have scripted it any better. I took that opportunity
and ran with it.”
That opportunity had Fletcher’s heart beating
like it was about to burst out of his chest. Dressed
in a shirt and tie – a far cry from the Dickies shorts,
worn-out sweatshirt, black socks and black shoes
he was sporting in the pits in Charlotte – Fletcher
prepared for a pitch of a lifetime. It was 1998 and
Fletcher was at the Summit Racing Equipment
headquarters just outside of Akron, Ohio. He com-
peted at an IHRA race in Norwalk the previous
weekend – before it became the massive, pictur-
esque Summit Motorsports Park – and was set to
try and sell Summit on a possible sponsorship.
Valvoline was Fletcher’s main sponsor at that
point and thanks to careful planning – and a
successful marketing pitch put together by Bob
Frey – he was able to land an associate sponsor-
ship out of Summit.
A year later, Summit became his main sponsor,
Valvoline moved to an associate role, and Fletcher
thought he had it made, expressing so in his trade-
mark colorful way, of course. “That was the first
time I got a decent bump and got paid, where it
might have been $50,000 and I just thought I
was king of the world,” Fletcher says. “Winning
$20,000 a race, $60,000 in sponsorship dollars,
I’m thinking, ‘I’ve made the big-time,’ you know.
That wouldn’t be near enough to keep the wheels
of commerce going now.”
But Fletcher is also an easier sell these days.
He now has six race cars, three drivers including
his two sons, and a successful track record a mile
long. But even then, Fletcher wasn’t fancy with
his pitch. He showed his list of accomplishments
and how his victories would put a company in the
spotlight, expressing confidence those visits to
the winner’s circle weren’t going to stop anytime
soon. Much like he did on the track, Fletcher
found success in corporate America.
He has worked with PEAK Auto for several
years now – with all of Fletcher’s cars sporting
the trademark PEAK colors – and other partners
like Mickey Thompson, K&N, Denso, ATI and VP
Racing Fuels have helped make Fletcher’s career
possible. He also doesn’t mince words when ex-
pressing how important that support has been,
and what it meant for his career to secure those
sponsorships.
“That’s probably been my greatest trick or my
greatest feat. I’ve had real, actual corporate spon-
sors for 20 years, and that’s probably what I can
say I’m most proud of,” Fletcher beams. “Thank
God for my sponsors because I promise you I
would not be able to do it. Look around here.
There’s a lot of millionaire guys. I ain’t that guy.”
Instead, Fletcher is the guy driving a ’94 Sat-
urn wagon he bought three years ago for $500,
jokingly referred to as the “Purple Dragon” by
Fletcher’s kids because it used to be red and has
since been faded to purple by nearly 25 years
of sunlight.
But he’s also the guy living the life he wanted,
fulfilling a dream and calling his own shots. What
sponsors have gotten in return is a fiery personal-
ity and a driver who knows how to win, if only
because he can’t accept losing.
June 2018
TOM FLETCHER’S
“CHECKMATE”
F
F
letcher
has
always
thrived
com-
letcher
has
always
thrived
in in
competi-
petition,
starting
in school
high school
in a
tion,
starting
in high
in a variety
of sports.
That carried
fierce drive
of variety
sports. That
fierce drive
over to
carried
to racing
the moment
he
racing
the over
moment
he turned
16, racing
with
his dad,
Tom, and
actually
bringing
turned
16, racing
with
his dad,
Tom,
and
actually
him
back
the
him
back
to the bringing
racetrack
after
his to father,
racetrack
after his
father,
who and
raced
Stock, Produc-
Super
who
raced Stock,
Super
Stock
Modified
Stock
and Modified
at local racing
New York
tion
at local
New York Production
tracks, stopped
in the
mid-1970s.
tracks, stopped racing in the mid-1970s.
Fletcher was hooked immediately, purchasing
a green ’69 Camaro with Texas plates that he had
scoped out for weeks for $1,000 – twice as much
as the Purple Dragon Saturn – paying