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Dear Corporate Sponsors:
Please be advised that you are slowing destroying our sacred sport of auto racing. We the fans
have built this sport into the big deal it is today. We are the ones that show up on Thursday each week
and leave late Sunday night. We are the ones that wear all those colorful shirts with the driver and
sponsor names on them. We are the ones that continue to buy your products based solely on the fact
that you sponsor our drivers. We the fans, have a voice, and its time we started to speak out and regain
control of our beloved sport.
Somewhere along the way, you have decided that we can only have drivers in our sport that are walking
billboards. The talent of the driver has taken a back seat to the appeal of the driver. No longer do you
want to support a driver that is 35-plus years old. You only want the 20-year-old good-looking kid that
smiles for the camera. It doesn’t matter that the driver finishes 15th every week. As long as he smiles
when the camera is on. I understand that selling your product is the whole point of the sponsorship.
But, doesn’t it make sense that the best way to get noticed is to put the talented drivers in the cars and
give them the resources to run up front. Television coverage primarily focuses on a few ‘special’ drivers
during the course of a race. They don’t show all the cars, but they have to show the cars that run up
front, even if it is not the ‘special drivers’. When you use talented drivers, they run up front, and thus will
receive the TV time, despite the network coverage.
Joe Nemechek is the newest example of how sponsors have ignored a talented driver. Joe is a proven
winner. Joe has four career wins in the Cup series (one each for BellSouth, Oakwood Homes, GMAC
and U.S. Army) and 9 poles. Joe was named ‘Front Row Joe’ when he won 2 poles and started on the
front row 5 times during an eleven-race span during 1997. Joe was the first driver in history to win a
pole and two races at one track in one weekend (Kansas 2004 – Busch win, Cup pole and win). Joe
has also won 16 Busch Series races and 17 poles, including the 1992 Championship and the 1990
Rookie of the Year. Joe was voted the most popular driver in the Busch Series in 1992 and 1993.
Joe has the fan base. Joe has the talent. Joe is also a nice guy that actually cares about his fans. Joe
is also a great spokesperson for his sponsor (look at all the great things he did with the Army sponsor).
And Joe has Martha, his mother, another great spokesperson. Joe has loyal fans. They all still chew
Dentyne gum, use BellSouth phones, eat at Burger King, support the Army troops, and have Meineke
mufflers and brakes on their cars. But Joe cannot get a good sponsor, primarily because he is now a
‘veteran’ driver and our sponsors want the young ones only. Joe turns 44 this September, and that
really appears to be the only stat that sponsors look at.
So Mr. Big Sponsor, don’t ruin the sport the fans have built by only allowing us to have moderately
talented drivers that look good. Give us back the veteran drivers, like Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin,
that know how to wheel a racecar. Take your existing ‘middle of the pack’ young gun and send him
back to the Busch series to gain experience. You can call on him in a few years.
We have built the sport using the best of the best, based on talent. And we are proud of the fact that we
race the best of the best. So please put the talent back in the car seats and let us, once again, watch
the best of the best battle on Sunday. Give this sport back to the drivers!!!
Go 'Front Row Joe' and the new “Fans On Board” Dodge – fans showing loyalty to their
driver by taking action. ‘Turn some heads’ at Michigan.
Trip
Some stats on the young kids in fulltime rides that they may not have earned:
Paul Menard #15 – Busch (1 win in 111 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 6 starts)
David Ragan #6 – Busch (0 wins in 31 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 29 starts)
David Reutimann #00 – Busch (0 wins in 55 starts) Trucks (1 win in 75 starts)
David Stremme #40 – Busch (0 wins in 99 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 1 start)
JJ Yeley #18 – Busch (0 wins in 107 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 1 start)
David Gilliland #38 – Busch (1 win in 27 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 1 start)
AJ Allmendinger #84 – amazingly has only 10 career starts in the Truck Series. No wins, and no Busch
Series races.
Each one is young and each one has a fulltime ride. If they have the talent, it hasn’t surfaced yet.
But the sponsor money is there for them.
