Sponsorship fuels competition for local racers at short track facilities. And locally, the annual $5,000 sponsorship contest organized by local multimedia personality Nicole LaRose has become a coveted get for drivers in the area.
In 2022 LaRose will give local drivers double the desire to want get their hands on what she’s giving away.
For the fifth consecutive year, LaRose will be awarding a local racing team with a special sponsorship she has created through the sale of calendars featuring some of her best racing photographs from various tracks during the 2021 season. The big difference for 2022 will be that the size of the sponsorship award will go from $5,000 to $10,000.
“I was getting bored with $5,000 and I wanted to shake things up,” LaRose said. “Plus it’s the fifth [year] so I figured why not?”
The 20-year old LaRose, who serves as a multimedia reporter at Stafford Speedway, is the daughter of veteran short track racer Ernie LaRose. She gets that winning big money in racing means first having the money to get to the track to compete for big money.
“You probably have to spend $10,000 to be in the position to win a $10,000 to win race, and usually only a few guys can pull that off,” LaRose said. “This gives more people a chance to win a big payday like that.”
The award winner will also receive 25 gallons of racing fuel donated by New England Racing Fuel.
Once again like in years past, each person who purchases one of her 2022 calendars can enter the name of a driver for the sponsorship drawing. One winner will be drawn from the entrants.
“I’m going to have to sell more calendars to get to $10,000,” LaRose said. “But I think with that incentive being double now it should be a little easier to sell. Last year I was still able to sell as much as I did with everything that was going and that kind of impressed me. I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. So I’m pretty confident we’ll have a successful year.”
New London-Waterford Speedbowl SK Modified driver Tony Membrino Jr. was the winner of the 2021 sponsorship award.
What a terrific thing. Nicole you are a tremendous young lady!!!
Nice Job Nicole. I didnt realize the funding for the sponsorship was generated through calendar sales.
Where would one get one of these calendars for sale? Also can a fan who has no affiliation with a race team nominate a driver if they buy a calendar?
CSG,
I know she’ll be making an announcement when they go on sale. I think last year she did offer online sales too. Also, anyone that buys a calendar gets to put in a driver’s name for the drawing. You don’t have to be affiliated with that driver to put their name in the drawing.
Nicole posted her website on many of her social media posts. These posts can be found on Facebook, Twitter and so on. I’m not sure of the exact date when calendars will be available but you can at least favorite her media and/or website for use at a later date. It’s crazy to think she is going on her fifth year but it is also outstanding!