A Racing Driver's Greatest Enemy - Sponsorship Hell
The drivers I know won’t go after sponsors. There is one driver who did, and he is running out of space on his race suit for business logos (not joking), but one swallow does not a summer make, even though he did provide very rapid proof of concept.
The concept being, act like a racing driver in how you chase sponsors and they will start to fall at your feet. It works like a charm…
But still, drivers I know aren’t going all in bringing in backers, given the keys to the promised land. Therefore, we haven’t cracked the code for unlocking full pursuit of backing.
So, I’m back to delving into my own racing driver mind, to dig out why.
Why Are Drivers Crippled by Inaction When Faced With a Door to Bang?
I’ve laid out what I reckon holds drivers back before, but I don’t think I’ve described the power of those reasons in graphic enough detail.
The difficulty is more than just a severe resistance to approaching businesses - I believe there are complete and indisputable good reasons to stop drivers even making a start.
And those reasons literally freeze drivers to the spot when it comes to knocking on doors, picking up the phone or writing a genuine letter to the right people.
Racing Drivers Do Not Lack Bravery and Will Power
Drivers are obviously badass, that doesn’t need much elaboration. Karters especially when they throw themselves, fully cognisant and hesitatingly, into the fray of a karting start prove they have exceptional will and determination.
They will also happily go broke, dedicate all their time, and tolerate the unreasonable demands of motor racing. They will spend all day frozen, soaking wet and in complete misery because they know they are in the right place.
The characteristics required to go after sponsors, face rejection, disappointment, and keep going relentlessly are abundant in racing drivers.
That is not the problem.
Drivers Find Seeking Sponsors Morally Repulsive
For a racing driver, my idea of the ultimate most noble creation of humanity, to have to bang a door and lower themselves to selling their wares to a business person, is a disgust inducing thought.
To be reduced that way to a commercial operator, wandering around a grey and miserable industrial estate, having to treat 9 to 5 folk with deference and appreciation without collapsing in a heap is near impossible.
A racing driver by their nature despises the mediocrity, the banality and normality found there.
The reason is expressed by their whole being, they would rather die racing than live that way. That’s why they found themselves when they discovered racing - a place where, in theory at least, they might die in valiant pursuit of danger and beauty.
So in the required setting, the world of business, where you find potential sponsors, the racing driver at the most fundamental deep level switches off. The organism rebels, sickened by the mundane, must escape immediately - because it feels it will be drained of all life otherwise.
I think this kind of reaction can apply to almost any interaction involved in finding a sponsor. For example, a phone can take on the shape of a tool of the deepest self betrayal if you need to make a cold call.
It’s so easy to see, ask a driver about what they have done, or what they need to do to speak to a local business, and notice them freeze as if they are facing the grim reaper. You’ll not only see them switch off and launch into an automated bullshit mode, you’ll see pain in their eyes followed by the fastest route to escape they can find.
If you understand these conditions it’s absolutely mental to tell a driver to get off their arse and bang on doors!
You would be asking them to:
Betray themselves at a soul level
Invest their energy and affirm a world that disgusts them, effectively attacking their own existence in the effort
Shame and disgrace themselves by admitting defeat and yielding to commerce - rather than their magical talents deciding their fate
Fat chance eh?
I mean, maybe a driver does indeed disgrace their noble soul by happily chasing after sponsors. In which case, I’ve written myself into a right old pickle!!
The Way Out
The greatest danger you can face is destruction of your self respect. That’s why chasing sponsors raises a natural disgust response, or at least total paralysis.
You don’t fear embarrassment, rejection, or suffer imposter syndrome.
You fear, quite rightly, that your entire being can be destroyed by this most ugly enemy - normality. The world of the normal folk, who also can have the power to make you feel small.
So, I submit this concept to you, a racing driver:
When faced with your greatest enemy, your most dangerous assailant, what do you do?
Run away?
Or do you dive right into the midst of the sheer horror of normality, like the hero you are and do battle with it… And while you are there rescue some of the poor souls trapped in there, and bring them into the racing world - for a suitable hefty fee of course!
I’m suggesting here a new way to rank drivers:
Funded totally with no worries about backing (not reading this for sure) - Rank = Normal
Skint but not actively chasing sponsors HARD - Rank = Has potential
Funding racing through real sponsors - BOSS LEVEL
I’m trying to appeal to your racing driver spirit in two ways here:
By ranking drivers engaging your competitive drive.
By increasing the stakes of what it takes for you to chase sponsors from overcoming a bit of laziness to facing the gates of hell, going inside and coming out victorious.
If this hits home all the rest of getting a sponsor is laid out here.
Thanks for reading
Terence