John Force Ramps Up Strategy To Find New Sponsors, Partners

NHRA team owner and driver John Force today announced an aggressive marketing strategy aimed at combating the loss of longtime manufacturer Ford and sponsor Castrol following the '14 season. Force has partnered with motorsports firm Just Marketing Int’l (JMI) to help find a primary sponsor, and hired entertainment group Rogers & Cowan, as well as Octagon Entertainment, in an effort to bring back "Driving Force," a reality show about his family which ran from '06-07 on A&E.

“We have to move and we have to move fast," Force said. “We’ve got to go chasing corporate America. We have to build the brand of John Force Racing and all the drivers, and Hollywood can make that happen." Force noted a show about him – and his NHRA driving daughters Brittany and Courtney – could be invaluable to finding new sponsors.

“I had raced for 20 years and I would come into the airport and race fans would know who John Force was from ESPN or Speed Channel. Then we get a TV show, and a year later my kids walk out of an airplane and the crowd surrounds them. What happened in a year that took me 20 years?" Force has received offers from a number of networks to carry the '14 show, which will air under a new name. By Josh Carpenter, SportsBusiness Daily