Brandt secures Allgaier's perfect Christmas

The thought that two Midwestern guys from small towns would come together from divergent backgrounds to enable a competitive effort in a top professional sport is mind-boggling.

It definitely wasn't something that was on Justin Allgaier's mind as a 16-year-old when he gave an impromptu speech about his racing career to a businesswomen's meeting that included the aunt of the man who just signed to sponsor him.

But for third-year Nationwide Series driver Allgaier, his primary sponsorship deal with Brandt -- an Illinois conglomerate centered on agriculture technology -- for more than half the 2011 schedule on his No. 31 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet makes for a perfect Christmas.

"The one thing about it is, obviously your frame of mind throughout Christmas dictates where you go once you get to Daytona [for season-opening Speedweeks in February]," Allgaier said. "In 2009, when I was with Penske, I didn't find out until after Christmas that I was running the full season and I felt like that hurt me, throughout the 2009 season.

"[In 2010] being able to have [knowledge of a full schedule, backed by Verizon] was huge and now, looking at [2011], to have all the momentum we have on our side and the exciting news that we've had -- oddly enough it takes some of the pressure off and some of the stress away and gives you time to relax and spend time with family and friends, and hit it that much harder at Daytona."

Brandt president and CEO Rick Brandt is from Pleasant Plains, Ill., which he said was a town "of 700 people" located west of Springfield, Ill. Supporting Allgaier, who's from Riverton, Ill., a town "of about 1,000 people" just east of Springfield; is perfect.

"To me, I felt like for that opportunity to come was something I would probably never have again in my career, probably," Brandt said. "To have that coincidence, to have someone who's at the top of the ladder as far as performance -- the best, other than the Cup drivers -- we felt like we might not have that opportunity again and we ought to take it, so we did."

Allgaier, the 2008 ARCA Racing Series champion finished the 2010 season fourth in the Nationwide championship behind full-time Sprint Cup drivers Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch and was one of only two non-Cup drivers, along with Boris Said, to win races.

The deal was announced to Brandt's employees at their Christmas party last Friday, and to get there, Allgaier had to break off a testing session with a group of "about 27" of his Turner teammates at the GM Proving Grounds in Yuma, Ariz., to come back to Illinois.

"I was out there [Thursday] and it was good to get in the car, and to get to know some of the guys," Allgaier said. "Obviously it was a group test, if you will, because I don't have a crew chief yet and it's not necessarily locked-down who's going to be with which team but I was able to get around a decent few of the guys and get to understand them and the race car.

"I felt like it was a great opportunity because I had some concerns, not necessarily with the team but any time you get into a new situation you're looking at something as little as the steering boxes or interior creature comforts or some of the changes they make.

"So that was reassuring to be a part of [Thursday] and to understand the direction that they're going. I felt like I fit right in and a lot of the stuff in the car was stuff I was hoping for at Penske that we weren't able to change that [Turner] had in their equipment and I feel like that's going to help us to be better."

Brandt made its initial foray into NASCAR last fall when it sponsored driver Peyton Sellers' Gateway International Raceway effort with R3 Motorsports, which resulted in a 20th-place finish.

"Our initial experience with that one-off race was strictly a learning experience -- it was NASCAR 101 from our standpoint, because we really didn't know anything about the sport, how it works and what it does," Brandt said. "After evaluating it, we thought it was a worthwhile project that all the divisions of the company could do, collaboratively."

Now, he hopes the hometown combination will pay off for both his company and Allgaier, who shares that goal.

"When the opportunity came to do something with Justin, the light really came on and we said, 'we've got to do this,'" Brandt said. "It's awesome to have him, and that's what sealed the deal for me, personally."

"It really is a dream situation," Allgaier said. "To have grown up so close together, and being part of the Springfield community my entire life; 10 years ago, 20, whatever -- I would have loved to have a company based here, that has the same values I grew up having, behind me. So it's the perfect partnership and being from Springfield I feel like I'll fit right in with them and I'm glad they wanted me to represent their company.

"There's no question this is going to help me maintain my tie to Central Illinois. The local community out here has always been one of my biggest supporters and I feel this just adds some traction to that."

Brandt said "it's not set in stone" but he might take the opportunity to do some races as a "co-branded" car with Brandt and, for example "Monterey AgResources, a company we just acquired in California, on some of the races."

Turner Motorsports owner Steve Turner, who's embarking on an aggressive program in 2011 with multiple teams in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series, is enthused at bringing a new sponsor into the sport.

"I am very happy to welcome Brandt as a Turner Motorsports marketing partner," Turner said. "It is a company that I feel has the same core values and the same qualities that we do at Turner Motorsports. They have seen the value in NASCAR and how it can help move the needle from both a marketing and sales perspective. We are confident we will win with them both on and off the track. I am honored they want to be a part of our organization and are looking forward to a long-term, successful relationship."

Allgaier said he looked forward most to helping select his new crew chief.

"It's easy to see that Turner Motorsports and Penske Racing are polar opposites as far as everything that's in place, but I think my equipment this year will be as good as [Penske's] if not better," Allgaier said. "I'm going to have a lot of input [selecting a crew chief] and we've been going over that pretty regularly.

"I think the time frame for having someone is two weeks ago, unfortunately. We're trying to get somebody in place but obviously we want to make the best decision possible and I feel like we've got the opportunity to do that."