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American LeMans
FEINBERG: Money Talks…
To sum it all up, I've spent almost two years funding my Viper program out of pocket with little outside help - not enough to make a dent in a 7-figure budget.
Joel Feinberg  |  Posted May 08, 2009   Fort Lauderdale, Fl
Feinberg's motto is not only tattooed on his forearm, it's also proving accurate in his quest to keep his ALMS GT2 program alive. After years of personal and financial sacrifice, help is needed to go forward. (PRG)
As we approach the fourth race of the season in the American Le Mans Series, I have found that my privateer team can’t survive on just dedication and hard work alone. The journey that began in the end of the 2007 season when I decided to pick up the ball that was dropped by Dodge, (the homologation and support of the Viper GT2 program) and do it on my own buck, has now become increasing difficult to continue.

As the economic climate has practically frozen, sponsors and potential sponsors are nowhere to be found causing many teams to close their doors and liquidate their assets. This is not uncommon in motorsports where the phrase “here today, gone tomorrow” has become more and more apparent if you’ve seen a starting grid lately. Unfortunately nobody is safe from the impact; however there are those who can survive the lull and those who can’t.

Six months ago my mind was set on transitioning my team into the LMP category with the hopes of putting Primetime in a more marketable and competitive position. Fortunately or unfortunately the right opportunity has not come our way yet and our focus on the Viper program has remained the priority.

With a limited budget, the goal at the start of the season was to use our GT2 program to keep us in the game and maintain visibility hoping that we could attract some decent partners and sponsors. With that in mind, Sebring was a no-brainer; it’s the start of the season and probably our biggest event of the year. Following that were two street races with IRL, one in St. Pete which is our backyard, and the other in Long Beach, which is on the other end of the planet for us. Both of these races were under two hours in length and to be honest, not much of an “endurance race” basically removing the attrition factor…

Looking back at it I’d probably do the same thing, but to spend what we spent for less than four hours of racing is absurd. Think about it, I spent more on truck fuel than I spent on race fuel, which means the bang for my buck wasn’t too exciting. But never the less, I took the gamble that making those trips would keep us in the spotlight and create opportunity down the road.

It’s been almost 3 weeks since Long Beach and a day hasn’t gone by that wasn’t spent racking my brain on how to get us to the next race which now is only ten days away. Fortunately, the trip to Utah will be a bit easier to swallow since we will also be running the IMSA Lites Series making it more cost effective to run the Viper. The biggest problem with the last two races was that we had only one car in the trailer and nothing to help subsidize any of the costs.
You’re probably saying to yourself right now “if it’s so hard to stay out there why is he doing it”, the answer is that I am passionate about what I do and I’m willing to risk everything I have to succeed and build this team, hence the tattoo on my forearm that reads “No Sacrifice, No Victory”.
Think racing in ALMS GT2 is cheap? Even the smaller teams like Feinberg's will spend 2 to 3 million dollars a year. (PRG)

Luckily we will have two months off after Utah while most teams will head to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. During this break I will be full throttle on the sponsor hunt to position us for the second half of the season which consists of a very busy schedule including 3 races in the month of August which will be very hard on the wallet.

To sum it all up, I have spent almost two years funding my Viper program out of pocket with little to no outside financial support; sure we have had a few bucks come our way but not enough to make a dent in a 7 figure budget. These continued battles and changes in circumstances have turned our efforts of growing into an LMP program, into just trying to hold on to what’s already in front of us.

Hopefully my Power Ball numbers will come in this week and I can go gangsta style the rest of the season…

It’s all about the Benjamins baby!

~Joel

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Joel Feinberg is the owner of Primetime Race Group and races the #11 ALMS GT2 Dodge Viper. His professional career began at the age of 17 when he decided to play professional golf instead of going to college. At the age of 23, with six years under his belt competing in golf tours across the US against the country’s top players, Feinberg decided his time was better spent focusing on the South Florida real estate market.

He later moved into sports marketing and sports entertainment, launching 790 ESPN Radio as the South Florida affiliate of ESPN Radio, before turning his hobby of go karting into a formal business with the formation of Primetime Racing Group and undertaking his current challenge in the American Le Mans Series and the IMSA Lites series. Feinberg resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

To learn more about Joel and his team, visit www.primetimeracegroup.com
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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