--MAstermind--

how do people get sponsorships for autoX and things of that sort how do you explain your racing a car around a cone track for the shortest possible time...and that you want money/parts to support and in return your car becomes a nifty speedy bill board...how does it work..id like to know

HOW YOU got your sponsor..and how do soo many people get sponsors like HKS and the like

its just sumthing i havent asked yet so i thought you race guys can inlighten me.....

christaylor

The first step is proper grammer, punctuation, and spelling. I don't think you can get sponsored in drifting, even, without it.

The second thing, is that a lot of those "sponsorships" are what are called contingency. Mazda, Dodge, Honda, and I believe Toyota all have badass contingency programs. I'm only familiar with Mazda's, but by signing up and displaying Mazda stickers on the car you can get parts at wholesale price. A lot of people say, "that's no big deal" and they eventually quit racing because the cost of spark plugs, oil filters, and other occasional wear items get to them. With Mazda, you call up Mazdaspeed and they give you parts at wholesale price... meaning you pay what the dealer pays before they mark it up 2 or 3x.

The next most popular is tires. Toyo, Kumho, Hoosier, et al. have very good contingency programs, and by finishing on the podium at every race you can pretty much run on free tires for a season (at least, you can in road racing... I would assume you could in cone-dodging, too).

For the actual sponsorships, you need good public relations skills. Some are as easy as walking in and offering to display logo, contact info, etc., in exchange for goods and services. Some require a lot of legwork sending out packets and information, meetings, etc. Generally you can't get huge deals by walking in, but I've gotten graphics, tire mounting, and other "little" stuff for free that way.

Carl Byck

Like chris said, Sponsors are looking for something that will get there stuff noticed. That means you will have to spend alot before you get sponsored a little, and you will need to spend a tremendous amount to get signifigant sponsorships. In additin you neeed to be well spoken, have good business sense, a clean car, some talent(occasionally optional ), and be different. There are quite a few"motorsports sponsorships that allow you to buy parts at roughly half retail, these can be had by joining certain organizations, and asking the right people within a given company. You need to understand that it is a business deal, and the sponsor is in control. if you can help them to sell "X" dollars worth of product, they will give you (.01)X" as a sponsorsip on a good day. All the little stuff adds up, you will get what you give back in spades if you help others. Good luck, Carl

Rm4TWO

Ditto on what Carl and Chris said. But also start with companies where you have an inside contact (preferably someone with a little clout :-)) like your own place of business. Hit up your boss or owner and see if they would be interested. Most are willing to give you a few hundred bucks more or less just to help you out. I work for a small software development company, they were my first sponsors. Have your girlfriend/wife/significant other check with their boss. My wife works for a Chiropractor; he gave me a few hundred bucks, enough to pay for the exhaust or a set of tires. Then check with your friends, maybe you have one that’s a mechanic or works at a tire place. Places like this may be willing to exchange services or product for advertising. And lastly, before you start going door to door, check with shops that have done or are doing work on your car. Chances are you’ve already built a rapport with someone there and again they may be willing to exchange services. JPS Motorsports, who just installed my tri-link and panhard, gave me a HUGE discount on labor. All you have to do is ask; the worst that can happen is they can say no. Good luck!!

Speed Raycer

Yep, keep in mind that it's not about them helping you, it's about you helping them. I get asked to sponsor a lot of people with cages. A lot of times it's the first thing people ask me.... "No thanks" is my usual response.

If someone comes to me with a proven performance ability and I know they are going to be noticed/watched, I'm more apt to help them out, especially when it's not the first thing they ask me

Speed Raycer

Which reminds me... if you need your Oil Cooler Ultrasonically Cleaned

SR Racing
http://www.sracing.com/shop/ultrasonic.htm

Great prices and quick turnaround

NasaPro7

To understand sponsorships, how to acquire them, keep them, and grow them; first we need to understand their purpose.

Racing and Motorsports (autocrossing, drifting, car shows, drag racing, etc) is a marketing tool for the sponsor. Unless they are a person you know (friend/family), the sponsor likely doesn't care that they will be helping you.

(On second thought, that's not totally true. The sponsor will care; it is low on the priority list, compared to what *you* can achieve *for them*.)

