Sponsorship Opportunity

It never ceases to amaze me when people think that money just flows from the heavens for no apparent reason.

Sponsorship, especially at a low budget level, is HARD work....harder than getting another job and working, and it pays alot less/hour. Sponsorship takes planning, promotion, communication, dedication, as well as fostering and maintaining a relationship with your partners...

Just because you have plans to build a car or you have a car built does not mean someone is going to fund your money burning experience.

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA

Words of wisdom!!!

"It never ceases to amaze me when people think that money just flows from the heavens for no apparent reason.

Sponsorship, especially at a low budget level, is HARD work....harder than getting another job and working, and it pays alot less/hour. Sponsorship takes planning, promotion, communication, dedication, as well as fostering and maintaining a relationship with your partners...

Just because you have plans to build a car or you have a car built does not mean someone is going to fund your money burning experience."

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

Favorite response:

"I thought about doing a rally thing for my crx, but thought it might be kinda retarded, but I like yours, and I happen to have 2 gutted CRXs (daily driver and drag car in the works), so maybe a rally car would be a good idea."

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

I am often amazed by people who jump into a project without any research. Although, im certain that afflicts all manner of motorsport. Just some are less forgiving.

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

Has anyone ever considered what is the biggest common underlying theme of those who historically have been successful in motorsports?
And by success I mean have remained involved for most of their adult career.

Anyone who is trying or hoping to make a career of rallying should spend some time doing a few case studies. I'd suggest starting with John Buffum, Ari Vatanen, Malcolm Wilson, Tommi Makinen, David and Mark Higgins and family, Rod and Rhys Millen, Tim O'Neil, Tanner Foust, Ken Block, Pat Richard... Yeah, that's a good list to start.

I'll give some classifications to help uncover some underlying themes...
Malcolm Wilson, John Buffum, Pat Richard, Rod and Rhys, Tommi Makinen and lightly Tim O'Neil
Tommi Makinen, Higgins, Tim O'Neil
Tanner Foust, Ken Block

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Grant Hughes

Quote
NoCoast
Has anyone ever considered what is the biggest common underlying theme of those who historically have been successful in motorsports?
And by success I mean have remained involved for most of their adult career.

Anyone who is trying or hoping to make a career of rallying should spend some time doing a few case studies. I'd suggest starting with John Buffum, Ari Vatanen, Malcolm Wilson, Tommi Makinen, David and Mark Higgins and family, Rod and Rhys Millen, Tim O'Neil, Tanner Foust, Ken Block, Pat Richard... Yeah, that's a good list to start.

I'll give some classifications to help uncover some underlying themes...
Malcolm Wilson, John Buffum, Pat Richard, Rod and Rhys, Tommi Makinen and lightly Tim O'Neil
Tommi Makinen, Higgins, Tim O'Neil
Tanner Foust, Ken Block

By the definition of "remained involved" there are thousands and thousands of people.

Kinda a huge pool.
Likewise the term "motorsport" is kinda hugely vague.

There are billions and billions of people who drive in grueling course consisting of orange cones for a tortuous 45 seconds and do it for decades.
But I don't consider that motorsports, involvement or success except in the sense that all the words fade to nothingness in their meaning.


Clarify ---even if I have a vague idea what you may be hinting at....










How they received that ^ differs a little, especially in North America.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham
By the definition of "remained involved" there are thousands and thousands of people.

There are really two types of people. The thousands and thousands by and large are in one large cluster. They'd split out a bit likely and some of the others share similarities to the other groupings, such as the ones I listed above.
If you were to list everyone in rallying and created a dendogram how would it look and what would be the underlying factors that lead to the correlations?
And yes, there is a higher level of classification that is income based but that is not really what I am getting at.

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Grant Hughes

Quote
NoCoast
I'll give some classifications to help uncover some underlying themes...
Malcolm Wilson, John Buffum, Pat Richard, Rod and Rhys, Tommi Makinen and lightly Tim O'Neil
Tommi Makinen, Higgins, Tim O'Neil
Tanner Foust, Ken Block

People who've gone on to create a business building/servicing rally cars.
People who've gone on to operate rally schools.
People who've bankrolled some sort of rallying by making money doing something else?

$

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA

Quote
NoCoast

Quote
john vanlandingham
By the definition of "remained involved" there are thousands and thousands of people.

There are really two types of people. The thousands and thousands by and large are in one large cluster. They'd split out a bit likely and some of the others share similarities to the other groupings, such as the ones I listed above.
If you were to list everyone in rallying and created a dendogram how would it look and what would be the underlying factors that lead to the correlations?
And yes, there is a higher level of classification that is income based but that is not really what I am getting at.

Then, to put it in very clear English, why the fawk don't you tell us what you are alluding to..
And leave your dendograms right where they are.

(Entirely morbid curiosity)

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

For fucks sake Grant..........spit it out!

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

Creation of something.
How is Ari Vatanen different from Tommi Makinen. Both were successful WRC drivers but Tommi upon retirement chose to start (or put more focus) on his own shop building top level Group N cars and offering instruction services to upcoming drivers that can afford his services. Ari Vatanen moved to France and became a politician. Tommi's world revolves around rallying, Ari's does not.

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Dave
People who've gone on to create a business building/servicing rally cars.
People who've gone on to operate rally schools.
People who've bankrolled some sort of rallying by making money doing something else?

