UPDATED: DRAGS, DOLLARS & SENSE: TOYOTA MISSED THE BOAT
Wed, 2011-03-16 18:54
Roger Burgess bought three new Solara bodies for Melanie Troxel's Funny Car team but then declined a proposal from Toyota's motorsports marketing department for a formal affiliation based on "cost benefit."
In a pre-season interview with CompetitionPlus.com presented by Attitude Apparel, Troxel said of the team's possible relationship with Toyota, "We're hoping it will grow into something" from a technical, marketing and publicity standpoint.
During a telephone interview Tuesday, owner Burgess explained his position.
"The Toyota agreement, like any manufacturer agreement, says if we do business with you and put our sticker on your car you can't put another manufacturer sticker on your car," Burgess said. "For the amount of money they were offering, or shall I say the amount of value they were offering, I could not commit to going exclusive and not talk to other manufacturers."
Roger Burgess bought three new Solara bodies for Melanie Troxel's Funny Car team but then declined a proposal from Toyota's motorsports marketing department for a formal affiliation based on "cost benefit."
In a pre-season interview with CompetitionPlus.com presented by Attitude Apparel, Troxel said of the team's possible relationship with Toyota, "We're hoping it will grow into something" from a technical, marketing and publicity standpoint.
During a telephone interview Tuesday, owner Burgess explained his position.
"The Toyota agreement, like any manufacturer agreement, says if we do business with you and put our sticker on your car you can't put another manufacturer sticker on your car," Burgess said. "For the amount of money they were offering, or shall I say the amount of value they were offering, I could not commit to going exclusive and not talk to other manufacturers."
Industry sources have told CompetitionPlus.com that the standard offer from Toyota's marketing arm, which is separate from Toyota Racing Development, can include: Engineering support, parts credits, personal and/or tow vehicles, and some money for driver personal services, such as appearances and promotions.
"We were in a position where we had to buy some bodies," Burgess continued. "Mopar didn't have a new one out there, either, that we could buy. So we went out and bought a Toyota body which (crew chief) Aaron Brooks was already familiar with and thought it was better for the driver, which it is. Melanie is very happy with the visibility out of that car.
"Everything else, we started working on after the fact. We really didn't have any deal going in and nobody reneged on anything, it's just that as we started negotiating we just never got together. We were really late into this game and their budgets were already committed. We left it, 'We'll talk again,' as the year progresses."
Don Brown, Toyota marketing national motorsports manager, explained what happened from the company's standpoint.
"On his own, without my knowledge, he (Burgess) bought the Funny Car bodies from Alan Johnson," Brown said Monday. "We basically put together the same agreement terms as the other people running our Funny Car bodies, but it was something he didn't feel he wanted to do. It was something, after he thought (about what) we were offering and the terms, I guess he just felt it wasn't going to work out."
Burgess, who is trying to expand Pro Mod into international markets, said he also talked to Toyota about participating in that class.
"I'm trying to get a lot of manufacturers actively involved," he said. "Ford is now doing a contingency program for Pro Mod racers that run the Mustang. I'd like not just Toyota, but all manufacturers, involved, to get a body out there that they want and like. One of the first things I did when I negotiated to sponsor the class was to get the rules changed so we can do new cars as well as older cars. I'd love to see Nissan, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes, Toyota, all the manufacturers we can get."
Burgess said the Pro Mod discussions with Toyota were separate from those concerning his Funny Car team, which has partial sponsorship from In-N-Out Burger, but didn't qualify for final eliminations at Pomona and Gainesville.
"I think there's interest but, again, we came to the table really, really late this year," he admitted. "By the time we got around to talking about anything, there wasn't a lot of options on their part. I didn't want to tie-up with one manufacturer and then not be able to talk to anybody else. I chose not to. It was strictly a business decision."
Brown said: "He initially talked to us about Pro Mod and is very interested in getting Toyota involved in Pro Mod. But with a lot of the (rules) changes going on in NASCAR, that has the TRD guys tied-up pretty well. The timing wasn't right for us.
