TACOMA, WA :: So my last post was a wrap up of the Summer Showdown at Evergreen Speedway. Since that time my car has been parked. We had run a loaner engine in that event, and once we were back at the shop after that event we pulled the loaner engine out of the car and prep’ed it to go back to its rightful owner along with a huge thank you for letting us run it in the biggest event ever. In the meantime, my car sits idle. Funds are at an all-time low, so getting another engine in the car is on hold for now. To be honest, we’re not sure when we’ll get one. But rest assured we haven’t given up. And I’m filling my time with other things in racing. So I thought I’d give you a brief look into what all I do to stay connected to the sport I love so much, even when my steering wheel is taken away from me.
One of the big things I handle is our team website. You can find that at http://www.haywire-racing.com. I’m an amateur web editor, but I think it looks pretty good. Most of what I do I’ve learned on my own since I don’t have the funds to pay someone. Along with the website comes tackling press releases as well. Granted, there hasn’t been a lot of them lately, but it’s on my list of responsibilities. Those get sent out to media outlets (such as Race22.com) and also posted on our website in the “Press” section. I’m always amazed at how much time you can spend on just the website and press releases alone. My wife is even more amazed.
On top of that I also handle the team’s Facebook page (listed as “Haywire Motorsports”, link can be found on our website under the “Social” heading). For a long time I held out on the Facebook thing after watching my kids get mixed up in the debacle that was “MySpace”. I always thought “That just isn’t for me.” Now I find it a great way to get the word out. Short of the obvious spammer, I’ll pretty much friend anyone. But be warned, I will flood your timeline with news about me and my race team. My personal Facebook is really all about redirecting people to my team’s Facebook page. That’s just how I roll.
Along with Facebook, I’m an avid Twitter user (@TerribleTim68). This one took a long time to get into. For a long time I had the attitude that Twitter was for 12 year old girls who try to act 21. My wife still feels that way and often asks me if I’m a 12 year old girl. Whatevs! I’ve found Twitter to be one of the best ways to not only communicate with my fans, but to aggregate the news that I’m really interested in. Facebook cannot come close to doing what Twitter does in that regard. While Facebook forces you to view what they think is most important, Twitter allows you to set up lists and really filter what you see the way you want it filtered! I’m in! Being able to communicate on a very personal level with my fans is a huge bonus! So if you really want to get to know me, head over there! Plus, I had some friends complaining about me blowing up the Facebook timeline on race days. So now, I’ve moved all my race day information exclusively over to Twitter. So if you want to know how we’re doing while we are at the track, you need to head over to Twitter. I’m not going to post that on Facebook.
While I was learning to use social media as a marketing tool, I also learned to create graphics for whatever I needed. I’m by no means a Photoshop guru. But I can get what I need out of it, and I’m real good at finding the answer when I get stumped. What this means is, I create all my own graphics for things like driver cards, t-shirts, website images and on and on. You can find our latest t-shirt design in the gear store, links are on our website! Again, a lot of time invested. Just ask the wife. And again, all driven by a lack of money to pay someone else to do it. I also started doing my own marketing materials, learning how to put together a quality sponsorship proposal and some marketing videos along the way too. When I say I’m a low buck team, you have no idea just how much I mean that!
Then there’s this “driver diary”. I like blogging, and when Race22.com asked if there were any drivers who were interested I stood up. Well, I jumped up! I’ve been covering our team blog for years now, I started my own personal blog so I could touch on stuff a bit less “team focused” and now I do this blog as well. It’s a lot of time spent typing out whatever is on my mind. So why do I do it? Partly because it’s free publicity. Partly because I like blogging. Partly because it is just one more way I can stay connected to this sport even when I’m not racing.
But the biggest way I stay connected is by handling spotter duties for my brother when he races. He drives a Super Late Model at the same track that I race at. Often times we run against each other. It’s an interesting shop dynamic that spans the gap at times from helpful brothers working on each other’s car to rivals who get very focused on beating each other. While we both love to see the other do well, we also both love to beat each other! And when we do, we rib each other about it endlessly, or at least until the next race. But when one of us is not in the car, the other one will act as spotter for the one who is racing. To be honest, I get a huge amount of pleasure out of spotting. It’s very fun and very hard all at the same time. I like to think I’m fairly good at it. As a driver I like to think I know what I’m looking for and where I should be watching. There’s a lot going on, and just like being behind the wheel it takes focus and dedication. I’ve often thought how great it would be to be a full-time spotter for some NASCAR team. But those jobs don’t come along every day. The few guys I know who made it to that position were actually drivers who made it to the Trucks or Nationwide series and then somehow transitioned into spotters instead of drivers. So that’s a long hard road that I doubt I’ll ever get a chance to go down at this point in my life. But I get to do it on the local level, and that’s pretty cool. And in the end, it’s yet another way I stay in the game even when I’ve bene benched.
Hopefully we’ll get the car back together soon. We could use some sponsorship help, but we’re still working hard on our own as well. In the meantime, you can still find me staying in the game through all these responsibilities. And if you want to say hi, just look to the spotter’s stand on race day if that #92 car of my brother is out on the track. Chances are, that will be me with the headset on saying “clear all around brother.”
Note: “Terrible” Tim McDougald is the driver of the #68 Mo-Dane Trucking / Clevenger Associates / Rev-Equip / Late Model Racer / Ringers Gloves Toyota Camry in the Whelen All-American Late Model series at Evergreen Speedway. When Tim is not driving the car, he helps the 3-car family owned team on the pit crew. Tim also handles the spotter duties for his brother, Tommy Rasmussen’s, #92 Mo-Dane Trucking / RPM Sales & Service / Vital Signs / Mauritsen Enterprises Chevy Impala racing in the Pacific Northwest. Tim is the HayWire Racing team’s web site editor and Media Relations Director handling all team pr, media obligations and sponsor relations. Tim is an avid blogger, active Twitter (@TerribleTim68) and Facebook user and a published author. For more information about the team, visit http://www.haywireracing.com. For inquiries regarding marketing coaching and sponsor package help, contact Tim through the HayWire Racing website.
