Need help on how to go about finding sponsers

[GreaseMonky]

I need some advice from some people that have raced and had sponsers, I need to pick up some sponsers right now I have none, for my dirt track racing I have 2 cars, a 74 610, and a 70 510,

 

I placed real wheel for this winter season, which was my rookie season, I started this season with only 1 previous race under my belt, and ended the season 2nd in points, and took rookie of the year, running against some pretty hard core racers, that have been racing for many years, and had alot of sponsers them selfs, any help would be apreaciated, thanks in advance

[flatcat19]

Win some races?

Race more?

[Npdavies.]

Did a quick search and came up with this.

 

Hopefully it helps a little.

[GreaseMonky]

Win some races?

Race more?

 

 

I am wining races, but I think I could win more if i wasnt on such a low budget, thats where sponsers come in play, gotta come up with money for better parts, and to build an engine

[flatcat19]

Bars and "book stores."

[jalen]

write a sponsor ship letter and send them to venues especially local.

[Skib]

Ill sponsor you if you you put I <3 Skib really big down the side of the car :rofl:

[Dirttrack510]

I race, but have very little in the way of sponsors myself. Like previously stated, local bars and restaurants are popular for a little money, hit up the local wrecking yards for sponsorship in exchange for free parts, and since you race Datsuns, try some local NISSAN dealers. Maybe they can give you store credit, so you can order parts from NISMO. It also never hurts to have a nice letter and a little pamphlet made up that shows your car, how you did in points last season, and nice action photos of your car racing. It's very hard to get sponsors right now though, the economy sucks and a lot of racers have ripped off people by only racing a few weeks and the sponsors feel like they got very little for the money they spent on advertizing. Make it very clear that your car will be on the track advertizing for them every week, you might also mention that since you have two cars, if one is wrecked or broke down, there is always a back up car ready to take the other cars place on the track.

 

good luck ;)

[flatcat19]

Ill sponsor you if you you put I <3 Skib really big down the side of the car :rofl:

 

I'll do it if ya send me that 520 dash top.

 

:rolleyes:

[GreaseMonky]

Ill sponsor you if you you put I <3 Skib really big down the side of the car :rofl:

 

 

Here you go skib,

 

[GreaseMonky]

I race, but have very little in the way of sponsors myself. Like previously stated, local bars and restaurants are popular for a little money, hit up the local wrecking yards for sponsorship in exchange for free parts, and since you race Datsuns, try some local NISSAN dealers. Maybe they can give you store credit, so you can order parts from NISMO. It also never hurts to have a nice letter and a little pamphlet made up that shows your car, how you did in points last season, and nice action photos of your car racing. It's very hard to get sponsors right now though, the economy sucks and a lot of racers have ripped off people by only racing a few weeks and the sponsors feel like they got very little for the money they spent on advertizing. Make it very clear that your car will be on the track advertizing for them every week, you might also mention that since you have two cars, if one is wrecked or broke down, there is always a back up car ready to take the other cars place on the track.

 

good luck ;)

 

 

Thanks Ill give some of that a try

[Skib]

Here you go skib,

 

 

 

Ill sponsor that shit :rofl: get someone to hook you up with it in vinyl :P

[dennis]

Why dont you start a thread where you are requesting money from members? The stipulations can be if you raise x amount of dollars the ratsun sticker will be a certain size? The size of the sticker increases dependent on the predetermined dollar mark. I am sure if you can get quite a few members to pony up some money, and even if it is a dollar here and there it will add up really quick.

[GreaseMonky]

Why dont you start a thread where you are requesting money from members? The stipulations can be if you raise x amount of dollars the ratsun sticker will be a certain size? The size of the sticker increases dependent on the predetermined dollar mark. I am sure if you can get quite a few members to pony up some money, and even if it is a dollar here and there it will add up really quick.

 

 

 

Thats an idea, i never thought of doing that, I guess it would be a good way to get some more exposure for the site

[bananahamuck]

Always make sure you have your presentation down on paper , and ALL the spelling and punctuation is correct..Other wise it makes you look like a hayseed nutsack,, make yourself appear as a person that can make good on your promises and not the guy begging for money.

...make a easily read and understood contract, if it looks to lawyer-ee people shy away

 

You want money ...you better be ready for alot of rejection..

 

I used to haul my car to the sponsors, even for first meeting / trying to figure out owner .. that way i didn`t need to explain over and over again only for them to back out ..because car was all dented up....But that was when gas was $1.50 gallon

 

 

I gave up on sponsorship because it was so hard to do ..Kinda what tella marketers must go through every day

[Pumpkn210]

Why dont you start a thread where you are requesting money from members? The stipulations can be if you raise x amount of dollars the ratsun sticker will be a certain size? The size of the sticker increases dependent on the predetermined dollar mark. I am sure if you can get quite a few members to pony up some money, and even if it is a dollar here and there it will add up really quick.

