by Ross Bentley
If you are lucky, you’ll have to make the decision between buying your own race car or renting one from a professional race car rental business or racing school. I say lucky because many drivers cannot afford the second option and are forced to buy, manage, and maintain their own cars. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options.
First, it is best to work on your own car at least for part of your career. This helps teach you many of the basic technical aspects and makes you more mechanically sensitive to your car. In other words, you will probably learn to be a little easier on the car. The disadvantage is that you can spend so much time and concentration on the car that you spend little on your driving.
If you rent a race car from a professional race car rental business, it allows you to focus all your attention on your driving, leaving the mechanical worries to someone else, someone who is supposed to be better than you at looking after those worries. But beware. There are good car-rental businesses and bad ones.
Do your homework before choosing one. Talk to others who have used them in the past.
Assuming you find a good rental program, this does allow you to spend all your concentration on your driving. This is good, but don’t forget the mechanical side. Being mechanically sensitive and able to interpret what the car is doing, and communicating that to your engineer or mechanic, may make the difference in landing a ride with a top professional team.
Choosing to compete in one of the racing school series is probably the best choice strictly from a driving perspective. They usually have instructors working as coaches during race events, which will greatly speed up your learning curve. And usually they are “spec” series, where everyone is in the same type of car. This is a good way of gauging yourself, and your progress, against others.
Again, be careful. There are good school series and bad ones. Some racing schools are only interested in your pocketbook. Again, do your homework. Talk with people who have raced in the series in the past.
Choosing between racing open-wheel (formula-type) or closed-wheel (production-based or sports racing) cars should be a decision based on where you want to go in the sport. If you are certain about only racing closed-wheel cars in your career, then stick with them. But if you’re not sure where your career is going to go, then spend time racing open-wheel cars. If you only have experience in closed-wheel cars, it is more difficult to make the jump into an open-wheel car should the opportunity arise. Experience in open-wheel cars makes it easier to handle any type of car.
If you want to make a career as a professional driver, my advice is to drive every type of car you can get your hands on. Every car, from the slowest showroom stock car to the most sophisticated formula car, will teach you something different. The more you learn, the more adaptable you will be and the more successful you will be.
A good education is also important to a driver’s career. Although an engineering degree will help with the technical side of racing, I believe a strong business and marketing education is perhaps more important today. With a little effort, you can learn enough of the engineering side. Today’s race driver depends more on business and marketing knowledge to make a successful career in racing.
To reach the top in racing, you’re going to have to sacrifice a lot. Ask yourself this: “Am I willing to give up everything to reach the top?” Are you willing to sell your street car? Your stereo? Give up your girlfriend or wife? (I’m not suggesting this is mandatory, but it has happened because of racing). If not, be truthful with yourself. Realize how much you are willing to sacrifice and realize how far that will allow you to go. There is absolutely nothing wrong with amateur racing for fun, as long as you don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re going to be the next world champion without sacrifice and commitment.
You have to be 100 percent totally committed if you really want to make it to the top. You will have to commit time—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—and money, usually everything you’ve got for a long time.
I believe anyone can be successful in racing, maybe not a superstar, but successful nevertheless if they are committed and dedicated to doing what it takes to become successful. It takes tremendous perseverance. Bobby Rahal was once quoted as saying it takes 10 percent talent and 90 percent perseverance to be successful in racing. He wasn’t saying it doesn’t take talent; it’s just that perseverance is so important.
I can make an example of myself. Sure, there have been more successful drivers in the history of the sport, perhaps even with more talent. But I’ve proven you can make it to the top with hard work, perseverance, determination, sacrifice, knowledge, and maybe even some talent.
However, enjoy racing for what it is, and for whatever level you’re at. You don’t have to make becoming the next world champion your goal. Just do your best, and if things work, you’ll make it. If not, step back to amateur racing and have fun. Keep your options open.
SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship is what makes auto racing work. An entire book could, and has, been devoted to sponsorship (the best one I’ve seen is Sponsorship and the World of Motor Racing by Guy Edwards). So all I’m going to do is just touch on a few key points based on my experience.
First rule of sponsorship hunting: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Ninety percent of selling a sponsorship is just getting to the decision maker. Concentrate on meeting the right people. In every successful sponsor company, there is at least one key person who can see the benefits and will help push it through. You need to find that person. Talk to people you know, to see who they know.
If that was rule number one, then the following is rule one-and-a-half: It doesn’t matter what you want, what counts is what the company you’re approaching wants. Too many people in racing go in to a potential sponsor and tell them what they will do if the company gives them money. Then they wonder why the company said no. Put yourself in their position. Figure out what they want and how to give it to them.
