Sponsorship Moves

Today marked the opening of the sponsor and team member signings, and lots of activity quickly picked up. We'll run you through all of the moves made today team by team.

First up, Herbal Productions signed a deal with Akaritec to sponsor their #14 car. The #90 will go unsponsored for the moment according to team owner Herbal. He is hoping to increase his team's profile in the first couple of races to pick up a more lucrative deal for the team. No announcement has been made regarding a team member as of yet.

Team [R]Garage made moves both in the sponsorship and team member fronts. Greg Farleigh was announced to be the team's driver mentor for the season. "This is a great opportunity for me," said Greg during the [R]Garage press conference. "I hope that my years of experience behind the wheel will be transferred over to the drivers of this team and give us some solid results this season." Sponsorship contracts for both cars were also signed to begin the season, with Vitoli Freezer Pizzas going to the #17, and Podstavec Shoes going to the #38. "This is a real opportunity to reach out with our brand and get some international exposure," said Podstavec Shoes in it's press release. "We are proud to partner with a renowned racing organization like [R]Garage who have had some success on other stages around the world."

The Razgriz Racing Team hired Austin Meyers as an engineer to work in the engine shop. He formerly worked for American Racing Company, but now he will be working on the Speedtec cars of RRT, trying to squeeze every ounce of power from the engines in the AR2. Key Security and 365 Insurance came on board as sponsors of the #31 and #32 cars. In honor of their new sponsorship, 365 Insurance has agreed to give people a 32% discount on new insurance plans for the first 3 months of their contract. "It's just great to be out here, get a chance to increase our profile with people and offer them a great deal," said Jon Winters, an agent for 365 Insurance. The team is fired up and ready to go, the last step will be to add the drivers, which will be announced this coming weekend.

Orange Racing Team Austria announced the addition of Aaron Miles to their team. Unfortunately, Aaron was unavailable for an interview today, but did send out a brief press release via Twitter saying "Glad to be part of the ORTA engineering team. Let's go racing!" His aerodynamic specialty should be a big help on the Typhoons run by the team. Banner signed on to the #5 car, saying it was a "Banner" day for the company to join NAGRCA GT with Orange Racing Team Austria. Hurricane Apparel became the sponsor of the #99. "This is a great opportunity to be on the front of this fast Weston racing machine, and it's also great to interact with all the fans and gain a lot of exposure for our brands," said Steven Chalvier, CEO of the company. Hurricane Apparel will reportedly begin producing hats and t-shirts for both of the ORTA cars and drivers, which will be sold starting the first race weekend.

Finally, Peninsula Motorsports brought Petra Moleski on board to do work on the team's chassis. "I'm happy to be here with the defending champions working on their cars for them. Hopefully we will have a good season." The team announced that their #1 car will be sponsored by Ocean Point Credit Union. Chekit Credit Cards will adorn the #2 car. "Both of these sponsors will be great partners to work with throughout the year," said team owner bduddy at the signing announcement.

Stay tuned to hear about the others team's decisions as they become available to us. Also, car images are expected to start appearing soon with the sponsor's colors adorning them.