Track tech officials to begin stepping up enforcement
of driver-friendly WISSOTA sponsor decal program

HIBBING, MN (May 4) - In an effort to assist the drivers of the region, the WISSOTA tech committee has amended the rule regarding placement of required series and sponsor decals on all cars at sanctioned events. Effective immediately, only three of the required decals must be placed either on the fenders or leading edge of the doors, or in the optional sail panel location outlined in the rule book. This amends rule 3.3.2 on pages 17 and 18 of the 2007 WISSOTA rule book.

The decals that MUST be positioned either on the fender or leading edge of the door (first 10 inches behind front tires), or in the optional sail panel location, are:

• WISSOTA Auto Racing

• AMSOIL

• Hoosier Racing Tire

All other series or sponsor decals provided by WISSOTA, track personnel or tech officials can be displayed in any location on the side of the race car. All such decals must be placed on both sides of the car, but NOT on the hood, roof, deck or tops of fenders.

Every car in every division must display ALL of the following decals in addition to WISSOTA Auto Racing, AMSOIL and Hoosier:

• Pro Comp Methanol

• Sunoco or Turbo Blue

• Crane Cams Ignition

• QA1 Motorsports

• AllStar Performance

• Dart Machinery

• Wiseco Pistons

• Champ Pans

• Intercomp

• Raceceiver

• AMB i.t.

In addition, drivers in the Modified, Super Stock and Midwest Modified divisions must display the following decal:

• Bassett Wheels

Drivers must affix the actual decals provided to them by WISSOTA or the tracks; decals cannot be altered in size, proportion or color. Any resized, re-proportioned or incorrectly colored decals will not be acceptable.

The WISSOTA tech committee members and board members all appreciate the cooperation of the drivers in this program, which is vital to the organization and very valuable to the drivers at the end of each season.

“The WISSOTA marketing committee members spent a great deal of the off-season both solidifying the organization’s relationship with long-time sponsors, and securing new sponsors who will be providing WISSOTA’s racers with tens of thousands of dollars of cash and product awards this fall,” said WISSOTA board member Scott Hughes. “A number of them signed on at very generous levels that warranted a mandatory decal program on all of WISSOTA’s race cars, so this year there are several new decals required for every competitor.”

“At every level of racing, this type of sponsorship is vital,” Hughes added. “Whether you’re watching Nextel Cup on TV, Indy Cars, Snocross or Motocross, Drag Racing or local dirt track racing, you see series sponsor decals that are mandatory for all competitors. WISSOTA racing is no different, and as an organization - a racing community - we all need to work together to make these valuable programs work,” Hughes said.

WISSOTA head tech adviser Bill Engelstad added, “It’s clear from the calls we’ve received from drivers and from what we’ve seen at the tracks in the first couple of weeks of the season that WISSOTA needs to flex a little for the drivers when it comes to our sponsor decals.”

“We are willing to do that,” Engelstad noted.

“We’re trying to be responsive to the drivers by showing some flexibility on the location of WISSOTA’s sponsor decals,” Hughes said, “but to maintain the integrity of the sponsorship programs, all of the decals will continue to be mandatory on all cars at all tracks. You must run all of the decals. Period.”

“As a driver, you wouldn’t expect any of your sponsors to work with you or support your team if you failed to display their name and logo on your car; it’s the exact same scenario for this racing organization. The sponsors who provide the drivers with cash and product awards deserve cooperation from the drivers,” Hughes stated. “And besides, they just don’t look like real race cars until they’ve got the stickers on them!”

Any driver who does not have all of the required decals displayed as outlined at any event will be subject to disqualification from that event, as well as the loss of all track and national points and earnings from that event.

“From a teching standpoint, we don’t ever want to disqualify a competitor for a very avoidable infraction like not displaying the sponsor decals, but our track tech people will enforce this more and more aggressively in the next few weeks,” Engelstad indicated.

“We encourage drivers to get all of these required decals on right now, because by Memorial Day weekend, all of our regional tech people and track tech people will be checking closely,” Engelstad warned. “In the first couple weeks of any season, we have to be a little lenient on this, but I am instructing tech people to make this one of their priorities right away.”

“We are serious about this program and it simply has to be enforced,” Engelstad said. “We’ve made this rule adjustment to give every driver every opportunity to meet the decal requirements. It’s an incredibly easy rule to follow - probably one of easiest in the entire rule book. There shouldn’t be a single reason every driver can’t follow this rule.”

“All of the required decals are mailed to drivers with their license card,” said WISSOTA office administrator Callie Sullivan. “We encourage drivers to purchase their license early every year and this is another good reason to do that - so you get your decals as quickly as possible.”
“Our turnaround time on licenses and decal packets right now is very quick,” she said, “and I have all of the decals here, so drivers can let me know if they need them.”

Drivers or track tech officials who need one or more of the required decals can contact Sullivan at the WISSOTA office (call 320-275-9922 or email callie@wissota.org) or contact one of the following regional tech advisers:

•Bill Engelstad
(218) 262-5823 or (218) 929-7036
cement@2z.net

•Terry Haagenson
(507) 867-4034
racetech@kmwb.net

•Dean Schaunamann
(605) 226-3780
ds3ks88@nvc.net

•Joe Jackmovich
(605) 394-0137 or (605) 690-0032
saddleup@rapidcity.net.

You can also ask your track tech official for any decals you are missing; many of them have requested decal packets so they can assist drivers on race night.

If you have a question regarding any aspect of the revised sponsor decal rule, contact one of the tech committee members immediately.

The entire WISSOTA rule book can be viewed online or downloaded in PDF format from www.wissota.org.