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The Branding of Travis Gregg |
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September 10. Travis Gregg did not bring a famous auto racing
family name with him when he arrived at the Kentucky Speedway in August
of last year for his first Menards Infiniti Pro Series race. In
fact, he didn’t even bring with him a record of having won very many
races, and he had not won any championships. He hadn’t even raced in
any series for a full season, in spite of having started racing when he
was 7 years old.  Poles and Wins are Sweet
You might say that he was not very well known! That is until he
finished qualifying for the race and took the pole away from the best
driver in the Series, relegating him to second fastest.
Having gotten a ride with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Travis had stunned
the IRL and the followers of the Pro Series. It was expected that
when the race started, his new teammate, Thiago Mederios, who was next
to him on the front row, would quickly grab the lead. That didn’t
happen!
Travis led the first 58 of the 67 lap race. Well, all but one of
those. When Thiago passed him on lap 41, Travis took the lead
back on lap 42. He only relinquished the lead for good when he ended up
in traffic, not ever having had any experience drafting or running in
dirty air when racing wheel-to-wheel at 185 mph. He was
happy to finish 5th, after realizing that it would not be smart at that
point to risk crashing the car in his first Pro race. [P. J. Chesson
won the race.]
What Travis Gregg did bring with him to that first Pro race was nearly
20 years of racing experience that included go-karts, Formula Atlantic
and Sprint cars on dirt ovals. He also brought along a passionate
competitiveness, tempered with good judgment and patience.
Travis ran two more races last year, Chicago, where he started 2nd and
finished 13th, and the Series final at Texas, where he qualified 2nd
and finished 2nd. Not bad, one pole, three front row
starts, two top 5 finishes, and 57 laps led.
That’s the first Travis Gregg Pro Series story [for more details see
our earlier feature stories, July 12, “Meet the Two Travis Greggs” and
August 13, “Travis Gregg Drives the Pro Fast Line”], but the branding
of Travis Gregg didn’t really get started until January 4 this
year. On that day, Sam Schmidt and his team, Sam Schmidt
Motorsports, announced that Travis would drive for them in the 2005 Pro
Series. Travis had just joined what was considered the best Pro
Series team.
The next major announcement came on February 4. Lucas Oil
Products Inc., one of the biggest sponsors of auto racing across the
board, announced that they would be the primary sponsor of the Sam
Schmidt car driven by Travis. It was Lucas’ first sponsorship in the
Pro Series.
[Our feature story last week, August 31, “Branding and the IRL Pro
Series,” talked about what branding is, and its importance in today’s
auto racing world. We presented Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan and
Marco Andretti, as examples of great branding stories.]
In Travis’s case, from a branding standpoint, he had not just one, but two challenges that he had to work on at the same time.
The first was to establish at the Pro level that he is a good
driver. That he is fast, can win poles, win races, have podium
finishes, championships, finish races, and not crash cars. Travis
wasted no time in establishing his Pro Series 2005 driver
credentials. He won the pole and won the race, leading every lap
of the Homestead-Miami Speedway season opener. And then he did
his two back flips! That helps separate you from the guys that
just do donuts.  Time to focus on racing
He has been doing a great job in the driver role ever since. So
far this season he’s won the most poles, 5, and is tied for the most
wins with 3. He also has one additional podium finish. He
has led in the Series points, and is currently 2nd in the points.
He has finished every race. But that, though, just puts him up
with some other good Pro drivers who are in the top five points;
Cunningham, Bussell, Simmons and Camara. Travis has a good
branding story about his role as a driver, but what about his story in
the other role, marketing himself to sponsors, the media, and fans?
In this area, Travis arrived at the Pro Series with some unique skills
and experience also. He grew up with his family’s race track, G & J
Kartway, almost literally in his back yard, and his family having their
own race cars/team for Travis and his brother, Jason, who is two years
older. This included go-karts, Formula Atlantic and sprints
cars. Add to this the fact that he has a business degree from
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
He also works at his family business, Barnets, which is in the trucking
business, and also includes the family’s race track. Travis’
favorite aspect of business, finance! Travis also
understands something about the financial side of racing, and he has a
good understanding of why it is necessary to market himself as
well.
