The Art of Being a 

Racing Wife

With Linda Petty, wife of Richard, recently passing away after a long bout with cancer, I got to thinking just how important racing wives are to a family.  They are the glue that holds everything together.

Lynda had been fighting cancer for quite some time. Two years ago, when I attended the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Texas, I had the opportunity to meet Richard.  He graciously opened his RV to us to do some photos and a BS session.  It was a surreal moment.  That man can genuinely engage in a conversation with someone he just met.  As it turned out, we were quite fortunate to do that meet & greet, as Richard was leaving shortly thereafter—even before the race started, to fly home to Lynda because she was not doing well.  That was two years ago.  I can only imagine how brutal some of her days were between then and the end.  Cancer is vicious.  It’s even more vicious to watch someone who has been incredibly strong succumb to it.

Lynda was instrumental in starting the Racing Wives Auxiliary, an organization that helps injured members of the NASCAR community.  It was extremely hard decades ago to be a racing wife at the top level of the sport.  Back then, there weren’t massive pay days or endorsement deals that funded lush motor homes.  Having a place of respite where you could take care of the kids or grab a quiet moment with your spouse was unheard of back in the day.  Private jets were not a common staple in the budgets to get a driver’s family to and from the races.  It was a rough life for the wives of racers or crew members, if they even were able to attend the races.

Supporting your spouse’s hopes and dreams is something everyone should do.  It can be tough when a spouse is absent for many things, due to their work.  Spouses of those who are members of the military will always have my utmost respect.  Not only do they struggle to hold down the proverbial fort solo, but the potential risk of losing their spouse in the line of duty is always in the back of their mind.  I’m not at all trying to equate a racer to a member of the military, but the scenario can be somewhat similar.  The time away from the family while working on the race car, traveling or racing can be tremendous.  Obviously, there is risk of losing one’s life in racing is there as well.  The Petty family is all too familiar with that, when their grandson, Adam died from injuries sustained in a racing incident back in 2000.  But it’s not the same thing as military, I get that.

Still, at the local short track level, racing wives play an integral role.  My husband is not a racer per se, but he does build race cars and is a crew chief.  I’m grateful that we don’t have small children, as I see firsthand just how challenging that can be on racing families.  Being a racing wife can be tough.  Being a racing wife and mom is downright exhausting.  It requires copious amounts of patience, understanding, and bottles of wine.

It is doubtful that Lynda Petty relied upon wine.  She was a skillful wife and mother in the pits, capable of feeding an entire pit crew and brood of children out of the back of a station wagon.  I bought a bag of Fritos once for my husband at the race track.  I guess I need to work on that a little more.

Racing wives are the backbone of the family.  We soothe our husband’s bruised ego when a night doesn’t go well. We are their biggest cheerleaders when they are on the cusp of a win, and those with children end up filling in the parenting gaps solo as necessary.  We are philanthropists, always ready to help another racing family, whether it’s a fundraiser or just helping to keep an eye on kids in the grandstands.  Diplomacy is something all racing wives must learn.  We smile and pretend to be happy for another family, when their dad wins the feature; even though we wished it were our own kid’s dad in Victory Lane.

A healthy work/racing/life balance is a difficult thing to achieve.  I don’t know if Lynda Petty ever had the perfect balance, but she sure made it look like it.  Attitude is everything, and a positive one at that, which can be tough when your husband works a lot of hours.  My husband is a workaholic.  Although, I’m convinced he could probably manage his time just a little better.  He talks A LOT.  Seriously, he logs WAY over 3500 minutes each month on his cellphone, and if you get him going on stories of races past and he’ll devour hours.  And they say women talk a lot.

Regardless, our marriage seems to be made for racing.  We are both passionate about this sport we love, yet we both have our own interests at the track.  Obviously, he is in the pits with his team and I’m somewhere up top, videotaping the events or doing a live broadcast, depending on the track.  He has never said it, but I’m sure he appreciates that he doesn’t have to worry about where I’m at or what I’m doing.  I wouldn’t want it any other way.  The worst thing that could happen is for something to not go well at the track because I was making demands on his time for something, when he needed to be focused on the car or team.  I don’t want to be THAT wife.

But still, holding a family unit together with a racer can be tough, when there are jobs around the house to be done; particularly auto care.  It is incredibly strange that a guy who turns wrenches for a living, struggles to find the time to perform such tasks on our personal vehicles.

I think my husband would agree that I don’t nag.  I nudge.  However, that can backfire sometimes.  I purchased side mirrors for my Ford Explorer and asked him to help me replace the broken ones.  Those new mirrors sat by the door to the garage for a whole year, before I finally watched a YouTube video that showed me how to replace them.  I ended up doing that job myself, thinking that he would feel guilty for not doing it.  Wrong.  Instead, he bragged to his buddies how awesome his wife was for being able to do the job herself.    How could I be mad at him?  He was so proud of me.  In retrospect, I’m pretty sure that was his plan.  Kill me with compliments, so I forget that he was supposed to do the job over a year ago.