Listen. Do less talking and more listening. Find out what they want; how they can use racing to benefit them. Sometimes, what they want is not necessarily what you think they need. Help them figure out what they want or need. If possible, ask them to describe to you how they would see a racing sponsorship program working for them. If they tell you, listen carefully, because they are selling themselves. If you can supply them with their vision of the sponsorship, it’s almost impossible for them to say no. It was their idea.
The sponsor’s name on the car—“the mobile billboard”—should be just the beginning of the program. Usually, what makes the program really work is the corporate entertainment at the track, the business partnership opportunities with co-sponsors, the employee morale programs, the public relations, media exposure, and so on. The sponsorship must be an overall marketing program, tied to the theme of a race car with the company’s logo on it, that helps sell a product or service and builds corporate image.
It used to be that companies would sponsor a driver or car just for the exposure, image, or public relations value. Rarely does that cut it anymore. If it doesn’t result directly in bottom-line sales, they won’t go for it.
You can spend thousands of dollars on fancy-looking presentations, brochures, and packages enthusing about how great a driver you are and how this is the best marketing program the world has ever seen. But 9 times out of 10, the person making the decision is going to decide based on you as a person, and the real core of your program. Companies buy good people with good programs, not just a good presentation.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t spend money on having a professional-looking presentation. You should. What I’m saying is if that’s all you’ve got, you will have a tough time selling it. Spend time developing a good program that delivers value to a potential sponsor.
Often, that means using the resources of one sponsor to benefit another, and vice versa. For example, getting the local newspaper to sponsor your team strictly with advertising space equal to the dollar value you require. It has
cost the newspaper little in actual dollars and in return you give logo exposure on your car along with all the other benefits you have to give a sponsor with your program. You then offer a full sponsorship to another company, plus the newspaper advertising, in return for the budget you require. A win-win-win program.
You will be far better off if you target specific companies you think a program such as yours can benefit from, rather than just firing off hundreds of proposals in the mail. Take the time to do research on the company, call them, and then meet personally. Using the shotgun approach is a waste of time and money.
To sell a sponsorship, as with everything else in racing, perseverance is a must. Never give up, no matter how many no’s you get. But don’t go blindly from one no to another. Learn from each sales attempt. Understand why they said no, and figure out how you can avoid it in the future.
In fact, selling sponsorship is a great learning experience. What you learn here will be useful in any career for the rest of your life.
You may want to use sponsor-hunting professionals, but beware. There are hundreds of so-called “professional sponsor hunters” who will waste your time, your money, and your reputation. So check them out; get references. Talk to others who have used them.
You may not have a lot of choices of who you use in the early stages of your career, so stay close to the dealings. Always remember, they are selling you and your reputation. Be sure you are comfortable with how they are doing that, how they portray your reputation, and the promises they make on your behalf.
Once you have signed a sponsor, don’t just take their money and go racing. Getting the sponsor is just the beginning. You, working with the sponsor, will have to exploit the sponsorship program. If not, kiss them goodbye. It just won’t work for them. If it’s not improving their bottom line, they won’t stay involved. And to do that, they need to have more than just their name on the side of a race car. You are going to have to work hard to give them what they want.
Communicate with your sponsors once you have them. Often, what keeps a sponsorship program going is your personal relationship with the individuals involved in making the decisions. Cultivate that, but don’t be phony or try too hard. Successful businesspeople will see right through that.
Try to progress with a sponsor. It’s tough to sell a million-dollar sponsor right off the bat, but over a period of time with the opportunity to show what you can do, it’s possible.
In fact, it’s important to educate your sponsors. You have to show them what you and racing can do—for them.
Be careful what you or your “agent” promise a sponsor, especially as far as your results go. If you promise to win every race in sight, and don’t, you lose credibility and probably their support. If you promise to finish last in every race, they probably won’t want to be involved. Make sure you give them realistic expectations. This also applies to the exposure and marketing results they will get from the program.
Finally, a sponsorship program must work off the track. It should be a good value to the sponsor before you and your car ever get on the track. Anything you do on the track is a bonus, especially if it’s running at the front of the pack, generating that extra exposure.
My opinion on business ethics relating to sponsorship hunting is don’t try to steal other driver’s or team’s sponsors. I believe that hurts everyone; it hurts the sport. If you go after a company already involved as a racing sponsor, usually all you accomplish is to demonstrate how unprofessional people are in motorsports. Sometimes that results in the company deciding it’s not the sport they want to stay involved in. Everyone loses.