Going into a sponsorship hunt, step one is to figure out what you can do for the company you are pitching yourself towards. What added benefit (for their dollar spent) are you versus some other marketing channel? You are not just competing for marketing dollars against other racers, but against magazine advertisements, commercials, newspaper print ads, track sponsorships, etc. How are you going to add revenue to their company (the most surefire way to attain a sponsorship), or enhance their image (more difficult to quantify) more than the other options?

Just some food for thought, from a guy "sponsored" by Mazda (via the Mazdaspeed contingency program Chris mentioned earlier), Toyo (via the tire contingency for Pro7), MasterCard and Discover (via my own sorry ***).

Marcus

jayk

Anybody know the legality of "sponsoring" your own motorsports activity with funds from a company that you own? I'm no tax wizard, but it seems to me the IRS would frown on it... Then again, seems like putting your company name on your car for advertising makes it kind of a company car even though the activity isn't critical to business.

Icemastr

iTrader: (2)

Paying for motorsports when you own your company can certainly be written off as an advertising expense. Nothing wrong there that I know of.

Most people in autocross that are "sponsored" are either sponsored by a company that they own, put their friend's company on their car with very little in return or nothing in return, or just do it for no return. There isn't really any audience in autocrossing except for your other racers, and the cars aren't going to be featured in any magazines except maybe grassroots motorsports. Your best bet is to get a shop to give you parts for a good discount etc. Sponsorships in autocrossing can bring in business, I have purchased goods and services from 3 places I never would have if I hadn't seen them on cars that were autocrossing and heard about their good reputation from fellow autocrossers.

The main place money comes from in autocrossing is contingency money and tires, which is only available at national events.

tims

The main thing to get seperated is contingency and sponsorship. Contingency deals basicly give racers parts, services, or discounts in exchange for exposure on the car, team clothing, and/or transporter. There really is no money exchanged but it can help racers and teams off set some costs associated with racing. This is by far the most common situation in grassroots type racing(autox, regional SCCA, etc). True sponsorship of a race team is a pure business deal. It usually requires the team to be run as a business, as people or companies are going to give Team XYZ money so Team XYZ will need to be able to operate as a business and have bank accounts and such in the team name. the sponsorship deal is basicly the team selling advertising space. This can be calculated using TV ratings, magazine ad rates and circulation numbers, and by spectator attendance numbers. If you are running Speed World Challenge you can calculate what the advertising space on your car is worth. Then you need to go out and sell this space. If you have your own business you can buy the advertising space and likely write off the expense. This is also very common in the lower pro racing ranks. This requires a company that has significant tax liabilities to make it a total write off. It also requires all business partners to okay the expenditures. And of course to maintain all the contingency and sponsorship deals it will require the team to work very hard and likely sacrifice some free time. So this is why I tell racers to support companies that support the grassroot racers. In autox and small race events it is difficult to find a true sponsor that pays for your racing. It does happen but they don't come by everyday and are difficult to keep. Best way to attract sponsors is to be visible. do anything to get into magazines and newspapers, offer to write articles and be sure to feature yourself and/or team. good luck and keep searching.

--MAstermind--

thanks for everyones input for the most part its what i figured the whole business ordeal DID place everything else in perspective and (BTW sorry i dont bother proof reading my text on a forum...i didnt know it was that crucial next-time ill hand it to my english professor before i ask about some "JDMtyte" bodykits and etc....y cant people just take it easy...and if u were joking then sorry.
(ok now that im vented)

im now wondering whats available in TX in terms of road racing goes?
i know we have auto-X(here in San antonio and i know austin does...)
our drift scene is totally dead now...at least it seems so..
i really dont think we have any road courses taht dont go in anything other than the oval fashon....(snore!)
so if anyone can shed some light on this that would be wonderful!

again thanx for all the wonderful intel you guys have givin me..

christaylor

There's quite a lot in Texas. Unfortunately, you have to be willing to travel. Austin is a pretty poor "home base" and San Antonio is worse. There used to be Cabaniss down in Corpus Christi, but we haven't been able to run there for a few years and nobody's got any current information on it.

