Auto racing - my son - looking for corporate sponsorship

Hi everyone, if you've been around here long enough you've probably seen me bragging on my son. Well, he just turned 12, and is arguably the best youth driver in the USA. He is experienced on dirt, asphalt, oval, road course, and offroad. This weekend he was driving a Legends car at 95 MPH on the Charlotte Roval. Last weekend he was driving a kart at GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, the week before that he was racing a Micro Sprint in FL. We are all over the place, racing all sorts of things.

Recently he has caught the attention of Kevin Harvick. My son will often coach Kevin's kid in karts. This has allowed us to spend a lot of time with Kevin, and get guidance and influence on Ben's career.

This year things are going to get ratcheted up quite a bit. We are transitioning to the point where it fully becomes totally unaffordable to fund his progression ourselves. Our motorsports mentors, including Kevin, say this is the point that we need to have this funded by sponsorships. First reason is so that we do not come out the other end broke. Second reason is to prove he is marketable which is the ultimate test of a driver. Just about every driver you see on TV has has had major sponsorship to get them where they are. Very few exceptions. This is a harsh reality of motorsports.

The disciplines he'll be racing include Late Model's on asphalt ovals (full size Nascar), 600cc Micro Sprints on dirt oval, and Legends Cars on asphalt oval and road course. Literally all over the country. Nearly every weekend. Primarily on the east coast. Photos of these 3 types of cars are below.

He'll be in absolutely the best equipment with the best people to get the most out of this development. The path is laid out for him, with influential people looking out for his best interest. The 2 variables are whether we can get sponsorship, and whether he continues the trajectory he has been on for 9 years already.

So here is what I ask of you all. If you are, or know anybody, in an executive position at a company that has marketing dollars to burn, or wants to get behind the development of this promising driver then please let me know. Even a partial sponsorship now to build a relationship and to get everyone excited about racing could lead to something bigger down the road. We need our foot in the door. His stuff moving forward will be handled by a management company to ensure all obligations are met in the most professional way possible. Vehicle wraps, driver suit, mentions in PR and interviews, driver appearances and showcar appearances at company events. Etc.

I have a brochure on him done by a marketing agency for anybody wanting to know more. It is also a great piece to forward along to anybody you might think can help. Just request it from me. jim.maier@gmail.com Thanks everyone! https://www.facebook.com/benjmaier

Good luck Jim. My son raced a little WKA Manufacturers Cup back around 2007 to 2012, mainly at Beaverun and New Castle, IN. He was racing with Austin Wayne Self, Jamie MacMurray and a few others. We didn't have the budget to compete and he started losing interest. He is 27 now. He ran Yamaha Jr can then TaG running a Leopard. We ran a Birel the first year, then Kosmics, then the last few years ran Arrow. When we were running the Arrow we pitted with Eric Jones and Mark Dismore. It was a blast but too rich for us. Highlight of his career was driving a Star Mazda Pro Formula car at Beaverun right after his 15th birthday. There is a youtube video of that..

Good luck

This is pretty cool Jim. Ever plan to race in Wisconsin? Advertising in other states does nothing for my business exposure. No one is going to travel here from X state for an implant because they saw my name on a race car, so you get my reason for the question. Mike

McMurray's son races now. A little younger than my son.

We race karts in Wisconsin. No marketing value with karts though. Road America is one of our favorite tracks.

CSR_Admin said:

McMurray's son races now. A little younger than my son.

We race karts in Wisconsin. No marketing value with karts though. Road America is one of our favorite tracks.

Click to expand...

Cool. Didn't know that. We only saw Jamie once and that was at Beaverun the week after he won the July Daytona race. I think it was 2010. He raced with a bunch of Indy car guys (Sage Karam, Spencer Pigot, etc).

And yeah, sponsorship in karting is tough because there aren't many spectators that see your logo so not much visibility. Very hard to get karting sponsorship.

