2008's Top Advanced Engine Building Posts
I get knocked down, but I get up again!
 It has been a cold and snowy week in St. Louis and I am more ready for spring and the start of race season than ever! I know in the middle of July I will complain about the heat, but right now a 90 degree day at Gateway International Raceway with the smell of race fuel and the sound of thunder seems like a wonderful escape from winter. Of course race season will be here before we know it and it a good chance to start over again. One of the other things I love about sports is there is always another week and there is always another season and there is always another chance. As I write this blog, the Super Bowl is just a few hours away. There are always so many wonderful stories of sacrifice, courage, and resilience in the super bowl. For most people, you either love him or "not quite so much" when you think of Kurt Warner. But whatever you think of Kurt, his story of determination and faith is pretty amazing. He played at the University of Northern Iowa (near my childhood hometown) and then he started his interesting NFL career (after a little work in a grocery store, Arena football, etc.). He had a successful career with the St. Louis Rams (near my current hometown) from 1998-2003. And then because of some injuries, etc. Warner left St. Louis and I think most people thought that was it for Kurt Warner. He went to the New York Giants and then on to the Arizona Cardinals and everyone thought that was about it. But Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals surprised everyone this year with an amazing year and Kurt definitely keeps getting knocked down but gets up again (both literally and figuratively!). No matter what happens at the Super Bowl, the Warner story is a great story of determination and resilience. Chumbawamba said it best with: We'll be singing When we're winning We'll be singing I get knocked down But I get up again You're never going to keep me down Labels: Driving
How-to Beat the Recession
How-to Beat the RecessionBy Milt Gedo (c) - www.sponsorship-101.comOpen any newspaper or turn on any television news program, and you’ll hear the word “recession” or even “depression” thrown around, along with all the necessary hand-wringing that goes with it. I’m not a financial guru (as my accountant will attest), so I don’t really know if the U.S. economy is in recession, depression or just a slow-down, but I do know one thing: Corporate America will always have the need to sell and market their wares effectively and efficiently, and motorsports marketing remains one of the best methods to achieve results. If you’ve read my columns for the last 12-18 months or so, you know that I’ve been preaching the decline of “traditional marketing” (i.e. newspapers, magazines and television) in favor of “consumer driven” marketing, such as mobile marketing and event marketing. I recently saw the results of a survey that demonstrates this trend. The survey was conducted by Gfk Roper September 11 through October 10 of this year, and asked adults (18 and older), “What do you do during TV commercials?” The findings are interesting: -52% of respondents claim they “Talk to others without paying attention to the commercials” -51% responded they “Get up and do something else before the show comes back on” -44% replied they “Switch to another channel” -43% of respondents “Fast-forward through the commercials while using a DVR” -26% of respondents said they “Turn the sound down on the TV or mute it” Here’s the most important finding of all: -Only 13% of respondents stated they “Sit and watch the commercials” If you were the VP of Marketing for a company, and were responsible for spending your advertising budget in the most effective and cost-efficient way, how would the findings above make you feel about television advertising? Technology and consumer mind-set is changing the way companies look at advertising. At a race event, the commercials are the race cars! When a fan watches a race, either in person or on television, they’re not going to “talk to another person to avoid seeing the sponsors”, “get up and do something else”, “switch to another channel”, “fast-forward through the race”, and no REAL race fan will ever turn the volume down or mute it! For fans who attend a race event, even walking through the Manufacturer’s Midway is not considered commercials “to be avoided”. The Midway at most motorsports events is more like a carnival, where fans can buy merchandise, get autographs and have a good time… all the while being bombarded with marketing messages. As I’ve mentioned, motorsports is the “original mobile marketing” venue, and remains the best value in marketing today. So how can this information help you, the sponsor-seeking racer? Clearly, as corporate America tightens its belt, every dollar spent will be closely scrutinized… including advertising budgets. I believe the trend of spending less in traditional advertising and shifting those funds towards mobile or event marketing will continue and even pick up speed. Every serious race team should be prepared to capitalize on this trend. When you sit down to create the list of actions your race team can offer a potential sponsor (Step one of my proven Six-Step program), you should include a heavy bias towards mobile and event marketing. Sportsman race teams are at a real advantage here, because you can offer a lot of these actions at a fraction of the costs of a Professional team. True, a Sportsman team can’t offer the same exposure at a race event as a Professional team (Television coverage, preferred parking in the pits, hospitality opportunities, etc.), but once you’re away from the track, the playing field is leveled. In these tough economic times, the lesson is: Companies will always have the need to sell and market their products, and savvy racers/race teams know how to capitalize on this fact. Take advantage of the shifting market trends, and GET SPONSORED! Labels: Sponsorship
How Bad Do You Want It?