Tracks that SCCA runs on are:

Texas World Speedway in Bryan/College Station. Add a .com to see their site. 2 mile oval with the best oval road course in the country, IMHO. Two main configurations are the 1.8 and 2.9 tracks (you can see maps at the site). The 2.9 is a very fun track... plenty of high speed as well as low speed stuff.

Texas Motor Speedway north of FW. The absolute worst track in the country, but the paddocks are paved and there are fresh urinal cakes in the *******. Apparently I'm the only guy that doesn't give a **** about paddock pavement or urinal cakes, because I always get some snide remarks when I say TMS sucks.

No Problem Raceway in Bella Rose, LA. Yes, Louisiana. The saving grace is that New Orleans is within an hours' drive (I think) so you can park the trailer and go party in NO while you're there.

NASA runs TWS and NPR, in addition to:
Motorsports Ranch outside of Fort Worth. 1.7 mile road course, pretty technical with not much straightaway (unless you're in an FB or Miata).

Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Hallett, Oklahoma. 1.9 (I think) mile track, really fun, really slick no matter how dry it is.


I just got a letter in the mail from SCCA thanking me for my 15 years of membership (which equates to 75% of my lifespan) so if you've got any questions feel free to ask.

--MAstermind--

awwsome how old are you and i got TONS more questions....i got an 88 T2 FC i really really really do want to road race...its been a passion since a little kid...all the AUTO-X exposure i get just makes me want a road course...watching speed channel..(waiting to sift through the WAY TO MANY nascar shows ) to catch an awwsome touring car or the LeMans....i wanna really get into road racing..if u can advise me on where i should start...plz let me know! : ) whats a base....specific meets i should make sure i get to..etc etc...thanx alot man!

CnnmnSchnpps

Nah. Just say DORIFUTOOOOO!!!!!1111

No Constructive Input Whatsoever (TM)

christaylor

Unfortunately a TII doesn't have a lot of place to run. The SCCA pretty much disallows turbo's except on the new stuff like STi's and whatnot. NASA lets you run whatever you want, but there are so few cars running here in Texas in the classes you'd be able to fit in. Of course, since nobody runs, nobody builds cars, but that's just the way it goes I guess.

Assuming you'll be racing on a budget, you should look into acquiring another car alltogether. If you want to stay sedan you've got SpecRX7 (stock 81-85 RX7's, like my avatar), ITA with "modified" 79-85 RX7s or ITS with a N/A 86-91 (or whatever the FC's go to). I mention RX7's first because they require you to set your ***** on the steering wheel and drive like a man. If you want to drive a car that requires a dainty finesse, there's Spec Miata. Of course, with as much money as you'd need to spend to stay at the front, you might as well look at sports racers or formula cars, which brings us to our next paragraph:

Spec Racer Ford (SRF) is an ancient sports racer with a Ford Escort motor. Spec class, close competition, and pretty cheap. I think you can buy a car with a decent amount of spares for about $20k. Engines are sealed and have to be bought from SCCA, Enterprises. Or, you can go formula racing in the Club Formula Mazda. Same idea as the Pro FM's you've probably seen on SpeedTV, but a fraction of the cost. Sealed 13B with Weber carburater and racing slicks. It's the only class I've mentioned so far that doesn't run on DOT-R tires. With the advent of the Pro series, Club cars are going for $20-30k. I think a good car with enough spares to run for a year can be had for $25k. Weekend costs are pretty low since you run pump gas, but the guys around here drive like madmen so you really need to budget a corner's worth of suspension per weekend. Some of the guys go through 3 or 4 corners every weekend.

As far as my opinion on what class to run in, all you have to do is look at my avatar. If for some reason Spec7 went away, I'd run either ITA or ITS. No matter what I was running, though, I'd run something with Mazda power or something from the Mazda factory. There really is no better manufacturer support. There may be better contingency, but there's definitely no better support.

If you want to come check out what some of your options are in the flesh, I've got several Spec7's and an ITA car in my shop. The Spec Miata I occasionally work on should be back Monday, it's going to a DE at TWS this weekend.


