CORONA, Calif. General Tire and Team Lucas have extended their comprehensive sponsorship program for three seasons, extending the relationship through 2016. This season will be General Tire’s eighth straight as a member of Team Lucas.
"We have everything we had before and we’ve increased our sponsorship level with Team Lucas overall," said General Tire Director of Marketing Travis Roffler. "In 2014, we’re doing more event entitlement and event presentation. Forrest Lucas, Jamie Devney and the entire Team Lucas staff are second to none when it comes making the most of your marketing budget."
General Tire will be an event and television sponsor in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (where it also is the Official Tire), Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series, Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series and Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League. It also will have a major presence at Lucas Oil Speedway, the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks," in Wheatland, Mo.
"General Tire and Team Lucas have been steadfast partners in building our program, and we’re thrilled to have General Tire extend and expand its involvement with us," added Lucas Oil Executive Vice President Bob Patison. "It has been, and will continue to be, a great company to do business with."
General Tire’s Team GT also provides support to Lucas Oil Off Road Racing drivers Carl Renezeder of Laguna Beach, Calif., Ryan Beat and Doug Fortin from El Cajon, Calif., and Robby Woods of Pahrump, Nev.
"The Lucas Oil Off Road Series is a good example of why we’re involved with Team Lucas," Roffler said. "We’re able to reach a key demographic in a cost-effective way. The fans and television audience are light truck oriented. They know that if our tires can take the pounding of off-road racing, they’re going to wear well and hold up on their trucks. They may not go off-roading, but many of them have trucks that they drive every day. We use our on-site activation to create enthusiasm for our tires."
General Tire also will be expanding into automotive programming and King of the Cage MMA on MAVTV American Real this year.
"With Lucas Oil buying MAVTV and expanding its programming, we wanted to step up our involvement," Roffler said. "We’re sponsoring the General Tire Engine Block. It’s three hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time that will be headlined by Stacey David’s GearZ and four other 30-minute automotive shows and then will repeat from 6 to 9 Pacific time. We’re also getting involved in non-automotive programming like King of the Cage MMA. We believe this audience matches our core demographic as well.
"With MAVTV, it’s cost effective so that we have a large presence on broadcasts and we want to be as dominant as we can be. MAVTV brings us value to reach our core audience for the General Tire brand."