New England 200 - Stanton Barrett Notes

From Adult Products To Children’s
www.snowfrog.us shows stock car racing’s growth

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Cigarettes and beer might have been the foundation of stock car racing’s initial corporate sponsorships but as far as NASCAR driver Stanton Barrett is concerned, the next major focus is children.

“Racing is a great sport and it’s a key component of my life but we need more of it directed at younger people and especially pre-teens and young teens,” said Barrett, who will drive a child-related sponsored car in Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race at the 1.017-mile New Hampshire International Speedway.

The www.snowfrog.us Chevrolet will be Barrett’s vehicle at New Hampshire, the second time the children’s Internet web site has sponsored the #36. The car is fielded by DCT Motorsports, which is owned by John and Nancy McGill of Cleveland, Ohio. The site offers games, stories and adventures for children.

“A sponsor is a sponsor, and while we heard a few jokes at Dover, most of the other teams agreed it was a pretty good idea,” said veteran wrench Ricky Pearson, the championship crew chief who grew up in the sport.

“Your first thought is, ‘A frog? You want to put a frog on the race car?” he laughed. “But everybody we talked to, after the first jokes, were saying the same things. They have children too. It’s good to know there is a safe place to go online and there is something for children in stock car racing.”

www.snowfrog.us was developed by Tamara Kocev, a native Croatian living in Stuttgart, Germany. Ms. Kocev, 23, created the site after spending nearly one year following the NASCAR Busch Series and traveling extensively throughout the U.S. The website became a reality in the mountains of California. Her lifelong love of children, coupled with her new love of stock car racing, was the catalyst. She is also working on a children’s book which will be released next year.

“This was the type of project I wanted to be involved with,” said Barrett, who is also a Hollywood stunt man who has appeared in hundreds of movies and television shows.

“I really like children and love being around them but, from a practical standpoint, children are the future of our sport. When a sport forgets that, forgets its fans of today or it’s fans of tomorrow, then it has problems,” Barrett added. “When Tamara started talking about it, I wanted to be a part of it and to help any way I possibly could.”

www.snowfrog.us is not a racing site, Barrett noted, but rather a website dedicated to children and children’s activities.

“We’re hoping parents will see www.snowfrog.us on the car and go with their children to the site and see everything that is there,” he said. “It’s a great web site and we really feel children are going to think the same thing. I know their parents will.”

Barrett said www.snowfrog.us is also developing a show car program that not only will be the most comprehensive in NASCAR history for young fans, but will offer the show car at rates well below those of other entities.

The #36 www.snowfrog.us Chevrolet will certainly be one of the cars for adults, too, to watch in Saturday’s race at the New Hampshire track. Barrett ranks 20th in the national standings with 1702 points – just over 100 points out of the top 15 in the tight battle that runs from 10th to 20th in the NASCAR Busch standings.

Besides being one of the top younger drivers in the Busch Series, the 32-year-old Barrett is well known in other areas. An award-winning stunt man from Hollywood, Barrett has appeared in well over 100 movies – including Dukes Of Hazzard (scheduled to be released in theaters nationally Aug. 5), Spiderman II and others – as well as hundreds of television shows and commercials. Barrett, who is also running some NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events again this season, has been driving since he was 16 years old, and has competed on the highest levels of NASCAR racing. He is a native of Bishop, Calif.

DCT Motorsports is owned by the McGills, the only Cleveland, Ohio, residents to have owned a team full time in any of NASCAR’s top three series. McGill has developed sponsorship packages that could incorporate the full remainder of the season or blocks of races. Utilizing his own business and marketing acumen, he brings creative and fresh approaches not just to team sponsorship itself but areas such as hospitality, cross-promotions and business-to-business possibilities.