For Immediate Release
– May 11, 2006
Contact: Juan Iglesias – Publicist –
BigLen Co
(305)-221-1017 or jiglesias@biglen.com
TEAM BIGLEN SITS OUT NHRA ATCO EVENT
UNDER PROTEST.
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.
BigLen Co, owner & operator of
Team BigLen, was established in 1998, and its
motorsports operations' main focus is
targeted at providing corporate clients with premier
motorsports marketing services. Visit the company’s
website for details
(www.biglen.com)
or write to BigLen Engineering, 9450
Sunset Drive Suite 101, Miami, Florida 33173 or call
(305)-221-1017 or email:
info@biglen.com.