Oh yeah, the Eric Jones we pitted with was the older one that ran the NASCAR truck series back in the early 2000's, not the current one. Eric was the importer for Arrow karts and was involved with Mooresville Motorsports Park with Justin Marks and Michael McDowell. We were struggling with an exit push and Dismores couldn't figure it out. I emailed Eric and he called me and invited us to pit with them at the Great Lakes Sprint Series race at Beaverun so from that point on we pitted with him and Dismores.

Harvick owns some kind of sponsorship type company doesn't he? Marketing or something?

Good luck Jim. Hope he makes it!

boatman37 said:

Cool. Didn't know that. We only saw Jamie once and that was at Beaverun the week after he won the July Daytona race. I think it was 2010. He raced with a bunch of Indy car guys (Sage Karam, Spencer Pigot, etc).

And yeah, sponsorship in karting is tough because there aren't many spectators that see your logo so not much visibility. Very hard to get karting sponsorship.

Oh yeah, the Eric Jones we pitted with was the older one that ran the NASCAR truck series back in the early 2000's, not the current one. Eric was the importer for Arrow karts and was involved with Mooresville Motorsports Park with Justin Marks and Michael McDowell. We were struggling with an exit push and Dismores couldn't figure it out. I emailed Eric and he called me and invited us to pit with them at the Great Lakes Sprint Series race at Beaverun so from that point on we pitted with him and Dismores.

Harvick owns some kind of sponsorship type company doesn't he? Marketing or something?

Good luck Jim. Hope he makes it!

Click to expand...

All those people are still in it and I know most of them well. Eric Jones is a partner at GoPro Motorplex in Moorseville. Renamed. Dismores are still heavy into it too, own Comet Kart Sales and New Castle Motorsports Park. Harvick Owns Kevin Harvick Inc, a sports management company. Hope to be under that umbrella at some point but in the meantime answer directly to the big guy himself.

Way to go!!! Been a fan of Elliot's for years. Used to fly into his place back in the day when I was doing computer consulting. Chase is doing a good job following in his father's footsteps.

CSR_Admin said:

All those people are still in it and I know most of them well. Eric Jones is a partner at GoPro Motorplex in Moorseville. Renamed. Dismores are still heavy into it too, own Comet Kart Sales and New Castle Motorsports Park. Harvick Owns Kevin Harvick Inc, a sports management company. Hope to be under that umbrella at some point but in the meantime answer directly to the big guy himself.

Click to expand...

Yeah I kept in contact with Mark Jr for awhile but it has been a few years now. We sold our stuff around 2013. Last I talked to Mark Jr was about 2015 when he invited us to Beaverun to hang out with them at Man Cup but my son wasn't interested so we didn't go. Haven't talked to him since then. Son got to race against Dismore Sr so that was cool. Son got beat by a 60 year old....lol

I would imagine if he's running Late models and those other series, he's probably heavily involved in iRacing as well. A lot of the pros run that sim. Hell, he's probably one of the kids that kicks my butt all the time. lol

Almost all racing needs a tremendous amount of funding to be successful. I have been involved in off road racing, working with a promoter and behind the wheel for close to 15 years now in California, Nevada, Arizona and in Baja. My client runs the largest off road race currently in the US. Even the teams and drivers with deep pockets from their own thriving private businesses need corporate funding to survive. When I race, I don't have the "cubic dollars" to compete with the big boys, but I appreciate all of the work they put into prep and corporate funding to stay on top. I have had a couple of tire deals over the years, but that was about it. Off road guys like to point to Jeff Gordon and {edit} Jimmie Johnson who both got their starts racing in Baja before their NASCAR careers, both coming from good families that supported them, but sponsorship opportunities put them over the top. Jim, I'm not sure if I can direct anyone your way as some companies have been pulling back a bit on their advertising campaigns, but if I hear of anything, I'll let you know. Here is the old man in the dirt.

ENstig8or said:

I would imagine if he's running Late models and those other series, he's probably heavily involved in iRacing as well. A lot of the pros run that sim. Hell, he's probably one of the kids that kicks my butt all the time. lol

Click to expand...

