Ok...I know I have not posted in this forum/board in a long while but:

I might be taking a job with a distributor of Sunoco Race gas.

My question is how is the market for imports, my job would be trying to expand into the Import market...their biggest volume customer is VIR. I digress. They not only sell Sunoco but a ton of gases, lubricants, oils etc...that benifit race cars.

Just need some input, might help me decide to take the job or not, thanks in advance.

p.s. one perk I would get 100 octane for free to fill my car up.

discussion would be apprecaited

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AcuraRacer112 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">p.s. one perk I would get 100 octane for free to fill my car up. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I've got a siphon, I'm interested in the free gas deal!!!

Just kidding. Unless it's being sold for less than $3.50, I can mix my own 100 octane with 93 octane and Xylene or Toluene, and do it cheaper. (Convenience notwithstanding).

What other fluids/products are you looking at?

How could you "grow" the market for imports, outside of retail locations at tracks/drag strips? Especially for gas, you sorta need a retail location with a pump to sell it, and I don't know where I'd put one to get into the "Import" market.

-Chris

 

well the main thing they would want me to do is sell it to tracks that host import drags, road racing...seems that Race gas is not used to heavily in import cars.

There big clients are Joe Gibbs, John Force, every Nascar, American Drag racer etc...


They want to offer their fuel to Import Car teams. racers...at a lower cost

 

Here is an example.

They sell their products to "performance shops" however, all the shops are domestic car shops in nature, off roading, or motorcycle, no "tuner shops" for imports. They want to get into those shops.

So if you could go to a local shop and buy 110 octane at a resonable cost would you?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AcuraRacer112 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">seems that Race gas is not used to heavily in import cars.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm surprised to hear the above statement, considering the crazy high compression and FI that imports are using, especially drag racers. I would have thought it would be the other way around. Maybe you're posting in the wrong forum (Drag Race?) or should at least repost it.

I thought most tracks (all types) already had 100 Octane pumps... maybe I haven't seen a large enough selection. Is it a safe assumption that every 100 Octane Unleaded is from Sunoco?

 

Is it commission based? Kinda sounds weird that you would take the job on whether it sells or not.

 

no its not comissioned at all...i would be making a pretty penny on salary, my bonuses and raise would be based on results just like any other job.

It would sound the other way around, but its not. Number don't lie and I looked at the numbers today, Import drag cars run other types of gas than Sanoco. They want to change that, they want it all to be Sanoco gas used.

I am just wonder how hard my job would be lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AcuraRacer112 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
It would sound the other way around, but its not. Number don't lie and I looked at the numbers today, Import drag cars run other types of gas than Sanoco. They want to change that, they want it all to be Sanoco gas used. l</TD></TR></TABLE>

You spell your prospective company's name wrong not once, but twice?

 

the bottom line is that 90% of "import enthusiasts" drive nothing more than a car with lowering springs and a fart can.of the other 10% that have REAL performance mods,only a small number have such crazy mods(high compression or high boost)that require race gas.you can make more than enough power on pump gas with a turbo to overwhelm your tires on the street.with street cars on 93 octane making 400-500WHP,there's no use at all for the additional power higher octane fuel would allow.if you do actually have somebody with a street driven car that requires race gas,i guarantee that it's not a daily driver when the fuel costs 2-3 times that of regular gas.there's just not ANY market for ANY type of street car that i can see for race gas.of all the muscle car/V8 guys i know,there are only a couple who own cars that only run race gas that get street driven.and if it does see the streets,it's on a weekend every once in a while.certainly not enough street use of the race fuel to justify targeting them.
it just seems that race tracks,where race cars are,that run on race fuel is the place to sell it.race tracks cater to all crowds-i can't think of any that play specifically to the import crowd.i'm sure that more of the participants at a domestic/V8 race at a drag strip use race gas as opposed to an import based event-but that goes back to what i said above about how few imports actually need/use race gas.
just about every race track already has high octane gas available anyway.the only thing i can think of is to try to convince race tracks that currently stock other brand fuel to start carrying your brand.
what other kinds of chemicals will you sell?if it's high end stuff-oil for instance,i think you still have a tough crowd to sell to.like i said above,the import market is mostly looks.high performance/high cost chemicals are used by some who are more into the performance aspect of it,but they seem to be very brand loyal(Mobil1 synthetic oil for example).if you cater and advertise specifically to the import crowd,you may win some over,but don't forget about your longtime V8 guy customer who's now bitching because you're advertising to "those gawtdamn Jap cars".
Chris