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“How do I get a job in the motorcycle industry”
“What do you need to do to work for a race team”
“How’d you get started, any tips”
More than anything else these are the questions I’ve been asked repeatedly over the years and they are questions I’ve struggled to answer. You could sample 100 people in the motorcycle industry and they all got there 100 different ways. Rotten dumb luck, right place right time, qualifications, connections. Pick one, two, whatever they all play their part.
However, I’m pleased to announce that there is a bona-fide opportunity available for someone looking to break into the pro racing world and garner some valuable connections, experience, and credibility within the AMA Pro Paddock and it’s only being offered (at this time) to the NESR community. So if you are someone who’s interested in marketing, racing, public relations, and communication then please read through the following (long) post. If you aren’t, then the rest of this post probably isn’t for you.
Jumping right in: Celtic Racing, based out of Nyack New York and headed up by Barry Gilsenan, is in need of a press officer. The ‘job’ (and I use the term lightly) consists mainly of writing team press releases and handling the odd media inquiry that may come in as a result. I was handling these responsibilities for the team up until recently but my new job requires 100% of my focus so I informed Barry I’d be unable to continue helping him. I had another motive for stepping down, and that motive was giving back to the community and perhaps giving someone else a shot at getting their foot into the Industry and fulfilling a dream.
So to that end I met with Barry at Infineon Raceway this weekend and proposed my ‘crazy idea’ to him and he was game for it. Celtic Racing has established itself as a prime breeding ground for new racing talent (Chaz Davies, Michael Laverty, PJ Jacobsen, etc) giving shots to riders and propelling them into the spotlight. I proposed to transfer this mission to a behind-the-scenes position as well and he was game. Since Celtic is a Northeast-based operation, the idea that this new press officer come from the NE was icing on the cake.
So here’s the gist of the gig- You’d be having to primarily write two press releases per AMA race weekend with maybe the odd non-AMA race weekend or general information release thrown in. Each release take about 1-1.5 hours to write, format, and send out. You’d be paid for each release but before you get too excited it isn’t exactly buy-a-mansion money. Celtic is a small operation and the rate I had proposed was fair to them, but also fair to the person putting in the time writing these. Looked at as a hourly rate, you’re getting paid pretty well actually. You do not have to attend the races in person to be able to write a credible press release and you’ll be provided with all the information needed to write that release.
So outside of your small compensation what will you be getting?
- You’ll be getting the opportunity to directly communicate with dozens of industry and non-industry contacts, all of Celtic’s sponsors and various relationships.
- You’ll have the ability to go to any AMA Pro Race (on your own dime, say NJ or VIR for example) and hang out and work with a well-established AMA Pro Team, in their pits, on pit wall, on the grid, in the garage, all the fun stuff.
- You’ll be working directly with one of the AMA’s rising young stars PJ Jacobsen and a myriad of other riders that cycle through the Celtic program. This season alone has seen Bermuda’s Antoine Walker, Canada’s Brett McCormick (now on Jordan) and last year saw Irishman Michael Laverty and Australian Damien Cudlin.
- You’ll have access to all the fun AMA Media sectors like the fabled Media Room and sitting in on Press Conferences etc.
- You’ll see the words you write, stories you craft, and images you select appear on media across the country
- Coaching and guidance from myself to help you learn the ropes and assist in getting you setup (including my master contacts spreadsheet)
- You’ll get your foot in the door to the motorcycle racing industry. From there it’s up to you to seize the opportunities.
How do you go about doing your job and what’s required?
- You’ll be doing two press releases per race. One Preview and one Recap.
- The Preview will be due to Barry and myself Monday before the AMA Race weekend starts on Friday.
- I’ll approve the release within a day or two with the goal of having it submitted to the press by Wed. Thursday morning at the latest.
- The Recap will be due to Barry and myself by Monday evening after the race weekend. To be approved and submitted to the press by Tuesday morning.
- Someone from the team, most likely Barry, PJ’s father, or PJ, will give you a recap of how the race went to help you craft your Recap Release.
- You’ll be required to use some brainpower to look at the AMA Race Results, practice times, qualifying times, race times, best of all the race broadcast if you can, to get a sense of how the weekend went for the team.
- For the Job Application (more to come below) I’m leaving you on your own but if you’re ‘hired’ you’d be getting direct coaching from me to start to help get your head around how it works and advice
How do I Apply?
Talent search baby!! The deal is to open it up to the entire NESR Community and see what sort of diamond in the rough we can dig out. Anyone can apply and experience doesn’t matter, your ability to type and craft a release does.
- To Apply:
1) Post up in this thread that you want to
2) Post (or PM me if you want privacy) your email address
3) I’ll email you the Press Releases I’ve done for Celtic already along with some various other ones to give you a feel for how they sound, are formatted, work, etc
4) Do some of your own homework in how PR’s are crafted at the Pro Level (read World Superbike and MotoGP ones)
5) HERE’S THE BIG PART: Write two sample press releases (neither will ever see light of day fyi). More info submitted via email after I get your "I want to do this post/email"
a. Infineon Round 4 Preview
b. Infineon Round 5 Recap
c. Info to help: It was PJ’s first time riding at Infineon. PJ is 16. He broke his hand at Daytona and missed round 2. He raced Round 3. It’s PJ’s first year racing Daytona Sportbike. PJ finished (oh wait you have to look all that info up on AMAproracing.com), PJ said after the race when asked how the weekend was (I’m making this up) “Fun track, had some setup issues in first race fixed for race 2. Lost some grip. Hand is fine” Make a quote(s) from that info from PJ
That’s the general idea. I’m very excited about this and hoping to see some good response from the NE Family. I really stuck my neck out on this idea pitching it to Barry but I have great faith in the NE community & after talking we both felt it was a great way to introduce someone into the paddock, give them a shot!
If anyone has further questions just post up and I’ll hit them up.
Thanks.
Some helpful links:
http://www.roadracingworld.com/
http://www.amaproracing.com
http://www.celticracing.com/
http://www.pj99.com/
UPDATE 5-20-2010
I've posted 11 Press Releases I've created. Some included some 'bad races' (like Geoff May DNF'ing VIR, PJ breaking his hand, etc).
As you can see they follow a certain formatting (inspired by WSBK and GP releases). Some also push deeply into 2 pages, which is fine if need be.
Happy homeworking!!
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B19...ut=list&num=50
PS: Don't get hung up on trying to put them into the fancy template page (pretty background). Main item to focus on right now is the writing.
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Originally Posted by Pookie
