Speed51's driver draft

[Jason]

http://www.51sportsracing.com/51_stdraft_top10.html

 

lol

 

Casey Smith is 6th

 

I know it is for younger drivers but I think someone on there is Bendele's age and one has to wonder why Robert Richardson is 10th when Bendele is not even listed...

 

Both Colt James and Chris Davidson are also mentioned.

 

Texas was represented well.

 

Jason

[tqj3]

Just a guess, but Bendele may have been overlooked because he hasn't run much or well outside of Texas. Both Davidson and Richardson have, though Richardson doesn't have much other experience.

 

The emphasis on Richardson's win at a showcase event like TMS is obvious, even though winning there with a restrictor plate and winning anywhere else are two different animals. The mention of Colt's win is interesting, as they seem to be ignoring past ROMCO seasons (Davidson and Bendele), and are just now beginning to pay attention to Texas racing. It will be interesting to see what the drivers, teams and ROMCO itself does with that opening.

[Jason]

We will see how some of the ROMCO guys do against the out of staters May 8th!@

[tqj3]

Well, the local guys showed pretty well in the two Big Shots, and Chris Davidson (along with Casey Smith, who won't be in Houston due to a conflict in schedule) have top-threes at the Snowball.

 

Richardson and Davidson have both run well in the first two NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Southeast Series races, with Richardson running in the top group until late in the race. Davidson is in the top ten in points.

 

Our guys can run with those guys, they just haven't had enough chances to prove it.

 

(On another note, I wonder why another guy who has shown the ability to run with the Southeast bunch, 2003 Pensacola late model champion Bubba Naumann, wasn't on the Speed51 list?)

[racingmom]

Yes TQ we think it was a honor that Colt was mentioned, hope it means that someone who knows talent is watching.

Because as you know his family won't pay to have things written about him.

[Guest stick2it]

BOO HOOO

 

WAY TO GO COLT THOUGH

[Jason]

Hey Stick2It. Can you put a sentence together? Oh well. I know what team your with and it does not suprise me one bit. Later

[tqj3]

Racingmom-

No, I didn't know Colt's family won't "pay to have things written about him." If that's a statement that they don't want to pay a newspaperman or sportscaster for coverage, they certainly shouldn't do that. No reputable journalist would do such a thing.

On the other hand, if that means they don't intend to ever have a PR person working to get things written about Colt, or said about him, that's too bad. It will severely limit his chances of getting a break, and, if he does, he and the family will soon find that the team is going to pay a PR person to help get Colt's story out.

[Colt15]

what i think my mother was trying to say tq is the way you made that first post sound was that maybe i didnt deserve to be on that list. And i do find it an honor that somebody reconized my racing. And the reason I dont pay someone to write about me tq is cause I would rather put those extra bucks towards my car since we run out of are own pockets. And normally I would say thanks stick2it but not after you disrespect my mother the way you did with your post.

[tqj3]

Colt-

It is an honor that you were mentioned, and my point in the first post was that it seems they have just begun to pay attention to ROMCO. After all, Davidson is a former champion, and Bendele a former rookie of the year and defending champion, and he wasn't even mentioned. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I would note that no one seems to be promoting Bendele.

 

As for your and your team preferring to put your money into the racing, that's your choice. But you've won two national titles, and no one knows it. If you have the money to go all the way to Nextel Cup, more power to you. But if you are going to need help, you'll need to be better known.

 

The press does not, I repeat, does not, come around looking for stories to do. They go to where they know a story is, because the alternative is to go around knocking on doors, asking people if they know of anything newsworthy. The news side doesn't go around looking for stories, either. They have a vast array of methods to find out what's going on, ranging from news releases to monitoring CNN (which has its own ways of finding out what's going on) to having people at the courthouse call them or having a defense attorney call them to using a police scanner to who knows what all. But they don't go around looking for stories.

 

If they aren't looking for all of that, what makes you think they are looking for stories in racing, something they consider a minor sport, if they deem it a sport at all?

 

I repeat, if you get a break, and you make it in racing, I guarantee the team will invest, that's right, invest, the money in a PR effort on your behalf.

[krusty_rusty]

Basically I think the moral of the story from what tq is trying to say maybe, is that if you could pay someone to do PR you could get some attention in the public eye drawing a sponsor to your race team. You get that done then you and your folks won't have to pay for racecar stuff out of your own pocket, and that could be extremely beneficial as you try to work your way up the ladder, at least that if thats what you intend to keep on doing. Just from my point of view, and congrats for your mom being proud of you and that other guy should shove it.

[Colt15]

i agree if you have the money do the pr. but if you dont i dont think its worth taking it out of your budget to get pr done because that is ganna affect your performance on the track.