Sam Schmidt and Sam Schmidt Motorsports also understands marketing and
PR. Sam has a BS degree in Business Administration, and an MBA in
International Finance. After Sam’s tragic Indy car testing
accident in January 2000, which left him with upper spinal cord
injures, he formed the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation in June of that
year. The main mission of the Foundation is to raise and provide
funding for research, medical treatment, rehabilitation and
technological advances in the area of spinal cord injuries and other
neurological disorders. Paralyzed from the chest down, Sam has a
very personal and strong interest, and faith, that the Foundation’s
role can help him as well as others in the future.
Sam’s biggest focus is on the Foundation, and the role of Sam Schmidt
Motorsports, which Sam formed in 2001, is to help publicize and promote
the Foundation. The Foundation does not provide any funding to
the race team.
Both the Foundation and the race team use the services of Williams
Company of America Inc., a full-service agency specializing in
motorsports for the areas of public relations, publicity and
consultation. The agency is headed by Richard N. (Chip)
Williams. Chip spent over 12 years as head of Winston Cup and
national public relations for NASCAR. That should tell you a lot
right there!
Handling the Infiniti Pro Series aspects for Williams is Accounts
Representative Lori Smith. For Sam’s Pro drivers, Travis, Chris
Festa and Jaime Camara, this means Lori is involved in media publicity,
[such as driver profiles], appearances and endorsements for these three
drivers, although, technically Williams doesn’t work for the drivers.  Photo Credit: Chris Jones, IRL
The firm develops a storyline for each of the drivers. For Travis, Lori
said that he, “is generally the All American guy from the dirt [track]
background….And we just constantly check in and revaluate them to see
what their pitch is from week to week….You just have to pay attention
and see what’s new in their world, and just kind of keep up with
that.” She went on to say, “Every week we deliver a press kit to
the media center which is a Sam Schmidt Motorsports press kit which
features a storyline on Sam and each of his drivers.”
Regarding driver interviews, Lori commented, “It’s a constant coaching
process…..And throughout the year we just pull them aside here and
there and say, ‘Hey, you need to do this a little better, or that was
really great how you handled this in an interview’.”
Examples, she explained for Travis and the other drivers, are that,
“They will do morning TV, and obviously print and dot com
interviews. And when it’s a [Pro] Series autograph session they
all have to go. Obviously everybody gets better at whatever they
are doing with practice.”
Travis, pleased with press releases put out by Williams, remarked that
they, “submit those to various newspapers around the country and
there have been a couple of quotes of mine that made it into the
Los Angeles Times, and other newspapers that have some pretty high
circulations.”
In addition to the coaching from Williams which Travis receives, he
also benefits from the IRL Series Pro organization interview training
sessions put on for the drivers, and workshops on,
e.g.,sponsorship. The IRL also sees this as part of Pro driver
development.
Travis, of course, has just continued to hone his interview skills as
the season has gone along. One way to get more interview
experience is to have podium finishes. The post race press
conferences for the top three finisher’s leads to all kinds of
questions. And being the race winner gets a driver even more
interview time than 2nd or 3rd. Travis has been in on four of
these events, three for winning and one for a 3rd place finish.  Travis' All American Helmet
In addition, the IRL also hosts regular Teleconferences, which allows
media persons and organizations to call in and ask questions to
drivers. These conferences typically feature two IndyCar drivers
and one Pro driver. So far, by our count, twelve different Pro
drivers have been guests. Last Tuesday [September 6], Travis
Gregg was again the featured Pro driver, along with IndyCar drivers,
Danica Patrick and Bryan Herta. This was good timing for Travis,
given that he is down to the last three races to pick up 34 more points
on Wade Cunningham to win the Series Championship. As you might expect,
at this point in the season Travis is a pretty polished driver to
interview!