 How Bad Do You Want It?By Tami Eggleston (c) I think all of us love sports because you just never know who is going to win until the game is over. Sports are exciting because it is not always the best team, the fastest car, or the team or person that is "supposed" to win that wins. Of course I love drag racing the best, but I have enjoyed watching the football playoffs because I love watching the psychology of the games. Teams that were supposedly "unbeatable" get beat and teams that were not supposed to even get to the playoffs can go all the way! And I think what it all comes down to is "How Bad Do You Want It?" The teams and the players that really dig deep and keep playing hard, practice hard, and never give up do end up coming out on top. You can see it in these players and the teams, they have that walk, they have the drive, they practice hard, they play hard, they get knocked down and get back up, and they really want it. The drag racers who race year after year know how hard it is to keep the motivation to work on the car, sacrifice other things so you can go racing, and keep trying over the years. It is always fun when everything is working great and winning, but when you have a few problems and get beat a few weeks in a row, you have dig down deep to keep trying and you have to answer the question, How Bad Do You Want It? There is a great song by Tim McGraw called "How Bad Do You Want It?" and I encourage you to buy this CD or download the song for your MP3 player, it is a great motivational song. And take a minute to really think about "How Bad Do You Want It?" What are you willing to do, what are you willing to sacrifice, how hard are you willing to work, are you willing to lay it all out on the line, and is it really something that burns you up inside? I know for sure that the winners out there want it really bad. A few lyrics from Tim McGraw's How Bad Do You Want It: "Been out here on this highway Breathing diesel smoke Driving hard for hours Trying to make that Memphis show People always ask me"Son what does it take To reach out and touch your dreams?" To them I always say Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Is it a fire that burns you up inside? How bad do you want it? How bad do you need it? Are you eating, sleeping, dreaming With that one thing on your mind? How bad do you want it? How bad do you need it? Cause if you want it all You've got to lay it all out on the line.... There's always a price you pay no matter what you do If you're gonna climb that mountain to the top It always comes down to How bad do you want it??" Labels: Driving
New Sponsors? It's a Numbers Game
 photo by MulsanneNew Sponsors? It's a Numbers GameBy Don Terrill (c) - www.RacingSecrets.comIt's a numbers game my father told me - to find a great woman you just need to meet more women. Well, what about sponsors?
The Formula:Number of new sponsors = (Number of prospects you contact) x (Percentage of contacted prospects you close)So, to get more sponsors you need to contact more prospects and/or increase your closing rate. The closing rate is going to be dictated by your skills and economic conditions. Now, you can't do anything about the overall economy or a business's financial position, but you can improve your skills by... - Educating Yourself - Read every sponsorship book you can get your hands on. You only need to get one good idea for a book to be worth it.
- Role Playing - Get your family members to play potential sponsors so you can work on your pitch. This should also help your confidence when you do the real thing.
- Becoming a Veteran - No shortcut here, the more experience you have in searching for sponsors the better you'll be.
As you can see, one of the ways to improve your closing skills is to make more closing attempts. How do you make more closing attempts? You contact more prospects. In the end it really does come down to how many prospects you contact - (1) by directly increasing your odds and (2) by helping improve your closing skills through practice. So, did I take my dad's advice on women? You bet, the best thing I ever did. Labels: Sponsorship
Don't Leave Anything on the Field !!!
