May we examine Oilex's Race Car Sponsorship for a moment?
For all of you old timers, you may remember that picture of a race car on Oilex's old home page on the web. I think all of us got a little chuckle that the company was actually sponsoring a race car. Well, I noted with interest that Carbir issued a press release on September 23, 1997. It looks like our little race car is doing well, winning the American City Racing League event at the Las Vegas Speedway on September 20th. I send my personal congratulations to the Oilex sponsored Carbir Race Team.
The press release notes that the team was particularily proud of their victory because "the victory . . . was timely with Team Beverly Hills sponsor, Oilex of Houston present.".
Now, I'm the first to admit that companies often donate to charity and sponsor public events for the promotional value. (I doubt that Carbir is a charitable organization.) And, certainly many oil related companies sponsor a variety of race related events. After all, they have retail customers (something Oilex doesn't) who watch the events and the promotional value is significant.
But I don't really understand Oilex's sponsorship. The company is in a struggling development stage and, apparently, has some concerns over daily cash flow. So, I thought I might ask just a few questions about Oilex's race car sponsorship.
1. Why, in the company's opinion, is sponsorship of Carbir valuable to Oilex?
2. What is the financial price tag to Oilex for this sponsorship?
3. What does Oilex get in return for the cost involved?
4. Who represented the company while in Las Vegas on September 20th?
5. Did Oilex pay the costs of sending that representative to Las Vegas on September 20th? If so, what were those costs?
6. Why does the company feel it should justify it's time and resources for sponsoring a race car when there are so many other issues with which they are dealing?
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