Page 8 - Canadian Industry Online

CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - DECEMBER 2015James HinchcliffeIN HIS EARLY career, James Hinchcliffe captured the TKC Junior Rotax Class Karting Championship with seven wins in seven starts in 2002. He got the Junior Rotax Canada Cup title and won the TKC Winter Series Cham- pionship in 2002, and also competed in several regional and national karting series and championships throughout the United States and Canada. In his career, he has captured many titles and earned a spot with the racing industry’s most revered drivers.Fast forward to now, and the 32-year-old is busy making racing head- lines. CIO caught up with Hinchcliffe to talk about racing, what makes a racing business opportunity, and his plans for that time when his of cial racing career comes to a close.How did racing become your busi- ness and what you do for a living?He sat me down and said ‘it’s great that you’re doing this, great that you’re a good driver, and you have the skill, but it doesn’t matter. The way it works now is you have to be as rele- vant outside the car as you are inside the car. Lots of people are good drivers but you have to attract sponsors. If you don’t have money it’s all irrelevant.’So I had to start behaving in a way that was tailored to that advice, a way that would start building a brand. Spon- sorship is what makes our world go around. It’s got to make sense to com- panies. It’s not just about having their sticker on our car or so I can call myself a race car driver its got to have an ROI. I have to understand what each com- pany needs and how I can make this an appropriate proposition for a potential sponsor.“The way it works now is you have to be as relevant outside the car as you are inside the car.”At the age of 13-14 I started rac- ing cars and at some point around that time, I thought maybe I’ll try to take a swing at this career. I had counsel from a good friend early on who helped me, when I was about 17, and about to start my rst full year in professional car rac- ing. This was a gentleman who had worked in racing for a long time and had seen the transition of the business side of how the sport really worked.8 | Canadian Industry Online | December, 2017