I separate Promotions from Sponsorship in that Promotions are not usually related to on track exposure. So here’s a few of the best promotions Ron Burns Racing was honored to be a part of:

 

Arizona Clean Sweep

This was a program the AZ Department of Transportation created to:

 

  • Provide funds for Arizona Clean & Beautiful’s Arizona Youth Summit, an environmental action program for youth, and;
  • Focus the public’s attention on the negative impact of litter on the natural beauty of Arizona.

Kick Off Newscast

The promotion kicked off with a newscast at Wesly Bolin Plaza in Phoenix, where the racecar was unveiled for the first time.

 

Pictured is the producer of ABC News, cameraman from ABC and me. The Bird, exiting left, was the mascot for the highway department.

7-Eleven was the lead sponsor for the promotion. Tom Sneva, retired Indy 500 winner, was the honorary chairman. Other sponsors included Chancellor Media radio stations KOY, KZON, KYOT and KISO along with ABC’s KNXV-TV-15.

 

Pictured with Sneva and me is the the man in charge of 7-Eleven convenience stores in Arizona.

News Crew at PIR

ABC ran fifty Public Service Announcements (FCC requires broadcasters to run a minimum number of PSAs) The local news anchors met the team at Phoenix International Raceway to shoot footage of me and the car.

 

 

Robin Sewell, pictured, now hosts Arizona Highways TV.

Turtle Wax Express Shine

I received a call one morning asking if I would be interested in using my racecar in a commercial. Of course, I replied and made arrangements to meet.

After looking at photos of the car, I was asked if I would paint the car black for the commercial. We were getting the car ready to ship to Japan, still weeks away. The commercial shoot date was one day before shipping departure, so I would have to race the car painted black in Japan. We could fit it in so I agreed.

And Then...

 

I received another call informing me the Turtle Wax people had seen the photos of the car when it was my regular color, green and yellow. This call was just 3 days before the scheduled date to film. They wanted to know if there was any way I could paint the car back green, only to match a bottle of Express Shine.
After checking with the paint department I was told they could paint the car one color but would be pushing the time limit to get two colors on it. We all agreed to paint the car solid green for the commercial and I would be racing close to my normal colors.

Filming Begins

The plot for the commercial was to have the car make a pit stop for tires and fuel. When the crew dropped the jack I was not allowed to exit the pits, seemed like two of my crew didn’t want to release the car until they applied a coat of wax before allowing the car to continue.

The two “waxers” were paid each time the commercial ran. One, Rob Drew, worked for me and he talked little brother Rich into working on the commercial for the day. They continued receiving money for over a year. The remainder of the crew was paid $200 for the day.

Sweet

 

At the end of the day everyone was happy with the results. The crew worked well into the night removing the Turtle Wax decals and installing the KMI Vita-mist and Clay Magic, my sponsors for the Japan Race.

A day later the car was loaded into the container and left for the port of Los Angeles, on its’ way to the far east.

Before we knew it

 

We were in Motegi Japan getting the car ready.

This is a view from our garage looking out at the offices each team was assigned. Mine was next to Bill Elliott, someone the whole team admired. Bill knocked on the door and asked if my daughter, Michelle would like to meet one of his crewmen that was too shy to come over himself (she almost knocked me down getting to the door).

Union 76

A call out of the blue produced a commercial with the car for Union 76.

They had a lady drive into a Union 76 gas station. A full service team transformed the car into a full fledged NASCAR while the camera was focused on her. When she started the car to drive out my car replaced the stock silver Taurus she drove in.

When the car was needed my engine was being rebuilt, so my good friends Mike and Jeff Gibson at Guaranteed Auto Repair installed one of their spare race engine, a 383 Chevy. We never told Ford about this.