Dave almost got it. Ken and Tanner are the loosest grouping and I was thinking more of their efforts to start entirely new forms of racing to find success.
If we move outside these classifications we'd likely find four groupings early on. Those that started rallying as younger middle class earners with minimal expenses (no kids, no big mortgages, not married, etc). That group would likely split into two as well.
There are two classes of higher income rallyists. Those that had funding they did not actively earn (inheritance, trust fund, etc) and those that have funding they did earn (business owners).
Within each group there are those that stay involved longer term and those that do not. I guess my point is that the people that will stay the most directly involved the longest are the ones that create a business or working career of some kind based upon rallying. There are people from all three groups that do stay involved long term though not necessarily as directly or full time. Organizers, volunteers, drivers, codrivers, etc. Sponsorship income has a minimal effect for only a small fraction of drivers and is almost never long term.
I guess my point is similar to what Tom said above. You are better off working harder at earning money doing something you know then chasing sponsorship income. I've always thought of sponsorship as something that found you, not something you could actively pursue.

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Grant Hughes

Quote
Gravity Fed
I am often amazed by people who jump into a project without any research. Although, im certain that afflicts all manner of motorsport. Just some are less forgiving.

But I don't even think this car is rally ready at all. Looks to me like he slapped some 16" wheels on the car and calls it a rally car.

My guess is the sponsorship $$$$ will go to prepping the car and my bet is that these people don't even show up to STPR?



Also, I would love to start a school of some sort combined with a race shop in the Midwest somewhere. Seems you've got Dirtfish for west coast, Team O'Neil for east cost and nothing in the middle. There's plenty of good private land to be had in MI/WI/MN area that could be turned into a school. Only if I won that powerball lottery...

Man that Fiesta guy is a real douche. The only thing that could have made it worse is if he used the term "bits" and sign his ad with "cheers". That would have earned him "wanker" status...

It is amazing the amount of effort people put into "getting sponsored", for a few hundred bucks, even a couple thou, or some shit product companies give away because nobody wants to pay for it. What a waste of time, get a side job or paper route and pay for your own hobby. There is ZERO return in amatuer motorsports, it's a hobby.

There are a few guys out there going about it right, Tom B is one of them. I suspect whatever support he gets is for reasons other that ROI. It's the fact that he's fast, a great guy, and his "sponsors" dig his team and want to be apart of the asskicking he consistantly dishes out. Any return they get from their involvement is icing on the cake.

Quote
NoCoast
Creation of something.

Tommi's world revolves around rallying, Ari's does not.

I guess my point is that the people that will stay the most directly involved the longest are the ones that create a business or working career of some kind based upon rallying. There are people from all three groups that do stay involved long term though not necessarily as directly or full time.

You are better off working harder at earning money doing something you know then chasing sponsorship income. I've always thought of sponsorship as something that found you, not something you could actively pursue.

Ooh! Ooh! Socio-economic postulation! I'll bite!

With regard to "creation of something" and comparison of Tommi and Ari, I'd say you're right. In our exquisite, gearhead single-mindedness, we tend to think in polar opposites. We build or we buy. We drive or we don't. Our world revolves around rally or it doesn't.

The creation of a rally-related business is definitely a step in the right direction, but I'd offer it's more than that. It's the satisfying of intrinsic needs which keeps us involved over the long haul. Mäkinen went into business preparing cars and training drivers. Vatanen went into politics. As much as I'm a card-carrying Mitsubishi Fanboi and lover of gold racing shoes, I can only speculate Tommi found the technology and teamwork intrinsically motivating, while Ari had a passion for the rules and structure of the sport.

At the other end of the spectrum, Kenny Block and the other EXTREME athletes have always been thrill-chasers. They've made some fortunate business decisions, but you can tell they're all about the thrill (including the thrill of being the most popular kid in school). After pretty much dominating the US rally scene for a number of years, it was no longer a big deal. Sure, people in the States who weren't already rally fans associated his name with rally, but that's like fourteen people. How many people follow rally in Yurup? And why spend all that time and money producing such elaborate Jimmy Connor videos for the Youtubes?

I think the idea that we should work harder at making money doing something we know is counter-productive. First thing we need to do is live within our means. Don't take out the ridiculous mortgage in Sycophant Hills with the petty, vindictive HOA. Don't buy that $40,000 F350 Super Duty you only really need twice a year. Don't put yourself in a position to HAVE TO make a shit-ton of money in some soul-sucking, makes-no-measurable-difference-to-the-world shit job.

Work smarter doing something you LOVE doing; not necessarily something you know how to do. Everyone here knows a fuuuuuuuck-ton about cars, but why aren't we all mechanics and car salesmen, then? We know how to do it, we could probably make good money doing it, and we're into cars, so it makes sense, but many, many gearheads have ZERO interest in doing either for a living.

Think about WHY you love doing the things you are willing to spend whatever discretionary time and money on. Think about HOW those things make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you. Then figure out WHAT you can do to make an impact in those areas.

And, if all you intend to offer a potential sponsor in exchange for their hard-earned cash or inventory is "exposure" or "brand awareness," give it the fawk up, already. You're ruining it for those of us trying to actually build relationships with motorsport business partners.

Part of me wants to email this link to the author of that Fiesta listing. Maybe, if you hadn't spent more on the purchase of your car than most competitors spend on their entire seasons, you wouldn't need to find a sucker willing to piss away five large to get his business name in front of 23 people standing in the woods on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

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Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest