Local dealerships and the like might sponsor you, but a lot of the big companies just pay contingency money for wins. Contingency is what you’d think of as sponsorship, except the relationship is sort of reversed. Instead of “hey Michelin, pay me lots of $$$ give me tires and I’ll slather Michelin stickers all over,” contingency goes something like “hey racer, slather michelin decals all over your bike, put patches on your leathers, and on your transport vehicle, then win races and we might give you some pocketchange. Also we might give you a bit of a break on tires, but not much.”
Especially at the club level, from what I’ve heard from racer friends, sponsors don’t really care about wins. They care that a) you’re at the track a lot, b) you have lots of exposure to people, and that when you make a good impression and promote the brand. But what would I know.
I dunno ‘Spaz…I really like racing in theory. I love the competition. The safety record of club racing really scares me though. Especially at Pacific Raceways, helicopter visits are not at all uncommon. Maybe once I’m out of grad school (i.e. next season) WMRRA will have a true superstock class. I’d consider that. Maybe.
Either way I’ll be jealous of you. When do the track days stop in Cali? They’re already through up here.
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