"The other issue is shipping bodies to other markets, especially European markets where the Camry isn't sold, so the issue comes up: What model do you use? As the U.S. distributor, we only have the rights to give body-use rights for our home market. We aren't in a position to give worldwide rights. I think that's what he was looking for. He's trying to expand Pro Mod into the Scandinavian countries, Australia, and so forth, and a lot of those markets the door-slammer type cars are much more popular."
Burgess: "My interest is in rules-based Pro Mod, which in my opinion is the only Pro Mod class, everything else bastardizes the name. Outlaw cars are not Pro Mod. To me there is only one rules base out there and that's NHRA. I have no interest in creating any rules other than NHRA rules.
"So, in order to have international competition, I've reached out to all the sanctioning folks throughout the world, including Australia, Europe -- the FIA folks there -- Canada, and basically said, 'If you establish and accept NHRA as the Pro Mod rule base, I will put on and organize an international competition.' To date, the only one I've had do that -- and they may not do it this year because of rule changes -- is Europe. There's some question about that. Without adoption of the NHRA rules base, there will be no international competition, that I'm involved in."
Brown said all involved spoke at the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals.
"We met with Melanie, we met with Roger, in Gainesville and I think we're all friends. He didn't feel, at this time, the business deal made sense for everybody."
Toyota is likely to introduce a new Camry body for the 2012 Full Throttle season. Burgess said he'd consider running it.
"Aaron was involved in the development of that body and I think his interest would be to run it, but we've got to have a business deal that makes sense. I ran Mopar bodies but didn't get any money from Mopar, either. We'll choose whatever body we want to run, if they're available to us, regardless of our affiliation with the manufacturers."
3-7-2011
Did you hear this one?
Why did Al-Anabi shift Del Worsham to Top Fuel?
Because Toyota recalled his Funny Car.
In the 40-plus years I’ve worked in public relations and journalism, I’ve never seen any PR collective deal with any situation so ineptly. Toyota’s spin doctors -- including those assigned to racing -- took a bad situation about unintended acceleration and drove it off a cliff. Richard Nixon handled Watergate better -- at least he had the decency to resign before being fired – impeached.
This isn’t exactly breaking news -- or, given the headlines about unintended acceleration, maybe I should say braking news: Toyota’s press lately has been about as positive as Hosni Mubarak’s.
You know the story. It sent the automaker’s reputation for quality and reliability from the heights of Mount Olympus to some deep crater on Neptune.
Now -- finally -- an opportunity for some positive PR has presented itself. No, not because of anything Toyota did.
The credit belongs to Melanie Troxel and Roger Burgess.
Popular Melanie is back on the Full Throttle Funny Car tour full-time this season, with Solara bodywork. No, Toyota didn’t provide the bodies. Owner Burgess bought them.
“They’re brand-new bodies that we had made from the mold that Alan Johnson owns,” Troxel told me.
We met-up in Scottsdale in January at the Barrett-Jackson classic car auction before a Lyn St. James-hosted Women in Racing forum. I was surprised, but pleased, when Troxel said she’s a go for all 22 races even though not all the sponsorship is in place. I was surprised, but not pleased, when she said the Toyota connection was more aspirational than actual.
“It’s a plan for the future,” she conceded. “We don’t have any specific promises. We’re hoping it will grow into something.”
Even though the Solara is aged, the decision makes sense in that new crew chief Aaron Brooks knows Toyota from when he tuned Worsham’s car.
“He’s had a lot of experience with Toyota, working with the engineers on the R&D side for these bodies,” said Troxel, now single, and relocated in Atlanta to be more involved with the team. “He had a good relationship with Toyota.
“Quite honestly, it’s somebody I’ve been talking to for a while. Other than Ford, there aren’t other manufacturers right now working with the teams, doing R&D, working on the bodies, trying to move ahead and make progress. It was something I was interested it and made a really good fit when Aaron came on board.
