| May 23, 2019 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – If you’ve been a race fan for any length of time, chances are you’re familiar with the red, white and blue VP Racing Fuels logo. After all, it’s been a fixture in racing – from drag racing to motocross to sports cars and everything in between – since Steve Burns founded the company back in 1975. “[Burns] was a drag racer and a motorcycle guy, and he started out as a self-thought chemist by blending some fuels in his garage and bringing them to the track,” explained Bruce Hendel, vice president, North American sales, race fuel and consumer products for VP Racing Fuels. “He’d sell it at the track and go back and blend a little bit more.” VP’s customers in the mid-‘70s included budding NHRA legends like Warren Johnson and Reher-Morrison Racing Engines. From there, the company expanded into motorcycle racing – both road racing and motocross – and eventually into sports car racing. VP’s relationship with IMSA dates to the mid-2000s when the company became the fuel provider for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Since 2014, the first year of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship following the merger of the ALMS and GRAND-AM, VP Racing Fuels has been the Official Fuel Provider of IMSA. “Just on the race fuel side, we have over 70 different blends of racing fuel for a lot of different applications,” Hendel said. “A lot of different fuel rules are out there, so that’s why you end up with so many different fuels, and that’s what we specialize in. “I think that’s our advantage over our competition. When it comes to racing fuel, for a lot of our competition, it’s kind of a side business for them. If they decided not to make racing fuel tomorrow, I think they’ve still got a viable business. For us, we can’t make that choice. That is our business.” But VP’s business is rapidly growing beyond racing fuels, particularly in fuels for small engines. If you walk into any major big-box retailers including Tractor Supply, Home Depot or Walmart looking for fuel to power your chainsaw or leaf blower, you’re likely to find VP Small Engine Fuel on the shelf. “I think what really turned the corner for us on the consumer-product side was the issues that outdoor power equipment was having with pump gas and fuel storage,” Hendel said. “That kind of got us thinking about – granted we weren’t the first ones to come up with small engine fuel – but back in the northeast, we had one of our locations that was dealing with a lot of fire departments and they were saying they had some problems with their equipment and keeping it running. “From an emergency standpoint, it’s got to be ready to go and ready to run at any time, but maybe doesn’t necessarily get used all that often unless they go out on an emergency. We said, ‘We think we can come up with a solution.’” The solution became VP’s line of small engine fuels, which are based on the same chemistry as VP’s popular racing fuels with no ethanol to help avoid damage and costly repairs caused by ethanol pump gas to outdoor power equipment. “Racing fuel, in general, has a much longer shelf life than pump gas does,” Hendel said. “That led us to the small engine fuel line that we have, which is really the way we launched ourselves in the consumer product side of the business. “It turns out that the small engine fuel market itself is way bigger than the race fuel part of the business. If you think of how many people have a piece of outdoor power equipment, it’s pretty much everybody.” Pretty much everybody also has at least one passenger vehicle. VP has fuels for those, as well, through a rapidly expanding network of branded gas stations. That expansion has come under the watchful eye of VP Racing Fuels President, Alan Cerwick. Prior to joining VP in 2011, Cerwick oversaw the launch of Valero-branded gas stations. Cerwick suggested VP adopt a similar approach. “Alan saw an opportunity with VP,” Hendel said. “He goes, ‘We were successful building the Valero brand when we had no brand equity. What could we do with VP?’ That’s what his interest was in coming with the company. “That helps us build on the consumer retail side of it. Because if you start branding gas stations, which is what we’re doing now and that’s the experience he brings – we have about 260-some odd sites now and another 45-50 under contract. There are always new ones coming in, but this is what we have currently. We have 13 going up in Mexico, we’ve got a few in Canada and that’s going to grow. When it’s all said and done, we’ll probably have 2,000-3,000 sites.” Those sites not only enable you to fill the tank of your daily driver or weekend hot rod. You can purchase fuels for your other engines also. “VP is the only company that’s certified with 101 octane that can be legally pumped at a dispenser,” said Donato Bonacquisto, vice president of marketing for VP Racing Fuels. “In addition, VP Racing Fuels-branded stations also offer five-gallon pails of VP Racing Fuels blends in fuel cages similar to what you see when you go to Walmart, where they have the propane tanks stored. “Let’s say you’re pulling up in your McLaren and you fill up your car. If you’ve got a dirtbike or race car at home, you can come back later and buy a five-gallon pail of fuel in whatever specific blend you need to put in your dirtbike and go hit the trails or in your race car to hit the local track that afternoon.” VP’s rapidly expanding business on the consumer side is a perfect match for IMSA. Between its flagship WeatherTech Championship and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA has 19 official automotive partnerships. That’s one of the key reasons why the two companies announced a long-term extension of their partnership in 2017. “With IMSA being the premier sports car series in North America, a big part of what we’re looking to get out of the relationship is obviously a tie to the OEMs, but also the consumer base that watches it on TV and attends the races,” Bonacquisto said. “They’re our core demographic. Those fans own sports cars or are really into it, and with that also have, probably, other toys in the mix. I think utilizing the IMSA platform gives us a very targeted consumer lifestyle audience.” And VP also is using its consumer products to shine a light on its involvement in IMSA. “IMSA is leveraging its media channels to drive (consumers) in the store, and then we’re actually introducing new consumers to the sport,” said Andy Deel, VP Racing Fuels division manager, consumer products. “A good example will be Tractor Supply. They’ve got a big point-of-purchase display in their stores right now for our small engine fuel, which has IMSA can toppers. A lot of these guys are big NASCAR fans. What we’re hoping is this gets them to cross over and check out sports car racing if they’re not already into it. I think there’s a good hand-in-hand relationship there.” “We’d love to inform the consumer that we’re not just a race fuel company anymore,” Bonacquisto added. “We offer extended lines of products – ranging from lubricants to our very own Madditives® that can be used in their everyday street cars – that they can find easily at their local retail locations. The story is, really, we’re the Official Fuel of IMSA, but we’re more than just a race fuel company. We are a consumer lifestyle brand.” More information regarding VP Small Engine Fuels can be found at VP-SEF.com. For more information on everything VP Racing Fuels has to offer, visit, VPRacingFuels.com. Next up for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the 100-minute Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park on Saturday, June 1, featuring the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes. Tickets are available now at DetroitGP.com. NBCSN will televise the race live beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage also available via IMSA Radio on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio. IMSA INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, and FACEBOOKFollow IMSA on Social Media: Instagram: @imsa_racing / Twitter: @IMSA / Facebook: @IMSA / #IMSA. For further information, visit www.imsa.com or download the IMSA App. |
