Too many people in US rally have it wrong about funding. The way to be successful in any form of racing is to spend someone else's money.
There is money out there for anyone willing to hit the streets and knock on lots of doors. The number one rule is to present a professional image right up front. Remember that a sponsor isn't interested in you winning a rally 500 miles away, he wants to put his business' name in front of as many people as possible, and make it LOOK like he's sponsoring a champion. That means showing the car at several local venues every year (county fair, car shows, display the car on a pile of rocks in front of his business like a Jeep, gimmicky stuff like that). It means a consistent brand image -- pick a color and a logo and make EVERYTHING match, just like the factory teams. (hint: Pick the color you want, THEN buy racing suits for the team. And get the suits embroidered and sew lots of patches on.) It also means running a "sexy" car that people will want to stop and look at. Car-friendly places are the best to start with, look for the businesses that are sponsoring your local circle track stock cars. Put together a proposal package -- professional, remember! -- with real numbers, budget, a proposed schedule of showing the car and a schedule of rally events, put your team letterhead on everything, etc., etc., etc. If you don't have a lot of driving experience, do some co-driving while you're working on a sponsorship package, anything on your "resume" will help. Convince him that his advertising dollars are well spent. Do all his work for him so he just has to sign on the dotted line!
Here's something also that a most other rallyist don't do: get more exposure (and sponsor interest) by running some local non-rally events in the car. Do some drag racing at the Friday night shoot-outs. Check and see if there's a class for you to do some local road racing (even if it's just roundy-round stuff.) If there's nothing for you, then create your own event! Contact the organizer of a tractor pull or monster truck show or even a county fair and arrange an exhibition RallyCross. Be creative, don't just invite rally guys, also create classes for Sprint cars, stock cars, Monster trucks
and contact the local champions PERSONALLY to invite them. Remember, you've got to prove to a sponsor that you'll get the car in front of lots of potential customers. And make sure you've always got your booth set up, handing out fan cards, posters, signing autographs, selling team merchandise (
http://www.cafepress.com), etc., along with business cards and flyer ads for your sponsor.
Hire a photography student from a local college to take publicity shots, they'll work cheap and the shots will be much better than asking your 17-year-old "crew chief" to do it. Sponsor a graphic design project to design your "image" (logo, letterhead, etc.) and market it to students at local colleges, pay cash awards and make sure you include second and third place in the payoff to make it legit and promote more participation.
One sponsor will probably be enough, as then you will be able to give them more space on the car for ads, more time to show the car, etc. But leave a spot on the car for one-event sponsorships, where they might pay event costs in exchange for you having their ad on the car for at least one or two car showings plus the rally itself. Also, don't forget contingency awards from car part manufacturers.
I say you don't even need a car yet. Have a detailed plan and budget, including the car you plan on racing, the prep shop that will be building the car (here's a hint, if you and your buddy are building your own car, you just hired "Odd Couple Rally Prep"
), etc. Explain why the car will be competitive in its class. If you end up buying a car instead (my recommendation, as you get more for your money), give it to a reputable shop for a once-over -- guess what, it's just been "prepared" by that shop.
For your first season, as Dennis suggested, run a regional championship and run EVERY event, plus at least 2 out-of-division events, keep it on the road, and you'll probably win the championship. Invest in a 3-day school at Team O'Neil to make it more likely. Read the rule book so you understand the points system, don't worry about winning individual rallies. I suggest running Prod or Prod GT instead of G2, as G2 is more competitive and you have to know where to spend your money on the car to make it fast. You can put something like "2005 SCCA Central Division Production Championship" on the side of your truck and on all publicity materials (after all, it doesn't say you WON the championship.) You could even go so far as to consider any podium class finish (2nd or 3rd) as technically being "champions" (though some will take issue with me on this point.) Every year, set your sights higher, by your third or even second year you should be looking to win a national championship in some class (and you'll need a sponsor that can front some national bucks, too!) Don't stop there, if you're serious, there's no reason you shouldn't be running international events at that point. In conjunction with bid to defend your national championship, run a European one-make series. That's a little tougher, you might have to either find a European sponsor or front the money yourself -- hey, you've proven you've got what it takes, consider it an investment in the future. The most important thing is to RUN EVERY EVENT YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON. By this time in your rally career, you should be running a rally at least every other week. And my advice ends here, by this time, you won't need any advice from SpecialStage...
Not to say that you can rally for free, though I think it's quite possible...But let's say you have $5,000 to spend on a car. Do you want to rally a $5,000 car, or raise $30,000 in sponsorship and drive a $25,000 car with a $10,000 season budget?
It's all just marketing. The money's out there, you just have to swallow your pride and put on your salesman's hat. Your product is the best place for a potential sponsor to put their money, and you have to convince them.
If you think of yourself as a club rallyist, you're dooming yourself to stay there. For better or worse---after all, there's a lot to be said for not having any obligations to a sponsor. But only rich guys can do that and still drive the car they really want.
I admit this is all just theory
but I'm going to be volunteering with a couple teams to see if I can help improve their image. Then I'll be putting my money where my mouth is (or rather, someone else's money) and hopefully do the same for myself next year.
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JP Rowland jeremyrowland -at- mac.com
http://homepage.mac.com/jeremyrowland