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GARNER TRUCKING LEVERAGES NASCAR SPONSORSHIP
By Dwain Hebda
Like millions of other racing fans across the nation,
Sherri Garner Brumbaugh loves the thrill of
a NASCAR event. However, unlike the majority
of those fans, the president, CEO and owner of
Garner Trucking, Inc., wasn’t content to just take it in from
the stands or infield on race weekend.
That’s why the Ohio-based company entered into a sponsorship
deal last season as a way to engage Garner’s 130
employees with a sport that many of them, like their boss,
actively follow.
“We’re a relatively small carrier that thinks big, and so
we’re on a large national stage,” she said. “We work hard. I
think you should play hard. Truck drivers and NASCAR are
peas in a pod — or like peas and carrots. It’s been very fun
and interesting seeing our #7 car branded in a Cup Series.”
While much of that seems like pretty standard sentiment,
Garner Trucking took things a step further to share the benefits
of the NASCAR sponsorship with employees at all levels
of the company. The sponsorship deal includes several
VIP race day experiences, items that many companies might
use to reward high-dollar clients or entice sales prospects.
Brumbaugh and her team had a different idea.
“My interest was getting my employees involved in a VIP
experience,” she said. “NASCAR is one of the few sports
that you can have such close contact with the professional
athletes. You meet them, talk with them, they spend time
with you, and you get a really close and personal touch.”
Using the VIP ducats to treat its employees instead of as
bait for new business is just one of the ways Garner is leveraging
the sponsorship differently than most. The company
also donated two trucks to Spire Motorsports, which owns
the car — another way of building pride and fanship among
employees.
The sponsorship has helped company leadership to build
on its relationships with employees.
“One of the interesting things we found through this is,
several of our drivers said, ‘If I wasn’t driving for Garner, I
would drive a NASCAR hauler. That would be a dream job for
me.’ So, we came up with another twist with our sponsorship
that engaged our drivers,” Brumbaugh said.
“(Spire) had aging trucks, and they really didn’t have the
time or expertise to spec a new truck because they were hard
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