How are we taking money out of a vendor pocket if we have everything we need and do not push our car past there tent? Ppl that need stuff will go to them it doesn't matter if our car gets pushed past there tent. If I need something then I'll find it and buy it. Vendors are great but the cars getting pushed past them doesn't make them money but I tell you what having them around on race day with parts available for teams would definitely help some teams out but normally there already gone.
How?
Our company pays for the opportunity to engage with racers and their crews. This creates an opportunity for a sale right then and there OR begins a relationship where that sale can happen later. It puts a face with a name in a world where that happens less and less. People tell me all the time "It's nice to finally meet you face to face." Its called networking and we pay the opportunity to network.
Here is a common scenario- I am gonna call this story "I forgot my sunglasses"
You have a prefect truck and come through the tech line. It takes a few hours to make it all the way through. It's you, your wife, and a few dudes from your crew. Maybe a kid or two. As you wait a guy from your crew is window shopping and notices that I have a huge selection of sunglasses. Our sunglasses are popular in this sport and difficult to find at a retailer. But I have 'em, right then and there. And a dude from your crew wants some so he rolls up and starts looking through them. While he doing this your wife notices the straw hats and she wants one because its hot and sunny and she's "too old to be uncomfortable". Then your kids say "We want a hat too Mom". A few minutes later I have sold a couple pairs of shades a straw hat and few baseball hats.
Also, while your crew guy was there looking at sunglasses, he asks me about door bags for the new can am play car he just got. I don't have them on hand but I do at the shop so, we exchange contact info and I quickly follow up with him when I get back home. I text him right after I get back and even though I responded quickly he decides not to make the move and buy the bags. Did my follow up end up being a waste of time? No. Because he saved my number, knows I am solid and now, maybe the next time he needs something he might go to me first. He might need a new floor jack later that season and that's a 74 pound box and that's expensive to ship BUT he knows I am gonna be at the next race so, he texts me a week before the race and asks me to bring him one to the event and he doesnt have to pay shipping. While he's picking that up from me he tells me about the last minute plumbing nightmare he just dealt with the night before. During this conversation I tell him that I have over 3,000 pieces of plumbing on the trailer. (I do actually. 3,246 was my last count). I also tell him that I make myself available even after tech is closed. "The trailer closes but it is never really closed." All ya have to do is text me. If I am on site I will do my best to get ya squared away. ( I can't count how many times I have been pulled out of the Tree Bar (RIP) or Bikini's or wherever to get some guy a brake fitting or some tear offs or whatever.)
6 months later at a two day race he remembers what I said about plumbing and its 1 AM and he needs a dash 8, 45 degree, push lock fitting and 24 inches of hose to go with it. Or an entire CBR transmission cooler. Or a catheter. And I get a text. And he gets one back. And then he gets to see me in my pajamas while we dig through the trailer and get him sorted out. The race car stops being a paperweight and starts being a racecar again.
And all that happened because some guy who hauls tires around for some guy who has a perfect race truck forgot his sunglasses.
The End