Ranger Boats, NASCAR team up

This is going to be big…really BIG!

When you talk to members of the newly formed Ranger-NASCAR pro fishing team they say the new partnership between the two entities is going to be big and they are right.

“It’s basically a no-brainer joining the two together,” Dion Hibdon, team member and 17-year professional angler, said. “I think (the promotion) is going places and is going to be a great deal.”

Pete Gluszek, another of the Ranger-NASCAR team members, found out early about the high interest in the new partnership. He received his first shirt with the Ranger-NASCAR combined logo while attending a Ranger Boats meeting in Branson, Mo., in July. While driving back to his home state of New Jersey, he made stops in several states and got quite a response.

“I couldn’t believe the response I was getting just from that logo,” Gluszek said. “Gas station attendants, waiters, cashiers – anywhere I stopped they were all paying a lot of attention to the logo. That just gave me an idea of what we can expect to see once we start putting that on our boats and our trucks.”

Team member David Fritts sees the promotion as an opportunity to increase the intensity of the interest in fishing. “A lot of people that watch NASCAR also fish,” he said. “I think this is going to get a lot of NASCAR fans to look at fishing a little more seriously.”

“I see this as part of the tremendous growth of this sport as whole,” fellow team member Sandy Melvin said. “I step back and look at the big picture, and I see the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, as a tour sponsor (FLW Outdoors), the world’s largest boat builder, Genmar, and now I see the world’s largest sports-marketing company, NASCAR, becoming involved with a company like Ranger Boats, and I just see a great future for our sport.”

Partnership Background

The partnership between NASCAR and Ranger Boats was first announced July 2, 2002, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

At a news conference held just days prior to the NASCAR Winston Cup Pepsi 400, Ranger Boats President Randy Hopper said: “We believe this relationship makes a great deal of sense for both Ranger and NASCAR. NASCAR is the No. 1 spectator sport in America with a loyal fan base of more than 75 million fans, and research shows that a large percentage of these fans are spending their free time fishing. And because NASCAR fans and fishing enthusiasts tend to be passionate about their favorite pastimes, they incorporate them as part of their lifestyles. For that reason, the new relationship is a great way for our customers to demonstrate their affinity for both of their passions at the same time.”

Several promotions have resulted from the partnership, including Ranger-NASCAR Limited Edition Series boat models; special die-cast Ranger boat models featuring selected NASCAR drivers’ car numbers and paint styles; the specially designed Ranger-NASCAR logo; and the Ranger-NASCAR pro fishing team.

“It has always been important for NASCAR to form relationships with partners that we feel have the highest-quality products and most appeal to our fans,” NASCAR Vice President of Licensing and Strategic Marketing Steve Boguski said. “There is no better-known or more respected name in the fishing industry than Ranger Boats.”

Two of NASCAR’s most popular drivers and avid outdoor enthusiasts are among those featured spokespersons promoting the Ranger-NASCAR Limited Edition Series boats. They are 2002 Daytona 500 Champion Ward Burton and 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Bobby Labonte.

Ranger-NASCAR Pro Fishing Team

It is the Ranger-NASCAR pro fishing team that is expected to bring this promotion directly to the people.

This elite team comprises Dion Hibdon and David Fritts, two of only three pro anglers who have won the Bassmasters Classic and the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship; 1999 Alabama Invitational Champion Pete Gluszek; and seven-time top-10 finisher Sandy Melvin.

Team members will be competing on several major pro fishing circuits, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League and the EverStart Series. They will be dressed in special Ranger-NASCAR attire and will fish out of Ranger-NASCAR Limited Edition Series boats.

“We feel very excited about the group of anglers we have representing us on this team,” Ranger vice president of Sales and Marketing Bart Schad said. “Not only have they been very successful competing in pro bass tournaments, they have become very popular with the fans. They go out of their way to meet and talk to the fans, and they are great ambassadors of the sport.”

Dion Hibdon

In 17 years of fishing as a professional, Hibdon has compiled an impressive resume. He is sixth on the all-time FLW Tour money list, highlighted by his victory at the FLW Championship in 2000. The Stover, Mo., pro has also qualified for eight Bassmasters Classics, winning the event in 1997.

But as impressive as he is as a competitor, Hibdon never forgets his fans. “My dad (Guido) and I have always been very approachable,” he said. “We sign a lot of autographs. When you’re standing around at one of the weigh-ins, a lot of people recognize you, which is a cool deal.”