If another team’s existing sponsor approaches you indicating they are dissatisfied where they are now and would be interested in hearing about what you can offer, then that’s fair game. Otherwise, leave them alone. There are enough other potential sponsors out there. It’s the same as driving. Concentrate on your own performance, rather than your competition’s, and you will win in the end.
PROFESSIONALISM AND PERSONAL IMAGE
How you are perceived by the outside world (business community, media, and so on) and the racing community can have a great effect on your career. If you want to be a professional race driver, you must look and act professional. That means how you dress (appropriate for each occasion), your personal appearance, the way you speak, how you act in company, and so on.
Any letter or sponsorship proposal that has anything to do with you must be first-class. Often, that will be the first impression you make with a potential sponsor, team, or media person. And you know what they say about first impressions.
What you do outside of the car is just as important as what you do in the car. Remember, a big part of your job as a race driver is as a motivator and team leader. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t have absolutely everyone around you pulling for you—and helping you—you will not make it in this sport. There are many examples of talented drivers who have had their careers cut short by their actions outside of the cockpit.
How you “present” yourself outside of the car will play the most important role in the rides you get in the future. How you act, react, and interact with all the people around you will determine how often you win. If your actions do not motivate, if they demotivate, your mechanics, engineers, team owner, sponsors, media people, and so on, you will not get the competitive rides you need, you will lose good rides, you will lose the edge you require to win. Always remember, if you’re not doing everything possible to win, some of your competition is. That is probably what will make them beat you, even if you have more natural talent. If you are unsportsmanlike outside of the car, sponsors will stay away from you, so will team owners, mechanics, the media, and everyone else you need on your side.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public relations is an integral part of modern-day racing. You can have all the talent in the world, but if no one knows about you, your career won’t be a long one. Guaranteed, as good as you may be, there is someone else as good, or just about as good, who has a dynamite P.R. person and program letting the world know. If you want to compete on the track, you first have to compete off the track.
If you want sponsors to help support your racing program, you will have to learn all about media and public relations. Don’t ever feel that promoting yourself is beneath you, or that the media should come to you because of how good you are. Those days are gone. These days a driver must not only be talented on the track, he or she must also be talented in the promotions business.
Using a professional public relations firm can be a benefit to your career if you can afford one. However, much like sponsor hunters, beware: Look for the good ones.
I strongly recommend taking a public-speaking course. If you are successful in racing and want your career to continue, you will have to make speeches at some point. Learn to make the most of the opportunity.
You will also have to do many interviews, either live on radio or TV, or with a journalist. Again, learn to make the most of it. There are courses that teach you how to be effective in getting across what you want to say in an interview, not just what the interviewer wants you to say.
Be yourself though, in interviews and when making speeches and public appearances. Too many drivers today have become too “polished and practiced.” They sound like a “canned” press release. Let your enthusiasm for the sport and your personality shine through, and you will find the media and sponsors more interested in listening to you.
How often have you seen Helio Castroneves looking unhappy? Okay, once or twice (a major personal challenge and a controversial call by an official come to mind), but it’s as if it doesn’t matter whether he’s on the pole, leading every lap of a race and standing on the top of the podium (or climbing a fence), or he’s just dropped out of a race, he sees the positive in practically everything. The key for him is that he’s always improving. There is no limit.
One of the things that makes Castroneves so successful is th
at his attitude or mindset doesn’t seem to change, no matter how successful or unsuccessful he is. If he’s not on pace, he’s happily focused on making things better. If he’s on the pole, he’s happily focused on being even better still. If he’s just crashed out of a race, he’s happily focused on having a better race next time. If he’s just won the race, he’s happily climbing a fence, and thinking about how he could have been even faster.
The perfect driver never quits trying to get still better. If you want to be a Formula One world champion, Indy 500 champion, or a NASCAR champion, that’s a given. What isn’t a given is the attitude that even the most low-key amateur racer needs to be a winner or to just have more fun. I can’t emphasize this enough: The more you put into becoming a better driver, the more fun you will have.
Think back to the interviews you’ve heard with Castroneves and ask yourself how many times you’ve heard excuses from him. It’s rare. Think about previous Penske drivers Gil de Ferran, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Rick Mears before him. How often did you hear excuses from them? Again, very rare.
Your attitude toward your racing has a big impact on your performance and the performance of those around you. Helio Castroneves has a positive impact on practically everyone around him, and that mindset likely helps his own performance. Shutterstock
Could it be that much of the success of the Penske teams through the years is less to do with budget and technical expertise and more to do with attitude? Could it be that every member of the team takes full responsibility for whatever happens, good or bad, and that there are no excuses? What matters to them is performing at one’s best, learning how to become even better, and not blaming others for what happens.