Waste Management will be Matt Kenseth's primary sponsor for 14 races in the Busch Series in 2005. Credit: Contributed photo

Waste Management picks up diversity awareness

NASCAR racing has, for the past two decades or so, been the place companies go to flex their marketing muscles and take advantage of NASCAR's reach, depth of loyalty and diverse fan base.

That's why Matt Kenseth and Bill Lester will carry the green and yellow Waste Management colors next season in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

The first questions usually asked are, "What is Waste Management and why are they sponsoring NASCAR teams? What does a company like WM, which is primarily a business-to-business firm, need to promote?"

Waste Management is the world's largest waste management company, with national reach and the workforce to match. Its interest in NASCAR is as a vehicle to reach out to its current employees and as a recruiting tool for others. Hence, there is its interest in diversity.

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"This is a non-traditional sport for minorities and women," said Carlton Yearwood, WM's vice president of business ethics and diversity.

"We want to promote the idea that to put a winning team on the track, just like we put a winning team on the streets, it's going to take teamwork and NASCAR is really symbolic of working behind the scenes for putting a winning car on the track. We want to leverage that."

Yearwood will also join NASCAR's Diversity Council, which is committed to promoting diversity throughout the motorsports industry

The importance of diversity to a company like Waste Management is paramount, given that its workforce is heavily diverse.

"WM employs a great number of people and many of them are diverse, from Hispanic to African-American, so if in fact they get involved in a racing program, they want to make sure that their employees, who are very important to them, are represented in programs that they undertake," Belnavis said.

"WM is headquartered in Houston, and there's a large Hispanic community there, so they wanted to make sure their employees realized they don't take diversity lightly. It is part of their programming, and they want to make sure they attract good employees. Therefore, they cannot be involved in any program that doesn't sponsor diversity."

That is why Belnavis, who is chief diversity officer for Roush Racing, is involved. The Waste Management program for developing minority drivers in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, called the Drive for Diversity, will be run in addition to his role at Roush.

"I consider it a privilege, because it gives me an opportunity to develop potential drivers, diversity drivers, for the premier series in NASCAR," Belnavis said. "The sport has a little way to go before we see a competitive driver on the track, especially in Nextel Cup. So the Waste Management program will provide an opportunity for a select diversity driver to begin his development in preparation for hopefully getting to the Cup level."

Belnavis was impressed with WM's commitment to the diversity program in motorsports.

"I consider WM to be at the cutting edge with respect for diversity," he said. "From Day 1, they have emphasized the need to Roush Racing to enhance their diversity program that's already in place. There aren't too many sponsors that would take that position right up front, especially at the beginning stage of negotiations."

In addition to being the primary sponsor of Kenseth's Busch Series car for 14 races in 2005, WM will be an associate sponsor on his No. 17 Nextel Cup car all next season.

WM will also be the primary sponsor of Bill Davis's Toyota Tundra truck driven by Bill Lester for five races over this season and next, and will be an associate sponsor for 2005.

Bill Lester

The team aspect of WM's program is new, but the company has been an official NASCAR sponsor since 2001 with its Waste Management Picking Up Places award, given to the driver in each race who picks up the most positions from start to finish in each race.

WM had considered taking the step into team sponsorship, but backed out.

"I can tell you two or three years ago, we thought about getting involved more on the diversity front and we just didn't do it," said Curt Knapp, head of marketing for WM. "We felt it was premature. They [NASCAR] weren't as ready or as committed as they needed to be. Their actions over the past year made it possible for us to take another look at it and feel better about becoming a key member under this tent.

"[Team sponsorship] is a big step forward, but if it wasn't the opportunity that it presented itself to be, we wouldn't do it. We've always thought that was a logical next step, but we were not interested in it if it wasn't one of the very top drivers and a deal at the right price tag.

"A partial season as the primary on a car driven by Matt Kenseth and owned by Jack Roush, that fit all the criteria. But if there wasn't something that came along that was that good, we wouldn't do it."

Waste Management, Knapp says, is the only waste management company capable of such a marketing and diversity effort.

"We are the only company in our category that is fully U.S. and Canada wide," Knapp revealed. "Our competition does not have near the footprint that we have."

That footprint has enabled WM to make inroads into its core business of waste management, and everybody who has been to a sporting event knows there is much waste to manage there.

"We have every national-event track that we want and can do," Knapp said. "There are some tracks that aren't close enough to our operating facilities where we can do it cost-effectively at a price that they like. There are some tracks, like Fontana, which are part of a franchise and we cannot do it."

Among WM's client facilities are Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Pikes Peak International Raceway and Kentucky Speedway. WM also has many NASCAR Weekly Series tracks on its roster, both in waste management and environmental services.

Kenseth finished 8th at Phoenix in the Busch race. Credit: Autostock

Another reason for Waste Management to be heavily involved in NASCAR is hospitality, both for the purposes of expanding their business reach and entertaining employees.

"Up until this year, about one third of our hospitality tickets have gone to our employees and their guests," Knapp said. "We have pretty much had the at-track hospitality for the Sunday Cup races, and with us being in the 15 total Busch races, we have expanded the program to include those races where Kenseth is driving and also the Friday or Saturday races where Bill Lester is driving. Those events we are pushing almost totally for employees, since our car is on the track.

"We've aggressively used the at-track hospitality program for driving the business at the local level. For the 31 events, we've had more than 4,200 guests; two-thirds are customers and prospects. We know we drive new business by converting some of those prospects who join us at the race, but we are building stronger relationships with existing customers that we feel allows us to fend off competition as well as help maintain or increase margins with those accounts."

Whether it's for employees, diversity or to increase its core business, Waste Management is a fine example of a non-endemic motorsports sponsor taking advantage of the very real benefits of NASCAR involvement.

As an indicator of the success of WM's program, sales of licensed merchandise for employees has been among the highest of NASCAR's official sponsors, according to NASCAR. That is a big indicator of employee support.

NASCAR.COM's business feature appears each Wednesday. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.