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January 22, 2005
Kirk Shelmerdine Sells Sponsorship on Ebay for Speedweeks
Most of the teams in Nascar are part of big organizations that are very well-funded. But there are some drivers, such as Kirk Shelmerdine, who both own and drive their own car, that struggle to find the necessary sponsorship and finances to keep going week after week. So Shermerdine has gotten creative and is selling sponsorship opportunities on Ebay for the qualifying races for the Daytona 500 in February. The decal that he's selling right now is 4"x4" but if the bidding exceeds $7,500 the winner would be given associate sponsor rights, which may include a larger decal or more prominant positioning on the car.
The rules have changed for qualifying in 2005 so it's going to be a lot harder for drivers like Kirk Shelmerdine to get into as many races as he did last season. Now he will have to make it in on speed, which might be tough as his team has usually struggled in that area. So with that in mind he is not including sponsorship for the Daytona 500 as part of this package but if he should make it, the winner will be offered the opportunity to sponsor him in that race separately.
If I had a bunch of spare cash hanging around, I might be inclined to bid on that auction. We could put Jim's website on the car and get the site some extra publicity, even through a Yankees website really doesn't have much to do with Nascar. But it would help out a struggling race team and that is a good thing. However, since I haven't won the lottery lately, I don't think I'll be bidding on that auction! But it really speaks to how expensive things are in Nascar when even being an associate sponsor on Kirk Shelmerdine's car costs $7,500. Primary sponsorship on that car must go for a pretty penny and that is a team that gets little to no attention and doesn't have much success on the track.
For a company it might not be a bad deal putting their logo on his car for Speedweeks since there is a tremendous amount of attention paid to all teams at that time, perhaps more so than for any other Nascar event. Even if Shelmerdine doesn't get too much TV time, there will still be a lot of fans who will see the car in person at the track. But a lot of companies will probably hesitate about sponsoring a not very well-known driver who won't fare well. Which is unfortunate because without additional funding there is no way he will be able to field a more competitive car.
Posted by silverdsl at January 22, 2005 07:01 PM