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Breaking the 571 consecutive start streak???….ugh.

I just logged in to check my personal email and found the following from our team CEO Kevin Buckler’s email to read.

“Hi Team,

TRG Motorsports CEO Kevin Buckler

TRG Motorsports CEO Kevin Buckler

As you know Bobby will be with us again this week but we are saddled with the unpleasant task of Starting & Parking him.  Torrey, Sean & an entire contingent from Boston, headed by our very own Bruce L. have been on the case trying to drum up sponsor dollars.

As we about were ready to call the deal dead, RJ came up with a $25,000 sponsor that could also be a BIG deal for next year.  I am sniffing with TaxSlayer on a really skinny deal for them to take the hood but I am not sure yet,  There are a few 10K guys out there that we are talking to & Pete said to tell him if we get close as he will put something on the car & cover the final part

If you guys know of anyone at all, that we could involve, this will generate HUGE press as we already Continue reading ‘Breaking the 571 consecutive start streak???….ugh.’

Pumpelly on ARCA, “We’ll talk about it over a beer sometime.”

The Mitts were off in final laps

The Mitts were off in final laps

Well the last 3 laps of the race had mitts off and knuckles bared as The South Jersey Home Builders 150 drew to a close.  Pumpelly’s official comment is, “We’ll talk about it over a beer sometime.”

Patrick Long (video)& Spencer Pumpelly are series nOObs but veteran road racers.  They come to the series in search of a more financially rewarding career that this feeder series may offer.     Their presence marks a problem for the points leaders as their ‘ringer’ status robs valuable championship points and leads to nasty track etiquette in the final turns.  So much in fact, that there were 5 position changes by the top 3 cars in the last few laps.

The ARCA post race reports, “My run in ARCA was unbelievable,” said Pumpelly. “I had such a good time here. I had a great time with the cars, the drivers that I have met here have been great and all of the teams, the officials really enjoyed

Patrick Long wins South Jersey Homebuilders 150 ARCA race

Patrick Long wins South Jersey Homebuilders 150 ARCA race

my time here and I appreciate everyone being so welcoming. Also it was my first time with the TRG guys in the stock car side. I’ve worked a lot with their sports car teams and we do a lot with the Motorsports guys in sports cars as well as the TRG guys, two different companies that kind of work together. This is my first time on the stock car side with all of those guys-phenomenal job they did. I can’t say enough. Hope I get to do more. Not sure if I will get the opportunity sooner or later but I’ll be trying.” Continue reading ‘Pumpelly on ARCA, “We’ll talk about it over a beer sometime.”’

Old Friend takes on a New Look - Spencer Pumpelly

Pumpelly in NJMS ARCA Race

Pumpelly in NJMS ARCA Race

Today is a new direction for our friend Spencer Pumpelly.  After a few months of practice and some encouraging words from teammate Andy Lally - Spencer is taking on the South Jersey Building Trades 150 at NJ Motorsport’s Thunderbolt Circuit today at 1pm EST.

Starting P5 behind current & former Grand Am teammates Justin Marks and Patrick Long, Pumpelly looks to Continue reading ‘Old Friend takes on a New Look - Spencer Pumpelly’

FROM THE PIT STAND: Bobby’s Take at Atlanta

Here is an email that Bobby Labonte sent to the TRG Motorsports partners this week.   I thought you might enjoy reading it as much as I did. - Bruce

#71 TRG Motorsports Car

#71 TRG Motorsports Car

FROM THE PIT STAND: Bobby’s Take at Atlanta

Hi Everyone,

Well after what has to have been one of the more unpredictable weeks in my career, the folks at TRG have asked if I would write a little summary of my first weekend with the team. After achieving one of my best finishes of the season, how could I say no?

Starting off, this point last week was definitely one of the more memorable for me, but not in a good way. As by now you probably know, my arrangement with Hall of Fame Racing and Ask.com did not guarantee sponsorship for the full season, but like any opportunity in racing, we took what we could with the hope we’d be able to find enough funding for the rest of the season, but sadly it just wasn’t going to work headed Continue reading ‘FROM THE PIT STAND: Bobby’s Take at Atlanta’

VIP NASCAR Garage Tour - Dinner with Bobby LaBonte

TaxSlayer #71 at Bristol Sprint Cup Race

TaxSlayer #71 at Bristol Sprint Cup Race

It was January 2008 - the market was roaring and I was in business growth/expansion mode.   I also had it in my head that I was going to drive the Rolex 24hr at Daytona.    As we started to vector in on The Racers Group as our support for the Rolex race, we learned about their startup effort in NASCAR.   Win-Lose or Draw - it felt like the access being a limited partner would present was worth the price of admission.   I wrote the check.

