The Sim Racing Sponsor Playbook
How young, hungry drivers are using video games to score backing that could build a star-studded career down the line.
A weekly newsletter by Ryan K. ZumMallen | @zoomy575m
Happy Race Day, especially to the party people who turned physical distancing orders into a DRIVE-IN RAVE.
Thanks for joining us. If you can, it would be a great help if you send this newsletter to someone who would really enjoy it. Can you think of one person right now? Maybe two? Every email helps!
Now, on to our main topic this week:
How to Build A Race Career in Covid
Sim racing offers exposure to up-and-coming drivers that are scrapping and clawing to build sponsors for an eventual return.
Real life racing has ground to a halt. That means no fans, no on-site events and, crucially, no live television. New sponsor deals have effectively ground to a halt.
A lot of drivers are fighting for a job in the 2021 season, or working their way up into higher-profile series. They planned to use this season to secure their future.
But without any motorsports, there are limited opportunities to show their stuff.
As we’ve documented here at Race Day, sim racing has stepped in to fill the void. Some stars take it seriously. Others don’t. But at the back of the field, and in lower-level series full of hungry drivers, there is a lot at stake.
Take, for example, Landon Huffman. He’s a 24-year old stock car driver in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series trying to move up the ranks. Before 2020, his career-best finish was one 16th-place.
Then, he finally scored victory. NASCAR held a big virtual event called Saturday Night Thunder in late April. Huffman started from 29th place, worked his way up and led exactly one lap — the final one.
Huffman beat a field of 40 drivers, none of them huge names in the star-driven NASCAR world. But it was more than just a video game win. After three years in stock car racing, it earned him his first headline on NASCAR.com. Tons of outlets led their weekend coverage with his name.
Rallying Support
Sim racing is more than a novelty to pass the time. It’s the only game in town. And now, advertisers that couldn’t afford to sponsor a real car can get in at pennies on the dollar.
I spoke with Michael Boswell, president of CM2 Motorsports, a marketing agency that represents Huffman and several other drivers. “It’s a case of exposure—period,” Boswell told me. His agency has become aggressive in getting its drivers in as many high-profile sim races as possible.
Money is everything. The worst-kept secret in sports is that talent can get you far in racing, but sponsors will take you anywhere. Attracting money in this atmosphere is near impossible. But sim racing can build relationships.
Huffman leveraged his win — which drew more than 200,000 views on YouTube alone — into deals with companies that could never afford the $50,000 it takes to sponsor a top car, but can get a foot in the door for under a grand in the virtual world. In some cases it even comes with morale-boosting perks like drivers hosting a Zoom call with employees.
Now drivers are looking to hold onto those new relationships and, when racing returns, turn them into full-fledged backers. Prices may be down. But any bonds forged now could prove invaluable when it comes time to move up a class.
Uniquely Ready
At just 24, Huffman grew up playing video games. The transition has been easier for he and other young drivers than it has been for others. NASCAR has also dived into gaming with both feet.
Starting tonight, there are five races over the next 14 days. NASCAR is involved in four different virtual series. The real-life events are scheduled to return with a flurry of seven races in just 11 days — but those will be done without fans and the usual pomp and circumstance.
Real racing is still testing the waters. But NASCAR and other series have spent months building up infrastructure and fanbases to watch gaming online. They would be foolish to let it die on the vine, even when things return to normal.
In select cases, this is an opportunity to build a package of sim success, virtual audience and a sponsor portfolio that will catch the eye of big-name teams.
Maybe gaming isn’t the great equalizer that will level the playing field based on talent. If anything, some sources said, the influence of independently wealthy drivers may actually increase because of their access to tight pockets.
But for those fighting to make a name for themselves without easy money, sim racing could be one part of the answer. And more and more, it’s looking like an increasingly important part.
Book Club
We did it! This marks the final week for our reading of ‘Faster’ and its tales of the furious race for glory in the early days of motorsport.
No matter where you are in the book, jump in and participate in our Google Doc discussions.
REMINDER: This Saturday we are hosting a Q&A with ‘Faster’ author Neal Bascomb! Here are the details:
Expect an email on Saturday morning announcing start time
Submit your own questions with live responses
Subscribe now to receive email with link to follow on Saturday
What should we read next? I may have a few ideas…
Culture
No, I will not be covering El*n M*sk’s baby.
