Reputation Travels Faster Than You Do: Conduct, Bad Days and Broken Parts

Every racer has a part fail at the worst possible moment. Every racer has a weekend when nothing goes right and a fan wants a selfie anyway. What you do in those moments is part of your brand, and the people who write sponsorship checks are paying close attention. They told my Sponsorship Summits the same thing from very different industries: racing is a small world, everyone has a phone, and your reputation reaches a marketing manager long before your proposal does.

When the part breaks, the sponsorship is being tested

At the Drift Sponsorship Summit, the founder of Kansei Wheels described the scene he dreads. A wheel fails, or a seat belt, or a steering wheel, and the driver loses it in front of the whole pit. "As a sponsor driver, how you act when that happens is part of the sponsorship," he said. "Don't start cussing your part because it broke. Maybe it was your fault, maybe it wasn't, but everyone in the pits will see that, or on grid will see that."

His advice is to "think like an endorsed athlete would think." Own your share of it if you pushed too hard, and if the failure really was the company's fault, "then just don't say anything." That goes double for the comments section. "We don't want to see you saying, yeah, but they were free," he said. "Nothing's free. It's a trade, it's an agreement."

The right move is private and fast. Call the sponsor yourself, tell them what happened, and "open that dialogue up," he said, before you start venting around the pits. While you're carrying their name, he added, "you are technically a very small portion of you as an employee or arm of that company." ▶ Watch the Kansei Wheels founder explain this

You represent every sticker on the car

Gary Reyes, the drifter and Sponsored Adrenaline founder who sat on that panel, pointed out that this isn't just about your biggest sponsor. "Even at the grassroots level, you're a brand ambassador for all the stickers on your car, and all the parts that are on those stickers that are on your car," he said. Even at an event with only a hundred people, trashing a part in the pits will reach people. When you're representing any brand in any capacity, "your job is actually the opposite," Reyes said: "to provide that positive outlook." ▶ Watch Gary Reyes on this

The panel's warning was simple. The drift scene is small, word gets back, people get recorded on phones, and comments get screenshotted. You don't need a big following for one bad moment to go a long way.

A bad day doesn't excuse a sour face

Wing Lam, founder of Wahoo's Fish Taco, has sponsored athletes for decades and runs plenty of appearances where fans come to meet them. He has little patience for athletes who take the deal and then show up resentful. When an appearance feels like pulling teeth, he said, "I'll keep that one in mind and I'm not coming back, because I can do that with 10 other athletes here."

What he wants is simple: "Make your athletes approachable, make them friendly, and yes, you may have a rough day, but you still got a game face to put on, because the consumer doesn't know that your part just broke down." The fan in front of you doesn't care about your weekend. "They just want to go, oh my God, I see you here, I want a picture, I want an autograph. And you got this sour face. I'm like, no." In public, Lam said, "you can't have a sour face." ▶ Watch Wing Lam on this

The industry is smaller than you think

On the Motorsports Sponsorship Summit's tire and wheel panel, Brian Henderson, chief strategy officer at Wheel Pros, warned racers that the companies they pitch talk to each other. "This is a very small industry. We all know each other, and if you burn somebody, we all know about it," he said. "You're not going to get picked up by somebody else."

He also connected that directly to what racers post. "Treat it like a business. Be professional," Henderson said. "If you're looking to pick up big sponsors, don't be posting goofy stuff on your personal Instagram. We're all going to see it, and we don't want you representing our brand." ▶ Watch Brian Henderson explain this

Michael Mathis, who co-founded Atturo Tires with his father, told the same panel what Atturo checks for beyond the results sheet. "We want people who are good sportsmen, who are high character. They've got a positive public persona, and that's a genuine one," he said. His test is what other racers in your series would say about you: whether you're the one who helps when someone's truck is broken in the pits, or the one taking advantage of people.

That matters to the brand for a practical reason. It's "just as important as whatever results they put up in the track," Mathis said, "that they're well liked and well received in that racing community, because that lends credibility to their voice when we put our name on their vehicle." ▶ Watch Michael Mathis on this

What you post lives forever

Shelby Hall is a third-generation off-road racer who has raced for Ford, built her own company, and grown a following that asks her for advice. At the Off-Road Sponsorship Summit's personal branding session, she described that following as a responsibility. "People are looking to us for advice on what parts to get, what vehicles to buy, where to take them," she said, "and we have to be respectful and responsible to the people who are watching them, and that we're giving good advice and valid advice."

Asked for one piece of advice for anyone building a personal brand, she didn't hesitate. "I would be very thoughtful about what you put out on social media. That lives forever, and you never know who's gonna see that." You're allowed your opinions, Hall said, but if you want to work with big global companies, "there is a standard, and the way that you carry yourself and... the people that you surround yourself with speaks volumes." ▶ Watch the Personal Branding session

That last point is easy to miss. Sponsors don't only judge you. They judge your crew, your friends in the pit and the people who show up in your photos.

The takeaway

• Make a rule for broken parts: no complaints in the pits or online. Call the sponsor privately the same day and tell them what happened.
• Treat every logo on the car as your employer, including the small product sponsors.
• Show up to appearances on time and in a good mood, even after a bad race. The fan only sees today.
• Audit your personal accounts as if Brian Henderson and every other marketing manager you'll ever pitch is reading them, because they are.
• Be the racer who helps. What other competitors say about you reaches sponsors, and it lends credibility to every logo you carry.