Hey, Curious About Yellow Ribbon Racing Team

[Dick Ralstin]

Is the Yellow Ribbon Racing Team seeking "sponsorships" (donations) from the general public for the Yellow Ribbon Racing Team and the "welfare of our troops" ?

Did someone have to give permission for the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force to be involved in such a money raising "plan" and if so who could grant such permission, since the President is the only Commander in Chief of all four Services ?

Who is going to decide how the money is divided as to who gets how much.

Maybe these are stupid questions, but then I have never been known for being overly intelligent. I am just glad it's me rather than the Department of Defense asking the questions.

[athos1172]

.

[Z28]

If you're worried about the permission, this isn't the place to ask, nobody around here knows. Although far too many are all too willing to demostrate that they don't know. Get in touch with the team or make some inquires at DoD. If it matters to you find out from the sources, it does nothing to just throw out the questions here.

[cleanupcrew]

Dick - I would think a 4 Star CINC - even though retired - would have a pretty good idea of what was right and wrong with something like this, or would check before they endorsed it - wouldn't you?

[Spike]

Did someone have to give permission for the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force to be involved in such a money raising "plan"...

Well, from reviewing the website there is no real indication that the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force are, in fact, involved. The closest thing on the site is two endosement quotes from two retired generals. I'm curious to know if the "team" even has permission from the Pentagon to use the official seals of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force on their website.

[cleanupcrew]

Well, from reviewing the website there is no real indication that the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force are, in fact, involved. The closest thing on the site is two endosement quotes from two retired generals - and if you read closely only one of the two actually mentions the team at all. I'm curious to know if the "team" even has permission from the Pentagon to use the official seals of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force on their website.

good questions - but until they release more info we'll jsut have to wait - that said the site has been up for a while now, and I know some Armed Forces officials are aware of it

as I noted I also doubt the Generals in support would first know the rules, and 2nd wouldn't endorse absent proper approval?

its all speculation at this point, but supported by fair amount of common sense

[Spike]

...as I noted I also doubt the Generals in support would first know the rules, and 2nd wouldn't endorse absent proper approval?...

Again, I think that's a pretty big assumption these days. Take for example the number of retired generals and the like that popped up on CNN and other networks as "expert analysts" during the early stages of the war in Iraq. The Pentagon (and Donald Rumsfeld) were very vocal at times in their displeasure over the the actions of some of these retired personel.

[jkentner15]

A war and an Indycar team are two totally different things.

I don't think they would blatantly lie about this.

[Richard Kimble]

Dicks pretty pumped about this thing eh?

It's like his third thread on the thing.

[Spike]

A war and an Indycar team are two totally different things.

I don't think they would blatantly lie about this.

I don't think anyone is accusing the two retired generals in question of telling lies. I certainly am not. Rather, the question seems to be whether or not there is any official involvement (or at the very least, approval) of the US military in this proposed team.

Two endorsement quotes from a couple of retired generals does not guarantee such involvement.

[jkentner15]

I understand. What do you think of TG's quote then? I'm just curious what you have to think.

[Maslo]

Their site looks highly suspicious to me. The liveries are amateurish, few of the site links actually work. The strategy is suspect. There's a lack of proper contact info (address, phone, etc.) on the 'contact us' page. TG's quote misspells 'excited' more than once. The whois entries for the domain don't have any valid contact info. Googling 'Yellow Ribbon Racing' or 'Sports Branded Media' returns very little info.

On the upside, Sport Branded Media does seem to exist (since 11/05) and does have links to the site on sportsbrandedmedia.com (under the picture of the Champ Car).

The site does appear to solicit donations from private citizens on behalf of a sponsored soldier. But if you can figure out a way to do that, I'd be curious to know how. The "Tell Us Your Story" page contains a form, but it doesn't appear that it validates anything - if even it does anything more than display a static 'go to our home page' message.

They do have a working countdown timer to the start of the season though.

The managing directors appear to be James Occhipinti and Brent Morehouse. If you google those together, you might find a place where "Jesus is Lord".

[Richard Kimble]

Their site looks highly suspicious to me. The liveries are amateurish, few of the site links actually work. The strategy is suspect. There's a lack of proper contact info (address, phone, etc.) on the 'contact us' page. TG's quote misspells 'excited' more than once. The whois entries for the domain don't have any valid contact info. Googling 'Yellow Ribbon Racing' or 'Sports Branded Media' returns very little info.

On the upside, Sport Branded Media does seem to exist (since 11/05) and does have links to the site on sportsbrandedmedia.com.

The site does appear to solicit donations from private citizens on behalf of a sponsored soldier. But if you can figure out a way to do that, I'd be curious to know how. The "Tell Us Your Story" page contains a form, but it doesn't appear that it validates anything - if even it does anything more than display a static 'go to our home page' message.

They do have a working countdown timer to the start of the season though.

The managing directors appear to be James Occhipinti and Brent Morehouse. If you google those together, you might find a place where "Jesus is Lord".

Time for IMS to comment.

[Maslo]

Time for IMS to comment.

I think they did...

We welcome all partners of Yellow Ribbon Racing and appreciate their interest in a marketing partnership with the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series. We look forward to and will assist in developing an activation plan that will provide measured results based on the partner's identified goals and objectives.

[SportscarBruce]

As if the DoD would object to positive promotion that involves the services, their logos, and their troops in a highly public sporting endeavor. Especially in a time of high recruiting goals.

Suffice to say a disclaimer somewhere at the bottom of the page will probably address this near non-issue.

Far as ICR and the wisdom of this unique team, the pool of possible Indycar fans in a very desirable age bracket as such exist in the Armed Forces is enormous.

Thus far, sounds like a great idea. Future developments will either add or bring as I'm no monkey chained to the crank organ. If this starts to smell like a opportunistic program that doesn't do justice towards the stated aims you'll hear it from me.

To naysayers that don't even give this thing a chance to develop before blasting it.