Since you're in San Antonio, your SCCA region options are Alamo Region, which I think has about 15 members or Lone Star here in Austin which has about 300. Lone Star is fairly active, though not as much as Texas (D/FW) or Houston (obvious). They both have several thousand members, so that's not much of a surprise. This past winter we had a "gimmick rally" that went from downtown to my shop to the Rosanky car museum. When there was an indoor kart track we did at least one enduro a year (those were, without a doubt, the highest attended region functions in the history of the region).

--MAstermind--

WOW ....i guess ill move to D/FW area...i mean its weak...15!!!! people!!!! MY GOD! i know our auto x events are small in comparison but GOLLY! 300 man....this isnt the right city at all!? all the rice...all the wrong places....i wonder if we can rally support.of somesort...

ok so id be interested the in the formula mazda at one point....that would be pretty neat....in the case of getting one its about getting sponsors, budgeting for a season and getting to the races? or deep pockets....

regardless i want to racing in one way or another and i totally want get involved soo bad...i KNOW its in me..and ima make it happen and i thank you all for your advice....

DGnizer

here's a ;ink to an agent. http://www.getsponsored.net/ pretty much you just have to go to at lease 3 car shows a year in return for their sponsor ship and you have to wear their stickers. also you don't get parts for free all the time. i think most of the time like other poeple mentioned already you pay the wholesale price. I got sponsored up to $12k but I end up not going through it. BTW read carefully there's a $75 agent fee.

kris1212

Dude, no offense but I'm sitting here lmao because you spelled gramm*a*r wrong...I'm sorry I just had to tell you.

christaylor

I hadn't even noticed!

--MAstermind--

LOL over there telling me about my own spellling...but yea i been talking to some people in the D/FW area on the phone(i am an earthlink techsupport agent currently ready to be outsourced to india/makoti phillipines.....) but yea they all say how the support is really nice up there....i gotta go check out an MR2 up there in dallas this weekend...so i hopefully will see some awwsome stuff!


so i cannot place my T2 in a certain catagory?! it has to be an NA?! why is taht?

christaylor

Just the way the SCCA works. You could fit in one of the catch all classes (Super Production or ITE... around here it would be SP), and people that run the catch-alls would either be slower than you or faster than you. Lately the only guy that shows up regularly is a Supra guy, but I think he just runs enough races a year to keep his license.

NASA would have a class that you could more competitively fit in, but nobody runs it and it would be the same deal as SCCA (faster/slower). Car counts everywhere are down; used to be you could find somebody to run with, but everybody's running in a spec class these days, and as far as laptimes go they're pretty slow.

Not to keep you from building the car, I think it would be badass, but it sucks to spend a lot of money and time to build a car that you just make laps and dodge other class cars in.

NasaPro7

And you are one to talk?!?!?!
Mr. Spec 7 owner ....
(someone had to say it!)
Marcus

Carl Byck

Actually NASA Time trial is pretty cool, and SU is running with some of the faster production cars, so 30 car(easily) fields are the norm in Norcal region NASA. I just started testing my car this weekend at infineon, and the time trial FTD was a 1:50xx on the 2.52 mile course(audi S4, ~400hp). That is only a couple seconds off the fastest ITE cars. Marcus were you at infineon? My car was on and off every couple laps while I worked on sorting it...

NasaPro7

I was out on Sunday, helping one of my GTI cup friends; I saw your car once on track near mid day Sunday, and cruising aroud the paddock when I was talking to PaulC, but I never could find you in the pits. Where were you?
The car looks awesome! Waaaaaaaaaaay too pretty to race.

Marcus

Carl Byck

Thanks for the compliment. I was pitted in the far end of the paddock sort of buried, so hard to find for sure. i had a minor mechanical every couple laps(first time on the track), so it was a little frustrating. I also had a brand new clutch, and as such, it would not hold any real power, i was relegated to 1st-3rd gear almost all day, but even with that I was pretty consistent @1:58XX. That was at ~300rwhp(as opposed to 500), and limited to ~80-90mph due to the slipping clutch. Car behaved beautifully, I am hoping to get it alot better sorted for the Sept. event. Maybe Pau l(silkworm) will post some pics of me there. Later, Carl