Please be advised that you are slowing destroying our sacred sport of auto racing. We the fans
have built this sport into the big deal it is today. We are the ones that show up on Thursday each week
and leave late Sunday night. We are the ones that wear all those colorful shirts with the driver and
sponsor names on them. We are the ones that continue to buy your products based solely on the fact
that you sponsor our drivers. We the fans, have a voice, and its time we started to speak out and regain
control of our beloved sport.
Somewhere along the way, you have decided that we can only have drivers in our sport that are walking
billboards. The talent of the driver has taken a back seat to the appeal of the driver. No longer do you
want to support a driver that is 35-plus years old. You only want the 20-year-old good-looking kid that
smiles for the camera. It doesn’t matter that the driver finishes 15th every week. As long as he smiles
when the camera is on. I understand that selling your product is the whole point of the sponsorship.
But, doesn’t it make sense that the best way to get noticed is to put the talented drivers in the cars and
give them the resources to run up front. Television coverage primarily focuses on a few ‘special’ drivers
during the course of a race. They don’t show all the cars, but they have to show the cars that run up
front, even if it is not the ‘special drivers’. When you use talented drivers, they run up front, and thus will
receive the TV time, despite the network coverage.
Joe Nemechek is the newest example of how sponsors have ignored a talented driver. Joe is a proven
winner. Joe has four career wins in the Cup series (one each for BellSouth, Oakwood Homes, GMAC
and U.S. Army) and 9 poles. Joe was named ‘Front Row Joe’ when he won 2 poles and started on the
front row 5 times during an eleven-race span during 1997. Joe was the first driver in history to win a
pole and two races at one track in one weekend (Kansas 2004 – Busch win, Cup pole and win). Joe
has also won 16 Busch Series races and 17 poles, including the 1992 Championship and the 1990
Rookie of the Year. Joe was voted the most popular driver in the Busch Series in 1992 and 1993.
Joe has the fan base. Joe has the talent. Joe is also a nice guy that actually cares about his fans. Joe
is also a great spokesperson for his sponsor (look at all the great things he did with the Army sponsor).
And Joe has Martha, his mother, another great spokesperson. Joe has loyal fans. They all still chew
Dentyne gum, use BellSouth phones, eat at Burger King, support the Army troops, and have Meineke
mufflers and brakes on their cars. But Joe cannot get a good sponsor, primarily because he is now a
‘veteran’ driver and our sponsors want the young ones only. Joe turns 44 this September, and that
really appears to be the only stat that sponsors look at.
So Mr. Big Sponsor, don’t ruin the sport the fans have built by only allowing us to have moderately
talented drivers that look good. Give us back the veteran drivers, like Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin,
that know how to wheel a racecar. Take your existing ‘middle of the pack’ young gun and send him
back to the Busch series to gain experience. You can call on him in a few years.
We have built the sport using the best of the best, based on talent. And we are proud of the fact that we
race the best of the best. So please put the talent back in the car seats and let us, once again, watch
the best of the best battle on Sunday. Give this sport back to the drivers!!!
Go 'Front Row Joe' and the new “Fans On Board” Dodge – fans showing loyalty to their
driver by taking action. ‘Turn some heads’ at Michigan.
Trip
Some stats on the young kids in fulltime rides that they may not have earned:
Paul Menard #15 – Busch (1 win in 111 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 6 starts)
David Ragan #6 – Busch (0 wins in 31 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 29 starts)
David Reutimann #00 – Busch (0 wins in 55 starts) Trucks (1 win in 75 starts)
David Stremme #40 – Busch (0 wins in 99 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 1 start)
JJ Yeley #18 – Busch (0 wins in 107 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 1 start)
David Gilliland #38 – Busch (1 win in 27 starts) Trucks (0 wins in 1 start)
AJ Allmendinger #84 – amazingly has only 10 career starts in the Truck Series. No wins, and no Busch
Series races.
Each one is young and each one has a fulltime ride. If they have the talent, it hasn’t surfaced yet.
But the sponsor money is there for them.
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