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How Not to Write a Race Resume

Going after sponsorship is an uphill battle. The majority of racers are looking for a free handout and don't know how to approach it correctly. Few understand how to actually generate ROI for a sponsor and at least make an attempt to represent them professionally. Sponsors want visibility. Unless you have a rich friend who wants to throw money (or products) your way, a sponsor is likely a company that's in business to make money; and they're sponsoring you to help elevate their business primarily through enhanced visibility.

Solely running stickers on your bike doesn't cut it. Too often do companies help racers and never hear from them again. Fighting negative preconceived notions about sponsoring racers is half the battle. You're looking to get support from them (whether it's money or product), which in and of itself is a difficult task. Then you have to overcome the bad taste that was left in the company's mouth from the last Joe Schmo they helped out and got hosed from.

Sponsorship is tough, and it requires work. It should almost be treated as a business in some aspects. I'm not perfect at it, but I'm always trying to improve on it and find new ways to enhance my sponsors' visibility. Ultimately I want them to support me again next year. And heck, they're usually cool people who love racing *and* want to help me succeed. What more can you ask for?

Now to the point of this topic. I happened to see a race resume a few nights ago. It wasn't someone I knew personally, but I had heard about him and his personality from a couple people (unnecessarily over confident to put it nicely), and I had seen some posts from him on a message board (hardly professional to put it nicely), so I was a bit curious to see what his race resume looked like. Upon glancing at it, it was about half a page total in length. The objective looked like the result of a Google search and was so vague, I don't remember it fully. However the part I found interesting was that the race series he participated in was spelled wrong. On top of that, he incorrectly listed his race results. He listed himself as a "National Champion" in a series that doesn't award national championships. He didn't list a class he won this "National Championship" in – it was just the series name plus "National Champion". His other result (I think there only were two total) had him listed as a "National Champion Runner Up". It only takes a quick jump onto the web to see the actual race results; most of which were never listed on his race resume. And not surprising, nothing involving a National Championship was listed.

Results are not a guarantee for sponsorship. Sure they help, but there have been plenty of race winners left without a sponsor, and plenty of well-sponsored riders who haven't won a race. What the guy at the shop and I found odd was that he said he graduated from a well known school, so you'd think he could have put something better together. If not better, at least accurate.

The bottom line is that it's worth putting time and effort into going after sponsors. If the guy can't proofread his own race resume, how's a company going to expect him to put any effort into helping them promote their company? If he can't act somewhat responsible on a public message board, how's he going to professionally represent the company sponsoring him? And if he's putting down false information, would you want to sponsor him?

The racing community is a small place. Word travels quickly; both good and bad. Bunk resumes and looking for free handouts do nothing but make the hunt for sponsors even more difficult for the people who know how to do it the right way.

Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 | POSTED AT: 6:02 AM
FILED UNDER: General