Did you seriously just use the term ROI and Land Speed Sponsorship in the same sentence? If there were even a 1% ROI we'd all have sponsors.
Yeah, I seriously used ROI and LSR in the same paragraph.
I actually sat through a panel discussion at PRI a few years ago, touting the financial potential of Bonneville to those in the racing industry. "Landspeed Louise" wrote an article about it a few months back in the PRI trade magazine.
I suppose if you run a 400+ mph car, a sponsor might be interested in associating with your effort - but I walked away from the discussion and the article unconvinced.
For every LSR engine a shop sees, they'll see dozens, if not hundreds, or possibly thousands of drag, road racing, dirt track or modified street engines come and go through their shops.
I'm always amazed when anybody gets a sponsorship deal in this sport, and here's why -
Think about the demographic of an average Land Speed Racer. Most are permitted the privilege of ordering discounted breakfast specials at Denny's. Is this a demographic anyone other than a supplemental Medicare insurer would want to capture?
When was the last time any of us bought a product because we were made aware of it via an LSR event? I think it's safe to say that the Big 10 Championship game at Lucas Stadium has done more to raise awareness of Lucas petroleum products than LSR.
Monster sponsored Speedweek for a while, but do any of us have it in their fridge, or even an empty can rolling around on the floor of their car or garage?
Start with Bonneville -
world renowned - and held in higher regard overseas than in the States. To that point, the ONLY sponsorship interest I was even remotely able to draw into a sit-down was a brewer in England. That ended abruptly when I explained the BLM wouldn't likely countenance a beer-vendor at the event.
Why would a company offer up cash to support an entry into an event seen by fewer than 10,000 people in a busy year, half of whom are associated with other participants, when that event is spread out over 30 square miles of inhospitable wasteland, on 3 or 4 separate courses, and not even broadcast on a 3rd tier cable network, nor accurately covered by media in
any form, save Slim's webcast? Did I mention that most of the spectators leave after the second day of a seven-day event? Did I mention that the surface is deteriorating? Did I mention that it's been rained out twice in the last 4 years, with no possibility of rescheduling?
I'm a fan of ECTA events, but realistically, any potential for a sponsor decreases precipitously when you move to a track without an established pedigree or cache. Bonneville's been around for 100+ years - Wilmington came and went in five.
And as nice as Wilmington was, any given 1/3 mile clay oval in any Midwestern state on any given Friday night will outdraw an ECTA event.
There's just not enough pairs of eyes to warrant the expense.
So yeah - I think LSR is largely unsponsorable - and I am happy for those who have worked the magic of convincing anybody that there is any potential ROI in this sport.