Does anyone know who, where or how to get a sponsorship? And if so, how often are they granted? I have such big plans for my car but the funds are slow coming. I dont want to put certain parts that I don't want and make my car how the sponsor wants it. I want to make my car the way I have always dreamed of making it. I know exactly what I want but I need someone or something to help me get there. Even a place where wealthy car enthusiasts would donate a certain amount of money would be great! Does anyone know of anything at all? I have searched alot but my search has turned no solid results. Is anyone in the same situation as me? I'm not looking for someone to pay my bills or anything! I can do that just fine all on my own. But theres not much left after that and it takes a while to save up for some of these parts. At that rate, it may take me a lifetime to finally realize that dream. Any input or guidance on this would help greatly! Thanks!

 

good luck finding someone to just give you money to put into your car, if you find one let me know. Even if you were a racer, just getting a sponsor of any kind for any amount of money, just once, is hard.

Unless you have a reputaion, or a shop, or some kind of history, i dont see any company just giving you money. The only thing you could do is write letters to various manufactures, companies, clubs ect, with your info, plans and how your work could possibly bring them customers or facetime, and see what you get. Maybe you will get lucky.

 

 

It's unlikely you'll ever get anyone to "pay" for your hobby. After 10+ years of racing, the sponsorships I have are still minor. I have one sponsor that buys me barrels of alcohol fuel whenever I need it. 2 barrels of alcohol is the most I'll ever use in a year. I have another sponsor who provided me with some Lucas oil 75w90 for my diff and provides me with a bottle of Lucas oil stabilizer every spring when I change the oil.

It's unlikely you'll get a sponsor to hand over cash. Trying to get product for sponsorship is easier. I'd still like to get a sponsor to buy me new slicks once a year. I can make a set last for 2 years and a set costs me $600. New rubber every spring would be really nice.

Sponsorship isn't always about car products either. Get a local pizza shop to sponsor you to provide a free pizza every race weekend. Things like this also require something in return. Nobody sees a small "Joe's Pizza" decal on the side of your car when racing. You have to give something back to the business that's sponsoring you. Typically, the business could use your car as display once a year. This is the only way they can get good recognition for something they sponsor.

I've always thought a good way to get "cash" as a sponsorship is to do what I would call contingency sponsorship. No business will hand out $500 just so you can go racing. Make up a deal that the business provides you with contingency sized decals for your car at their expense. Any race you attend that has a first prize of more than $xxx dollars, the sponsor would pay you $50 if you win the event or $25 if you runner up. If you never make it into the final round, it costs the sponsor nothing to have their decals on your car for the season. There will probably be more sponsors willing to do that then just giving out $500. If there's 10 races in a season and you just happen to win all 10 then the sponsor is paying $500 by the end of the season. If you happen to win 10 events in a season then you deserved that sponsorship money. Your paid by performance and not paid to go race and lose in the first round.

Now that doesn't sound like very much however if you had 10 sponsors like that and you win, that's 10 people paying you $50 plus the prize money for the race. $500 plus the race price money. If you managed to win 10 races in the season, that now totals $5000 in sponsorship money, $50 at a time, plus the prize money. That also gives you much more incentive to go rounds to try to get into the final round. All those extra rounds you do give a little more exposure for the sponsor so eventually if you do win, they have had a lot of exposure. The contingency sponsorship idea doesn't require you to do things like display your car at the business because there is no payout unless you go rounds to win or runner up the event.

When hitting up a business for sponsorship, never think of or promote it as sponsorship. In being able to display your car at their business as part of the sponsorship, it's a mutual advertising package. As soon as you mention sponsorship and want money, they're usually not interested.

Sponsors are typically not interested in slower drag vehicles. People are not interested to watch the slower cars so exposure is very little. The faster you go or the more events you win, can improve your chances of obtaining any kind of sponsorship but you have to show the potential sponsor your accomplishments to justify any kind of sponsorship. Stock cars can get sponsorship easier because the car is being viewed by the spectators for much longer periods of time.

There is always a possibility that you may come across a company interested in some sort of major sponsorship and doesn't know how to sponsor a vehicle. They may be happy to fork over a couple of thousand dollars a year to sponsor a car but you need to be prepared to accept a lot of changes also. Having a huge company logo on the side of the car may not be for everyone. Same goes if you have to paint the car in company colors. That's not counting how many times they may want to use the car to promote the business.

It takes a lot of hard work to get someone else to "pay your bills". Every little bit helps but don't expect to get anything.

 

all of the above . good luck .

