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.

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