Many companies are involved with NASCAR. This post is about entertaining those companies guests while at the race.
Here is a NASCAR hospitality tent before we would put up the Banners, etc.
And just a short time later.
Again, a before shot.
And the after pic.
We would leave our hotel as early as 4am sometimes just to make the drive to the track and decorate.
Pennzoil / Quaker State, the companies I worked with, sponsored several drivers during my time in NASCAR.
On Race Day, our driver would make an appearance in the Hospitality Tent to speak about the race and answer questions.
Here’s Mark Martin.
This is our ‘Check In’ table.
Xiao Xiao and Christy.
Kellie and Christy.
Guests would sign up for my Pit & Garage Tours here.
A menu board told the guests what was for lunch.
At every NASCAR race, we hired a local florist to design our table centerpieces. Here are some of those.
We brought the black, red and checkered napkins. We had them dry cleaned and pressed every week.
Our guests loved the way our tents looked.
We had the chair backs custom made.
Race fans loved the Pennant Rope also and would ask for it.
We bought helium at every race to inflate the balloons. So making a trip to Party City was mandatory.
I think you’d be surprised at how fast we could transform a regular, white hospitality tent into a great party atmosphere for our guests.
A lot of Hospitality Tents had ‘Show Cars’ in front. We always did.
Here’s another NASCAR driver that came by the morning of the race and talked to our guests about the upcoming race, then he signed autographs.
I know I would have enjoyed myself, had I ever been invited to a NASCAR hospitality tent before I got into racing.
After getting up around 3:30am on race day, Bannering, setting up the tent, conducting several Pit & Garage Tours, I would help out with a raffle for prizes.
Before each NASCAR race, I would go shopping for cool gifts to give away during the raffle. I always purchased things I knew they would love to win.
We spent a lot of money on raffle prizes. There was no expense spared when it came to entertaining important guests, all in an effort to ensure they had a great time on their day at the races.
I wore so many hats in racing, and it all started by somebody saying to me, “Hey, go hang that Banner.”
I think I preferred NASCAR out of all the racing series’ I worked in. The days were long and tiring, but the reward was so very worth it.
The night before the race, we had ‘Turn Down’ service for our guests. It was a race package of gifts and info about the big race the next day.
It helped to remind the guests what time the bus was leaving, so they wouldn’t miss it.
They always loved the gifts.
Relaxing after a long day. I hope you enjoyed this look at Hospitality Marketing.
That completes this NASCAR 101 Course. Give yourself 3 Credits towards Graduation. Congratulations on your Quest for a Degree from The Universite de Arachnida.
To see other course requirements for your degree, see next link.
Motorsports Degree Requirements
Any questions and/or comments may be directed to the following:
Dr. Spider Michaels, Phd.
Spider@SpiderMichaels.com