Of course, fromthetrack.com has participated in both of these types of
press/media conferences. Copies of the transcripts from top-three
podium media conferences and the Teleconferences are available on the
IRL Pro Series web site at: www.indycar.com/pro if you would like to
check out the questions and Travis’ answers.
Another type of appearance that Travis has regularly participated in
has been Sam Schmidt’s “Day At The Races” program put on by the Sam
Schmidt Paralysis Foundation and Sam Schmidt Motorsports. This
program provides, on IRL race weekends, a behind the scenes look at
IndyCar racing for patients suffering from a disabling injury and their
families. These guests get a close look at the cars, garages, and pits,
as well as getting an opportunity to meet and talk with both IndyCar
and Pro drivers – get autographs and/or have their pictures taken.
Travis said, “I go to all of those every time I can. When I’m
available I’ll be there!” Travis explained that Sam Schmidt
Motorsports has an autograph card with all three of the Pro driver’s
pictures on it so that fans can get all three autographs on one
card. Lunch is always provided for these visitors by Andretti
Green Racing at their hospitality suite.
Sam’s goal at these events is to show people who have suffered from a
disabling injury what he did after being rendered a quadriplegic.
His talks to these individuals, and everyone else, are truly
inspirational.! The next “Day At The Races” is today at
Chicagoland Speedway.
Travis and the other Pro drivers are also involved in PR events
sponsored by the IRL Pro Series, such as autograph sessions. For
example, in Nashville, they all went to the Firestone Headquarters so
that employees and their families could meet them.
Travis has also involved himself in numerous other public relations
activities. Earlier this season Travis had some fun when he threw
out the first pitch at a Fort Wayne [Indiana] Wizards AAA baseball
game. [They are a San Diego Padres farm team.] He also signed
autographs out in front of the stadium where the IRL had an Indy car
simulator.
In May he participated in a FedEx karting charity fund raiser for
Junior Achievement’s “Exchange City” program, which teaches students
about financial responsibility. That was set up by Butch Meyer,
Technical Director of the Menards Infiniti Pro Series, who invited some
of the Pro drivers with karting backgrounds. Held at Indianapolis’
Fastimes Karting facility, six Pro drivers and Thiago Medeiros
participated. There were over 20 teams of young karters. On
the team with Travis was Wade Cunningham, Cole Carter and Mishael
Abbott. PR savvy as Travis’ team was, they were eliminated in the
first heat. Said Travis, “It was fun hanging out with everyone …. And
it’s for charity, a good cause.”
Back home in Camden, Ohio, Travis is a local karting hero in Ohio and
Indiana. Explained Gregg, “There is one series called the J1
Speed Series, a kids series that races at our track [G & J Kartway]
and various tracks around the country. I had a chance to speak
with them … as an up and coming race car driver that started out in
karts, just like them. I gave a little talk about how I started
out in their shoes and I’m out here today trying to make it as a
professional race car driver, which is my dream.”
Naturally, working for the family business, Travis helps out at karting
races at G & J Kartway. He related that a local karting club, OVKA
[Ohio Valley Karting Association], one of the largest karting clubs in
the country, has the majority of their races at their track, although
they also have WKA races [World Karting Association], such as the WKA
Gold Cup race that was held on the 4th of July weekend. Travis
added, “You can’t come out to our track and rent a kart, but we offer
it for practice year around.”  The Lucas name everywhere
In the sponsor category Travis has been giving Lucas Oil Products great
exposure by winning races and poles. “We don’t advertise on the
car for Barnets [his family’s business] even though it is a
sponsor. We feel that our logo on there is not going to help us,
but if we can help get Lucas Oil more exposure on the car that’s better
for them and for us…. I’m always offering Forest Lucas [President of
Lucas Oil] that I’ll be available if I can ever help with promotions or
anything for him.”
