After a successful run in IndyCar racing, Denes returned to his auto racing PR roots when he was entrusted to look after his first GRAND-AM client, where he’s remained ever since.

Now looking after SunTrust's Rolex Series PR in association with Wayne Taylor Racing, Denes continues his service to the sportscar community. (Marshall Pruett)

“After the 2006 season, I joined a ‘virtual’ PR agency called True Speed Communication that is owned by Tony Stewart and run by his longtime PR guy, Mike Arning. I was working for Lowe's with Adrian Fernandez and his Grand-Am team at the time, but Adrian was heading over to the ALMS in 2007 and they had other arrangements to handle their media relations. The timing was incredible as the SunTrust PR duties became available and I just jumped right in. Turns out it's probably the happiest, most savvy racing sponsor I've ever been involved with. They've really built a niche for themselves in motorsports, and found a true home in the GRAND-AM series that has been mutually beneficial for both the series and the bank. It's been a great experience working with Wayne, who I remember from the late 1980s when he first came to the states with his spikey hair and cool glasses, driving that Chevrolet Intrepid GTP car with Tommy Kendall. Wayne is the ultimate racing businessman. He and SunTrust are the perfect partners, and they've built a class operation together.”

With more than two decades of experience under his belt, Denes looks at his job as just that – a job, and as he shares, maintaining a client-first approach is what keeps him focused. Getting caught up in the nostalgia or romance of sportscar racing is not what he’s hired to do.

“I can honestly say I'm a true professional in that my primary responsibility is getting my client's name in the paper, on TV, over the radio airwaves, and on the Internet. Having been doing it for so long on a national and worldwide scale, one of the main benefits is that I have really gotten to know the major players in the motorsports media, and they know me. They return my phone calls and e-mails. They know the quality product that I'm known for turning out week in and week out. I don't waste their time. That has been a huge benefit to whoever my clients have been over the years.”

Although he’s become part of the brick and mortar of the GRAND-AM paddock, Denes wasn’t always sure auto racing would offer the professional longevity he sought. Looking back, he says it’s the relationships he’s built and the warmth within the auto racing community that continues to inspire him.”

“It's funny, since I got out of the newspaper business almost 25 years ago because I thought that if I rose to the top of my profession, I would be on the road way too much. Here we are, today. I've travelled hundreds of thousands of miles all over the world. And I'm still as happily married as ever. I have a great wife and family. Doing this for a living allows me to work at home when I'm not on the road, and it allows me to live in a beautiful place, pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Many of my best friends in the world are the people I've met along with way, too. Racing is a very down-to-earth community. When I got out of the newspaper business, I have wondered often about whether I would have stuck with it if I was a motorsports writer. The miserable experience I typically encountered trying to interview pro football and baseball and basketball players didn't seem to be the case in the racing world. Racing people appreciate the media attention and know it's vital to the future of their sport.”

He’s been in the sportscar PR field longer than most, and the imprint Denes has made is easy to spot. For the younger PR reps, Denes serves as a model of efficiency and dedication; he always has time for friends and associates, but his dedication to SunTrust and to Taylor means work always comes first.

To that end, Denes is easy to find – either on pit lane with his team, at the WTR transporter, in the garage, or in the media center writing press releases for his client. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Credibility and professionalism are a PR person’s calling card. If you don't have that, you're lost in this business. I take pride in the fact that I'm perceived as a journalist, first and foremost, by the members of the media. Those who know me, at least, and everyone else once they get to know me. I don't ever want to come across as a paid pitchman, and I'd like to believe I don't. Having cut my teeth in journalism and the newspaper business, I know the media and how they work, the demands they face, what they need to get their jobs done. So I cut straight to the chase when I deal with them, show them what I have for them and how it will help them achieve the best possible story, and go my merry way. And when they ask for something, I'm as responsive as humanly possible. The highest compliment from a sponsor is appreciation for a nice piece in the paper or on TV. The highest compliment from a media person is when they take the time to recognize a well-written press release, or media packet.”

Marshall Pruett is SPEEDtv.com’s Auto Racing Editor, and also covers IndyCar and sportscar racing for the site. Pruett grew up at ‘Pruett's Olde English Garage,’ his father's shelter for abused foreign cars, and spent his childhood being dragged across the West Coast to help with his dad's amateur racing exploits.

Pruett spent 20 years working in the IRL, CART, IMSA, and most of the known open-wheel feeder series before retiring from active duty in 2001. And in case you were wondering, no, he isn’t related to Scott Pruett.

Marshall lives in Northern California with his wife Shabral.