If you follow IndyCar racing, a fan of AJ Foyt Racing or a fan of Tatiana Calderon, you no doubt are aware of the current situation that Tatiana has found herself in. To sum up this story:

Early in 2022 it was announced that Tatiana Calderon would race for AJ Foyt Racing, splitting seat time with JR Hildebrand. Tatiana would race the road courses and street races, and JR would compete on the ovals. This would be Tatiana’s rookie season in IndyCar, as AJ Foyt Racing had an interest in helping Tatiana in American open wheel racing, hoping that she would develop a foundation for her American racing career. ROKiT would be the primary sponsor for the No. 11 car that Calderon and Hildebrand would pilot. ROKiT was already associated with both AJ Foyt Racing and Tatiana Calderon, and agreed to be the primary sponsor, allowing AJ Foyt Racing to expand to a third full time team. This was great news for women in motorsports as Tatiana would be the first full-time IndyCar female driver since 2013. All proceeded rather well, until May, when ROKiT started falling behind in its financial commitments. By July 13th, AJ Foyt Racing parked the No. 11 car for the remainder of the season, six races in. If ROKiT can not make amends and cover what they owe, it is unlikely that Tatiana nor JR Hildebrand will race another IndyCar race this year.

So, what happened? Who’s to blame? Was this relationship flawed from the beginning? Are there lessons to be learned from all of this? These are some of the many questions that I ask myself, as a motorsports marketer. Obviously I am like you – I only have the news reports, my research and my marketing intuition to go off of. Only ROKiT knows the whole story. So, with all of this being said, what I will share with you is only my opinion. It is based on few facts, lots of observation and thought, and a good dose of experience. Beyond that, take what I say with a grain of salt.

So, what happened? I suspect that there were a multitude of reasons that created the situation where sponsorship payments stopped. Maybe first and foremost, ROKiT lost a major lawsuit in March where they were sued by Williams Formula 1 team in 2020 for a failed title sponsorship in which ROKiT stopped making payments. Ultimately ROKiT now owes Williams Formula 1 $35 million USD. Secondly, it appears that ROKiT has their fingers in a large array of sports, sponsoring many teams, drivers, athletes and events. ROKiT is a global venture capital conglomerate. Performing a cursory financial review of the company, one can quickly see that 2020 was not a good year for ROKiT, where it was not operating in the black. So, that might explain its default on the Williams F1 sponsorship commitment. And, if I had to guess, that financial whirlwind has continued into 2022. Pure speculation, but it does seem to paint a picture that ROKiT, while being an obvious name in motorsports, may have spread itself too thin, and ego being what it is, the man at the top may have felt like all is good and the company will weather the storm and right the ship, all the while keeping all its commitments to everyone it had contracts with. Apparently not…

Who’s to blame? Well, many people. ROKiT first and foremost. AJ Foyt Racing for not doing their due diligence in staying on top of the situation, jumping at the opportunity to create a third race team and trusting ROKiT a little too much. Tatiana Calderon for putting all her eggs in one basket without any backup plan (i.e. additional sponsors). In the end, everyone loses.

Was this relationship flawed from the beginning? Simply put – I don’t know. Money is so hard to acquire for racing enterprises. Maybe the exuberance and promised possibilities clouded judgements. Maybe those that worked at setting up the sponsorship program failed to dig deep enough to understand the sponsoring company and their ability to keep their commitments. Maybe all of the above. Maybe none of the above. But yes, in my opinion, I believe mistakes were made early on, warning signs missed, and backup plans never drafted. Either way, now a race team and two drivers are paying the ultimate price – their jobs and livelihood.

Are there lessons to be learned? Absolutely! Many lessons to be learned. The list that I can think of is –

  1. Do your research. Even when you think you have – go back and look some more. Don’t take things on face value. Look for those things that might be an indication of bigger issues. Maybe you need to bring in people that can help you see things that you missed.
  2. Have contingency plans. If you started a third team, hired a staff to run that team and then hired a driver / drivers, make sure that you can provide security (well, as much security as you can have in the motorsports industry) to those people. That means have secondary sponsors or money in reserve where you can do what you say you are going to do. If you can’t, then don’t!
  3. Leave yourself an out. If you are the driver, seat time and exposure is so critical to your career. If you are left sitting on the sidelines not earning a paycheck, you are also not getting that all valuable seat time. You are also not staying in the headlines (for the right reasons). Have a contingency plan. Make sure you have sponsors that, if possible, will follow you to another team that can provide you a job. If you are the race team, make sure you have an out if the sponsor leaves you high and dry. How embarrassing and demoralizing is it to have to lay off people and shutter a race team because you didn’t do your job?
  4. Look out for number one. Loyalty is something that is long gone from the motorsports industry. Learn to be hard hearted and focus on yourself. After all, racing is a business first and foremost. In this day and age, the driver with the money and connections will survive. If you don’t have the money, learn how to find it – and keep it. If you don’t have many connections, start networking and promoting yourself – now! Long gone are the days when the race team will do whatever to keep you as a driver. They are interested in keeping their team in business – with or without you. As it is, you could pay the ultimate price for the team and the sponsor being less than prepared for what they have committed to. After all, time is not a driver’s best friend, and neither is absence from the spotlight.

I truly hope that the situation with ROKit, Tatiana Calderon and AJ Foyt Racing can be resolved quickly. If not, what ultimately will happen is that AJ Foyt Racing will lay off good employees and shutter a promising race team, ROKiT will continue to wallow in debt and surely other lesser obligations will suffer the same fate, and Tatiana Calderon will be back knocking on doors hoping she can find someone that will take a chance on a soon-to-be thirty something driver with little to show for her 2022 efforts.

And, women in motorsports will suffer, yet again, another defeat and setback all the while the male dominated sport of motorsports marches on. IndyCar will still be known for its all-male field, and time will tell if anything will change. And companies like ROKiT will continue to create chaos and spread disappointment to those it claims it is all about, notably supporting women in motorsports, while raking in the accolades and exposure – until they fail miserably as a company – unless they can get their act together.