By Duane Sprague

It seems that when you really need a lift in traffic, a well promoted NASCAR related event is second to none.

In February, the northeast can get bitterly cold, windy, and down right inhospitable. And car sales drop with the temperature. But this winter, in conjunction with a winter sale and show event that the dealership has been holding successfully for 15 years, we decided to bring in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chevrolet Pick-up from its home in Charlotte. The total cost for the show truck, the hauler (which doubled as a great billboard), and the driver for three hours, was $5,000. The driver supplied his own collectible postcards to sign and give away.

Did we get our moneys worth? Well, despite the cold and wind, people were lined up for one hour before the driver even arrived, and they never stopped coming for three solid hours while the driver (Jack Sprague) was there. Literally hundreds of people came for an autograph, a picture, etc. Hundreds more came even after the driver had left, just to see the #24 Quaker State Super Truck on display. People actually drove from as far away as three hours.

The car show also consisted of an SCCA Neon sponsored by the dealership, which participates in regional races, three pace cars from PPG, and several restored antique, rare, and special interest cars from the community.

We sent press releases to the media prior to the event, and we received short articles in two newspapers, radio coverage, a live radio interview with the driver prior to the event, as well as 2½ minutes of coverage on the 11:00 o’clock NBC news the day of the event. The driver was interviewed by the sports newscaster right in the showroom.

The excitement, traffic, cars sold (325 in one week) and community goodwill from this event, was unprecedented in 15 years. Of course, there was a lot more to the sale and show that lasted a solid week, than just a race car and driver, but the combo sure did help.

In June of 96', we sent a new car marketing piece with a NASCAR Dream Vacation drawing entry form to the dealership customer database, and received a 19% response rate. The success and customer demand was so great, that we repeated the offer the following month, for a 16% response rate. These numbers sure beat the industry standard of 2%.

This July, we collaborated with the local cable T.V. company to offer two VIP tickets to a local Winston Cup race. We had over 300 people come into the dealership to register. In the same month, the SCCA Neon with the dealership name and logo was on the front page of the sports section, in both local papers, in full color. You can’t buy that kind of publicity and P.R. with advertising alone.