I really shouldn’t rip on him too much.  The stars aligned this week for me.  I actually wrote down the date and time in my journal.  This stuff doesn’t happen—ever.  My husband bought the swaybar bracket kit and replaced the broken ones on my Explorer!  I had only asked him once if he could do it.  I was astounded.  I even took a picture to document the occasion, and then I took him out to dinner to celebrate.  I’m starting to think he has the upper hand on this deal, in retrospect.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m handling these situations the way Lynda Petty would have.  I certainly don’t have the magnitude of patience and vision that she did, but I’m trying.  I think we could all benefit if we tried harder to emulate Lynda Petty, the first lady of NASCAR racing.  Be passionate about what and who you love, be supportive, but most of all make the most of every situation, even if it isn’t “perfect.” There is no such thing as perfect. 

$earching for $ponsorship

Securing sponsorships for racing can be a pretty tough mountain to climb.  It’s complicated even more so when hard economic times squeeze on businesses.  Generally speaking, advertising funds tend to be among the first things companies slash, when they need to tighten their budget belts.  As someone who sells media advertising, I can confirm, this sucks.  As someone who has helped race car drivers secure sponsorships, it can be downright maddening to find a way to get the job done.  This is a different financial world these days.  Now more than ever, businesses want a guaranteed return on investment, if you’re going to have a shot at prying any money out of their hands for a promotion or advertising endeavor.

Does this mean you have to be a front-runner on the track, who grabs headlines and a checkered flag every feature?  Well, I won’t lie.  That would be a great, if you could do that.  However, let’s be realistic.  Not everyone can do that.  And not every racer has a family that owns a chain of Zaxby’s restaurants to finance your racing.  It can still be done, if you’re up for the challenge, but you need to be willing to put the time into it.  Do some research and get creative.  Have a plan and be prepared to present it simply and concisely on a one or two-sheet proposal.  Every smart racer is out there asking for money.  You need to make your opportunity stand out from the others.  

Find ways to create promotional opportunities for the sponsor.  Look into local businesses to find out if they have a major event like an anniversary sale or other planned promotional event during the race season.  Find a way to tie you and your car into that event.  If this means, reaching out to your track promoter and seeing if you can get some race tickets or other things to help build a prize package for that big in-store event, by all means—do it.  Bringing a potential sponsor a “turn-key promotion,” that can dovetail into something they were already planning to promote gives you a leg up on your competition in the search for sponsorship dollars.

Consider bartering for sponsorship, but not just the typical trade for beer after the races.  If you want to secure bigger dollars for your season, try turning the barter into something that can be used in a turn-key promotion to take to a bigger cash sponsor for yourself.  The idea of garnering cases upon cases of beer for your team to consume post-race might initially sound attractive.  Seriously, I get it.  Dunking your hand into the icy cooler at the end of a race night to grab a beer feels fantastic.  It’s even better when it was a “free” beer, but what if you instead asked the beer sponsor for a couple of “office parties” that you could take to a prospective business to sponsor you for cash.  You have helped the cash sponsor create an in-house promotion that he can hopefully turn into a traffic-building event that will make his cash register ring, solidifying you as an ally in his marketing efforts. 

Obviously, any time you have a sponsor with an event, you should work toward having your car on display there for it, as it’s good for them and you to be visible.  I’d recommend actually being there with your hero cards to hand out to patrons as well and not just parking your car there.  People are naturally curious to get an up-close look at a race car.  Not everyone gets to the pits after the races to have a gander at a race car, especially little kids.  They tend to be tuckered out by the end of the race night, so having an afternoon to see a race car up-close is a big deal.  You may score more fans and points with your sponsor, for the time and effort you put forth at these appearances.

The old adage about “service after the sale” is incredibly important to sponsorships.  So many teams in the past have tainted the pool of potential race car sponsors by doing a quick cash grab and then not following up on the customer service side of accepting those dollars.  I’ve heard horror stories of sponsors who never heard another peep from a driver after handing over thousands of dollars, until it was time for a new season and they wanted more money.  Or even worse, the car got wrecked and they quit running at the track, and never once reached out to the sponsors to discuss the situation. Always keep your sponsors in the loop as to what’s going on with your season.  Your sponsors are your customers, treat them accordingly.

Consider doing a weekly press release of sorts to recap every race night and make sure to email it to your sponsors.  They are not always going to be able to make it to the races, so this allows you to continue to maintain contact and share the successes or challenges with them.  Make sure someone on your team or a family member can snap some photos to include in that piece each week.  

It should go without saying that a race team Facebook or Twitter account or even a website would be beneficial for you and your sponsors.  The first two are free, but it would be worth the investment to establish a professional-looking website.  Consider working with someone that has experience building eye-catching, professional websites and “gets” racing.  I’d recommend Scott Lofquist, with http://shorttracks.us to get it done right, if you’re serious.  He’s a machine and a great ally for all racers.  (I have no financial stake in Scott’s business.  I do enjoy poking a stick at him occasionally via Twitter, but seriously, he does a phenomenal job.)

Don’t offer too many options in your proposal, as it will confuse the potential sponsor.  Ideally, include just two investment options for your race season in the proposal, each with different price levels and each with a different array of promotional opportunities that you’ll include.  With two options offered, you can close the sale with, “Which opportunity works best for you?”  

Rejection can be brutal, but don’t give up if someone declines your opportunity for sponsoring your race car. Take what you can from the experience and use it to improve on your next presentation.  The more you do it, the better you will get.  You might even find you like the challenge of turning a “no,” into a “yes.”