{"id":4612,"date":"2014-04-10T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=4612"},"modified":"2014-04-09T17:09:45","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T00:09:45","slug":"herbert-hustling-to-land-right-sponsor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/herbert-hustling-to-land-right-sponsor\/","title":{"rendered":"Herbert Hustling To Land Right Sponsor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Doug<\/p>\n

Doug Herbert is a household name in the Carolinas. He\u2019s a drag racer at heart with an even a bigger heart for giving.<\/p>\n

Herbert heads into the upcoming 4-Wide NHRA Nationals wishing he were part of the Top Fuel series, but without the proper funding for his racing operation, he remains on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing he wouldn\u2019t do in hopes of reaching corporate America and thus find enough funding to get him back on the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually have a couple of sports marketing agents beating the bushes now and trying to find sponsors,\u201d said Herbert. \u201cWe just haven\u2019t found the right partner to be on the race car and going out and doing what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\"BRAKES<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all because I want something that would tie-in with B.R.A.K.E.S and what we\u2019re doing for teenage driving. We would need a sponsor that would tie-in into my land speed record car. So, there are all these things that we really need to consider to be putting a program together. For the last couple of years, it has been a matter of running a couple of NHRA races a year maybe at Bristol because I love going to Bristol or maybe here at zMax Dragway in Charlotte since it\u2019s in my own backyard. We\u2019re just looking hard to try to find the right company, the right partner that we can bring a lot of value to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the economy took a downturn 2008, it grew\u00a0 difficult to creating an interesting package for the right sponsor, but Herbert still has the determination and desire to get back into the cockpit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I really want to get back out there,\u201d said the 46-year old Herbert. \u201cI love drag racing and have loved it since hanging on the fence when I was a little kid at Orange County and Pomona growing up in Southern California. It was watching Big Daddy, Shirley, Prudhomme, and McEwen. I just love drag racing and I was talking with (John) Force the other week and said something to him like \u2018Maybe I\u2019m getting too old for this\u2019 and he laughed saying I didn\u2019t win a championship until I was older than you!<\/p>\n

\u201cThat made me feel good and I\u2019ve got plenty of time and plenty of value to add to a sponsor. I think what we do and all the experiences that I\u2019ve had in the last 20 some odd years can bring a lot of value, a lot of exposure, a lot of fans, heck, I\u2019ve got more Twitter followers than any of the other drag racers because I\u2019ve had time to focus a little bit on that. I\u2019ve got a lot to offer a sponsor and to the sport of the NHRA. I definitely have some unfinished business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herbert still has his shop and a couple of cars ready and available for the right sponsor. Everything is up to date and ready to hit the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a sponsor\u2019s funding, we could be ready within a week or two,\u201d smiled the Charlotte resident. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t take us very long to get back out there. You\u2019re not going to show up and beat Schumacher or Kalitta in your first week because they haven\u2019t dominated for a long time without knowing what they\u2019re doing. They have a lot of backing and a lot of smart people, so it\u2019s going to take a little while to get caught up to them. I\u2019ve beat them all before and it doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t beat them again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herbert\u2019s life took a dramatic change on January 26, 2008, when he received a phone call during his preseason testing in Phoenix with devastating news. He heard the news no parent would ever want to hear. His two sons, Jon and James, had died as a result of an automobile accident near his home in the Charlotte area.<\/p>\n