Fast forward 2 years later and we have Truck Wins, ARCA top 10s and in 2009 20+ Sprint Cup starts under our belt….but no sponsor.

9.18.09 at Loudon, NH - NASCAR will be in town.  This includes my team, TRG Motorsports.  As you may know, we’ve just signed Bobby LaBonte, former Sprint Cup Continue reading ‘VIP NASCAR Garage Tour - Dinner with Bobby LaBonte’

Art of Ferrari

Guest Cars

Guest Cars

What a hugely fun-filled three days we had in Corning, NY.   The weather was beyond description, the people fun and the track was fast.

Leon Bourdage had worked tirelessly all summer to line up a fantastic off track schedule to compliment Bob & Karen Coates usual track flair.   Dinners and parties were planned on all nights keeping all of us on a tight, but thoroghly entertaining schedule.

I knew it was catching up with us and even caught myself giggling when on day #2, I had drivers coming into the classroom and nodding off.  There was one guy that was almost drooling, better in class than out on the back straight was my figure.

Day 1 brought the usual scramble to create our ode to Burning Man by erecting our makeshift township and Continue reading ‘Art of Ferrari’

My Boy! - Andy Lally takes on Sprint Cup Today!

TRG Motorsports #71

TRG Motorsports #71

We’re 18 laps into the Helluva Good 200 at Watkins Glen and our boy Andy Lally is piloting the #71 in his Sprint Cup Debut.   Doing really well, no carnage, holding his place and making a Fantastic debut for us at TRG Motorsports.     Great stuff for us and our new sponsor www.taxslayer.com…give’em a look!

Keep up the charge Andy!   Live updates on facebook, twitter and http://www.teampolizeihq.com/

The bottom of the 9th

Guardian Angel Motorsports - Spreading it's Wings

Guardian Angel Motorsports - Spreading The Love

Today brought the drop dead date for Guardian Angel Motorsports and Team Polizei 144 to commit to our racing partners The Racers Group.   Today - we had to irrevocably commit to the Watkins Glen race and it’s expense or not.

As luck would have it, we’ve got 3-5 corporate sponsorship balls in the air but none that look as though they’re going to drop in time for th 8.6.09 departure for practice.   This is a big bummer as we’re out there with all we’ve got and neither strategic partner in this joint venture has experienced failure in meeting a goal yet.   While the orchestra is still playing, we’re getting nervous that we’ll be forced to either deficit spend like our illustrious political leaders or simply withdraw. Continue reading ‘The bottom of the 9th’

Wow….Heavy Lifting…

“Sometimes, you just have to say…..What The #@$K!”

Risk Business - 1983.

So we have a vision, can see the path, have all the players and a chance to make a huge impact on the world we live in.  It all seems so easy, that is, until you try to build momentum from a standstill.  Young and foolish, we’ve dropped our shoulders and started pushing.

Two days ago, Guardian Angel Motorsports and Team Polizei 144 announced our joint effort in supporting www.love146.org in their charitable fund raising efforts.   Implicit in that is for us to enter the venerable car #63 in the Rolex GT race, August 7, 2009 at Watkins Glen International.  Continue reading ‘Wow….Heavy Lifting…’

Philanthropy 2.0

me and all my friends
we’re all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing and
there’s no way we ever could
now we see everything that’s going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
we just feel like we don’t have the means
to rise above and beat it…

Waiting On The World To Change
-John Mayer-

I HATE waiting.

Economics have been sordid for the past 8 months.  People, companies, charities and portfolio values are dropping like flies.  We’ve been listening & watching the race scene intently as team after team has struggled with finances to continue it’s journey in the sport.

It’s such a major issue that CNBC has focused several expose features on it entitled INSIDE TRACK: Refueling the Business of NASCAR.  The essence of the issue is that companies are finding it more and more difficult to measure the return they are receiving for their substantial investments.  Given that ‘Bling’ is so two thousand and LATE these days, if you can’t justify it, you’d better not be spending it.


Simultaneously, the philanthropic space has felt a similar crunch as tything has taken on a new meaning.  The new meaning looks to be something like, “charity begins at home.”   2008 left most charities reporting receipts down in excess of 30 percent Continue reading ‘Philanthropy 2.0′