Today Kodak announced it will no longer be a motorsports sponsor. 2008 will conclude 23 years that Kodak has been involved in motorsports as a NASCAR  Official Sponsor and a race team partner.  We have enjoyed an 18 year relationship with Morgan-McClure Motorsports and a 5 year relationship with Penske Racing. During those years, 23 different drivers have piloted a Kodak race car in NASCAR's elite series. The Kodak car has seen 620 Winston Cup/Nextel Cup/Sprint Series Cup races, earning 147 Top Ten finishes, 63 Top 5 finishes, and 14 wins including the 1991, 1994, and 1995 Daytona 500. We were also part of Ryan Newman's Daytona 500 win this year. 

Based on statistics alone, Ernie Irvan  was the most successful Kodak driver. From 1990-1993, Ernie drove the Kodak race car in 105 races, finishing almost half those races in the Top Ten (51), seven of them wins, and one of them the Daytona 500. Ernie averaged a 14th place finish in his career as a Kodak driver.

Sterling Marlin was our next most successful driver with 49 Top Tens and six wins in 125 races. Two of Sterling's wins were back-to-back Daytona 500 wins in 1994 and 1995. Sterling raced for Kodak from 1994-1997.

Many other well known drivers took a turn at the wheel of the Kodak race car over the years including Rusty Wallace, Phil Parsons, Robby Gordon, Mike Skinner, Bobby Hamilton and Ryan Newman. 

Kodak has participated in other U.S.-based motorsports series including ARCA (where Kodak won a race with Stephen Wallace in 2005), NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series, NASCAR Busch Series, Grand Am-Rolex Series (Kodak won the season-opening 2004 Rolex 24 at Daytona with Bell Motorsports), and the IndyCar Series.

While I have managed the Kodak Motorsports program for the past six years, I must acknowledge the amazing job my predecessors did in putting together a top-notch sponsorship during the 17 years before me. Two current Kodak employees, Bob Peavey and Walt Kowalik, had a hand in much of that success (if you see them, say "Thanks!").  Much of what I learned about NASCAR was either passed on to me by former Kodaker Bob "Monk" Mayhue, something I read in a "NASCAR for Dummies" book , or simply learned "on the job."

I attended my first race in November 2002, the Fall Talladega race, with former Kodak VP of Sponsorship Bud Denker, and Kodak Director of Brand Events and Activation Karen Kozak, for a primer on all things NASCAR. We returned from that experience energized about motorsports as a way to strengthen Kodak's relationship with tens of millions of racing fans.

The following year, Kodak moved Kodak Racing from the Film Group to the corporate function to engage each Kodak business unit in leveraging the sponsorship assets and driving a broad return on investment. Beginning in 2003, Kodak used the race car as a "vehicle" to promote Kodak products including motion picture films, digital cameras, inkjet printers and KODAK Gallery.

From 2003-2005, we traded the space on the race car "deck lid" (trunk) with our retail partners. In return, those partners provided Kodak increased floor display for our products.

One of the most valuable revenue-driving programs was customer hospitality. Kodak has hosted customers at Daytona 500s, Indianapolis 500s, Watkins Glen, Homestead and a number of other regional races over the years. 

By far the most rewarding part of working on the Kodak Motorsports program was meeting the fans. Here's a picture of a fan at the 2004 California Labor Day race wearing a homemade hat featuring a Kodak pit stop!

No matter which race team, race car or driver we were aligned with, we raced hard, worked hard and had fun doing it. I have so many memories but here are just a few of my favorites:

• Rusty Wallace's birthday - During Watkins Glen weekend in 2005 I brought a Kodak guest to meet Rusty in his motorcoach. While visiting, a thunderstorm hit the track and lasted two hours. We ended up spending the afternoon talking to Rusty and his wife Patty.  Once the weather finally broke, Rusty invited us to grab a bite to eat with him and his wife. Over dinner, he told us it was his 49th birthday. To top it off, 2005 marked Rusty's final season. That was definitely one of the highlights of my tenure.

• Watkins Glen weekends - Each year we did something different for employees around the Watkins Glen race including Kodak Night at the Red Wings game and driver autograph sessions.