[tqj3]

Colt, the problem with that theory is that the guy who finishes second to you, but does get the promotion, will likely end up in a better ride because of it. (Did Michael Waltrip get the NAPA deal because of all the races he'd won?)

 

The old saying is that racers tend to stay broke at the appropriate level. That is, they run the highest class they can stretch to afford: if they can afford to run street stock, they run late model; if they can afford to run late model, they try to run a touring series, and so on.

 

That's why there's no money for promotion. But it's just like operating a track, or a series, and saying, "Well, we just don't have the money for advertising or promotion." If you don't have the money for that, you don't have the money to operate a track or series. There's no opening the gates, and jumping back to avoid the stampede. You have to beat the drum and let folks know what you are doing, and, as I keep trying to get across to everyone, that's what the major sports, and the successful racers, do. That's how they became major sports and successful racers.

 

I repeat: no one is out scouting to do a story on you. When you see some cameraman or writer at Thunder Hill or Houston Motorsports Park or whereever, someone got them to come out there to do a specific story. Sometimes, the track paid for a pro cameraman to come shoot pro-quality footage for the use of the track. (That's where the footage for those nice ads came from.) When you talk to TV people, the first thing they want to know is, "Do you have any video?"

 

TV is about pictures, and they aren't talking about dark, fuzzy VHS video mom or someone's girlfriend shot from the grandstand; they want something along the lines of NASCAR video.

 

You may get lucky. Some people do. But, in racing, those who get lucky are those who have put themselves into position to get lucky.

 

Remember, no one cares what kind of car or truck it is. They care about the drivers. NASCAR is successful because the drivers are pretty much household names, and the fans care whether or not Earnhardt Jr. beats Gordon, or vice versa. Unless they know who you are, and care whether or not you win or lose, you've lost.

[Mel]

Tq,

 

Without getting too nosey, how much should a driver/team expect to invest in one season on a good PR person?

 

Or are most contracts for multi-season deals?

 

Are there incentives or commissions for PR folks, or base salaries only?

 

Tanks......................Mel

[tqj3]

Mel-

That's a fair question, but one without a simple answer. A lot depends on the level the team plans to race: that is, local street stock, late model, traveling late model and so on.

If you aren't planning on moving up very far, for instance, if you are a driver in his 30s or 40s who'd just like to get to ROMCO and be competitive, say, as opposed to trying to be the next Kasey Kahne, you won't spend as much as a team with an 18-year-old who wants to be in Nextel Cup.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with running street stock and looking for a sponsor, and I've said before that you should assume a certain portion of the money you get from a sponsor should go toward promotion of team and sponsor. That's how you keep a sponsor, once you get him.

Some drivers do a lot of things, such as personal appearances with their race car, but don't promote those appearances. Some don't even invite their sponsors to an appearance, or provide him with pictures.

At the lower levels, a minimum of about $250.00 per month (though you and your PR person may elect to break it down on a per-race basis). You'll need bios, race results sent to media (if you had them, would you know where to send them?), help getting press/sponsor kits and hero cards done. (Hero cards, by the way, can be pretty inexpensive; and are a great way to promote both driver and sponsors.)

One reason for a $250.00 minimum is that is usually isn't worth the PR person's effort to do nickel and dime work, and while you might get someone to do a press release and distribute it for a hundred bucks, you won't get much out of one release.

There are things that aren't included in the PR person's fee that should be done as well. Nice, autographed photos of team, driver and car, in nice frames, as a "thank you" to all sponsors; for instance.

Say several hundred per month for street stock or local late model, five hundred and up for a traveling series, and $750.00 to $1,000.00 for a top regional touring series like ROMCO. Does it relate to how much you spend on the team?

Not exactly. What it should relate to is a portion of how much you have, or would like to have, in sponsorship. Most of the time, a sponsor's name on the car isn't worth all that much. (And when it is, as in NASCAR, you can't buy the panel for what it's worth in exposure; they charge more than that. I think a rear quarter on a Busch car is worth over a quarter of a million; you don't get that back because a crowd watches the car go by.)

 

Critics on this board tend to think of PR as an intangible; that is, when you pay for a car or engine, you have something. But when you pay for PR, you don't have anything you can hold on to.

 

True enough, but the point is, what do you have when you don't promote yourself and your team? Even those who could finance a Nextel Cup effort out of their pockets are smart enough not to want to do that, and that means making a star out of your main asset, your driver, so someone else will want him to help them sell their product or service.

 

Because that's what it's all about, and it's why Michael Waltrip is selling parts for NAPA on TV instead of in a NAPA store...