Lucas Oil Products’ goal is to offer the best line of lubricants and
additives available anywhere, e.g., racing oil, truck oil, gear oil,
transmission fluid, hydraulic fluid. They sponsor race events, races,
race series and teams at all levels, and in leagues such as IRL,
NASCAR, NHRA, IHRA, USAC, USHRA, and in other categories as
Supercross/Motocross, off-road racing and tractor pulling.
And speaking of sponsors, you'll always see Travis in victory circle wearing a red Firestone baseball cap.
You can find out more about Travis’s sponsors on his official web site
[see below]. Of course, his web site is another way Travis markets
himself.  With Firehawk, the Firestone Mascot
Travis Gregg was the driver selected for the feature story on ESPN2’s
half-hour delayed broadcast of the Bluegrass 100, August 13, Pro race
at Kentucky Speedway. As it turned out it was another great
branding story, a story about the All American guy from a small Ohio
town in the heart of mid-America.
For a Pro driver, a personal feature story on ESPN2 is the best
TV media PR exposure of the season, and doubly so if he/she can win
that race. Just as Marco Andretti had done at St. Petersburg,
Travis pulled it off to perfection, winning the pole and the race [it
was his 4th pole and 3rd win of the season.] Not only does the
driver get extra coverage while leading the race, but there is an extra
interview in victory circle after the race. The story timing was
also perfect because it marked the anniversary of Travis’s dramatic IRL
arrival at Kentucky exactly one year ago.
The announcers again were Dr. Jerry Punch, doing the play-by-play,
Robbie Buhl, former Indy car driver and now team co-owner [Dreyer and
Reinbold Racing], analyst and Cameron Steele, the pit reporter.
The start of the coverage showed a shot of Travis doing one of his now
famous victory back flips. Then with his sponsor, Lucas Oil
Products, providing on-board camera coverage of all the Pro races this
season, being on the pole gave Travis top coverage right from the warm
up and parade laps. Not bad for Lucas Oil either, with the
on-board camera showing the “Lucas” name on the white number 7, Sam
Schmidt Motorsports car, in five places.
Gregg led the race from wire to wire, with the real drama coming from
Wade Cunningham and Marco Andretti duking it out for the 2nd and 3rd
place podium spots. What a Pro Series PR podium with those three
names!
Doc Punch introduced the feature story with, “When we return we’ll
chronicle the class of the rookie sensation, Travis Gregg, from the
shadows of the dusty dirt track to the spot light of the IRL Infiniti
Pro Series.”
After the commercial break, Doc was back with “Travis Gregg got his
start on this track one year ago. Let’s hear more about the pride
of Camden, Ohio.” The camera switched to a garage belonging to
Travis’ family’s business, Barnets Inc., in Camden. There sitting
on a chair, and wearing a white, short sleeve polo shirt and a pair of
faded blue jeans, and with several sprint cars in the background,
Travis explained that his grandfather had built the garage for the
truck servicing business he started. When a new building had been
built for the trucking business the family’s sprint cars [of his older
brother and Travis] took over the old garage.
The camera then switched out back to the family’s G & J Kartway
half-mile track. As viewers saw Travis, and a lone go-kart going
around the track, he explained that was his nephew, Jonathan, who had
just gotten back from the Kid Kart Nationals in St. Louis [for kids 5 –
8 years old], where he had won. As Travis said, “It’s like racing
runs in the blood!”
Next it was back into the garage and the sprint cars, where Travis
offered what we thought was one of the best of all All American family
branding story lines, “I work upstairs in the office, right across from
my Mom, dealing with freight invoices and depositing into the bank and
little things like that.”
Travis’ story next moved out into the small town of Camden [about 2500
people] where the coming into town sign read, “Welcome to Camden, Home
of the Black Walnut Festival.” Gregg noted that, “It’s just a
small country farm community, basically.” And as the camera
switched to the heart of Camden and an intersection with Camden Bank
and the First Financial Bank, he continued, “I get a chance to visit a
lot of big cities, but I think this is home to me.” At this
point, across the corner of the screen was the American flag! The
All American storyline was there, Mom, apple pie and the American
flag. Well, all but the apple pie.