• Daytona 500  and Indianapolis 500  - Anyone who has been to these 2 races knows just how special they are. Great for celebrity watching as well as incredible race action.
• Hollywood partnerships - Working with the team in Hollywood to create programs that strengthened Kodak's relationship with studio partners has not only been beneficial to the company but also a lot of fun! This year's Kodak/"Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" race car with Universal Studios was a blast. The car was cool and we got to hang out with the star, Brendan Fraser, for the day. No one who saw it, will ever forget Brendan shouting "Gentlemen, start your engines!" in his Kodak crew shirt.

• Our extended team - Throughout the years, we have had no shortage of Kodak employees wanting to help with the program. This is especially true when it comes to our Watkins Glen weekend activities. There is not enough space here to list everyone's names, but please know how much your enthusiasm, diligence and perfect execution has meant to our team. You know who you are!
• Race teams - Behind the drivers, the crew chiefs and the owners are the men and women who are the backbone of the race teams that we sponsored. From the folks working in the garage, to the transporter and merchandise trailer drivers, to the office staff, we were fortunate to have known you and I thank you for helping Kodak maximize our racing partnerships. We will miss you.

Now, the checkered flag drops and we pass the finish line. We load up our equipment and leave the track for the last time. The lights shine bright as we drive away, but our memories shine even brighter. It was a great ride.

For the past 6 years, I have managed the Kodak Motorsports marketing program in all of its forms. No matter which race team, racecar or driver we are aligned with, there is one constant - each year our driver visits a couple of the Rochester plants to meet the Kodak employees and sign autographs.

On June 5th, 2008, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver and 2008 Daytona 500 champion, Ryan Newman visited Kodak Park and the Kodak Manitou Road facility to do just that. Paula Davis (Sponsorship Marketing Coordinator) and I met Ryan, his wife, Krissie, and publicist Wendy Belk at the Kodak Hangar where his private plane arrived at 11:00 am. Armed with a Kodak Easyshare V1273 digital camera, I set out to document Ryan's visit. The touch screen was a big hit and I really appreciated the Smart Capture mode which took the guessing out of which scene mode to use when I was alternating between indoor and outdoor shots.

Ryan made his visit to Rochester on his way to Pocono to get ready for this past weekend's race. As a result, he was on a tight timeline, and we promptly jumped into our rental car to make the short trip down to Kodak Park where his first autograph signing would begin at 11:30 am. Since I knew where I was going (and because I was a little afraid to be a passenger in any car driven by a NASCAR driver!), I did the driving. However, I must mention that Ryan likes to provide feedback about traffic conditions, green lights not immediately reacted to, and occasionally exclaimed "clear" to help me navigate through traffic (no, I'm not joking!).

We arrived at Building 28 early, which allowed Ryan time to speak with a number of local media outlets including WHEC Channel 10 and The Democrat and Chronicle. In addition to the media, Ryan was met by over 150 enthusiastic Kodak employees. I was impressed by the display of Ryan Newman memorabilia that was put together by the Kodak Site Operations team. Dave Stoklosa, Tom Aquilina and Donna Simonds did a wonderful job of not only setting up the display but managing all of the on-site logistics for Ryan's visit in a short timeframe (FAST! FAST! FAST!!).

Finally at 11:30 am, Ryan began signing autographs and meeting all of his fans.

After grabbing a bite to eat with the Site Ops and corporate communications folks, we drove over to the Manitou Road facility to do it all again. We had a great turnout there as well. Some of the fans even showed up in their Kodak Motorsports colors in support of the event. Here you can see Tom Warda, who has been a part of the extended Kodak Motorsports team since 2004 when we executed the NASCAR-KOS event at Frontier Field with drivers, Brendan Gaughan and Rusty Wallace.

Following the autograph session, Ryan sat down with Kodak Corporate media Relations Manager (and our newest NASCAR fan), Krista Gleason to answer some questions for a podcast.

Krista asked Ryan about NASCAR, winning the Daytona 500, and The Ryan Newman Foundation.