“We were in a position where we needed to buy some bodies. Even though the Solara isn’t the new style, it’s not what they’re coming out with in a year, we had to decide: Do we want to invest more money in old technology, or did we want to take a step towards Toyota and show them, ‘Hey, we’re willing to make a commitment working with you in the future.’ We did that before we had any commitment from Toyota for anything.
“They work with their teams. That’s very important to our team -- not just running the standard equipment that everybody has. We’re trying to ramp-up the team on the R&D side of things . . . To me, this a logical step in that direction, having the resources of Toyota to work with them on the design and ask their expertise on other things like the chassis. We’re hoping this is going to be a long-term partnership.”
Plus, such technical assistance would help Burgess offset the sponsor shortfall. In-N-Out Burger is the primary backer for eight events in its markets, and an associate for 10 others.
“The funding is still coming out of Roger’s pocket through one of his businesses,” Troxel said. “We don’t want people to be confused because ProCareRX is on the side of the car and think we have all the sponsorship we need.”
There are three bodies: One in In-N-Out colors, another wearing ProCareRX, and -- Melanie smiled -- “A plain white one: Anybody that wants to come in on last-minute notice, we can throw decals on it.”
This is a chance for Toyota to turn a PR corner. Troxel is not only a fan favorite and media savvy, she understands the Business of Racing -- as proven by her continual communications with In-N-Out that brought them back into NHRA. And, yes, she’s a real racer: A Pro Mod victory last year put her into an elite category of drivers who have won in four categories.
I asked my friend Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, about this at the Phoenix NASCAR race. Lee was team manager at Newman/Haas Racing in 1995 when I was the PR director there. All he cares about is winning and -- candidly -- Troxel’s Pomona DNQ was a negative. White said TRD’s NHRA resources already are committed, but promised to tell the marketing department brains what I told him about MT.
Toyota not only needs to provide technical support, it should formally contract with Melanie as a spokesperson -- involve her local dealer promotions, bring her to car shows, feature her in advertising.
“Ideally, that would be a great thing,” she agreed. “We can bring added exposure to the team and the brand. That’s the kind of partnership we’re hoping to build with them.”
You didn’t ask for it, Toyota, but you got it. A very good opportunity.
Now, do something with it.
As the owner of a Lexus which has had five factory recalls, I’ve heard enough embarrassing excuses.
In a pre-season interview with CompetitionPlus.com presented by Attitude Apparel, Troxel said of the team's possible relationship with Toyota, "We're hoping it will grow into something" from a technical, marketing and publicity standpoint.
During a telephone interview Tuesday, owner Burgess explained his position.
"The Toyota agreement, like any manufacturer agreement, says if we do business with you and put our sticker on your car you can't put another manufacturer sticker on your car," Burgess said. "For the amount of money they were offering, or shall I say the amount of value they were offering, I could not commit to going exclusive and not talk to other manufacturers."
Roger Burgess bought three new Solara bodies for Melanie Troxel's Funny Car team but then declined a proposal from Toyota's motorsports marketing department for a formal affiliation based on "cost benefit."
In a pre-season interview with CompetitionPlus.com presented by Attitude Apparel, Troxel said of the team's possible relationship with Toyota, "We're hoping it will grow into something" from a technical, marketing and publicity standpoint.
During a telephone interview Tuesday, owner Burgess explained his position.
"The Toyota agreement, like any manufacturer agreement, says if we do business with you and put our sticker on your car you can't put another manufacturer sticker on your car," Burgess said. "For the amount of money they were offering, or shall I say the amount of value they were offering, I could not commit to going exclusive and not talk to other manufacturers."
Industry sources have told CompetitionPlus.com that the standard offer from Toyota's marketing arm, which is separate from Toyota Racing Development, can include: Engineering support, parts credits, personal and/or tow vehicles, and some money for driver personal services, such as appearances and promotions.
"We were in a position where we had to buy some bodies," Burgess continued. "Mopar didn't have a new one out there, either, that we could buy. So we went out and bought a Toyota body which (crew chief) Aaron Brooks was already familiar with and thought it was better for the driver, which it is. Melanie is very happy with the visibility out of that car.