The next stop was to the Power House Pizza shop where Travis usually
goes for his lunch break. [On the days when Travis is not away working
for the Sam Schmidt Motorsports team he is working in Camden at
Barnets. Training and conditioning is an evening activity for him
then. Besides, he needs the money to help support his racing career.]
And there in the pizza place the viewers see a guy making a
pizza. A surprised Travis says, “See, look at the shirt!” as we
see the pizza guy wearing a Travis Gregg white T-shirt. On the
front is, “Travis <7> Gregg” [his car number], and on the back a
huge, awesome color graphic showing a front view of his 7 car in the
middle, with the name Sam Schmidt Motorsports on the top left, and the
Lucas Oil Products logo on the top right. On the bottom is
Travis’ name and that of Camden, Ohio. Now that is some great
merchandise branding for Travis, Sam Schmidt and Lucas. As Travis
understated, “I get a lot of support here in Camden.” Now there
was the complete new All American storyline, Mom, pizza and the
American flag.
Nearing the end, the feature moved to three race track scenes of Travis
doing three of his famous back flips, as he explained that when he was
a wrestler in high school he saw the cheerleaders doing back
flips. “I thought it was pretty cool, so I had them teach me how
to do it,” he said.
The closing shot of Travis was back in the garage, where his
storytelling began. He ended with, “I think there’s still a lot
to learn. My goal would be to eventually move up, even if it does
take another year in the Pro Series to get more experience. I’m
willing to do that.”
With that Doc Punch wrapped up by telling where Camden, Ohio, is
located. [It is in the southwestern corner of Ohio, more-or-less
about 100 miles east of Indianapolis.]
[Branding storytelling like this doesn’t just happen by accident.
Not surprisingly, Lori Smith said that she and her firm had some
involvement there.]
Back live, the coverage went to the pits, where Cameron Steele did a
short interview with Travis’ dad, Gary, who taught Travis how to race
go-karts in the back yard.
To add to the day’s storytelling and drama, on lap 32 Travis got loose
and brushed the wall coming off Turn 2. As Doc remarked, “You
rarely get lucky in an Indy car at these kinds of speeds; at 185
mph. He might have gotten away with one there.”
Travis never lost the lead. In fact, at the start of the race
Travis quickly pulled out a very sizeable lead. Travis’s dad had
worried that he might have a challenge on the restart if there was a
yellow. The race stayed green until lap 48 of the 67 lap race,
when Jon Herb brought out the yellow.
The restart came on lap 56. Although the field was bunched up,
with Vision Racing’s Jay Drake in 2nd and teammate Jaime Camara in 3rd,
Travis made a great restart and retained his lead. Within three
laps, however, Andretti and Cunningham had taken over 2nd and 3rd
and tried to have a go at Travis, but he just turned it up and as the
race continued for the last 7 – 8 laps he stretched his lead out to
about 12 car lengths.
When Travis reached victory circle he climbed out of the number 7,
Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsport, car and did his spectacular back flip
before coming up to Cameron, who had just talked again with Travis’
dad, and now asked, “How hard did you brush the wall out there?”
“You know,” replied Travis, “I thought I broke something. I hit
pretty hard. I was excited that the car was able to go on and not
have any problems.”
The coverage of the Bluegrass 100 ended with shots of Travis brushing
the wall, crossing the start/finish line under the checkered flag and
doing a back flip next to his car on the track at the start/finish
line. All total, the ESPN2 coverage showed Travis doing six back
flips!  Photo Credit: Michael Voorhees.IRL
Some days things just work out the right way, both the planned and the
unplanned. It was definitely an All American branding story day
for Travis. And this takes us back to last Tuesday, when how
timely it was that two rookies, Travis and Danica Patrick, were both on
the IRL teleconference.