 

^^^This^^^

 

 

Also let us know when and where your races are. I know I will be more than happy to serve as pit crew and local support!

[bananahamuck]

^^^This^^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Ratsun.....

 

 

Reminds me of the in living color skit where the guy goes into restaurant with a few cents...." hey, how much for a pickle slice and to lick a bun ?? "

[Figbuck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suAvWWTdE4U

 

Monk I like you man. You seem to have some heart even if you are dumb as a bag of rocks. Hey, we all been so ignorant about something that we didn't even know to know. We all been there... well I sure have.

 

I read a book that was popular along time ago called Gorilla Marketing. That's got to be you. Marketing budgets are usually figured at a few percent of annual revenues... since you don't have any revenue... you have to be a whore. You must create magic... something out of nothing.

 

Brand yourself, market your brand, hype your shit, sell your shit... you got to beat ten thousand people over the head with your message to get even one other broke fuck to notice you... and only because he has a bag of rocks in his head too... and if you looked next to you on the grid... there he is. Hahahahahaah

 

No matter how low rent a race team you run, you still have to be professional, act professionally and more importantly look professional. It's all in the perception, the dream, the carrot, the hook... how to make it look like the grass is greener on the other side and you are there.

 

The first exercise is to get a resume going. You will have to constantly update it, so the sooner you get started the more practice you will have at whipping one up. You already got a name for your team right!??? Logo, letter head, phone, Fax, mailing address?

 

Work on writing down a pitch line so when you are standing in front of somebody that actually has something to offer, you don't waste their time. If they got a bucks then they are probably busy keeping track of them.

 

Your only reason for getting face time is to tell them what you can do for them. NOT WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR YOU! Money talks and bullshit walks, That iz why they is wearing wool slacks to sit comfortably at the conference table and you have sneakers on. Get some nice shoes.

 

You need a web domain name, hopefully that is integrated into your race team name, corporate image, brand identity. Your currently polished resume is on it's own page as well short personal bio... (likes long walks on the beach, Golf, '60s porn and is an active member of Ratsun).

 

Start a blog. It only costs $17 to register a domain name for a year. Your blog will be about your quest for speed, your epic struggle each week to surmount intimidating obstacles against all odds, like an roving outlaw, slaying the local giants. More importantly it will be a record of all the sponsors you have approached and the outcome. Who has helped you and how... and how cool they are... and how much you appreciate them.

 

Remember? All sponsors care about is what you can do for them.

 

Who are the low rent, start up marketing companies in your town? There has to be some twenty-something frat boys... or better girls... that have a little ad agency and are handling a few hundred grand of local print and broadcast media work for small businesses. Root these guys out, get them interested in hanging out at the races with you. Tell them you will plaster their companies name on your doors for some help in hooking up with their clients interested in cheap exposure.

 

Got to all the sign shops, places that vinyl wrap busses and shit. Tell them you will plaster their vinyl work on your car. Remember you are fucking cheap assed prostitute. Ass, gas, or grass nobody rides for free.

 

All that should be on your business card is your domain name/Race team name/corporate identity... as in GoMonkey.Com... an maybe a phone number really small. When you walk in to make the pitch, hand the card and say, look at my photo gallery to see how your Vinyl work will show on track. Trade nice business cards for fender space.

 

Even if you can get a business to pay to have some vinyl cut for a race or two, and you don't get a dime out of it... make sure the photos are posted on the web site. Photos of the sponsors sitting in your race car or hanging out in your spacious hospitality tent in the paddock. Hahahah. Nobody knows that they aren't giving you money... you look like you have sponsorship. You look half-assed real at that point.

 

Cut a deal with a local tire dealer or if they don't talk to you, hit up Jose's Quality Used Tires $30 mounted and balanced. Tell him you will run stickers for him, get your sticker sponsor to make Jose's stickers for a free flat fix card. Tell Jose you will run his stickers for the season, the first two races free... then he needs to give you tire support toward the end of the season when you really need it. You gotta be creative... you know hustle?

 

Either it's a really expensive hobby or it's being in the racin' bidness.

 

Good luck at this man. One of my favorite quotes is from the 'Old Man' Soichiro Honda: "Success is 99% instructive failure."

 

My other favorite quote is from Roger Penske; "I'd rather be lucky than good."

[banginboots]

^^^This^^^

 

 

Also let us know when and where your races are. I know I will be more than happy to serve as pit crew and local support!

 

I SEEN YUR U TUBE u gonna be flat trakkin the pumpkin 4 sho

[Guest 510kamikazifreak]

invest in some good knee pads

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe King :lol:

[Hardwyre]

Figbuck nailed it. +1

[GreaseMonky]

Thanks guys, I have been working on a few of those ideas already but some of that is stuff I never thought of, and as far as being rejected, I have been to about 30 places just this week, and have been rejected by all

[Figbuck]

Only thirty?

