One week after announcing a sponsorship program with Microsoft Small Business and qualifying seventh at Martinsville, BAM Racing's No. 49 Toyota was withdrawn from this weekend's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. No details were available as to the reasons behind the decision by owner Beth Ann Morgenthau, who has operated a team in NASCAR's premier series since 2002. The No. 49 was 42nd in owner points following a 37th-place finish at Martinsville, having made three of six races this season. Driver Ken Schrader finished 21st at Las Vegas and 41st at Bristol earlier in 2008. (CSI/ BAM RACING)

BAM Racing will begin using Toyota engines from Bill Davis Racing in the #49 car driven by Ken Schrader this weekend at Martinsville Speedway in what could be the first step toward a merger between the companies. "Right now it's more of a collaboration than a merger," said Eddie Jones, general manager at BAM Racing. "We're trying to work together to see what we can do for them and what they can do for us and see if there is anything to move forward on." BAM was under contract to use Dodge engines supplied by Gillett Evernham Motorsports this season. Jones said they're still in the process of working through that deal, but added that GEM has given permission for BAM to move forward with BDR. "That's the business part of the deal," Jones said. "I'm trying to get the race car all put together." Jones said he contacted BDR a couple of weeks ago, believing the power Toyota engines have shown could be the best long-term solution. "Short term, we expect to at least stay the same or get a little better," he said. "Long term, we're doing what we can do this year and hoping to have a great situation and by the time the year is over look at something else."

Up-date: BAM Racing has decided to skip the next two Sprint Cup races in Texas and Phoenix. Team co-owner Tony Morgenthau released the following statement about the decision: "Switching manufacturers was a taller order than we initially realized. While BAM Racing has a very strong short track program, our intermediate track program needs some work. Since we haven't had time to adequately test the cars on shaker rigs and pull down rigs; since historically we don't run that well at either Texas or Phoenix - even with a proven, tested racecar; since we intend to improve our on-track performance and not to take a step backwards; our organization has decided to take the next three weeks to focus on the remainder of the racing season. We recognize that we will sacrifice our 42nd position in owner's points, but that only guarantees our team a spot if qualifying is rained out. Ultimately every car that is 36th or lower must qualify on time in order to race. While skipping the next two races will hurt our points position in the short term, returning to the track at Talladega ready to move forward with fully-tested Toyota Camry's will enhance our program overall. This has been a very difficult, "big picture" decision; by taking a little time to regroup now, we should be a much stronger team for the rest of the year. Finally, for all the naysayers who may predict this to be the death knell for one of the few remaining independent teams in Sprint Cup . . . wait until Talladega, then tell us if we're dead or not!" (CSI/ BAM RACING)(4-1-2008)

 

OK, let's see, we have Big Brew (Coors, Budweiser, Miller) in NASCAR, Big Cola (Coke, Pepsi, about 100 energy drinks and the like) ... yep, it's time to add Big Tech. According to a blog posting on the company Web site from Eric Ligman, Microsoft U.S. senior manager of small business community engagement, Microsoft is heading to NASCAR with BAM Racing, and it's happening this weekend. That's BIG Tech. "Microsoft, through the Microsoft U.S. Small Business Team, has just become one of the sponsors of the No. 49 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team for the 2008 season," Ligman wrote. "This sponsorship provides a connection to approximately 75 million NASCAR fans here in the U.S. The Microsoft sponsorship will feature the Microsoft Small Business name as well as the Microsoft Small Business Specialist (SBSC) 'blue badge,' which designates those Microsoft Partners who specialize on servicing the needs of small businesses." Cool, right? Another company seeing the benefit of NASCAR's voluminous reach and sledgehammer demographics, big deal. Well, this is Microsoft we're talking here, and that's big news in and of itself, especially for a single-car team like BAM Racing and driver Ken Schrader. However cool the Microsoft deal is, and it is cool, it's the BAM part of the sponsorship agreement that is killer. "This sponsorship, which showcases Microsoft Small Business as well as our Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partners, will hopefully not only raise more awareness of the professional solutions, services and assistance available to small businesses everywhere from Microsoft and its partners, but it will also provide an opportunity for our Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partners to tap into a marketing venue not seen as financially available to many before," Ligman wrote in the blog. The Microsoft Small Business name and Small Business Specialist blue badge will appear on the No. 49 BAM Racing car for the remainder of the season. In return, team owners Tony and Beth Ann Morganthau have offered, according to the blog:

• A custom promo race video that can be used online or on TV for marketing purposes

• A custom sponsor promo-pack which includes a custom sponsorship icon, official sponsorship certificate and royalty-free image license

• A custom race Web site with the SBSC company's logo or name

• A custom VIP race weekend sweepstakes program designed to get the SBSC partner's customers coming back over and over to their custom race Web site

• Plus, a custom race weekly newsletter available to be automatically sent to all e-mail registrants from their Web site

• Custom "On Hold" messages for the SBSC company's phone system announcing that the company is a proud sponsor of BAM Racing

• Two general admission tickets to the race of their choice* (subject to availability)

• Possible free primary sponsorship -- one business will be chosen to receive a free primary race sponsorship, a $300,000 value, according to the team

• A custom press release for the Microsoft SBSC partner to use highlighting the new sponsorship

• An exclusive one-time promotional price of $3,995, which includes all of the above for the remainder of the 2008 season; this is a one-time fee only and it gets all of the items above, including a logo on the car in the Microsoft section for the remainder of the season. 

As promotional plans go, this is a monster. For $4,000 per SBSC partner, the team basically builds in a marketing program with a VIP program on the other end. This weekend at Martinsville, the entire car will be done up in Microsoft colors, with the emphasis on the Small Business Specialist Community. "We think this is a very exciting opportunity to work with all of our Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partners and BAM Racing to really drive some awareness and excitement around SBSC and Microsoft Small Business," Ligman wrote. Think about that as a business model. Say there are 10,000 Microsoft Small Business Specialists, and each takes the opportunity to buy into the program. That adds up to $40 million. You could run a nice, tiddly little racing team for $40 million, maybe even more than one. That's good news for the Morganthaus, who have been solid supporters of the sport for several years and embarked upon this kind of ambitious sponsorship program in an effort to keep up with bigger teams. There might be as much to talk about regarding the sponsorship program from BAM's side as Microsoft's. This weekend at Martinsville, it will be fun to find out more. (CSI/ BAM Racing. 3/20/2008)