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NORWALK, CT (May 15, 2006) - Velocity Sports & Entertainment, the leading sports and entertainment marketing agency, announced today an aggressive expansion of its NASCAR business. Effective May 22, 2006, Velocity will commence operations in Charlotte with one of the industry's most respected executives, Trip Wheeler leading the charge.
Velocity, which has a rich legacy of motorsports clients, will add Charlotte to its list of office locations which includes Norwalk, CT, Atlanta, Washington, D.C, San Francisco and London. The company will continue to manage motorsports related business out of Connecticut, but the Charlotte office will become an important spear point representing the interests of its clients to the NASCAR community.
Velocity has a long history in NASCAR, dating back to the 1980's for sponsors such as Amoco, Nestle and Quaker State. For eight years, Velocity served as Promotional Activation agency for NASCAR's New York office helping league sponsors effectively activate their rights. More recently, the agency has been actively engaged with NASCAR team sponsors such as FedEx, vitaminwater and ConAgra Foods.
"We couldn't be more excited to be in the middle of the action in the NASCAR community," said Velocity Principal David Grant. "We've known for some time that Velocity needed to match its strength in motorsports with a location in the hub of NASCAR Nation. Velocity is proud to be part of this community," Grant added.
Velocity's efforts will be spearheaded by Wheeler, an industry veteran of 16 years. In his role as Vice President and General Manager of the Charlotte office, Wheeler will be responsible for blending his account management responsibilities with business development. He'll be asked to support the growth of Velocity's motorsports business.
Wheeler has spent his last five years working with Omnicom companies GMR and Radiate. In the latter, he was responsible for helping Radiate companies enter NASCAR and generate incremental business. He supported a blue chip list of clients including Visa, Gillette and ConAgra while spending his first four Omnicom years with GMR.
Prior to working for Omnicom, Wheeler worked for World Sports Enterprises where he helped to build the market and demand for in-car cameras. While at WSE, in-car cameras became a major part of NASCAR broadcasts and a major source of revenue for that company. He began his career at Atlanta Motor Speedway after graduating from Davidson College in 1990.
Wheeler's roots in motorsports reach far deeper than his post college career. He grew up in the sport watching his father, H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler (President and COO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.) help fuel NASCAR's rise.
"Velocity is the top sports marketing agency in the United States," said Wheeler. "This is a rare chance to add value to an industry leader, a role I could not pass up. I am very much looking forward to working with Team Velocity to accelerate the growth of its NASCAR business."
"The competition for agency services in the NASCAR world is fierce," said Grant. "We believe Trip is the perfect person to help us expand our rare blend of strategy, creativity and execution for the benefit of our motorsports clients." |