We had seen Danica do an interview in early March at Homestead-Miami
Speedway, just before she did her first Indy car race. A question
was asked about marketing. Her answer was, “I think that there
are two sides to a race car driver. There is the marketability
side, that attracts sponsors, and … [brings] people in and lets them
sell their product to the best of their ability, like hopefully, I’ve
done for Argent and Pioneer…” She went on to say that she
recognizes that it is the sponsorship that then lets her carry out the
other side of her job, racing cars.
fromthetrack.com asked her at the teleconference when, before arriving
at the IRL, she had recognized the marketability side of being a race
car driver. Danica answered, “I think I’ve always known
that. I think I’ve always done the best job I can to capitalize
when people are interested and want to do stories. You know, of
course, as your career’s starting, going along …. they’re much more
sparse and rare, and you need to do the best you can when they come
along.”
“I’ve always known that the marketability side has been needed. I
think I knew that because if it was just great drivers that made it, I
think the field would be different. I think there would be a lot
more race car drivers probably. It would be a much larger
field. But, let’s face it, that’s not what it takes. It
takes a lot more than just driving a fast car. You have to
present yourself well. You have to represent your sponsors well
[and] you have to do a great job on the track.”
Would she have been able to deal with all of the attention and
publicity in her remarkable month of May at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway with interviews, autograph sessions, sponsor work, etc. if she
had not brought good marketing skills with her from a lower series,
such as the Atlantic Series? “Probably not,” she said. “I
do feel fortunate that I’ve been able to be exposed to media throughout
my whole career…..Yeah, I do feel like the amount of exposure I’ve had
through out my career has definitely prepared me for what was to come
this year.”
And when did she first have the services of a PR agent? “Well, I
think it was probably…it was the year before Atlantic. I did some
Barber Dodge stuff. Probably 2002, sometime in that area.
It was Team Rahal that was the first ones to actually come through and
help me with that kind of thing. But along the way, there have
been people that have put in good words. I know Lyn St.
James has definitely helped me with some things along the way in
recommending me. But an actual PR department didn’t come until
Team Rahal.” [She was on the Rahal and Rahal Letterman Racing
Toyota Atlantic Series team in 2002 – 2004.]
How does this pay off when you have become a famous brand name and you
understand the marketability side of being a driver? On
Wednesday, the day after the teleconference, it was announced that
Rahal Letterman Racing and Procter & Gamble have formed a
partnership to promote P & G’s “Secret” Anti-Perspirant/Deodorant
and Body Spray Collection by utilizing Danica. Their logo will be
on her number 16, Argent Mortgage Pioneer Honda-powered Panoz car, and
on her uniform. Danica will also appear in Secret’s marketing
campaign.
Bobby Rahal said, “We are pleased to join in this marketing partnership
with Procter & Gamble to promote its Secret
Anti-Perspirant/Deodorant and Body Spray Collection…..To partner
Danica, who has become a household name, with an established brand like
Secret is an example of the non-traditional marketing opportunities
that exist not only with Rahal Letterman, but throughout the entire IRL
IndyCar Series.”
And Danica added, “For an established brand like Secret to expand their
marketing efforts into the IndyCar Series, because of what I represent
as an athlete, is extremely flattering.”
We hope that our readers will see that Travis is clearly taking the
right course before he reaches the IndyCar level. It is a course
we see which has some similarities to the course Danica has taken.
In the great June 6, 2005 issue article of Sports Illustrated, with
Danica being the first Indy car driver on the cover since the early
60’s when A. J. Foyt was on the cover, she was quoted as saying, “I do
as much media as I can because I want this IRL series to be so
kick-butt that NASCAR goes, ‘Huh?’
For the May 27-30 weekend edition of USA Today there on the front page
was a color photo of Danica [in-helmet] above the fold. On the
front page of the Sports section of that edition, there was a big color
photo of Danica at speed in her car, above the fold, and the IndyCar
race taking up the rest of the page. The NASCAC Coca-Cola 600 had
been shoved to the third page!  Photo Credit: Shawn Payne.IRL
Travis started his own sort of NASCAR challenge early this
season. His competitor there was the NASCAR development Busch
Series rookie, Carl Edwards. Travis and Carl are the only two
drivers we know of, at that comparable level, who both do on-track back
flips to celebrate race victories.
