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[/media-credit]“MacDonald Motorsports team will enter a Toyota Camry for the first time this weekend.”
(MOORESVILLE, NC) March 6, 2012 – Jason Bowles and his American Majority Racing No. 81 team head into race #3 of the season with their heads held high. A strong run with a fast race car in Phoenix has the team’s confidence level much higher than it was just one week ago. The team will also be running a Toyota chassis with a Toyota motor for the first time. Jason and the team are really excited about the new car and motor for Vegas weekend and are looking for a top-15 finish.
Jason on Las Vegas…..“Vegas is one of the bigger tracks I’ve raced on before, so that will be a bonus this weekend going somewhere with a comfort level. I ran in the truck series there in 2010, actually that was my first-ever truck race and we ran decently for what we had. The big part for me though was getting the experience and getting the laps. It’s a fast track and it’ll be faster in a Nationwide car for sure. This week we’re bringing a new American Majority machine to the track, we’ll be racing a Toyota Camry, so we’re all looking forward to that.”
“Right now for us it’s about building each week and racing smart. I’m always going to be aggressive, but we really need to learn as a team right now and run every lap of every race. Last week was a good example, we needed a good finish and points and through that entire race we made changes and I think started understand more about what we need to do to get better. Loading a wadded up car on the trailer doesn’t do anyone any good in that respect.”
Phoenix Wrap-Up…..An excellent qualifying effort put Jason and his American Majority Racing No. 81 18th on the starting grid for the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200. Jason was shot out of a cannon during the early stages of the race, picking up seven spots to be running as high as 11th. The car just got tighter and tighter for Bowles as the laps wore on and he slowly fell backwards through the field. After many adjustments from crew chief John Monsam, the American Majority Racing No. 81 Dodge began to claw its way back towards a top-20 finish. After a strong final stint, Jason brought the car home with a solid 19th place run, moving himself up six spots in the points standings to 22nd.
Jason’s thoughts on Phoenix race….. “I felt like I had a good start and we got in there with the really fast guys early, but just as I was starting to think we could hang around there, the car started to tighten up. It’s one of things where all of a sudden you just can’t roll through the center of the corner and get back to the gas like the other guys – and when it starts to get tight, it doesn’t generally fix itself. That’s where we had to make some adjustments and we definitely got better through the race with those adjustments, which is a good thing. I think we were pretty fast at the end, so that helps with everyone’s confidence too.”
Indoor Skydiving?…. “Being from Southern California I’ve spent a lot of time in Vegas, explained Bowles. “From back in my karting days, to just coming out to have fun. I think this week we are going to try the indoor skydiving, so looking forward to that. Classic Las Vegas, right? Indoor skydiving. There is just about anything you can think of there! In this case it’s a good thing, because I’m pretty sure I will never go skydiving for real and jump out of an airplane. I’m a risk-taker and I drive racecars, but I’m not really into that!”
Meet Jason at Monte Carlo Hotel/Casino….Fans will have the chance to meet the driver of the American Majority No. 81 Toyota Friday night at The Pub at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino at 7:00pm. The Pub is your go-to spot at Monte Carlo for great food, beer, sports, and an all-around good time.
Follow Jason Bowles on Social Media…..Keep up with everything that Jason is doing by following him on twitter @bowlesjason.
JASON BOWLES – NASCAR DRIVER AND OAKLEY SALES REPRESENTATIVE, ALL IN ONE
Foothill Ranch, CA (March 6, 2012) Here’s the question.. How does NASCAR Nationwide series driver Jason Bowles spend Monday and Tuesday after a tough race in Phoenix? Pretty simple, really. He spends it working at the Oakley world headquarters in Foothill Ranch, CA. Bowles, as many in the industry know already, is the lead motorsports sales representative for Oakley’s NASCAR division, a job he says has helped him continue to pursue his career as a NASCAR driver. “I’ve been with Oakley for five or six years now and they’ve been very supportive of my ambition to race in NASCAR. It’s definitely not the norm at Oakley, but it’s kind of like a pre-existing condition as it relates to them because I first got hooked up with them while I was racing go-karts. They sponsored me back then and I’ve just always been an Oakley guy since.” said Bowles, a rookie-of-the-year contender driving the No.81 American Majority Toyota for MacDonald Motorsports.
“Like most kids, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I wanted to keep racing and chasing the dream, so Oakley offered to make me a rep and sell their safety equipment. The job kept me in the racing loop. It wasn’t team accounts like it is now for me, just retail accounts – mom and pop stores and that kind of thing.”