He does some iracing. We have the whole shebang. But he drives the real thing more often than the sim. There is no substitute for real seat time, and he is behind a real wheel at least once a week. Often 3 times a week. We used it recently before driving the Legends car at the Charlotte Roval.

Shoyrtt said:

Almost all racing needs a tremendous amount of funding to be successful. I have been involved in off road racing, working with a promoter and behind the wheel for close to 15 years now in California, Nevada, Arizona and in Baja. My client runs the largest off road race currently in the US. Even the teams and drivers with deep pockets from their own thriving private businesses need corporate funding to survive. When I race, I don't have the "cubic dollars" to compete with the big boys, but I appreciate all of the work they put into prep and corporate funding to stay on top. I have had a couple of tire deals over the years, but that was about it. Off road guys like to point to Jeff Gordon and Robbie Gordon who both got their starts racing in Baja before their NASCAR careers, both coming from good families that supported them, but sponsorship opportunities put them over the top. Jim, I'm not sure if I can direct anyone your way as some companies have been pulling back a bit on their advertising campaigns, but if I hear of anything, I'll let you know. Here is the old man in the dirt. View attachment 100536

Click to expand...

Jimmie Johnson got started in offroad too. Not sure how Jeff Gordon had any time for baja. He was full time in a sprint car at 13. We see Jimmie often at GoPro. It has been so enlightening to me to find out that once you get to a certain level that you shouldn't use your own money. I guess it is just a bad practice to get into. It makes sense. If you can't find sponsorship to make the current leap, then you won't find it down the road for bigger leaps. These guys I have mentioned are so conditioned to this that they even rely on sponsorship money for their own kids in karting even though they are worth tens of millions. It is like trying to crack a code, to figure out how to get into corporate sponsorship.

CSR_Admin said:

Jimmie Johnson got started in offroad too. Not sure how Jeff Gordon had any time for baja. ...

Click to expand...

Brain fart on my end. For some reason I get Jimmie and Jeff confused. I believe Jimmie grew up in San Diego County. Here is a great story about him racing the 1995 Baja 1000.
https://www.sportscasting.com/jimmi...ially-fatal-crash-i-needed-that-wake-up-call/

CSR_Admin said:

Hi everyone, if you've been around here long enough you've probably seen me bragging on my son. Well, he just turned 12, and is arguably the best youth driver in the USA. He is experienced on dirt, asphalt, oval, road course, and offroad. This weekend he was driving a Legends car at 95 MPH on the Charlotte Roval. Last weekend he was driving a kart at GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, the week before that he was racing a Micro Sprint in FL. We are all over the place, racing all sorts of things.

Recently he has caught the attention of Kevin Harvick. My son will often coach Kevin's kid in karts. This has allowed us to spend a lot of time with Kevin, and get guidance and influence on Ben's career.

This year things are going to get ratcheted up quite a bit. We are transitioning to the point where it fully becomes totally unaffordable to fund his progression ourselves. Our motorsports mentors, including Kevin, say this is the point that we need to have this funded by sponsorships. First reason is so that we do not come out the other end broke. Second reason is to prove he is marketable which is the ultimate test of a driver. Just about every driver you see on TV has has had major sponsorship to get them where they are. Very few exceptions. This is a harsh reality of motorsports.

The disciplines he'll be racing include Late Model's on asphalt ovals (full size Nascar), 600cc Micro Sprints on dirt oval, and Legends Cars on asphalt oval and road course. Literally all over the country. Nearly every weekend. Primarily on the east coast. Photos of these 3 types of cars are below.

He'll be in absolutely the best equipment with the best people to get the most out of this development. The path is laid out for him, with influential people looking out for his best interest. The 2 variables are whether we can get sponsorship, and whether he continues the trajectory he has been on for 9 years already.

So here is what I ask of you all. If you are, or know anybody, in an executive position at a company that has marketing dollars to burn, or wants to get behind the development of this promising driver then please let me know. Even a partial sponsorship now to build a relationship and to get everyone excited about racing could lead to something bigger down the road. We need our foot in the door. His stuff moving forward will be handled by a management company to ensure all obligations are met in the most professional way possible. Vehicle wraps, driver suit, mentions in PR and interviews, driver appearances and showcar appearances at company events. Etc.

