MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING/CLINT BOWYER TELECONFERENCE ANNOUNCING GANDER MOUNTAIN SPONSORSHIP AT TEXAS
TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 3, 2013
CALL STARTED AT 2:30 P.M. ET
STEVE ULINE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING AT GANDER MOUNTAIN: “From Gander Mountain’s perspective, we’re really excited to be launching this new initiative with the race in Texas (on April 13). As one of the nation’s leading outdoor retailers we’re making a commitment to bring awareness to the need for personal responsibility regarding securing firearms. That’s guarding them against getting them into the hands of the underage, untrained and unauthorized.
Part of this involves launching the ‘With Rights Comes Responsibility; Secure Your Firearms’ initiative by sponsoring the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 15 car driven by Clint Bowyer. Now we know there is a lot of debate around firearms ownership and it’s very significant right now in our country, but the one thing that we feel very strongly about in our country is personal responsibility of everyone that owns a firearm or is thinking about owning a firearm – that responsibility is paramount and is not something that is optional. We at Gander Mountain have the opportunity and the obligation to deliver that message ‘with rights comes responsibility; secure your firearms’. So as we were looking to launch this we looked at different opportunities and places to launch this. We landed on the very best with the racing fans, this track – it’s the perfect opportunity to launch a responsibility ownership initiative. And with Clint, with him being one of NASCAR’s superstar drivers, but which is just as important to us, he’s an avid outdoorsman and he was personally committed to responsible firearms ownership even before we talked to him about it. He is the perfect person to help us deliver this message.
One of the big elements with the With Rights Comes Responsibility; Secure Your Firearms initiative is that Clint is going to help us push a responsible owners pledge. The pledge will begin this Friday at GanderMountain.com. What the pledge does it help people spread the word and share it on Facebook and Twitter and we are hoping that it drives a lot of conversation about firearms responsibility. It’s a personal responsibility that everyone has that owns a firearm or is thinking about owning a firearm. And you’ll see if on the back of the car with the #responsibilitypledge on the No. 15 car.”
CLINT BOWYER, DRIVER OF THE No. 15 TOYOTA: “I’m really proud to have Gander Mountain on the racecar for the Texas race, but more importantly I think we carry such a great message ‘With Rights Comes Responsibility; Secure Your Firearms’. It’s so important to keep that responsibility and to keep firearms out of the hands of the underage, untrained and unauthorized. Gander Mountain has always done such a great job of promoting safety and responsibility. Truthfully that’s why I was so excited to have them on board.
“Obviously in these trying times there is a responsibility. I love hunting and being in the outdoors with my friends, but a great deal of responsibility goes with that and doing it the right way. This responsibility pledge that we are going to be raising awareness for safety with firearms is very important.”
ULINE ON THE SELECTION OF RACE TO PROMOTE THE MESSAGE: “Our timing was now. We knew that we wanted to launch this in April, because it’s not just on the car, we are launching it with our associates and in-store. We have a newspaper piece that is coming out in our 24 state reach that has this responsibility message on it. The timing was going to be April. We looked at different avenues and vehicles that we could launch on and NASCAR made a lot of sense because of the audience. We’ve racing in Texas before. We know how big that race is, so we called Michael Waltrip Racing to see if we could possibly get together with them. This is a big race and we’ve been there before – it’s a big space with a great following. The fact that the NRA is a sponsor of that race was not a deciding factor – no.”
BOWYER ON RACE WINNER CELEBRATION: “Well, (the six-shooter celebration) is the history and tradition behind the race – it has been since I think the very first race (at Texas). The main thing is the responsibility of what you do with it afterword. It’s going to go in a safe. I keep all my guns in a safe and a secure area. I have a nephew at my house and these are the things that we have to practice. A lot of the people that have guns say that they’re practicing these things and truth be told if you go check yourself you could usually do a lot more. That’s the biggest thing. That’s the thing that I’m most proud about with this Gander Mountain sponsorship is that they’re doing it the right way and the safe way.”
