FORCE PLAYS ROPE-A-DOPE WITH ECONOMIC GLOOM
Like a champion boxer collecting himself from a couple of staggering punches, NHRA Funny Car owner-driver John Force not only answered the bell for another round, but he came out of his corner swinging Thursday.
In a press conference at NASCAR's Charlotte Motor Speedway -- next door to zMAX Dragway, where drag racing's Countdown will kick off Friday -- Force landed a flurry of effective jabs at the bleak economy.
No longer reeling from the sponsorship-ending blows by Ford and Castrol (both of whom will stay on through next season), Force announced contract extensions with the Auto Club of Southern California for five years and Traxxas for four years.
Like a champion boxer collecting himself from a couple of staggering punches, NHRA Funny Car owner-driver John Force not only answered the bell for another round, but he came out of his corner swinging Thursday.
In a press conference at NASCAR's Charlotte Motor Speedway -- next door to zMAX Dragway, where drag racing's Countdown will kick off Friday -- Force landed a flurry of effective jabs at the bleak economy.
No longer reeling from the sponsorship-ending blows by Ford and Castrol (both of whom will stay on through next season), Force announced contract extensions with the Auto Club of Southern California for five years and Traxxas for four years.
He also revealed strategic partnerships with Just Marketing International (JMI) to pursue fresh sponsorship for his race teams, high-profile public-relations agency Rogers & Cowan to increase JFR's visibility in non-automotive media, and Octagon Entertainment for an updated version of the reality television show "Driving Force."
"We have a fight on our hands, and we got to deliver," Force said. "I'm a fighter. I'm at a crossroad. In 2015, my life starts all over again. For the first time in 25 years, we're on the market."
He said, "In the last four years I've kind of lost myself. Running around, chasing Corporate America, that's a full-time job. I'm going to leave it to the experts. I want to get back to winning championships. I want to go back there."
Jon Flack, president and COO of JMI, said of JFR, "We love the culture of the company. We love the work ethic of the company. This is the first time we've had the opportunity to go to Corporate America and aggressively attack it [on behalf of JFR]. This partnership is exciting for our business and a great fit, because we both eat, sleep, and breathe racing. We understand the challenges and opportunities in motorsports and have a great responsibility as the team works towards the future."
He said, "We'll be very surprised if we don't have success before 2015" in finding new sponsors for JFR's four-car team. However, he emphasized that JMI and JFR will "hold any announcements until the 2014 season ends, out of respect for Ford and Castrol and the fact each gave JFR plenty of time to seek new marketing partners.
"That long runway matters to us," Flack said.
What matters to Sandy Friedman, executive vice-president at Rogers & Cowan, is marketability -- and he says JFR has that in abundance, particularly with the more vocal patriarch and youngest daughter, Courtney Force.
"Courtney Force is a bonafide movie star," he said. Then to Octagon Entertainment Management vice-president Kyell Thomas he said, "You guys at Octagon got to jump on this. She could be a full-fledged movie star. She's got the looks."
Friedman would know. His father was a film agent who had the legendary Grace Kelly sign her MGM contract in his home.
"Television is crying for content," Friedman said. "That's why shows like 'The Kardashians' have made a success -- because somebody in Fargo, North Dakota, or Des Moines, Iowa, sitting under a hair dryer, they live for shows like that."
John Force said he warned Octagon and Rogers & Cowan, "You're not going to turn us into the Kardashians."
Friedman shot back, "Do you know how much money you can make?"
Without hesitation, Force replied, "Turn us into the Kardashians!"
The Kardashians, who arguably have no discernible skills, are different from the JFR drivers, who win races and championships. "There's something behind the curtain," Thomas said. "Besides the glamorous aspects and engaging personalities, there's actually substance there.
All these new alliances with drag-racing's premier team and its reputation of 17 series championships allow Force and his teammates to concentrate on racing.
Robert Hight, Funny Car driver and JFR president, said, "We're so busy racing, we need to turn this over to a group like Just Marketing that can focus on this seven days a week. If you’re going to be successful in racing, you need to focus on racing seven days a week. Our racing's going to suffer if we're out there, trying to cut our own deals.
"Fortunately we've had great partners," Hight said. "So we haven't had a huge marketing team. We weren't prepared for this. That's a good thing, though. It shows we had strong partners for 29 years."
In a rather macabre analogy regarding the JFR situation and the previous uncertainty about the future, Hight said, "Once they tell you you have cancer, you know what you need to do. It's time to get moving, do what you're going to do [to combat it]. We know what we need to do. We need to focus on new sponsors. And we still have a job to do for the ones who are still here. Let's find some people that can help us."
Hight said, "With his [Force's] personality and their expertise, I think there's going to be a lot of doors open."
Force reaffirmed his fighting nature. Noting that drag-racing legends Kenny Bernstein and Don "The Snake" Prudhomme left the sport because of the still-sketchy economy, he said, "They moved on for some reason. I can't. I love it. I'm in love with it to the point I'm just stupid. I owe the sport of drag racing. I will stay here till I drop."
He joked that if he has a heart attack during production of the new "Driving Force" program, "we'll show that."
So this man who in 2010 described his retirement strategy as "one day I'll just step over the fence and I'll be gone" has made it clear he won't vanish anytime soon. To the contrary, he plans to be around for years to come.
Force has weathered polio, 18 years of racing before he earned his first victory, tragedy in his racing operation, grueling physical therapy following multiple serious injuries from his own 2007 wreck, and more than his share of financial setbacks. He let his beloved drag racing drive a wedge between himself and his daughters years ago, only to orchestrate it as a way to bring them all together again. So surely he can weather this latest setback.
If confidence alone would make that so, consider the former long-haul trucker said, "If I had stayed in the business, I'd be head of the Teamsters today." Or he'd be that boxer who goes the distance. So far financial chaos hasn't gotten a damaging glove on him yet. He's energized to play rope-a-dope.
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