke up their butts, or what ?? Thanks for sharing your experiences.