Since that moment, Herbert swore to make a difference in memory of their lost lives and invented the concept of Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe \u2013 B.R.A.K.E.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know before my kids were in this car accident that between 5,000 to 6,000 kids every year are killed in car crashes,\u201d said Herbert. \u201cCar accidents are the No. 1 killer of teenagers. It\u2019s more than childhood cancer, more than anything by far. Until my own two sons were killed in a car crash, I didn\u2019t know that.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I found out, it affected me directly by taking my two sons. I had to do something, anything I could to try and help save some of these kids. We started B.R.A.K.E.S., which is a nonprofit named by my son\u2019s friends. We could have sought out professional help, but it was the high-school kids that came up with the name.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, we\u2019ve trained almost 11,000 teenagers from around 15 states. We have schools in California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania to name a few. It\u2019s been incredible to see the transformation in the teenagers from the time they come in for our four-hour class that\u2019s free to them because it\u2019s all for charity. We\u2019re there to reduce teen driving accidents. We teach them to be more responsible behind the wheel, how to make better decisions anticipating what could happen. We help try to give them the information that can help make these decisions when driving. Whether driving or riding with someone in the car, a lot of the accidents happen when in a car. If a person is driving stupid, the students need to know and have the courage to tell them to stop and pull over and go on your way, and say \u2018I don\u2019t want to ride with you\u2019. A lot of teenagers aren\u2019t comfortable doing that and think that they won\u2019t be cool, but actually; it\u2019s the smartest thing they could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the word got out about this teaching tool for teenagers, numerous schools contacted Herbert. Even his former arch-rival, Clay Millican, and NASCAR\u2019s Kyle Busch joined the project lending their name and funding to the project. \u201cWe have instructors that I would want to teach my children,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are the same people that teach the Secret Service personnel driving the president on defensive driving, they do TV commercials, and some are racers. Former NASCAR driver, Jerry Nadeau is one of our instructors and we have the highest-caliber people. Teenagers are transformed from not wanting to go to the B.R.A.K.E.S. school to when it\u2019s time to leave, they don\u2019t\u2019 want to leave. Most of them are shocked that they have learned so much and they have gained a lot of respect for the car, and what cars can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about it, to teach your child how to drive and be responsible, you would take them to an empty parking lot and learn from a parent\u2019s direction. We emphasize the number one problem which is distracted driving and keeping their eyes focused on the road and not on their friends or ever texting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herbert has develop a great model to go by and with the input of his friends, now has a program that interests the younger drivers instead of turning them loose on the highway without direction.<\/p>\n

Beyond the foundation’, Herbert has many other irons in the fire, one of the most interesting is his trip to the upcoming speed trails at Bonneville.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that I\u2019m really working real hard on now is to build this land speed project for Bonneville,\u201d smiled Herbert. \u201cThe website is LSRPROJECT.com<\/a>. I got started on this in 2008 because after my boys\u2019 accident, I wanted to do something on my end. So we decided we were going to build the world\u2019s fastest car to set the land-speed record for unlimited streamliners.<\/p>\n

After I started getting things going, my friend, Ray Everham, came over to the shop. He saw this car and after telling him all about it, he insisted he wanted to be involved with it. He has helped a lot with the engineering and technology. He\u2019s a pretty smart guy and one of the top NASCAR crew chiefs ever. Our idea is to get the car completed and ready to compete. We\u2019re hoping to be the first wheel driven car to break 500-miles per hour. So we\u2019re working really hard trying to get that done. That\u2019s a big project. The car is powered by two Dodge V-10 Viper engines, supercharged with about 2,000 horsepower each. It\u2019s a four-wheel drive car. It\u2019s an incredible piece of engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that wasn\u2019t enough for Herbert, he discovered a true drag racing artifact that rightfully belonged to his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother project I\u2019m working on is restoring some old cars, but the one I\u2019m taking a particular interest in my Dad\u2019s (Chet) drag racing motorcycle called \u2018The Beast\u2019,\u201d said a smiling Herbert. \u201cIt was one of the first drag racing motorcycles ever and won some of the first NHRA drag racing events ever in the 50s at the Santa Ana Dragstrip out in Southern California. When Big Daddy Don Garlits saw it, his eyes widened and said it\u2019s the original drag racing bike that no one could beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere at Herbert Performance Parts we know the hot rodding industry has changed. It\u2019s what I know and what I love. My dad, Chet was one of the original guys of hot rodding and I\u2019m going to keep doing this. Even though the business changes, we have to change with it and keep doing what we need to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still want to go drag racing and have all the parts and pieces. I\u2019m an NHRA Top Fuel drag racer and I want to get back there and go racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more info, check out DougHerbertRacing.com.<\/a><\/p>\n