Bashas' Supermarkets 200 - Stanton Barrett Notes

Driver Will Really Do Anything For Sponsors
‘Hey, if you want somebody to jump off a building . . .’

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Sponsorship being the life blood of professional motorsports, owner John McGill and driver Stanton Barrett bring a unique approach to corporate marketing through racing.

“A lot of drivers say they will do ‘anything’ to make it in racing and do ‘anything’ for a sponsor,” says McGill, whose DCT Motorsports fields Busch Series Chevrolets.

“I’ve heard of drivers saying that, then you couldn’t get them to show up for a sponsor’s public appearance. It’s like anything else . . . there are the talkers and there are the doers.

“I had a driver tell me once, ‘I’d jump off a building if it helped,’ but I doubt he was too serious about that. Stanton Barrett is the only driver I know who would literally jump off a building . . . and set himself on fire before he did it,” laughs McGill.

“Let’s face it. He is the only driver who actually has jumped off a building.”

Besides being a full-time driver in McGill’s NASCAR Busch Series car and in a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series car, Barrett is also an award-winning Hollywood stunt man – and he has jumped from his share of buildings. He doesn’t set himself on fire in the upcoming national release of Dukes Of Hazzard, but he does do a couple of leaps with “The General Lee.”

Meanwhile, the team is prepared for Friday’s NASCAR Busch Series race at the tricky, one-mile Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway. Barrett, McGill and the #36 DCT Motorsports team are hoping to maintain a series of strong runs and, hopefully, couple that with a solid finish too.

“I guess it’s good we’re not going to Las Vegas this week because luck hasn’t been on our side as much the past couple of races,” Barrett says. “We had decent runs going but things tended to keep us from finishing where we deserved. Whether it was another car spinning right in front of us, another car spinning us or just a small part breaking, those types of things add up.”

While putting the pieces together for competitive runs, McGill and Barrett have continued working towards putting together sponsorship for the team, the best organization in the series that remains unsponsored. Besides full-season primary sponsorship, McGill has talked with some potential sponsors about partial-season funding and breaking the season into two, three or four sections for various sponsors.

“Not only will that give corporations a better price break and a lot more cost-efficient program, it enables them to determine exactly which races work better with their marketing programs,” McGill says. “Working with us enables a company to put together the best possible program for that company. That is the way all sponsorship should work.”

Innovative and creative sponsorship programs are just the beginning. McGill noted DCT Motorsports offers companies unique opportunities from a marketing perspective.

“Because of my Hollywood connections, we’re able to tie the movie industry into our corporate sponsorships,” Barrett says. “There isn’t anybody else in NASCAR racing able to do that on a consistent basis.

“Several potential sponsors have shown some interest in what I call ‘stunt seminars,’” he adds. “I can show them how stunts are done in Hollywood, and then show them what makes a car go 200 miles per hour around a race track.

“A lot of teams can give them signage on the rear quarterpanel. But it’s how you get attention for them that counts. Winning races is a great way to do that but jumping an exploding car with a motorcycle tends to do that too.”

An award-winning stunt man from Hollywood, Barrett has appeared in well over 100 movies – including the soon-to-be-released Dukes Of Hazzard, 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., and is well known not just in Hollywood but also in motorsports.

McGill, who owns DCT Motorsports with his wife, Nancy, is the only Cleveland, Ohio, full-time car owner in the history of NASCAR’s top three divisions. He has developed sponsorship packages that could incorporate the full remainder of the season or blocks of races. Utilizing his own business and marketing acumen, McGill brings creative and fresh approaches not just to team sponsorship itself but areas such as hospitality, cross-promotions and business-to-business possibilities.