Before we left the Manitou Road facility, Ryan stopped by to say "hello" and get a photo taken with a potential Commercial Printing customer that was visiting the demo center. By all accounts, Ryan made quite an impression!

We had one last stop to make before we delivered Ryan back to the Kodak hanger for his trip to Pocono Raceway. Earlier in the day, as we drove down Ridge Road on our way to Building 28, Ryan noticed an Abbott's Frozen Custard. We didn't have time to stop, right then, to share with Ryan one of this Rochester transplant's favorite Rochester traditions (after Schaellers, The Little Theatre and Zweigle's (hot dogs), but I consulted my GPS to locate the store on Buffalo Road. Everyone enjoyed the side trip - especially Ryan and Krissie who ordered a "Strawberry Shortcake Sundae" and a "Chocolate Waffle Cone With Sprinkles" respectively for the curious among you.

Note: In doing research for this blog, I unearthed this amazing tidbit for the Abbott's Frozen Custard lovers out there - you can order custard from their website. Now, if Nick Tahou's would only make their Garbage Plate that readily available!

Ryan's visit was just the beginning of the fun for Kodak Motorsports fans this summer. We've got much more in store in the coming months including: The Kodak-Mummy No. 12 Dodge  will race in Chicago on July 12th, Ryan will attend the Rochester Red Wings baseball game during Kodak Night at Frontier Field on August 8th and of course, Ryan will be racing Kodak Yellow at Watkins Glen on August 10th. We have a lot of exciting news for Rochester-based employees around the Watkins Glen weekend, so keep your eyes and ears peeled!

As Kodak's Manager of Motorsports Marketing, I help the company get the most out of its sponsorship of several racing properties. Through our great relationship with Roger Penske and Penske Racing, 2007 will find us at NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series races, as well as IndyCar racing. At the track, you might see me in the pits, hosting Kodak's business guests on a tour of our operations.

This year marks the return of a Kodak NASCAR entry at three major Nextel Cup races. Plans call for the No. 12 Dodge Charger from Penske Racing, driven by Ryan Newman, to sport red-and-yellow Kodak colors at Cup races in Talladega, AL.; Fontana, CA.; and Watkins Glen, N.Y., near Rochester, NY. Ryan was NASCAR's Rookie of the Year in 2002, and has 12 Cup victories.

We spent time with Ryan in January in North Carolina, getting ready for the 2007 Cup season. He's an easygoing, relaxed guy - the kind of guy you'd ask to go fishing with you. Which, in fact, he does. But Ryan's also made a commitment to saving pets in animal shelters through his Ryan Newman Foundation, which supports spay-and-neuter programs through local animal shelters.

"Krissie (Newman, Ryan's wife) and I started the foundation in January 2005," Ryan says. "We had the opportunity... and we have a pretty good group of fans to be able to help raise some awareness and help where we can. We got started when we received a letter from a lady in Martinsville (Va.), and ended up paying out of our pocket to spay and neuter 13 dogs. It opened our eyes to the people that need help to help raise awareness for controlling the animal population. And we also help in other wildlife conservation efforts."

The foundation recently pledged $400,000 to the Humane Society of Catawba County (N.C.) Capital Campaign to name the facility's regional spay/neuter clinic.

About getting ready for the season: there's a lot of tedium that fans never see. Media tours. Working with stylists. Posing for promotional photos. Ryan's a professional driver, but photo shoots and media training isn't the most thrilling part of his job. But we all pitched in, in a photo studio in Mooresville, N.C., to make things go smoothly. Ryan smiled for the camera, helped the team from Penske Racing adjust the car's angle, and even helped change the decals on the No. 12 Dodge (see photos). (That's Ryan on the right, helping Penske's Thomas Pierce adjust the rear suspension of the Kodak Dodge in the studio. Those are Pierce's legs, hanging out the car window on the left.)

We'll look forward to seeing you at all the tracks this season. In addition to the Cup races, Ryan's slated to drive a Kodak Gallery Dodge in seven NASCAR Busch Series at Bristol, TN, Fort Worth, TX, Darlington, SC, Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL, Watkins Glen, NY, Fontana and Richmond, VA.