 

A harsh dose of reality.... but thank you. Any little bit helps. By the way AlkyIROC, NICE CAR!!!! All motor! I love it! Well I'm kind of in a tight spot now because my car is stock now. It's not going to win any races! Once I have it built the way I want it, it will be pretty damn near unstoppable! But once it's built, I wont really need any sponsors. I need help from the companies providing the parts to help me get there. You guys following me? I guess there's not a whole lot I can do unless I somehow hit the jackpot or lottery or some other 1 in a hundred million miracle like that! But I will most definately not give up! This is my dream. And I will see it through.

 

What's that got to do with it. For the majority of us who drag race, that means we're bracket racers. Speed and how much performance you have means absolutely nothing in a bracket car. A slow, factory stock, car can be just just as hard to beat and has an equal chance of winning.

When I first started racing back in 1997, I ran my daily driver 454SS pickup truck which still runs low 15 second 1/4 miles. I have more wins and runner up trophies from running the truck for 2 years than I have for running the Camaro for the last 10. It's always fun to go faster but isn't necessary to win a bracket race.

Once you get into other types of drag racing, especially a heads up type race, it comes down to cubic dollars. Whoever can spend the most money to go the fastest will usually win. Those types of racers get financially eliminated from competition as you constantly keep spending more and more to try and beat the other guys.

With bracket racing, you could race for a good many years with a 13 second car and spend very little to keep it running and still win races.

A few years ago, and I'm glad I wasn't in the street class at the time, we had a Chevy Tahoe running. It was all wheel drive and was using the traction control. The thing could photocopy an 18.3 second timeslip every time it went down the track. All the driver had to do was cut a good light to win. It eventually won the street class season championship.

Unless you do win the lottery, there's no way anyone can start racing in a super fast car. You do like everyone else and start racing with what you have and slowly build up to what you want. My car was street legal when I bought it back in 1999. I gutted it the day after I bought it to make into a race car. It's taken me since then to get it the way it is now and I'm still doing changes or improvements.

 

People always ask me how expensive it is to drag race. I tell them that the initial purchase of the car and any changes I do is the biggest expense and that's all come out of my pocket. As long as you don't break a lot of stuff, the annual operating expenses are not that bad compared to other types of sports.

I have a sponsor to buy me fuel. Luckily I run methanol and it's considerably cheaper than race gas which my engine would have to use. My other annual operating expenses are tires, at least one oil change, entry fee, food and possibly travel expenses. A few years ago I had a job that provided a company truck and fuel card that I could use however I wished. I attended at least one out of town race at the company's expense with no issues about it.

Now for other "sports". I live near the rocky mountains where a lot of people ski in the winter. Some people buy new ski equipment every few years. They also buy season lift passes to multiple ski hills. Add in the travel costs to and from the mountains and they probably spend more during a ski season than I do on operating costs.

There are a lot of people who golf. Again, they buy new clubs every few years and the real hard core golfers may pay an annual membership to a club that can far exceed what I pay for annual operating expenses. Even paying regular green fees a few times a week over a season is probably more than my annual operating expenses.

Paying for the car and doing whatever changes you want to it will always be your biggest expense. If you don't invest any more money into the vehicle, then racing itself is not as expensive as other sports. You could run a bone stock car for years with little more than basic maintenance and entry fees as your expenses.

 

For sponsorship, you could always market yourself. Print out "hero cards" to hand out to fans for free. Just about everybody has a printer that can print photos so you don't need to go to some printing store to get it done. Offer fan memberships which entitles them to knick knack products with pictures of your car on them. It doesn't cost much to get a picture put on a mug or button to give away as a fan membership. You also provide them with a newsletter, snail mail or E-mail telling your paid fans about what kind of changes you've done to the car, what you plan on doing to the car or what events you plan on attending in the future plus telling them exactly how well you've done at races since the last newsletter.

Offer fan memberships for $20/year and give them $10 worth of collectibles which gives you $10 in sponsor money to do as you wish.

 

Wow man! sounds like you've been around! I appreciate all the input. I guess I'm just a little anxious to get my baby done now. But I will definately check out my local drag strip and see if they have bracket racing. Also, the fan membership idea sounds pretty good too. Maybe I could start that up after I win a few bracket races and get my car a little more well known at the track and around town. Thanks for all your time and input. I appreciate it and I will look into all you have mentioned. Thanks again! Oh, and wish me luck just in case on that lottery part!

 

Man, I can't really add to this, totally dead on. Amy and I have shelves full of trophies from when we first started racing street class, me in my 86 300zx and her in her Mercury Cougar. Bracket racing is the only way regular working stiffs can afford to race and have any chance of winning.

Dan