The Indianapolis Colts IndyCar / Vision Racing letters of recommendation

The Indianapolis Colts IndyCar - Image Credit: IndyCar Garage

The Indianapolis Colts IndyCar / Vision Racing letters of recommendation

The Indianapolis Colts are playing in the Super Bowl against the New Orleans Saints this Sunday and the IZOD IndyCar Series is right the middle of all the action. The blue and white car that is pictured above was rolled out and shown off at a recent golf outing sponsored and presented by Van Heusen with attendees that featured former NFL Players. IndyCar Series standout, and former ChampCar World Series driver Ryan Hunter-Reay was also in attendance. Jim Irsay should probably sponsor the car for his new son-in-law, AJ Foyt IV ... who is married to Casey Irsay.

Speaking of sponsorships, Vision Racing is looking to have Menard's continue to support its racing effort through its sponsorship of the car driven by Ed Carpenter. Tony George is having trouble retaining his longtime relationship with the home center retailing giant in the mid-west. Menard's has alwayus been tightly associated to the Indy 500 event and its colors have been a standout on the IndyCar Series ever since the IRL was formed by Tony George as a break-away alternative to CART/ChampCar open-wheel racing series.

Now that the two series are again one, and have been solidly one for one full year in 2009 (merged in 2008 but the two racing discipilines still had equipment and racing venues to sort out under the ICS banner), Menards is contemplating a change in its approach to sponsorship in the series. Vision Racing has asked its fans to submit letters of recommendation to the Menards organization in the hopes at retaining this long term relationship they have shared ever since Vision Racing was formed and before with its support of the George/Hulman family and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway racing events.

That shot of the Menards livery on turn 11 ... oops, turn 9, at Long Beach should tell them they (Menards) need to have a store in Southern California. Let them know how you feel Vision Racing & Ed Carpenter have represented them, and how much you LOVE the day-glo yellow No.20 MENARDS IndyCar. Image Credit: Vision Racing (2009)

This excerpted and edited from a Facebook message sent out to "friends" -

To our Vision Racing fans
Sat, January 30, 2010 4:27:41 PM

“It is with profound regret and heavy hearts that we share the following update with you all. Despite the team’s best efforts, Vision Racing will be suspending all racing operations. We have an amazing group of people here that appreciate all the support you have given the team. Efforts to find a solid sponsor partnership have been difficult but will continue so that we may take to the track once again. We hope to see you all there in the near future.”

Followed by:

What Vision Racing Fans CAN Do...
Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 5:25pm

Dear Vision Racing Fans,

We cannot tell you how much your words of support and encouragement have meant to all of our team members in the past few days. We want you to know that we are working hard to get past this speed bump and get our team back to the business of building race cars & IZOD IndyCar & Firestone Indy Lights racing.

Many of you have asked what YOU, as fans, can do to help.

Well, we thought about it and the fact is YOU guys count A LOT. We race BECAUSE of you. We race for you. Sponsors get involved because they want YOU to buy their products and support their involvement in our sport. Neither of us can succeed without you, the fans.

SO... here's what you can do if you want to help.

"LETTERS OF REFERENCE" Campaign

If you are willing, we would ask you to send a letter, email, short note, fax to Vision Racing that we can pass along to potential sponsors AND the sponsors that have been supportive of us in the past. (They don't all yet understand the power of twitter & facebook)

Think of it as a letter of reference that we can use to find and secure sponsors that want your business.

Please feel free to send these to us so that we can pass them along on your behalf:

by email at Visionmedia@visionracing.com

by FAX at 317-295-7066

or by snail mail to:

Letter of Reference
c/o Vision Racing
6803 Coffman Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268
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One of the sponsors that HAS supported Vision Racing and our driver Ed Carpenter for a number of years is MENARDS.

We are NOT asking you to HARASS our friends at MENARDS. In fact, ALL we'd like you to do is let them know that YOU still support us and appreciate the support MENARDS has shown us. The folks at MENARDS love racing as much as you do but they also have difficult decisions to make sometimes.
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We'll make sure your letters get to MENARDS or if you prefer, you can send you letters directly to them by fax at 715-876-2774.
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Thank YOU!

Vision Racing
Reference Here>>

The letter of reference writing campaign should focus on gaining a sponsorship from any business entity that would like to be recognized as being associated with one of the more compelling figures in all of motorsport ... Tony George.

A lot of motorsports history surrounds Tony George and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

At this point in time, a few entities are finding it easy to turn their back when some are down ... but Tony George is not out if a company would like the special advertising and public relations attention that would be brought by backing a racing effort with the history and "Vision" of a team owned by one of the truly monumental figures in the world of motor culture!

Sample Letter Here>>

... notes from The EDJE