[Mel]

That is very interesting. This really sheds a different light on this subject for me, maybe for others also. I for one have done quite a few of these thing you mentioned, and believe me, it would be worth more than $250 a month for me. That is the level I have always been involved in. For some reason, I can't explain, I envisioned this service being much more expensive than that. I didn't intend for that question to be a commercial for PR folks, but it sounds good to me. Maybe some of these very impressive younger drivers had the same impression of PR firms as I did. Maybe not. Knowing the value of what you have to offer, your phone should start ringing off the wall, if it isn't already. One last question, what is the maximum number of clients you would offer you services to?

 

Sorry to be so nieve...on the subject.

 

Tanks.....................Mel

[tqj3]

Mel-

You know, you're the first person I can remember asking that particular question, though it's one I generally bring up to a client during the initial discussions. I think you have to limit yourself in two ways, one in how many clients you can handle; and the other in avoiding conflicts of interest. That is, being careful either not to handle, say, two ROMCO drivers, or to check with an existing client to see if they would object to my handling another client in the series.

If I weren't a one-man shop, the drivers could be handled by different people, but I think I'd still want to avoid the appearance of a conflict.

As far as how many clients I can handle, my best guess is something between ten and 15, based on how much time each one would require.

That's one of the reasons I keep saying we ultimately will need more people doing PR. To really get the attention of the media, it would be very helpful to have 40 or 50 Texas racing teams all hitting the same press people several times per month, and I can't do that many.

Look at it this way, in terms of impact: how many releases, schedules, photos and so on do you think the average daily news outlet gets just from football teams? We need more volume.

Thanks for the interest, and the good questions.

[racerjim2]

TQ I think you finally put PR in the trerms racers can relate to as far as the volume of releases that the media gets.However hopefully the racers dont mistake PR for sponsor search, there are some that believe it is the same thing,PR is what you do with a portion of your sponsor money or invest you own money in. Dont get me wrong you will see athletes, drivers, and other entertainers that pay PR people because they comand some really nice salarys and have the need to stay in the spotlight this helps them make money.The Big tracks have PR people on there payrolls and have evolved to a more mature level of sports enterainment the same goes for all of theupper level teams and some of the big name drivers that hire personel PR people.Investing in PR is a long term investment and if your a race track or a sanctioning body then it better be a cost of doing business you cant survive without it if your a young driver it may payoff for you in the long term but as an older driver that runs well unlless you can afford to hire a big name full line PR firm then it probably wont be of much benifet in the short term. With sponsorship in this region virtuly nonexistant and the payots at the tracks that have remained the same or have been reduces over the pas 15 years ,to the point that to cover the weekly cost you have to win or pull it out of your own pocket, then there is not enough time unless your Pr guy is really conected and can get you mass media exposure ie TV on air interviews.One guy shooting press releases for one driver to the local media is going to be as much help as someone frghting a forrest fire with a cup of water and if one Texas racing PR firm can only handle 10 to 15 drivers there needs to be more people doing what TQ and Chuck do they cant do it by themselfs( if you guys can expand on the # of people and companys that utilize the press release route it may open some eyes).As far as I know TQ and Chuck are the only guys that are providing this service in the South Texas area, Reb is more of a freelance writer if Im not mistaken if I am wrong please correct me .When I looked for a PR firm back in the late Eightys. when I was in my twentys I was turned down by every marketing company in San Antonio and one gave me a number to a PR firm in Atlanta Ga.They wanted $10,000.00 for a year and they said they would not even provide any sponsor help.So I guess my point is if your young and plan to make driving a race car you vocation then you need to hire a PR person and one that believes in you and can grow with your carreer or hire a PR group that can get you name and face in front of the people that needs to see it. Race it and they will come is not a option or a solution. A driver these days cant be humble and sit back on there laurels. Sorry this is so rambeling buy just my raw thoughts.

[tqj3]

Jim-

It may have been rambling, but you covered some excellent points and brought up a few others.

 

You're right, many people mistake PR for sponsor search, among other things. But I was trying to talk about PR and promotion with an official of a touring series not long ago, and he kept mistaking promotion for advertising. (Not that it matters much, as the series doesn't do either.)

 

You mentioned talking to a firm that wanted ten grand a year and was not including any sponsorship search help. That's because a PR firm's job is to make you famous. As I say, my job is "Telling the world why my clients are heroes in their fields." One problem with PR firms and racing is that most of the firms are geared to do a lot of work for major businesses with the money in place to do that kind of promotion. Racers, even those who own or run race tracks, usually don't realize they need to budget for promotion.

 

Another problem is that PR firms don't know beans about racing, so even if they could work with you, they don't understand the "product" they are trying to promote.

 

I can help you find sponsorship, but I can't find it for you. No one can, because the driver is the product. Someone can get you started, but the driver is the one they are going to "buy," so the driver will have to make his own pitch at some point.

