Gainsco sees returns as GrandAm Sponsor
The encore championship came after another banner season for the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance team, which saw victories over such blue-chip competitors as TELMEX/Chip Ganassi Racing, SunTrust Bank/Wayne Taylor Racing, and perennial powerhouse team Penske Racing and its title sponsor Verizon Wireless. In addition to capturing the prestigious Rolex Series Daytona Prototype team and driver championships, Team GAINSCO also led the series with four victories and six pole positions in the year’s 12 races.
GAINSCO is the first team in Daytona Prototype history to capture two championships with the same driver pairing and primary crew members after the winning combination scored its first Rolex Series titles in 2007. Gurney and Fogarty also ended 2009 as the most successful driving duo in Daytona Prototype history with 12 career wins with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing.
GAINSCO’s success in a demanding and competitive racing environment reflects its growing emergence in the auto insurance market. With the familiar bright-red No. 99 GAINSCO Daytona Prototype race car — known to the team and its fans as the “Red Dragon" — serving as a brand identifier and corporate rallying point for independent agent partners and employees alike, both the racing team and the Company itself have enjoyed parallel success in recent years. GAINSCO Auto Insurance first began using motorsports as a marketing medium in May 2005 as the title sponsor for the Bob Stallings Racing team, which made a mid-season debut in the Grand-Am Rolex Series.
“Our involvement in major-league racing extends well beyond that of traditional sponsor," said Glenn Anderson, GAINSCO President and CEO. “We have a fast-evolving, high-performance Company, and intentionally developed a corporate brand and culture around our No. 99 GAINSCO race car. It is the cornerstone for everything we do as a Company, and connects our management team and employees directly with our valued agent partners through the universally understood values of winning and being driven to succeed."
With the dual objectives of building brand awareness and increasing marketing efforts among insurance agents in key sales regions, GAINSCO initiated its “Are You Driven?®" marketing campaign in conjunction with the sponsorship. The trademark tagline is frequently positioned in conjunction with the image of the red No. 99 race car in GAINSCO marketing collateral and promotional campaigns.
“Our goal is to continue to build and grow a uniquely different and competitively innovative auto insurance Company," Anderson said. “At GAINSCO, we truly are driven to win and, just like the championship-winning racing team, we know the path to victory is a high-performance team working together to compete and win in a competitive marketplace."
Since the inception of GAINSCO’s sponsorship program, a variety of at-event and off-track programs centered around the No. 99 team have been used to enhance business relations with insurance agents and bolster employee camaraderie. In 2009 alone, GAINSCO entertained hundreds of key business partners and employees at race events, where guests had the opportunity to see the race car up close, tour the team transporter, meet the drivers and experience the excitement of major-league sports car road racing from a true “insider’s" perspective.
GAINSCO’s motorsports marketing program has had a welcome if not unexpected benefit that has taken the No. 99 campaign full circle. After nearly five years, the racing team and drivers have grown accustomed to and actually depend on the support of the “GAINSCO nation" at races and during corporate office visits at the Company’s headquarter facility in Dallas and its regional offices in Miami and Phoenix.
“The incredible support we get from GAINSCO employees and agents is almost like having a home-crowd advantage at a baseball or football game," Fogarty said. “You really can’t measure the motivation and adrenaline that sea of GAINSCO red gives us. We can’t wait to put on a great show for everyone coming to watch. We really do have a great team and sponsor, and they are as fired up to win as we are. We have really grown to depend on that energy."
The season-ending race at Homestead-Miami marked the 50th career event for Gurney and Fogarty as teammates, with each and every race together behind the wheel of the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley.
“GAINSCO has been such a committed sponsor," Gurney said. “It’s quite an experience to see all the employees and agents who are not just fans, they are fanatics. They absolutely love the Red Dragon!"
About GAINSCO Auto Insurance
GAINSCO, INC. (NYSE Amex: GAN), through its insurance brand, GAINSCO Auto Insurance, specializes in minimum-limits personal auto coverage, which is sold through a network of thousands of independent agents in the states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina and Texas, and through an independent managing general agency in California. Established in 1978, GAINSCO’s corporate headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas, with key regional field offices in Miami and Phoenix. Its insurance company subsidiary is MGA Insurance Company, Inc. For more information, visit www.GAINSCO.com.