Skip to comments.

Posted on 06/21/2002 3:40:18 PM PDT by SheLion

For Gary Drew, the message matters more than the money.

Drew is one of the top drivers at Oxford Plains Speedway, with designs on winning his first Pro Stock title at one of New England's most hallowed short tracks. Despite winning the Oxford True Value 250 a year ago, Drew was in the market for a new primary sponsor during the off-season. If you don't have consistent sponsorship in auto racing, you can't have consistent success.

What Drew got was a symbiotic match.

Before the season, Drew reached an agreement to drive for Kick Butts Racing, a promotional arm of the state-run Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine (PTM). While the money will help his push for a Pro Stock title, the sponsorship runs deeper than that for Drew.

"My father, he was more than a pack-a-day smoker . . . at times two, three packs a day," Drew said. "I'm just not interested in seeing anyone smoke. If I can promote (non-smoking), I'll do whatever I can."

Kick Butts Racing is a statewide program that sponsors drivers at each of Maine's five short tracks as well as backing Maine native Tracy Gordon on the Busch North Series. Also wearing the Kick Butts Racing colors are Ryan Shepard at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Jimmy Kaler at Wiscasset Speedway, Mike Thomas at Speedway 95 in Hermon and Unity Raceway driver Jeff Burgess.

Drew and the other racers spread the Kick Butts theme through promotion on their side panels, podium acknowledgements, autograph sessions and any other appearances.

Drew knows firsthand how smoking can affect a person's health and how quitting the bad habit can make a difference.

Homer Drew, Gary's father, was one of the top stock car drivers in Maine in the 1960s and '70s. Racing mostly out of Beech Ridge, Homer Drew was talented enough to win "something like five of the first seven" Getty Opens, the precursor to the Oxford 250.

By the time Gary Drew was getting his start in racing in the early 1980s driving Modifieds at Beech Ridge, his father's health had deteriorated, primarily due to heart disease.

"They say that the smoking contributed to that," Gary Drew said.

Four years ago, Homer Drew faced the predictable challenge of heart surgery. The prognosis was bleak.

"The doctors told us that he better enjoy every day he had because they didn't think he'd live but another six, eight months," Gary Drew said. "But they also told him that it would help if he quit smoking. He did, cold turkey."

Four years later, Homer Drew has far outlasted the doctors' predictions. Gary believes his father's decision to quit smoking is the reason he's still alive.

"His health is still very poor, but at least he's lived four more years than the doctors thought he would," Gary Drew said. "I believe that has a lot to do with him quitting smoking. I really believe that's why he's alive now."

The personal connection to a stop-smoking message can make a significant difference, said Melody Beckwith, the president of SponsorUSA, a Portland marketing and promotions firm that brought together PTM resources and auto racing.

"The first thing is the driver can't smoke, and they must be adamant about the dangers of smoking," Beckwith said. "Second, we wanted top drivers from each track because of the notice they get and the exposure they get."

Drew was the perfect match for PTM's campaign. His profile grew last year when he won the Oxford True Value 250 and nearly captured the Pro Stock title. Long before that, he had acquired a personal sense of nicotine's ability to stain permanently.

He now has a sponsorship connection he thinks can benefit him on the track while making a difference to some of the state's young racing fans.

"I think I was a sophomore in high school when I started driving . . . (at Beech Ridge)," Drew said. "In all that time, I've only run probably a full year four or five times."

A lack of money was part of what was holding him back. Another problem was the fact he was a second-generation driver with a weakened first-generation support system.

"My dad, he was really sick. Dad's former car owner was really sick," Drew said. "I really didn't have those guys to lead me where I wanted to go."

Now he's a lot closer to that destination. The True Value victory in 2001, worth $35,400, has helped fund a newly built home in Otisfield. It's just a nine-mile drive to the track where he races on Saturday nights.

Drew opened the season by winning the New England Dodge Dealers Pro All Star Series (PASS) 100 at his home track, but he has been out of the top 10 in three of the last five Pro Stock races at Oxford.

He's still in contention for the points title, tied for fourth with 180 points. But he has fallen 52 points behind leader Alan Wilson of Hebron.

Driving more often on the PASS tour in the future is something Drew is giving serious consideration.

For this season, however, the focus is on Oxford Plains and helping to sell the Kick Butts theme.

"There's so many kids that go to these races and see this Kick Butts Racing message," Drew said. "And every time we get in the top three, we promote this.

"If I can keep having these people see my car, well, maybe those kids might say, 'Hey, that racer Gary Drew doesn't smoke, maybe I don't have to either.' "

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.