 

 

When I started my first contracting business, I had a client who needed structural engineering work on a project. I was young and green, didn't know what I didn't know. I looked in the phone book and called the closest company that had a license. When I went to bring my drawings, the office was pretty humble and not really impressive. I met a older gentleman in his mid '70s named Cecil Wells who was the principal. His office had big renderings of skyscrapers and malls he had done. Over the next ten years I would spend a lot of time in there getting schooled about building for earthquakes and understanding the trade off between cost vs. benefit.

 

I did a lot of what is called 'non-distructive testing' for Wells. A building owner has a water intrusion problem or an unstable soil condition, or failure of a structural component or system. The engineers would direct me to cut holes in floors. roofs, walls whatever, to expose connection. or bearing points... or take fuck-ed up shit all apart so they could understand the problem, propose a fix and maybe do a cost projection for the owners. Then I would button it all back up like it never happened, so if the project never got done for what ever reason it was functional.

 

Many times, I was so familiar with the project that I got the repair work and tore up stuff I just fixed. I put my guys to work, made really good money, got paid on time and there was as much of this stuff as I wanted to take. Still, I was working for other clients so all my eggs were not in one basket. I was running ragged, office work, field work, admistrative contractor crap and selling new work.

 

One day I went to the old guys office to discuss a small job that upon closer inspection was going to be a half million bucks right at the top of my bonding and insurance capacity. Did I want the job, could I do the job and all the other stuff I had going already? I honestly didn't know what to do. Jobs like that could either launch me or kill me.

 

I said to the old man. "I have been working with you for five years. The first three were really rough and I was so in over my head on some of these projects that I was scared shitless every morning going to work." He said, but you pulled them off for me. I ask, "So you think I can pull this one off?"

 

Cecil points to a big color architectural rendering framed on one wall of the office. It was a pair of buildings that look like a stepped pyramid on two sides and square on the other two sides, so that when they are viewed as book ends, the design makes sense. I watched these buildings spring to life in Foster City. Very cool. Cecil said, I designed these buildings to be red-iron framed in thirteen days and weathered in, in a month. Three pairs have been built in all... a pair in Dallas, Houston and over here in Foster City on the most unstable soil in the Bay Area. You want to talk about being scared.

 

He goes, "Your familiar with Rudolf & Sletten right?" I said yeah, almost all the big commercial projects have giant cranes with Rudolf & Sletten on them. They are construction with a capital C in the West.

 

He went on; Back in the '60s old Rudy sat right in that chair where you are and he said, "The first ten years were the hardest for us but now I think we are going to make it!

 

Old Cecil Wells takes a deep breath and in a matter of fact tone says; "We have been in business here for thirty-five years... The first thirty were the hardest."

[74datsun620]

First off wins and championships won't guarantee you will find sponsorship intill the crowd is on your side! To get the crowd on your side here is what I am known for letting kids sit in my car (if you run a fire bottle always put the pin in! kids will pull the fire pull sign!) , never loosing my cool, never cheating and being known as a clean driver! Also start taking your car to car shows in your area! Most of my sponcers are because I invited a business owners to come watch the races with me and to be part of my race team! Also get some shirts made and keep track ones so that all your crew match!

 

 

 

Don't ever give up or get discouraged about a lack of a sponcer or money! I don't even have a garage and race with people that show up in semi's and I am always a front runner! I got on the cover of stockcar mag. for winning a championship on dirt a pavement in the same year with the same car and have never had much sponsorship help! Also you might find that it will be easier to find a sponcer when you move to a higher division!

 

 

[GreaseMonky]

First off wins and championships won't guarantee you will find sponsorship intill the crowd is on your side! To get the crowd on your side here is what I am known for letting kids sit in my car (if you run a fire bottle always put the pin in! kids will pull the fire pull sign!) , never loosing my cool, never cheating and being known as a clean driver! Also start taking your car to car shows in your area! Most of my sponcers are because I invited a business owners to come watch the races with me and to be part of my race team! Also get some shirts made and keep track ones so that all your crew match!

 

 

 

Don't ever give up or get discouraged about a lack of a sponcer or money! I don't even have a garage and race with people that show up in semi's and I am always a front runner! I got on the cover of stockcar mag. for winning a championship on dirt a pavement in the same year with the same car and have never had much sponsorship help! Also you might find that it will be easier to find a sponcer when you move to a higher division!

 

I do that stuff already, I remeber what it was like to be a kid, so I am always letting the kids sit in my car, when they are around, and as far as racing clean, I have been giving the name of "The Gentlemen" because I run such a clean race. Problem with move up in division is around here the 4cylinder division is the most popular, and largest, with teh economy in the toilet everyone is moving down classes