Bowles continued to race and peddle Oakley goods as he moved into the stock car racing circle where he began competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series.
“When I got into the K&N Pro Series, I instantly knew NASCAR was what I wanted to do, I was completely committed and driven at that point, so the Oakley piece was great. As I raced, I met more and more teams and drivers in the series and they would come to me and ask for gloves, suits or crew shirts, and always sunglasses. Really the whole thing just started to take a life of its own and it put money in my pocket while I raced. It wasn’t easy necessarily, there’s a lot to manage in sales so I was pretty much always working, even at the track.”
As Bowles continued his K&N Pro Series journey, which ultimately culminated with the 2009 Championship, Oakley began to really target NASCAR and the upper levels of the sport with their team gear. Suits, crew shirts, team sportswear, backpacks and travel bags. The response was so good that in 2010, Bowles packed his bags, moved from sunny Southern California to Charlotte, North Carolina and the rest is history.
“After I won the championship in ’09, I pretty much told Oakley I was moving to Charlotte and that I was going to be a Nationwide or Truck Series driver and that I would handle the team side for them on site in North Carolina. My boss is awesome, he was all for it and so I moved. The Oakley piece was pretty seamless, the first two years we sold a lot of gear and we’ve done really well. The racing side was a little different! Just not so easy to get a ride these days in Nationwide or Trucks if you don’t have a sponsor in hand.
“But I kept after it and with the job was able to meet a lot of great people in the industry, travel to the tracks, get to know my way around and get people to know me I guess. In a roundabout way, that’s how I ended up at MacDonald Motorsports and got this opportunity.”
Aside from introductions and learning to navigate the sport, Bowles also credits Oakley and his sales job for being a key contributor to his ability to deal with people and situations.
“They say if you can be a salesman of any kind, you can deal with just about any situation. I don’t know how true that is, but I know this job has taught me a ton about how to deal with people, interact with people and understand people. In this business, things don’t always go right so you’re forced to deal with clients that are glad, sad, mad – you name it. There are days when you’re a hero because a firesuit came in two days early and then the bad guy because there was a shipping issue and the suit is a day late. I just try and be honest with people and so far that’s been a pretty good strategy! It’s also really helped me with media and speaking and just generally feeling comfortable no matter what the situtation.”
Jason Bowles and the No.81 American Majority team begin practice this week at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday at 10:30am local time. Catch all the action on ESPN2 as the green flag drops for Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide race at 2pm.
Follow Jason and the American Majority Racing team on the following outlets:
Twitter @bowlesjason @am_national @majorityracing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JasonBowlesMotorsports http://www.facebook.com/AmericanMajorityRacing
Web: http://www.mms81.com/ http://americanmajority.org/ About American Majority Racing
American Majority Racing is a national program of American Majority, the nation’s leading conservative grassroots training organization. The program is designed to target millions of NASCAR fans from all political backgrounds in an unprecedented effort to engage them in the electoral process. Having teamed up with NASCAR driver Jason Bowles and car #81 MacDonald Motorsports for the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series racing season, the American Majority Racing program is designed to educate Americans about how smaller government and less spending will “Keep America Free.” Through www.PledgetoVote.com, American Majority Racing encourages all Americans to register and vote in the 2012 elections.
About American Majority
American Majority is the leading developer of the nation’s new 21st century conservative grassroots political infrastructure. The organization uses its cutting edge curriculum to empower individuals and organizations with the most effective tools to promote liberty through limited government. American Majority trains thousands of activists and candidates each year in communities across the country to be catalysts for authentic change in government. The non-profit, non-partisan organization is dedicated to developing a new generation of American elected and opinion leadership that will reject the self-destructive policies associated with government expansion and promote those that will lead to growth and success.
About MacDonald Motorsports
MacDonald Motorsports Owner Randy MacDonald has been around the NASCAR circles since 1985, when he began his own racing career with the loving support of his father “Doc” and his mother Pat MacDonald. As a NASCAR driver, Randy was successful in making it all the way to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The MacDonald family became NASCAR team owners in 1986 and have fielded cars in all three of NASCAR’s elite series following faith based principles. MacDonald Motorsports focuses on assisting our sponsors with strategically increasing the overall awareness of corporate messaging or brand recognition by consistently articulating the message to be delivered through motorsports. MacDonald Motorsports offers drivers opportunities to gain experience from grass roots all the way through the elite series of NASCAR.
-MacDonald Motorsports Press Release