Hibdon pointed out that FLW Outdoors has gone out of its way to make sure the pros are accessible to fans by creating events that promote interaction.

The ability for fans to relate to the pros is something Hibdon feels occurs at NASCAR races as well as at bass tournaments. “A lot of the race car drivers are the same as we are,” he said. “They are just down-home people, and they have the same hobbies as the fans do. We’re not superior athletes or anything; we’re just down-home people doing something we love to do.”

Hibdon feels those fans are going to love the new Ranger-NASCAR boats. “I think they gave us some sharp colors,” he said. “The packages are great. They made a good-looking boat.”

David Fritts

It just makes sense that one of the biggest names in professional bass fishing is a member of the Ranger-NASCAR pro fishing team. After all, Fritts lives in a state that is a hotbed for both bass fishing and stock car racing. In fact, Fritts’ North Carolina home is located just a mile and a half from Richard Childress Racing. Fritts said he is also located close to a Ranger dealership where he sees a lot of NASCAR drivers go to purchase their boats.

Fritts certainly takes the sports seriously. In fact, he is ranked third on the FLW Tour’s all-time money list. His biggest year came in 1997 when he set a record by winning three FLW Tour events, including the FLW Tour Championship. The 46-year-old has also won the Bassmasters Classic and was named B.A.S.S Angler of the year in 1994. His career earnings are close to $1.5 million.

“You always dream about winning the big one, you always dream about winning a major tournament somewhere,” Fritts said. “I always had high hopes. I guess in the back of my mind I knew I could win if I could just be at the right place at the right time.”

Fritts feels that being associated with sponsors like Ranger and NASCAR is sort of a reward for the hard work he has put into his sport. He feels the cross-promotion between the two entities will help continue to grow bass fishing and stock car racing.

Sandy Melvin

A saltwater specialist who just kept getting better and better at bass fishing – that’s a good way to describe Melvin, a pro from Boca Grande, Fla., who first began fishing bass tournaments in the mid-1980s.

After finding success in BFL events, Melvin moved on to EverStart Series events. His third-place ranking qualified him for the FLW Tour, which he began fishing in 2001.

Being on the Ranger-NASCAR pro fishing team was a natural for Melvin since he grew up a race car fan in southeastern North Carolina. Melvin’s first major sponsor also happened to be NASCAR Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Illustrated magazines, to whom he is deeply grateful.

“This is a great opportunity,” Melvin said. “It’s certainly going to make me focus that much harder and try to do even better. I just want to do the best I can for all my sponsors and the sport in general.”

When you see Melvin competing in tournaments next year, you will see him in the Ranger-NASCAR 519VX. “I’m a performance guy,” he said. “I’ll run the 519, which is a little smaller boat than some pros like to run, but I like a boat that is agile around creeks and docks. My personal choice is a boat that is really fishable, and the 519 is a very fishable boat.”

Pete Gluszek

“The South does hold a big portion of the racing fans as well as fishing fans, but I know the northeastern portion of the country is also loaded with fishing and racing enthusiasts,” said Gluszek, a native of New Jersey who has fished professionally for six years.

Gluszek is quick to point out that there are very popular racetracks in the Northeast such as Pocono, Dover and Watkins Glen. There are also some pretty impressive bass fisheries such as Lake Erie and the Potomac and Hudson rivers.

Gluszek, who has qualified for the Bassmasters Classic twice, sees the Ranger-NASCAR Fishing Team as a good tool to continue to promote the sport. “Here’s a great opportunity to get big-time exposure to a lot of people that maybe have not been thoroughly exposed to the world of bass at this stage in the game,” he said. “This is an opportunity to talk to them directly.”

Getting more and more young people involved in bass fishing has been an emphasis for Gluszek, who does a lot of work with kids. He feels professionals need to take a personal interest in bringing more and more fans into the sport, and the Ranger-NASCAR pro fishing team will help that cause.

This next season you’ll see Gluszek fishing out of the Ranger-NASCAR 521VX package boat. “I test-drove the boat, and I felt it was an unbelievably comfortable ride in choppy water,” he said. “What I found with the 521 is that I could trim it up almost full and just walk right over chop. I feel its ability to handle a lot of wave action and rough water is going to benefit me in the Northeast, where I fish a lot of big water.”

Members of the Ranger-NASCAR pro fishing team will all be fishing out of the Limited Edition Series Boats next year and will also be decked out in special shirts and hats. It’s a consensus among the team members that they look forward to meeting fans at tournaments and talking both fishing and NASCAR.