These hilariously creative drawings — six-wheeled Lamborghini LM002! — are definitely worth your time.
With car photoshoots effectively canceled, some people are going a little stir crazy. Enter: miniature diecast model photo shoots.
Why can I not stop laughing at this? (Because my brain is jelly at this point.)
I LOVED this piece on the world of insane Hot Wheels collectors.
The L.A. collective Race Service is hosting an open Zoom meeting on Thursday about the state of the industry. Topics include Live Streaming, Sim Racing and Content Creation. I’m looking forward to it.
Radwood is holding another virtual car show on May 30.
Video Reel
There’s a great video going around about the legend of Porsche tuner RUF that upended the sports car world in the ‘80s. Lots of icons and incredible footage!
The biggest automotive influencer in the world, Ken Block, has a new project car and it’s the friggin raddest thing you’ve ever seen. (I am a Mustang Guy™.)
F1 up-and-comers Alex Albon and George Russell are tons of fun to watch in sim racing (because they can’t stop crashing each other).
I’m a simple man. I see two great women tackling an off-road race in a Rolls-Royce, and I click that video.
Did this drag race go terribly wrong? Or terribly right?
Race Results
Pretty ridiculous weekend in sim racing. F1 driver Lando Norris again guested in IndyCar after his debut win last week and immediately rankled some. When Simon Pagenaud blamed Norris for a wreck he joked about crashing into Norris, and then did exactly that while the F1 driver led the race.
IndyCar won’t penalize Pagenaud, but Norris’s team McLaren scolded the intentional act and sim commentator Jimmy Broadbent backed them up. Norris called Pagenaud “salty” to hundreds of thousands of live viewers on his Twitch channel.
Meanwhile the generally disliked Santino Ferrucci also purposely crashed into Oliver Askew just as he was about to win. And then joked about it
A reminder that some people really have careers at stake in all this:
Ask A Millennial! Amanda Lappo, 32
I first met Amanda through her work with Emotion Engineering on the branding and media side. Once I knew her, I kept running into her taking photos at events. Again. And again and again. She’s everywhere. And I have no doubt that soon she’ll go right back to the forefront as a photographer and central figure in SoCal car culture.
There are positives and negatives to social media. Everyone has their opinion. It's nice to be in contact almost ALL the time, and share our art and our businesses. What works with young enthusiasts specifically? Give advice in small doses to those willing to listen, post good content and ignore trolls.
NO! The art is definitely not missing in car photography. A good photographer can take a great cell phone shot, but unless you have the talent, it’s still just a cell phone shot. “The camera doesn't take a great photo, the photographer does.” You have to put in the time. I'm still learning and growing and developing my craft, and I hope I never stop. What makes someone stand out? Be different. Have your own style. Be human in your posts, not robotic.
All I can think about is making this my job. I've been doing photography since I was 14 in the dark room with B&W film. Started shooting cars through the encouragement of my husband, who wondered why I hadn't combined the two! My role? To inspire. Both photography and automotive are still predominantly male dominated. I appreciate the balance men and women provide each other. But it WOULD be cool to make it and be an inspiration to people. Photos, good ones, make you feel something. They invoke emotion. If my art can make people feel, then I will have accomplished something.
My dream day is pretty extravagant. It would start in Italy — Cinque Terre or Lake Como or Firenze. It's summer and HOT (I love the heat), we'd go for a perfect drive on winding Italian roads. We'll go Porsche 964 or 997 for this drive. A drive through Italy eating with our closest friends and we'd all shoot each other's cars and end with a huge exhibition of my "fashion and cars" photo series debut. There would be display cars and models walking around in amazing outfits to complement them. Photos would be hung from rigs, we would be outside in the late afternoon for that low light and sunset and then go into the night. That's the “perfect day,” haha! I'm dreaming obviously.
And Finally…
Car people really are a different species.
Drive hard and be safe.
Want your event included? Shoot me a note with subject line “Race Day” at ryan@carrarabooks.com.
Don’t forget to follow Carrara Media on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and visit our store to order your copy of Slow Car Fast in paperback or eBook.