I have a brochure on him done by a marketing agency for anybody wanting to know more. It is also a great piece to forward along to anybody you might think can help. Just request it from me. jim.maier@gmail.com Thanks everyone! https://www.facebook.com/benjmaier

View attachment 100456 View attachment 100457 View attachment 100458

Click to expand...

Man I wish I was in the position to help, I would jump on this opportunity. I grew up at IRP, Winchester and Toledo Speedway, etc watching sprint cars, modifieds and late models. It’s in my blood.

Sounds like the boy is on his way.

CSR_Admin said:

Hi everyone, if you've been around here long enough you've probably seen me bragging on my son. Well, he just turned 12, and is arguably the best youth driver in the USA. He is experienced on dirt, asphalt, oval, road course, and offroad. This weekend he was driving a Legends car at 95 MPH on the Charlotte Roval. Last weekend he was driving a kart at GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, the week before that he was racing a Micro Sprint in FL. We are all over the place, racing all sorts of things.

Recently he has caught the attention of Kevin Harvick. My son will often coach Kevin's kid in karts. This has allowed us to spend a lot of time with Kevin, and get guidance and influence on Ben's career.

This year things are going to get ratcheted up quite a bit. We are transitioning to the point where it fully becomes totally unaffordable to fund his progression ourselves. Our motorsports mentors, including Kevin, say this is the point that we need to have this funded by sponsorships. First reason is so that we do not come out the other end broke. Second reason is to prove he is marketable which is the ultimate test of a driver. Just about every driver you see on TV has has had major sponsorship to get them where they are. Very few exceptions. This is a harsh reality of motorsports.

The disciplines he'll be racing include Late Model's on asphalt ovals (full size Nascar), 600cc Micro Sprints on dirt oval, and Legends Cars on asphalt oval and road course. Literally all over the country. Nearly every weekend. Primarily on the east coast. Photos of these 3 types of cars are below.

He'll be in absolutely the best equipment with the best people to get the most out of this development. The path is laid out for him, with influential people looking out for his best interest. The 2 variables are whether we can get sponsorship, and whether he continues the trajectory he has been on for 9 years already.

So here is what I ask of you all. If you are, or know anybody, in an executive position at a company that has marketing dollars to burn, or wants to get behind the development of this promising driver then please let me know. Even a partial sponsorship now to build a relationship and to get everyone excited about racing could lead to something bigger down the road. We need our foot in the door. His stuff moving forward will be handled by a management company to ensure all obligations are met in the most professional way possible. Vehicle wraps, driver suit, mentions in PR and interviews, driver appearances and showcar appearances at company events. Etc.

I have a brochure on him done by a marketing agency for anybody wanting to know more. It is also a great piece to forward along to anybody you might think can help. Just request it from me. jim.maier@gmail.com Thanks everyone! https://www.facebook.com/benjmaier

View attachment 100456 View attachment 100457 View attachment 100458

Click to expand...

I raced myself way back when - costs a fortune that's for sure. If he is as good as you say he is - people will take notice but you are right, you need a backer. I was impressed by Lewis Hamilton as kid telling the boss of McLearn that he would someday race for the team. They took notice and Lewis knocked it out of the park —but his father mortgaged everything to get him there. I got to know Danica Patrick's mother a little back in the day and she spent everything to get Danica the advantages and experience she needed —sent her go kart motors off to Finland for preps etc (crazy right?) Well it paid off. There are plenty of folks like Bobby Rahal who are pretty grass roots. My point is reach out to people in creative ways to grab attention. The reality is —it's a money sport, and lots of it —and if you can't get it forget it unfortunately. I know in Europe it costs about $250,000 Euros a year to put your kid in a competitive go kart and race a season at the pointy end of the grid. It's definitely cheaper in North America. I recall from Paul Tracey his dad bought him a ride in the Indy race down in Florida early in his career ... the race didn't work out well for Paul, but Roger Penske took notice .... it's luck vs. spending —I am pretty sure you know all of this already. I had my 12 year old in karts and he is a natural as well —kicked ass .... but it turns out he prefers basketball —lucky me. As I like to do, another quote from a noted person ... this time Dale Earnhardt "You win some, you lose some, you wreck some." Good luck with your son —may he keep his foot in it! —I'll look for him at Daytona some day.