 Don't Leave Anything on the Field!!!By Tami Eggleston (c) OK—two scenarios for you to think about. Scenario number 1 you go into a situation (work, personal, sport, etc.) and you only give about 50% of what you possibly could give and then you fail. How bad do you feel? You know you could have done more and succeeded. Scenario number 2 you go into a situation (work, personal, sport, etc.) and you give 100% of what you can give at that moment and you fail. How bad do you feel? You did everything you could; you tried your hardest, now you have learned what else you need to do to succeed in the future, but this time you failed. Can you get back up, dust yourself off, and learn and go out and give 100% again and keep learning and trying and improving? I think most of think, yeah Scenario 2 is better you should always give 100%, but I think if we are HONEST and I mean down and dirty honest, some of us know we don’t give 100% all the time. We hold back, we wait, we are tentative, we lack confidence, we don’t give it our all. And then if we fail, maybe we can feel like, “well I failed because I didn’t give 100%.” And maybe that makes us feel a little bit better—but here is the deal , we will never be the best we can be if we keep leaving something on the field and we don’t give 100% of what we have to give. If we don’t give 100% we can’t push and learn and get better. When we give 100% and fail we have to do more analysis—why am I still failing, what do I have to learn, what do I have to do different, what do I have to get better at? In drag racing, do you feel better when you try really, really, really hard you are prepared and worked hard and were mentally and physically the best you could be and go red by .001 second or when you were slacking a little and didn’t have your head on straight and cut a .089 light? Both situations are bad, you lost both ways—but what way can you fix? What way is going to win you more rounds in the long run? So think about this—do you want to go out and give it your all? Are you willing to be brave and give 100% of yourself even if that means failing? Why are you holding back? What are you waiting for? When are you going to give 100%? If not now, when? The best racers, the best athletes, the best people, they give 100% every time to the things they care about. Start right now and decide if you are going to push and learn and grow and risk failing while giving 100% or are you going to make yourself feel better by holding back and not giving all you can give?
Recession Proof Horsepower
 Recession Proof HorsepowerBy Don Terrill (c) - www.RacingSecrets.comDoes the news media have you all wigged out about the economy? Are you looking to cut costs, but still need your racing fix? Well, you can't race for free, but you sure can be smart about how and where you spend your money. Build Affordable Horsepower:- Only Build What You Need - The vast majority of racers will build their engine with more horsepower than required. Instead, think about how much power you need and then find the most affordable (and reliable) way to get there.
- Engine Size - If there are no restrictions on engine size, build one large enough so you don't have to put it on meltdown to make power. 400" with a flat tappet cam may be better than 350" with a roller.
- Power-Adders - Throwing reliability out the window, power-adders (nitrous, blowers, etc) can add a lot of bang for the buck. It's hard to beat the HP per Dollar of Nitrous Oxide -- in fact it's impossible.
- Airflow - Have a bunch of rules? Forced to make your horsepower the old fashioned way? Don't waste a penny on titanium rods or other nonsense. Put your money where it counts, in airflow improvements.
Build Reliable Horsepower:The last thing you need is a blown engine when money is tight. Here are a few tips to help out with engine longevity. - RPM - There's no bigger killer of engines than too much RPM. Don't spin the engine any harder than required to be competitive. You won't have to give up any performance if you build/tune the engine to work down low.
- Compression - The main problem here is the increased risk of detonation as you raise compression ratio. The lower the compression the better, but learning how to read spark plugs will help keep you out of trouble no matter what the compression.
- Valvetrain - If you can only afford to build the engine once, then this is no time for any aggressive valve motion. Leave the camshafts with quick ramps and a ton of lift to the rich folks. Get more air into the engine through airflow improvements, not by wilder cam lobe profiles.
