What Tire and Wheel Sponsors Want Before They Hand Over a Set

Tires are one of the biggest costs in racing, and wheels aren't far behind, so tire and wheel companies get more sponsorship requests than almost anyone in the paddock. When I put Atturo Tires, Wheel Pros and Maxxis on one panel at the Motorsports Sponsorship Summit, it became clear that these companies don't all want the same thing from a racer. Some are selling to the racer parked next to you. Others are trying to sell to the person in the grocery store parking lot. If you don't know which one you're pitching, your proposal is aimed at the wrong customer.

Find out which customer they're chasing

Michael Mathis, who co-founded Atturo Tires with his father, said the first thing he wants a team to understand is the brand's goal. "Are we in this because we want to sell our tires to other racers in the series? Are we here to just promote tires to the general public? There's a huge difference in those two things, and maybe we're trying to do both." Then there's the goal for the series itself: "Is it podiums, an overall championship? Obviously everybody wants to win. Or are we out there for product validation and testing, or again just for general brand promotion?" ▶ Watch Michael Mathis explain this

Tony Yorkman, who co-hosted the session and drew on his years at K&N Filters, laid out the two approaches using the panelists in front of him. A tire company like Maxxis does a lot of its business inside motorsports, so it has to choose racers carefully. "He's got to find the right guys, because he wants the guy next to him to buy that stuff, because he sees him performing well on the track," Yorkman said. Wheel Pros, by contrast, is working to grow its sales to everyday consumers. ▶ See the full session

For the first kind of brand, your results and your credibility in the pits are the product demo. For the second, what you do away from the track counts more.

Tires are a consumable, and nothing is free

Racers tend to think of tire support as free product. The brands see a cost that keeps coming back. Ed Koczan, senior sales and marketing manager at Kenda Tires, explained why tires are harder to give away than other parts. "Unlike getting seat belts or getting a seat or getting a helmet or getting a radiator, things like that that are just usually kind of annualized purchases, tires are obviously an ongoing consumable." ▶ Watch Ed Koczan on tire budgets

That's why many tire programs don't start with free product at all. Chris Meyer, senior marketing specialist at Maxxis, described a small concierge program Maxxis created for Best in the Desert racers "where they could reach out directly and be directly contacted by someone to help assist with obtaining tires at a deep discount." The old off-road formula of cash plus a stack of free tires isn't completely irrelevant, Meyer said, but deals now come in many different structures depending on what the team can deliver. ▶ Watch Chris Meyer on how deals are structured

Do the homework before you ask

Mathis listed checks every racer should run before sending a tire company anything. The first one gets a laugh at Atturo. "Somebody comes to us asking for a tire that we don't even make. So you haven't even done the basics of looking at the website to see what kind of product we build. I'm sorry, I don't have tires for your spec Miata." ▶ Watch Mathis's checklist

Second, make sure the tire is legal in your class. "If your series has a spec tire, I'm not going to put an Atturo name on a vehicle that's not using my tire in competition." Third, make sure it's the right tire for the job, because a tire that passes tech can still lose races. "Just having the right tire spec that passes tech, that's not good enough. It's got to be the right tire for that application." He gave the example of teams that wanted to run Atturo's DOT tire, built mainly for Pro 2 and Pro Lite, in Pro 4 short course against purpose-built race tires. A sponsorship that leaves you uncompetitive hurts your racing and the brand's image at the same time.

Finally, be a customer first. "The other thing that we really like to see is a team who's actually tried our tire. They bought some and ran on them before they come asking us for either money or free stuff."

Wheel companies want a bigger market, not just a bigger share

Brian Henderson, chief strategy officer at Wheel Pros, explained why a company with more than 50 brands cares more about growing the category than beating its rivals. "According to three different surveys we've done over the last few years, three percent of the car park, cars on the road that are 20 years or newer, three percent of them have custom wheels," he said. "We're more focused on raising that a percent or a half percent than we are going and taking away business from our competitors." ▶ Watch Brian Henderson on growing the market

That changes what he looks for in a racer. "Honestly, I'm more concerned about what the racer is doing off the track than on the track." His example was specific: "If we sponsor you, you better have our wheels on your personal vehicle that you drive every day. When you go to dinner somewhere nice and you park at valet, talk to the valet about the wheels you have and how you like them."

Bring them the next customer

Henderson also pointed out something racers can do on race day that the brand can't. Every racer in the pits needs wheels, and in off-road that means beadlocks. Racers without a sponsor are paying full price. Introduce them to your sponsor. "Bringing new and upcoming guys to me or to your sponsors... creating this cartel of like, your group is really powerful, and that's where sponsors, especially myself, find value in that, because I'm not at the races every weekend." ▶ Watch Henderson on this

Todd Robinson of Vision Wheel explained why that kind of help stands out. "In our situation in the wheel world, well, there's just a handful of players. It's a small market. Everyone needs wheels, so the amount of people that come up to us and ask for sponsorships, I mean, I thank every one of them... but we can't sponsor everyone." ▶ Watch Todd Robinson on this When a brand has to turn down most requests, the racer who brings in new customers is the one it remembers.

Fill the days between races

Mathis closed the session with a reminder about the calendar. "Always include in your proposal what can you do for us other than the race. It might be a 12 race series. Well, that's only 12 days, 24 days out of a six or eight month period. What are you doing for me in between there? Can you show up at one of my dealers? Can we use your truck in another event booth? What else can you do?" Then show what you've already done for other sponsors. ▶ Watch the closing advice

Meyer's advice for getting noticed in the first place was simple. If you race somewhere Maxxis isn't active, social media is "the great way to get a hold of us and also quickly show us the kind of value that you're creating." Build relationships with the brand's people at the track, too, including the support truck crews. ▶ Watch Chris Meyer on getting noticed

The takeaway

• Before you pitch, figure out whether the brand sells mainly to racers in your series or to consumers, and write the proposal for that customer.
• Check the website, your class rules and the application before you ask. Only pitch a tire that is legal and competitive for what you race.
• Buy and run the product first if you can. "We already run it" is the strongest opening line.
• Put the sponsor's wheels on your daily driver and talk about them.
• Offer the days between races: dealer visits, show displays, and introductions to racers who are paying full price.