There's a show on Discovery+ called "Baby Drivers" I think. Anyway, they said to have a 7 - 10 year old kid to compete in high level go cart racing costs $80,000+/year! I thought club hockey and soccer were expensive, but wow.

highslice said:

There's a show on Discovery+ called "Baby Drivers" I think. Anyway, they said to have a 7 - 10 year old kid to compete in high level go cart racing costs $80,000+/year! I thought club hockey and soccer were expensive, but wow.

Click to expand...

Yep. The TaG karts my son raced were about $10,000 each and you need spare engines. Tires were $200/set and you needed 2 sets for each class. 1 set for practice and 1 for qualifying/racing. And if you ran multiple classes then 2 sets for each class. An engine rebuild for us was about $1500 and to be at the top you needed a rebuild about twice a season. A typical chassis would last about 5-10 races for the top guys. They were still usable but would lose a few .10's so they would replace them a few times a year and they were $4000 just for a bare chassis with plastic.
Here is a link to what we used to run. $5600 now. And when we bought them for $4000 there was no engine, no tires, etc. Just a frame, plastic bodywork, steering controls, brakes, seat and wheels. That was pretty much it.
https://dpekartsuperstore.com/collections/arrow/products/arrow-kart-x6-senior
And that's why we quit...lol.
I heard of guys flying in tuners from Europe for the weekend at about $15,000 for them to tune their kids kart for the weekend. Jim probably has a better idea on that than me though

boatman37 said:

Yep. The TaG karts my son raced were about $10,000 each and you need spare engines. Tires were $200/set and you needed 2 sets for each class. 1 set for practice and 1 for qualifying/racing. And if you ran multiple classes then 2 sets for each class. An engine rebuild for us was about $1500 and to be at the top you needed a rebuild about twice a season. A typical chassis would last about 5-10 races for the top guys. They were still usable but would lose a few .10's so they would replace them a few times a year and they were $4000 just for a bare chassis with plastic.
Here is a link to what we used to run. $5600 now. And when we bought them for $4000 there was no engine, no tires, etc. Just a frame, plastic bodywork, steering controls, brakes, seat and wheels. That was pretty much it.
https://dpekartsuperstore.com/collections/arrow/products/arrow-kart-x6-senior
And that's why we quit...lol.
I heard of guys flying in tuners from Europe for the weekend at about $15,000 for them to tune their kids kart for the weekend. Jim probably has a better idea on that than me though

Click to expand...

That's crazy. My youngest likes to drive fast, but he has always paid for his own ride.

highslice said:

That's crazy. My youngest likes to drive fast, but he has always paid for his own ride.

Click to expand...

My son started at about 7 years old and quit when he was about 16. No way he was paying that tab at that age...lol

boatman37 said:

My son started at about 7 years old and quit when he was about 16. No way he was paying that tab at that age...lol

Click to expand...

Mine didn't start until 16. His Grandma gave him (and all of her Grandchildren) $5,000 on his 16th birthday. He used that to buy an RX 8. Couple years later he sold that at a profit and bought a Speed6. The engine in that car threw a rod. He found a used block on the internet and bought it. Then he disassembled the motor in the 6 and he and I lifted the block out of that car. He built the new motor from the block he bought, new pistons, rods and valves and the parts from the old engine. That motor made over 400 HP, lightening fast. He totaled that car and used the insurance proceeds to buy a Speed3, which is sitting in my garage. he now lives 4 hours away from us and is the proud owner of an Acura TL and BMW 330ci. All with money he earned himself.