One hour north of Boston, in Methuen, Massachusetts, sits Wall Ford and Wall Lincoln-Mercury. For the last 20 years John Wall has effectively used motorsports to attract race fans to his dealerships. During the week his son Bryan is the Service Manager at the Ford store. On weekends, they pack up and hit the NASCAR Busch North Series racing circuit where Bryan is one of the rising starstypically, a busload of employees come along for the trip. At the Wall dealerships, racing is where it's at.
Q: Your two dealerships are in the heart of New England. I didn't know that New England was a hotbed of racing.
I think that New England is a sleeping giant as far as racing is concerned. We have had a lot of really active series in New England for a long time including the NASCAR Modifieds and in recent years the NASCAR Winston racing series and the Busch North series. They're all very strong series that draw a lot of very competitive cars. Of course the addition of the New Hampshire International Speedway in the early 90's has been the catalyst that brought New England into the national scene as far as racing goes. People are just starting to discover the marketing opportunities and what is available to them through racing.
Q: What are some of the most effective ways that you use motorsports to develop business?
We have used motorsports ever since I became a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in 1976. I was probably the only one that used motorsports back in the 70-80's. We were involved as sponsors on racecars in the Modified series and the old ACT Tour. We sponsored cars whenever we could find a good Ford that ran fast. We got our name on it and went to the track with vehicles on display and let people know we were involved. From there we've just picked it up over the years, getting involved as a family and as drivers. We ran in SCCA and promoted our dealerships through our own personal involvement as drivers. My sons came on board in the late 1980's, Bryan progressing to a national championship, all with sponsorship from our Lincoln-Mercury dealership. When we bought the Ford store racing was even more natural. We were involved with NASCAR and the Busch series at that point and we have increased our involvement at some of the area racetracks. We sponsor Busch North races. We run the dealership names on the cars and we let people know that we're in the car business. The fan loyalty pays off for us.
Q: Your son, Bryan, is one of the rising stars in New England in the Busch North series. How does his involvement as a driver affect your business?
It affects our business greatly. Bryan, in addition to being a great race car driver, is a great Service Manager in our Ford dealership and many of our customers are aware of that. We have promoted that message in print and on the radio through our dealership advertising. Bryan gets a tremendous amount of press as a result of his racing success. We use the tie-in in our advertising to promote our service and sales department. He has a great effect on the business, particularly on the Ford dealership where he works.
Q: You also have driven race cars. How did you get started in racing?
My first memory in racing was carrying my uncle's crash helmet, which at that time were made out of leather, down at Riverhead Speedway out on Long Island when I was five years old. He was a racer and I got the bug and it has never left me. My mother and grandmother, strangely enough, were great race fans. My mother used to lug us to the racetrack all the time. I did some drag racing and some stockcar racing when I was in high school and in the Air Force. I drove drag cars with Ford company sponsorship back in the late 60's, back when muscle cars were hot. I never really liked drag racing that much, though. I liked to watch it, but I prefer the door-to-door competition of oval track racing. Once I got my dealership established and felt I could take a little time off, I started racing seriously in SCCA and IMSA when I was in my early 40's and here I am today. Both of my sons followed me in as drivers as soon as they were old enough to compete and we raced with and mostly against each other for a long time. My oldest son, John, now runs the Ford dealership and has four kids and works a lot so he's quit racing. But I still run a couple of races a year just to stay active and let Bryan know that the old man can still bang on him once in a while.
Q: We find through interviewing other dealers like yourself that there are a lot of people who work in the dealerships that are big racing fans. Are your employees involved in racing?
They are. Again we have used our racing program as a motivator within the dealership. We take our employees to the races and let them participate, some as fans and some as crewmembers. We have a lot of interest and a lot of involvement. Our dealerships are very family-oriented; we provide Winston Cup tickets. We all go as a group, rent buses and such. Our employees are very, very involved and enjoy the racing program very much.
Q: What do you say to dealers who live in non-traditional hotbeds of racing about the effectiveness of racing?
I tell you that if you're not a race fan yourself, you owe it to yourself and to your business to find out where there are racetracks close to your dealerships. Go out there, talk to the race promoters, take a look at what's going on out there. You're going to see your competition's name on racecars and you should be involved as well. If you do get involved, do it right. Don't just put your name on a racecar. Get out there and get involved with the driver and the team, get involved in the racetrack. Promote some races and get your name known out there because no matter where you are in this country, there is racing going on around you whether you know it or not and there's a lot of good customers in those stands every week.
Q: Have you been able to quantify your involvement?
Our racing involvement results in auto and service sales but the exact number is hard to nail down. It is similar to radio advertisement in that way, but I can tell you that there are definite sales that come as a result of it. Many of them become service customers as a result of our involvement in racing and the perceived idea that we know more about what to do to our cars because we are involved in racing. I can't give you an exact number, but we know that it is very valuable to us.
Q: Your racing team is Gen-Wall Motor Ventures. Where do you see Gen-Wall in the future?
We have a very definite plan. We plan to run for the Busch North championship in 1999 with a full effort. We're building new cars and have a very stout engine program with Roush. That's our near-term goalto win the championship within a year or two at the most. Then hopefully a move down south to the Busch Grand National series. Depending on how that progresses, our ultimate goal is to be involved in Winston Cup. I don't know if that realistically will happen within five years, but I think it certainly will be within a short time thereafter if it hasn't happened in five years.
Q: How hard is it watching your son, Bryan, race?
It's not hard for me because I'm a driver and I act as his spotter, so I'm very involved with him minute-to-minute when he's in the racecar. I consider the level and type of racing that we do very safe. We do everything that we possibly can to make it as safe as possible and NASCAR has done that as well. I am very comfortable when he's out there. Every once in a while he does ask me to be quiet on the radioI give him a little more advice than he would like sometimes, but generally we get along very well and I'm very comfortable when he's out there.
Rolfe Schnur is the National Director of Motorsports for EasyCare. Through their unique Sponsorship Support Group program (SSG), EasyCare now sponsors 40 race cars and five major televised races, as well as major sponsorship status of a 15-race DIRT Rush Hour TV series in the Northeast. If you have specific questions or require more information about this subject, please check the appropriate box on the reader response form on page 3.