Tire business brings primate to NASCAR

Oct. 23, 2009

NASCAR driver Mario Gosselin has showcased a beer brand, barbecue sauce and even an investment company. But come October 31, Gosselin will zip around the Talladega Superspeedway with a smiling primate on the hood of his No. 12 Chevrolet Silverado, a blur of orange and brown paint breezing toward the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finish line.

Three states away in North Carolina, an entire company will be fervently cheering him on.

The Alabama race marks the official start to a partnership between Gosselin’s DGM Racing team and primary sponsor MyTireMonkey.com, an Edenton, North Carolina-based startup offering the Internet’s lowest tire prices. On Thursday, October 29, at 3 p.m., SPEED Channel will capture the unveiling at the track. Dressed in monkey costumes, Gosselin’s young daughters, Megan and Madison, will assist as his team whips the cover from the No. 12 pickup and reveals a colorful new racing theme destined to capture audience attention.

This will be MyTireMonkey.com’s first-ever racing sponsorship, but company executives are already revved up about harnessing Gosselin’s motoring moxie and NASCAR’s powerful marketing punch to reach cash-conscious consumers eager to forgo another online tire buying hassle.

“This is going to give us and the network of dealers we’re working with a kind of rallying cry, that this is something we can all get behind together as a network,” said Tully Ryan, MyTireMonkey.com president and CEO.

“It’s going to drive Internet traffic right through the front doors of the stores and the service centers we’re working with.”

Although DGM Racing competed in a handful of Camping World Truck Series races last year in a quest for sponsorship, the support of MyTireMonkey.com has granted the team its first chance at blazing through the complete 25-race series circuit.

“We’re a starting team in the Camping World series, and this is like a dream come true,” said Gosselin, a three-time ARCA RE/MAX Series winner based out of Lake Wales, Florida. “This is what this young racing team needed to go forward, to be able to go to the races and have the funding that we need to compete.”

Launched in December 2008, MyTireMonkey.com is a relatively new entry to the corporate starting line. But with 1,500 dealer locations and nearly 90 independent distribution centers scattered across 48 states, the leading online tire superstore is quickly expanding operations and revolutionizing the way customers regard the online tire-buying process.