How to Get Sponsored by Sunoco Race Fuels

Sunoco Race Fuels doesn't need to explain itself to racers. "We're fortunate that our product sells itself," said Richie Lewis, Sunoco's partnership sales manager. "And we're in so many different genres and lanes of motorsports that we've got something that most everybody needs a little bit of." That reach is exactly why so many racers ask Sunoco for help, and why Lewis has a system for sorting through them. Here's what he told the networking panel at my Motorsports Sponsorship Summit. ▶ Watch Richie Lewis explain this

Get on the schedule before the show

At the PRI Show, the Sunoco booth is packed, and walking up with a deck is a long shot. Lewis books his meetings ahead of time, in 30-minute blocks, and holds them on the booth's upper balcony. At one show he had 55 meetings in just over two days, a mix of prospects and renewals. "Before I ever got to the show, I was booked solid," he said. ▶ Watch Lewis on the PRI Show

Sunoco's master distributors help him decide who gets a meeting. They screen out the racers who just want free fuel in exchange for a small sticker, and they bring him people worth his time. If a racer is from their part of the country, Lewis said, "they'll say, hey, this the guy I really need you to look at." That makes your local Sunoco distributor one of the best ways in. ▶ Watch the clip

When a racer doesn't have that connection, Lewis points them to Sunoco's website and its fuel finder. Starting a chat there reaches him directly: "If you start a chat there then it's going to alert me, I'm going to know... that's going to come through Salesforce and then I'm going to get a lead and then I'll work that lead from there." ▶ Watch the Summit session

The deck starts the conversation, the handshake closes it

Lewis does look at the decks racers hand him, but not as a contract. "I thumb through it because I want to build a relationship," he said. "Once you meet and you shake hands and you feel that sense of there's a relationship, we can make this a win-win for both properties, being the racer and the brand, then that's a good thing." After that, the deck has done its job. You're texting and talking instead. ▶ Watch the clip

He has only once sponsored someone he'd never met, and it was a racer he already knew all about. "They had tremendous on track performance, they were the guy within this segment of motorsports and I really wanted them to begin with," he said. "I just didn't have the pathway or the contact." ▶ Watch the Summit session

What he doesn't want is a racer who treats the deal as a transaction. "Some people just want to, you know, let slap a sticker on a car, you give them a bunch of product and you never see or hear from them again until they run out," he said. Often they leave for the next brand that offers a little more. "They didn't have a relationship. They had a need." ▶ Watch the clip

Show how you handle a bad day

Face time matters to Lewis because it shows him who you are. "There is still no substitute for face time, sitting down in that booth and talking to these people and hearing how they articulate," he said. Above all, he's listening for how you'll represent the brand when things go wrong. "Anybody can do great on great days, right? But who's going to get out of the car after someone's spun them out... and when they get back in front of the mic, who can handle that situation?" ▶ Watch the clip

That standard comes from how Sunoco sees itself. "We're not the most trendiest brand, if you will. We have the best fuel in the world and we feel like we hold ourselves to a really high standard in doing so," Lewis said. Sunoco wants its racers to celebrate their wins, but it builds the brand on track performance and relationships, not a party image. "We do hold our athletes to that sort of standard." ▶ Watch the clip

Learn the talking points and sell the fuel

Lewis knows a racer climbing out of a car can't give a full technical pitch, so he keeps it short. "We try to do that through... three bullet points," he said. His talking points are that Sunoco double-distills its race fuel, that it uses only top-grade components, and that racers should ask their engine builders about it, "because we're steadily funneling this stuff and this technology to the engine builders." A racer who can repeat those points while bench racing in the pits is doing what a sponsored athlete is supposed to do: selling fuel. Lewis would rather hear it from someone who means it. "I'd rather you do it because you believe." ▶ Watch the Summit session

Your checklist for Sunoco Race Fuels

• Get to know your regional Sunoco distributor. They help decide who gets a meeting.
• Book a meeting before PRI or SEMA instead of dropping a deck at the booth.
• If you have no contact, start a chat on Sunoco's website so it reaches Lewis as a lead.
• Use your deck to start a relationship, then stay in touch all season.
• Carry yourself well on bad days, in front of the mic and on social media.
• Learn Sunoco's talking points, and bring your engine builder into the conversation.