BOWYER ON HIS ROLE IN SPONSORSHIP: “Your role has changed so much over the years. I mean you’re the spokesperson. A prime example is Gander Mountain – they have a message that they’re launching in all their stores and I’m a big part of that. You have to get out and be a part of that on Facebook, Twitter. Social media is such a big part of what we do anymore. Starting and launching this responsibility pledge for Gander Mountain is a big initiative for them and we have to be able to deliver on that. If I can do that in a big way who knows what that leads to down the road with Gander Mountain and Michael Waltrip Racing. This is what we are in the business to do – help our sponsors sell product and spread whatever message that is for them. So certainly this is an opportunity for us at MWR to get Gander Mountain on the hood and do some good as well.
ULINE OF PERFECT FIT WITH BOWYER: “When we looked at who we could try to pursue the very first filter is it had to be someone that is an outdoorsman. Then we had to do our research to make sure that he is a responsible outdoorsman. And we did that and Clint is both of those. This is real for Clint which makes it perfect for us and how we landed on Clint. It doesn’t hurt that he is a great driver on top of that.”
ULINE ON WORRYING ABOUT THE POLITICS SURROUNDING THE RACE: “I think it’s important for (Gander Mountain) to deliver our message. The NRA messaging is their messaging, but ours is 100 percent around personal responsibility and keeping firearms out of the hands of the underage, untrained and unauthorized people. We have our own message and that is what we are going to stay on point with.”
BOWYER ON MICHAEL WALTRIP DRIVING THE NEWTOWN CAR AT DAYTONA AND HOW THESE GO TOGETHER: “I think they do coincide. We have to promote more responsibility and more safety of your firearms and what you do with them. I have a youth hunt that we do every year in my hometown and that’s all we do – we teach younger kids that want to be active in the outdoors. We teach them the right way, the safe way, the responsible way to take care of their firearms and enjoy the outdoors. That’s something that I’m passionate about and when Gander Mountain called I was like, ‘yeah, absolutely, I’m on board.’ This needs to happen. I’m glad that Gander Mountain stepped up and is leading the charge.”
BOWYER ON POTENTIAL AVAILABLE INVENTORY: “This race was a good race and it was important to the sponsor to help deliver a message. For Gander Mountain, for us – Texas is a big race. You’re going to have huge viewership at the track and everything else. This is a track that Gander Mountain wanted. We obviously have spots to fill and we’re actively looking and pursuing those. You’ll see other sponsors on the side of our No. 15 car – PEAK Motor Oil is going to be on it here soon and that’s one of the biggest ones that you’ll see right off the bat. Gander Mountain is another prime example. To answer your question – yes, we are actively pursuing more sponsorship and opening doors. I have to do my job in the racecar, but we also have to do our job outside the racetrack to help sponsors support their message and push whatever it is they need to push.
BOWYER ON SEASON TO DATE: “It has been a bit up and down, but not because we’re running bad. We’re running good. As I sit here and talk to you I’m not a bit worried about it. We’ve had several races on several different racetracks, we’ve had good speed and life is good. You are going to have things that happen. We ask so much out of these cars and out of these engines – especially on a two-mile racetrack screaming them things up and down the straightaways the way we do – it’s a matter of time before something happens. I mean you are literally thinking about that as you are on the racetrack. You hear that engine scream as you are carrying 10,000 RPMs on a two-mile racetrack it’s really incredible what they handle week in and week out. Obviously we have to get things turned around. Martinsville is a good track for us. I’m looking forward to getting there with our RK Motors No. 15 car and getting her up front to try and win that bad boy. I’m sitting here in my office and the one thing I don’t have in here is a grandfather clock. I want a grandfather clock.”
BOWYER ON LAST SPRING AT MARTINSVILLE: “What happened?! (Laughs). It’s Martinsville man! You never know what to expect. It’s short track racing that’s why I love short track racing. That’s why fans flock to those short tracks. You never know what’s going to happen. Those Hendrick cars had us beat. I mean, hands down had us beat. But a late caution brought out a situation where they stayed out and everyone else pitted. They were kind of sitting ducks so to speak. They were going to do what they had to do to try and win the race and I did what I needed to do to try and win the race. Would I do it again this year if I had that same exact opportunity? Yes. Would I do it a little bit better? They’d probably be more mad and I’d be more happy. I’d probably have a clock and they’d be probably a little more mad because I’d a probably went ahead. If I’m going to take us all out I might as well just take them out and go on. It’s just one of those situations where you never know about short track racing – the shoe could be on the other foot and I could be the sitting duck.”