As for financial success in this economy, I don't see anything more important than protecting your ability to earn, and one of the best ways to do that is by furthering your education -- Make yourself more valuable to the marketplace. The same goes for your racing success, there's no better bang for the buck than educating yourself. Dummies will never find themselves in the winner's circle very often. Labels: Engine
Advanced Team Funding: Niche Racing Business
 Advanced Team Funding: Niche Racing BusinessBy Don Terrill (c) - www.RacingSecrets.comI'm a huge advocate for starting a business to help fund your race team. The story of RacingSuits.com: This domain name was included in a large lot of names I purchased in 2000. I had every intention of developing each into a viable Internet business. Fast forward to present day: I own over 350 domain names and have turned a handful into successful websites. Looking at how long it took me to turn those domains into sites, I now realize I would need 10 lifetimes to develop them all. So, I've begun to sell off some of my portfolio. Last month I auctioned off RacingSuits.com. I don't know what the new owner is going to do with the name, but what a great domain for starting a highly focused racing business where you did nothing but sell driving suits and accessories. I hope he makes it a huge success. Here's how you can create a successful racing business: - Pick your Niche - First look at where your passions lie. About any topic can be turned into a viable business, but your odds of success will be greatly increased if you do something you enjoy.
- Pick a Profitable Revenue Model - Most racers are very busy, so the last thing they need is a service type business that in essence has them getting paid by the hour. Even if you're not that busy, I still recommend that you look for revenue models that decouple your money from time.
- Build the Business - Nothing is more important at this point than the amount of overhead you take on. I have personally witnessed many first time business owners seal their fate by taking on unsustainable monthly fixed costs. Start small and see how it goes.
- Grow, Expand, Duplicate - Racers are not known for being timid and why should they be any different when it comes to running a business. Once you've got a good thing going it's time to build upon your success. Just think about constant improvement.
If I was going to build RacingSuits.com I'd start by selling other companies suits and quickly move to designing/selling my own - which is where the real profits are going to be. What is your niche? Check out my list of racing domain names if you're interested in starting something. Labels: Sponsorship
Michael Phelps is GOLDEN! (That is music to our ears!)
It is official, I really have Olympic Fever. In fact, it is hard to want to do anything but watch the Olympics. Even sports I didn't know anything about such as synchronized diving are suddenly my new favorite sport! OK, drag racing and auto racing will always be my favorite sport, but you have to admit that the swimming has been very exciting to watch. And if you have been watching the Olympics or following it all, you have to be impressed with the USA swimmer, Michael Phelps! I have been particularly interested in watching and learning about these athletes and what makes them tick mentally. One thing that has been very interesting is watching Michael Phelps before his events. He warms up in a pool and then he comes into the cube and has to wait. During this time you can see him visualizing and listening to his MP3 player. A lot of other athletes you can also watch as they visualize, breathe, and listen to music. And I believe what better athletes to learn from and emulate than Olympic athletes? So watch them, read about them, and see what you can learn about their drive, motivation, relaxation, confidence, and concentration. I went on to a few different websites trying to find what is on Michael Phelps' Playlist--certainly any music that motivates a person and keep them focused is the correct music. For some people it might be hard rock, others 80s music, others classical, and others hip hop. One website reported that Michael Phelps enjoys the following tunes: Certainly these songs may not be for everyone, but they certainly are doing the trick for Michael Phelps. But all of us may just learn a listen about finding music that we can use to help us get motivated, stay focused, and GO FOR THE GOLD!!! Labels: Driving
Sponsors - A Means to an End
 photo by AcePixure
Sponsors - A Means to an End
By Don Terrill (c) - www.RacingSecrets.com
Do you really want sponsors?
No, you want the money they supply.
So, how do we get the money without sponsors?
- Earn more from your day job - Ask for a raise, apply for a new position or look for a whole new job.
- Take a second job - Most racers have a wide range of marketable skills and should have no trouble finding some side work.
- Start a business - As a serial entrepreneur, this is always my first piece of advice to teams looking for funding.
In the end, why even mess with sponsors if you can earn the money through efforts with much more consistent results.
Now let me ask, do you really even want the money?
No, you want what it can buy.
So, how do we get needed items without money?
- First, ask if you really need it - Trim your operation as much as possible. Think of how you can simplify every aspect of your team and you'll find plenty of answers.
- Barter - Now you're left with the true essentials. Find who can supply them and ask to do some trading.
In the end, racers just want to race for free. Stop thinking that sponsors are the only way to get there.Labels: Sponsorship
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