1 On 1 with #51 Silverado Racer Kelly Sutton

[Ming]

ONE ON ONE WITH NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES FEMALE DRIVER KELLY SUTTON
Source: Chris Corter
Racing West



4 Career starts; a new record for starts by a female, a career best 15th place finish, over $450,000 in winnings, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Driver Kelly Sutton finds herself in a search for full time primary sponsorship for the 2008 . Oh, and by the way Kelly also has Multiple Scierosis. Drive, determination, skill, and pure guts should make this driver one of the most sought after females in the NASCAR circuit, but the harsh reality is without a full time sponsor the cost to compete at this level is overbearing.

I spoke with Kelly and asked what happened to her sponsor of 7 years, Copaxone®; the medicine that Kelly injects once a day to help beat her MS. “Copaxone® has been with me since 2000, and have been very supportive. They unfortunately had cut backs, so they can’t afford to continue with a full time primary sponsorship. They are still very supportive of me, and are willing to be a co-sponsor.” Copaxone® will still be primary sponsor in 2008 for 4 races, but with the cost of a primary sponsorship at above 2 million dollars, Kelly’s marketing team is hard at work looking to secure the funding needed to run full time in 2008.

“It is not beneficial to my career to only run 4 races” Kelly tells me, “I know I can be competitive and win races, but I need to have more seat time to get it done.” Kelly raced for Billy Ballew Motorsports out of Mooresville, NC in the No. 51 Team Copaxone® Chevrolet Silverado in 4 races in 2007, with a guarantee of 4 more in 2008. If Kelly can get the funding, then she can continue to race the No. 51 Chevy. “The better the team, the higher the cost to race” Kelly explained to me. Kelly has a vast amount of experience when it comes to funding a race team as she had a team of her own. “It’s hard to run the business side, and have to worry about all the expenses like hotels and meals and employees and then go out and try to focus as a driver. I find myself more relaxed behind the wheel now, because I don’t have to worry about all that. I can focus on my driving.”

Continued: http://www.racingwest.com/news/story.php3/16173/

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[drew630]

Hahaha, thanks!

[Ming]

LOL, I actually thought it was a pretty interesting article, too.

[tamatt27]

Originally Posted by Ming

LOL, I actually thought it was a pretty interesting article, too.

As did I. I do hope she can find a sponsor. She seems to be battling things of her own, other than on the race track. That's something to be admired!