Racing is expensive. Look at the top cars in any national series and you’ll see Fortune 500 companies on the hood. You’ll see cars owned by multimillionaires and even billionaires.
As costs have risen, so have the prices of sponsorship. Putting your company’s logo on a racecar is unfathomable for the average small business owner. Josh Tew is not a millionaire business tycoon. Nor is he your average small business owner.
Tew, a 36-year-old from Dunn, N.C., is a high school music teacher. In his spare time, Tew raises chickens and follows NASCAR and the ARCA Menards Series. Over the last 25 years, Tew’s little egg farm has sponsored racecars in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series and ARCA.
How little can this egg farm truly be?
“It varies. I have under 100 chickens.” Tew told Frontstretch. “It’s just a hobby.”
So how does a young man who teaches music by day and cares for nearly 100 chickens by night manage to sponsor racecars? Perhaps a better question is, “Why?”
“I love the underdogs,” Tew said. “They are working hard every week just to get to the track.”
Tew’s love affair with NASCAR and its underdogs can be traced back to Chad Little in the 1990s.
“I grew up in the country,” he stated. “Everybody had, and still has, a John Deere tractor. We were watching TV one day and the Chad Little John Deere car was on. I immediately became a NASCAR fan because I wanted to pull for the John Deere car.”
So many of us can relate to a simple and similar origin story of our fandom. But how did Tew go from watching the John Deere car to becoming a NASCAR sponsor?
“It all goes back to Carl Long,” Tew explained. “I was in high school. I just wanted to help. He said send me a little cash and I’ll put [the logo] on the car. That’s how this whole thing started.”
Long is one of NASCAR’s most well-known underdogs. He’s been a driver and owner for about as long as Tew has been involved. And it’s no coincidence Tew’s first foray into NASCAR sponsorship came at the ripe old age of 13 when Josh’s Eggs made its debut appearance, on Long’s Mansion Motorsports Ford.
“The story was fascinating, he (Long) did everything for Mansion Motorsports,” Tew continued. “He built the car, drove the hauler, drove the car. It’s different than these mega teams. There’s something about it that’s relatable.”
Long’s recollection of the deal?
“I don’t know how many…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …