TEAM BIGLEN TO SIT OUT NHRA ATCO EVENT UNDER PROTEST
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Miami, FL – Say it ‘ain’t’ so!!! South Florida’s 7-Year Sport Compact Veteran Driver and Team Owner, Len Monserrat, has decided to skip the upcoming National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) event, to be held on May 20-21, at Atco Raceway, in Atco, New Jersey. The event snub will mark an official protest, regarding a decision made by the NHRA event directors at last weekend’s sport compact race, held at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, in Englishtown, New Jersey.
The decision, which Monserrat describes as, “Poor, at best…” goes against all fundamentals of the term ‘motorsports marketing’ and may have jeopardized a very important Team Sponsor relationship. Monserrat adds, “The SCORESTM – BigLen partnership holds much potential for our team, however, it is in its infancy and mishaps like this certainly leave a bad taste in the sponsor’s mouth.” So what happened? Here are the facts:
When Monserrat’s car would not fire, prior to round 1 of eliminations, the team requested to pull the car under the tower and on to the side road. This is a normal occurrence when a car breaks at the line or is unable to stage on its own power. Crew chief Roman Serra then pro-actively notified the crew of their Team Titan-competitor Brad Personett that they would have a bye run. Pulling the car onto the side road, which is located along the front of the grandstands at Raceway Park, would allow Team BigLen’s sponsors some added exposure; particularly SCORESTM, who had executive personnel in attendance. Permission was momentarily granted by NHRA officials in the staging lanes, only to be pulled at the last second and turned back by the NHRA tower officials.
The event directors’ decision contradicts NHRA’s preaching(s) regarding helping individual teams maximize their sponsor’s investments; a point they do not fail to re-iterate at each and every driver’s meeting. To top it off, NHRA’s event directors and media specialist were notified in advance (days before the event), via emails and voice messages, that Team BigLen would be entertaining sponsor executives at the race. No response was received by any Team BigLen personnel regarding the notifications.
Serra had this to add, “regardless of the sponsor request, the bottom line is we earned that spot to pull out from under the tower next to our competitor and they simply denied it to us. They made the wrong call and they know it.” As a matter of fact, following the incident, NHRA did make an attempt to ‘make good’ by offering Monserrat an opportunity to be a guest announcer in the tower. It may have proved too little too late, however, as the team’s SCORESTM guests left the event immediately following the 1st round of eliminations. Monserrat, felt so beside himself at what had just unfolded that he could not find it within him to accept the offer.
The team will passively protest the instance, according to the rules and regulations in the 2006 NHRA Rulebook, by skipping the Atco event, mainly to shed light on the subject and to make sure that this does not happen to any other team; especially one which may also be on the verge of a big sponsor deal. Our sport is very heavily supported by sponsorship and everyone knows that once in a while you need to go that little extra step for them. In this particular instance, the actions of the NHRA event directors, in the tower, disregarded that fact. They stated that they were behind schedule as their reasoning. It would have taken approximately 30 seconds to tow the racecar along the side road. You be the judge.
Monserrat concluded, “It is no secret that securing and maintaining a sponsorship may be the most difficult aspect of our sport, even when everything goes smoothly. I wonder what they were thinking???”
Team BigLen is no new-comer to high profile sponsorships, having been trusted, in previous seasons, by some of the biggest names in motorsports; Michelin – North America, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Sunoco Lubricants & Petrochemicals, and The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, just to name a few. This season, the team is on the threshold of finalizing an agreement with another nationally recognized brand in SCORESTM.
As a former National Champion in his rookie season (2000), Len has brought his team to six (6) consecutive top 10 season finishes in Sport Compact Competition. The team heads into their seventh (7th) season on the national circuit with high expectations and much enthusiasm. Team BigLen plans to tour the national events of the NHRA and the NDRA, as well as attend numerous auto shows, lifestyle events, and select sporting events. As always, the team will support and make appearances for the Racers Against Street Racing (RASR) program.
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