 

A PR person's job is simply to make you better known and respected, to take your natural abilities and use them to make you more interesting to the general public. The NASCAR guys aren't just known to the racing public, they are known outside of racing; while few in Central Texas are really known outside of the confines of the race tracks.

 

It's interesting to note that NASCAR does not actually promote the drivers. They probably would if they had to, but the fact is the sponsors do it for them because it's in the sponsor's best interest to do it. UPA gets huge mileage out of Dale Jarrett, a neat trick considering he's a very nice guy who's kind of a bland personality. Dale Jr. is a lot easier to promote, as is Jeff Gordon, while "promoting" Michael Waltrip and Kenny Wallace is kind of redundant; they do a pretty good job themselves.

 

Forget about anything else. We in racing need heroes, particularly in Central Texas. Look at the "favorite driver" poll on this forum. All of us are putting forth our favorites, guys we remember, guys who were fast, and fun to watch. That's what sports is all about. Our problem is just that we (drivers, tracks, series, teams, whatever) haven't made heroes out of our guys, told their stories to enough people, so that those who might be interested in racing if they knew more about it would find some heroes worth following. We've got 'em, we just haven't told enough people about 'em, and sports, any sports, are always about people.

 

What sport promotes the equipment? "Hey, come out and see if the Nike shoes on the Cowboys are better than the adidas shoes on the Redskins!" "Follow the Masters as we see whether Titlist or Spaulding has the better golf ball!" What are you, nuts?

 

It isn't about the cars. It's never about the cars. Half the fans who can identify Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne can't tell you what kind of car they drive. Yes, I know, some of the fans are rabid about Ford or Chevy or Dodge. But that ain't why they follow a particular driver.

 

It's about people, people. How much more interested in a race are you if you know someone who's racing, even just by reputation? Or, how interested in a race are you if there's no one in it you know or know about? That's what we need to do, make heroes out of the guys. And it's in the best interests of the sponsors (and the tracks, and the series) to do that; and it's what makes successful racing successful and successful stick and ball sports successful. Who would give a rat's patoot about bicycle racing if it weren't for Lance Armstrong? (And how many know, or care, what kind of freakin' bicycle he rides?)

 

The only question is, if it is in all our best interests to promote our drivers, why don't we do it?

[Bar2248]

If I paid someone money to do my PR, I want to know what he is going to do for me...

 

state it out, some say well Ill try to get you in the papers, and you make it once... that aint worth it, I want to be in that paper 5 or 6 times in a 3 month period... I want to be on teh news that everyone watches at 6 o'clock, and I know it doesn't work out that way; what about out East where racing country is, NASCAR DIGEST and other magazines will I end up in those...

 

somthin else is peopel may not have teh funds to hire someone, but try to do it their selves...

 

You also have see what other sports are going on during racing (basball, basket ball playoffs, tennis, golf, NASCAR, they don't have much room to put a local driver in there

 

I think your right, if a young driver is going to make it they need pablicity or a sponsor to help them make it to the next level, (its about who you know and how well you know them) but I want to know what their going to do for me and if it doesn't happen what do I get back in return, or will they work a longer time until it happens...

[tqj3]

Bar2248-

You're right, you should have some guarantees. How about telling your chassis builder, your engine builder and your crew chief that you want five or six race wins per year? Hey, if they can't do that, all they're going to do is TRY, you can't pay them, right?

 

You're in a sport in which the tracks don't promote themselves, the series don't promote themselves and the drivers and teams don't promote themselves. The media tends to ignore us for those reasons; and, because we aren't real athletes since the car does all the work, they resent the coverage we do get. In the face of that, you want assurances that you, an unknown driver, will get five or six stories in the local newspaper?

 

No one said racing was easy on any level. The only reason to work to promote yourself, whether you can do it yourself, or have to hire someone to help, is because you have ambitions to race at a higher level than street stock at the local track. If not, it's not as important.

[HORSEPOWER]

Did Tommy Grimes have a PR guy when he was racing with the Southern All-Stars and ASA? I know he used to always qualify well in the ASA races he appeared in, but would fade quickly. I heard he was racing on used up rubber. Didn't he finish in the top five in points in one of the SAS series one year?

[tqj3]

The point is not how well he raced, but how many people knew about it. Tommy is a local hero. There are a lot of those.

Colt James has won two national titles. Does anyone know about that?

Davidson has obviously signed on with 51Sports. A good move, as he wants to move up.

There's no point in beating the subject up anymore. Those who are opposed to having to "pay to get stories written about them" aren't going to change their minds, and the others are moving on. Good luck to all, whichever route you choose.