FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 - The exciting news for 2012 continues to come at Herd Racing!  Several months after first communicating about the team's possible involvement in promoting a new startup herbal remedy product, Herd Racing will be the marketing platform of the new Cincinnati-based startup company in 2012, both sides agreed today.

The company and race team, which will make a joint announcement of the 2012 Formula 3 primary sponsorship on Sunday, March 25, hammered out the final agreement during a luncheon this afternoon at a suburban Cincinnati restaurant.  The deal will include a new paint scheme on the team's Formula 3 boat and will allow the boat to continue promoting the team's faith-based message through it's familiar large Jesus fish symbol.  A win-win situation for everyone involved.

One of my firm beliefs is that one of the boats we field will always carry a obvious symbol of our Christian faith and values as individuals and as a team.  We began sporting the large lime green Jesus fish on our boats when we started racing in Formula 3 in 2010 and will continue to use our SST-60 entry as our primary tool for outreach.  This boat will be the one we take to Friday evening events in each race city and take to church camps, Bible schools and the like during the off seasons.  It is with great joy that we can soon announce that a corporate partner supports our mission statement and will help us continue the effort by becoming the team's primary sponsor for the upcoming season.

We will be working long hours this weekend to get the deal finalized and will be back on Sunday with an official announcement.  The company, while I can't say who it is just quite yet, is a perfect fit for boating.  It is the manufacturer of a product that combats one of the only negative things there is about having lots of water.  Any guesses?  Check back Sunday evening for the details as we begin the new week with all the news about who it is, how you can get the product, and what their 2012 sponsorship program will look like!

This is such great news because we are also finalizing our primary sponsorship plans for our Formula 2 team as well.  This deal is progressing nicely and will be announced publicly in the next several weeks as well.  It too, as I have alluded to in the past, is a full season primary sponsorship that will include a new boat number for our Formula 2 team, as well as a boat wrap, hauler decals, uniforms and the works.  Add in our associate sponsorships for 2012 like Herr Foods, E.A. Schaeffer Oil, ECO-FIRST, Honor and Remember, Mother Mouse Books, Mobile Imprint and others, and we can begin to see the snowball building very rapidly!  You may have noticed I didn't mention our associate sponsor BRL Solutions.  Check back.  There's a reason.

A third year race team fielding two boats in two different classes with primary sponsors pledging firm support to each program is very good news to the front office at Herd Racing.  We believe we are building a team in the right way and it is gratifying to see that the people who are making the marketing decisions in some major corporations seem to agree!  We are half way through our five-year startup plan and things are right on schedule.

One last tidbit on the three fatalities last weekend in Florida that you read about in my last blog entry.  I have spent some time talking about the tragedies with several people inside and outside of the sport.  And while the sport of boat racing is often all lumped into one impression it is important to point out that the boats in which the drivers were competing were not current-day craft with pilot capsules or modern restraints.  While it makes the deaths no easier to accept, it should be noted that the boats involved were vintage craft, many years removed from active duty, which did not have many of the safety features of today's race boats and were not certified or approved for competition by the APBA.  Still, please keep the families of these men in your prayers.  Regardless of how it happened or what safety measures have been taken to prevent injuries and deaths in the futrure the fact still remains the same - three men lost their lives and that is sad regardless of how it happened!

Dana Tomes