Gregg began the competition with his first win at Homestead in early
March. Edwards followed with his first a couple of weeks
later. In early June Travis scored his second win at Texas.
Carl evened the score the same weekend. On the front page of the
USA Today, July 1, weekend edition Sports section, there above the fold
was a full color photo of Carl doing one of his back flips.
So, OK, Travis and the Pro Series don’t get quite that kind of
coverage. But thanks to Firestone, you will see a weekend edition
USA Today full page Firestone ad if there is an Indy Car and Pro Series
race that weekend. That ad always features a great photo of the
previous race winning IRL drivers. On June 24, there was Travis
and his Lucas Oil number 7 car and credit to Sam Schmidt Motorsports
[along with Tomas Scheckter and his car and team].
By the time Travis reached the Kentucky Speedway in August, Edwards has
already won number three at the same Kentucky track and did his show
again. Travis evened the score there to three all. Last
weekend Edwards racked up this fourth win, at Fontana’s California
Speedway. At that point, Carl stood 3rd in the Busch Series
points standings, Travis 2nd in the Pro Series, with the California
Speedway coming up as the last Pro race of the season.
During the teleconference, we asked Travis if he was in a bit of a
competition with Carl. “Maybe a little bit,” he answered.
“I was just talking with some of my friends, [about] what I could do to
step it up a little bit different. Maybe next time when I win
there will be something more to go along with that.” When we told
Travis about Carl’s win at the California Speedway, he said, “I’ll have
to step it up for sure”
Now it’s true that with the Busch Series schedule Edwards has run about
three times as many races as Travis. On the other hand, the Busch
races have fields with about three times as many drivers. Maybe
it evens out for these two up and coming drivers. But for them
it’s about winning races, getting good media exposure, continuing to
build their branding stories and having a little fun on the side.  Henry the Octopus and Lucas
When Travis is not in his car, in the pits and garage area, you will
likely see Henry the octopus, from the Wiggles musical group, sitting
on the nose of his number 7 car. Unbeknownst to crew chief John
(JR) Roof, his young son had put the octopus on the grill of his truck
one morning before JR went off to the shop in Indianapolis. When
JR arrived he discovered Henry still on the grill. As Travis
related, "It survived that trip, so he put it on the front of the car
for good luck, so that my car would basically survive and to keep
me away from crashes." So far Henry has done his job.
As for the Travis and Danica connection, its continuation this
afternoon was looking too good to keep going, branding or not.
Both rookies qualified 2nd for tomorrow’s Chicagoland races, with each
next to a rookie of the opposite gender on the pole, Sarah McCune
[Travis’ new teammate] for the Pro race and Ryan Brisco for the IndyCar
race.
That lasted long enough for the IndyCar pole winner press conference
before the whole Target Chip Ganassi Racing team was disqualified and
sent to the back of the field to start. Now, Danica is on the pole, her
third, for the IndyCar race, with her teammate Buddy Rice next to her
on the front row.
Oh, well, Travis and Danica are still on the front row, and now each
with a teammate next to them. With two IRL female drivers on the
pole for tomorrow’s two IRL races, this has to be an even bigger
story! And Travis Gregg, the All American guy from small town
mid-America, is there in the right spot and with good branding company!
See our stories for the coverage of both races, the Chicagoland 100 and the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300.
For additional information see the following web sites:
Travis Gregg: www.travisgregg.com
Sam Schmidt Motorsports: www.samschmidtmotorsports.com
Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation: www.samschmidt.com
Lucas Oil Products: www.lucasoil.com
Williams Company: williamscompany.com
Danica Patrick: www.danicaracing.com
Rahal Letterman Racing: www.rahal.com
IRL Pro Series: www.indyracing.com/pro
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