"Everything else, we started working on after the fact. We really didn't have any deal going in and nobody reneged on anything, it's just that as we started negotiating we just never got together. We were really late into this game and their budgets were already committed. We left it, 'We'll talk again,' as the year progresses."
Don Brown, Toyota marketing national motorsports manager, explained what happened from the company's standpoint.
"On his own, without my knowledge, he (Burgess) bought the Funny Car bodies from Alan Johnson," Brown said Monday. "We basically put together the same agreement terms as the other people running our Funny Car bodies, but it was something he didn't feel he wanted to do. It was something, after he thought (about what) we were offering and the terms, I guess he just felt it wasn't going to work out."
Burgess, who is trying to expand Pro Mod into international markets, said he also talked to Toyota about participating in that class.
"I'm trying to get a lot of manufacturers actively involved," he said. "Ford is now doing a contingency program for Pro Mod racers that run the Mustang. I'd like not just Toyota, but all manufacturers, involved, to get a body out there that they want and like. One of the first things I did when I negotiated to sponsor the class was to get the rules changed so we can do new cars as well as older cars. I'd love to see Nissan, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes, Toyota, all the manufacturers we can get."
Burgess said the Pro Mod discussions with Toyota were separate from those concerning his Funny Car team, which has partial sponsorship from In-N-Out Burger, but didn't qualify for final eliminations at Pomona and Gainesville.
"I think there's interest but, again, we came to the table really, really late this year," he admitted. "By the time we got around to talking about anything, there wasn't a lot of options on their part. I didn't want to tie-up with one manufacturer and then not be able to talk to anybody else. I chose not to. It was strictly a business decision."
Brown said: "He initially talked to us about Pro Mod and is very interested in getting Toyota involved in Pro Mod. But with a lot of the (rules) changes going on in NASCAR, that has the TRD guys tied-up pretty well. The timing wasn't right for us.
"The other issue is shipping bodies to other markets, especially European markets where the Camry isn't sold, so the issue comes up: What model do you use? As the U.S. distributor, we only have the rights to give body-use rights for our home market. We aren't in a position to give worldwide rights. I think that's what he was looking for. He's trying to expand Pro Mod into the Scandinavian countries, Australia, and so forth, and a lot of those markets the door-slammer type cars are much more popular."
Burgess: "My interest is in rules-based Pro Mod, which in my opinion is the only Pro Mod class, everything else bastardizes the name. Outlaw cars are not Pro Mod. To me there is only one rules base out there and that's NHRA. I have no interest in creating any rules other than NHRA rules.
"So, in order to have international competition, I've reached out to all the sanctioning folks throughout the world, including Australia, Europe -- the FIA folks there -- Canada, and basically said, 'If you establish and accept NHRA as the Pro Mod rule base, I will put on and organize an international competition.' To date, the only one I've had do that -- and they may not do it this year because of rule changes -- is Europe. There's some question about that. Without adoption of the NHRA rules base, there will be no international competition, that I'm involved in."
Brown said all involved spoke at the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals.
"We met with Melanie, we met with Roger, in Gainesville and I think we're all friends. He didn't feel, at this time, the business deal made sense for everybody."
Toyota is likely to introduce a new Camry body for the 2012 Full Throttle season. Burgess said he'd consider running it.
"Aaron was involved in the development of that body and I think his interest would be to run it, but we've got to have a business deal that makes sense. I ran Mopar bodies but didn't get any money from Mopar, either. We'll choose whatever body we want to run, if they're available to us, regardless of our affiliation with the manufacturers."
3-7-2011
Did you hear this one?
Why did Al-Anabi shift Del Worsham to Top Fuel?
Because Toyota recalled his Funny Car.
In the 40-plus years I’ve worked in public relations and journalism, I’ve never seen any PR collective deal with any situation so ineptly. Toyota’s spin doctors -- including those assigned to racing -- took a bad situation about unintended acceleration and drove it off a cliff. Richard Nixon handled Watergate better -- at least he had the decency to resign before being fired – impeached.
