“ I was a general lines insurance agent back in the‘ 70s and‘ 80s,” Eaves storied.“ I went into racing Super Gas, then Super Comp, then Top Sportsman. We take better care of our race cars than we do our street cars; that’ s true for every racer. I could not find insurance that was acceptable to me. I went to my carrier and said I would like to write my race car insurance. They approved it. Then I wanted to write friends’ insurance. The carrier said that’ d be fine. So we wrote some friends. Friends turned into more friends and then other friends until eventually I sold four of my five offices, eliminated 50 employees, put a lock on my corporate office and we only do race cars, race rigs, race teams around the world.”

Eaves’ brainchild, Gulfway Insurers, now covers every aspect of off-track motorsports insurance. With decades of experience in specialty insurance and a team that’ s been together more than 30 years, Gulfway Insurers is peace of mind that a racer’ s most valuable asset is protected.“ We had rigs underwater in Hurricane Sandy,” described the former Super Chevy racer.“ We’ ve

had racers lose race cars because tie-downs came loose in the trailer and it played pinball for a thousand miles. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, fire, theft, accidents- any and every loss you can think of is covered. Our coverage is pretty simple. We make it easy. In my agency, if it’ s covered, it’ s covered. The only thing we do not cover is going down the race track. Our goal is to get the racer back on track.”

Gulfway Insurers started with friends and expanded by word of mouth. Today, the company has accounts in various forms of motorsports.“ When IndyCar’ s gone to Brazil, we’ ve insured

IndyCar teams. They needed 80 million dollars’ worth of coverage on each airplane. My insurance carrier is very creative; Travelers understands racers.”

Eaves understands racers better than most. He retired from Pro Mod just two years ago after taking time off for cataract surgery.“ As a former Pro Mod racer, I’ ve been honored to race with many people. It was really wonderful to be out there with other racers,” expressed Eaves, who also admits that most racers don’ t consider insurance until they need it. Despite investing hundreds of thousands into cars, racers balk at insurance. Gulfway Insurers puts racers’ minds at ease, however, making coverage easy.

“ Insurance coverage is an expense, until you need it. I’ m surprised more racers don’ t do it. There’ s 200,000 drag cars in the United States. A roller can cost over $ 100,000. Over the last several years, drag racing has gotten technical like Indy- Car or Formula One. It’ s not uncommon for someone to have $ 350,000 in a drag car. And that investment goes uninsured all too often.

“ We don’ t beat people up because they’ ve had a claim. We understand. It’ s nice when a racer controls the renewal premiums for the racer. Because someone ran into you in a truck stop, we don’ t penalize you. Because a racer got hit by a tornado, or a hurricane, or an earthquake, we don’ t penalize that racer for a loss. You’ re not just a number to my company. We want to protect you. That’ s our goal.

“ I want to take very good care of the clients I have. The only thing we do is worry about our racers. That’ s the only thing we do.”-LISA COLLIER DI

66 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 117