This isn’t exactly breaking news -- or, given the headlines about unintended acceleration, maybe I should say braking news: Toyota’s press lately has been about as positive as Hosni Mubarak’s.
You know the story. It sent the automaker’s reputation for quality and reliability from the heights of Mount Olympus to some deep crater on Neptune.
Now -- finally -- an opportunity for some positive PR has presented itself. No, not because of anything Toyota did.
The credit belongs to Melanie Troxel and Roger Burgess.
Popular Melanie is back on the Full Throttle Funny Car tour full-time this season, with Solara bodywork. No, Toyota didn’t provide the bodies. Owner Burgess bought them.
“They’re brand-new bodies that we had made from the mold that Alan Johnson owns,” Troxel told me.
We met-up in Scottsdale in January at the Barrett-Jackson classic car auction before a Lyn St. James-hosted Women in Racing forum. I was surprised, but pleased, when Troxel said she’s a go for all 22 races even though not all the sponsorship is in place. I was surprised, but not pleased, when she said the Toyota connection was more aspirational than actual.
“It’s a plan for the future,” she conceded. “We don’t have any specific promises. We’re hoping it will grow into something.”
Even though the Solara is aged, the decision makes sense in that new crew chief Aaron Brooks knows Toyota from when he tuned Worsham’s car.
“He’s had a lot of experience with Toyota, working with the engineers on the R&D side for these bodies,” said Troxel, now single, and relocated in Atlanta to be more involved with the team. “He had a good relationship with Toyota.
“Quite honestly, it’s somebody I’ve been talking to for a while. Other than Ford, there aren’t other manufacturers right now working with the teams, doing R&D, working on the bodies, trying to move ahead and make progress. It was something I was interested it and made a really good fit when Aaron came on board.
“We were in a position where we needed to buy some bodies. Even though the Solara isn’t the new style, it’s not what they’re coming out with in a year, we had to decide: Do we want to invest more money in old technology, or did we want to take a step towards Toyota and show them, ‘Hey, we’re willing to make a commitment working with you in the future.’ We did that before we had any commitment from Toyota for anything.
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“They work with their teams. That’s very important to our team -- not just running the standard equipment that everybody has. We’re trying to ramp-up the team on the R&D side of things . . . To me, this a logical step in that direction, having the resources of Toyota to work with them on the design and ask their expertise on other things like the chassis. We’re hoping this is going to be a long-term partnership.” Plus, such technical assistance would help Burgess offset the sponsor shortfall. In-N-Out Burger is the primary backer for eight events in its markets, and an associate for 10 others.
“The funding is still coming out of Roger’s pocket through one of his businesses,” Troxel said. “We don’t want people to be confused because ProCareRX is on the side of the car and think we have all the sponsorship we need.”
There are three bodies: One in In-N-Out colors, another wearing ProCareRX, and -- Melanie smiled -- “A plain white one: Anybody that wants to come in on last-minute notice, we can throw decals on it.”
This is a chance for Toyota to turn a PR corner. Troxel is not only a fan favorite and media savvy, she understands the Business of Racing -- as proven by her continual communications with In-N-Out that brought them back into NHRA. And, yes, she’s a real racer: A Pro Mod victory last year put her into an elite category of drivers who have won in four categories.
I asked my friend Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, about this at the Phoenix NASCAR race. Lee was team manager at Newman/Haas Racing in 1995 when I was the PR director there. All he cares about is winning and -- candidly -- Troxel’s Pomona DNQ was a negative. White said TRD’s NHRA resources already are committed, but promised to tell the marketing department brains what I told him about MT.
Toyota not only needs to provide technical support, it should formally contract with Melanie as a spokesperson -- involve her local dealer promotions, bring her to car shows, feature her in advertising.
“Ideally, that would be a great thing,” she agreed. “We can bring added exposure to the team and the brand. That’s the kind of partnership we’re hoping to build with them.”
You didn’t ask for it, Toyota, but you got it. A very good opportunity.
Now, do something with it.
As the owner of a Lexus which has had five factory recalls, I’ve heard enough embarrassing excuses.
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