Z-Line's business racing ahead despite recession

Business has been brisk this year at ready-to-assemble producer Z-Line Designs — and even better for the two auto racing teams the company sponsors.

The company’s IndyCar team, headed by driver Justin Wilson and car owner Dale Coyne, got its first-ever victory July 5 at the legendary Watkins Glen road course in New York. A week earlier, NASCAR standout Kyle Busch gave the Z-Line stock car its second victory of the year in the Nationwide series, which is NASCAR’s equivalent of AAA baseball.

In both instances, the drivers dutifully thanked Z-Line in their victory lane television interviews while wearing a uniform emblazoned with a large Z-Line logo.

That’s about as good as it gets in the world of motorsports sponsorships, where a sponsor’s television exposure is often proportional to the amount of time his car is running at the front of the pack. (Wilson followed up his victory with an impressive fifth place finish Sunday on a road course in Toronto, and managed to get a little more post-race TV time for Z-Line.)

“It has really been great for our business,” said Z-Line President Jim Sexton. “All we want to do is get consumers coming into retail stores asking for Z-Line.”

Sexton said the company has opened about 40 new accounts already this year, and he’s convinced the success of the racing teams has been a major factor.

“When your driver is seen regularly by several million people … we know it’s helping,” he said.

He said the race venues also are great places to entertain retail customers (Z-Line has a hospitality tent at most events) and it allows him to schedule race-themed events at stores (Wilson signed autographs at a Leon’s Furniture store in Toronto last week).

“Now everybody wants to run commercials with our drivers and our race cars,” said Sexton. “It’s great.”

Busch will drive a Z-Line sponsored car in five more Nationwide races this season, the next one a 250-lap event Sept. 11 in Richmond, Va. That race will be televised on ESPN2. (Busch also will drive in several other Nationwide races with a different sponsor.)

There are seven races remaining on the IndyCar schedule and Z-Line is the lead sponsor for Wilson’s car in all of them. Those races will be shown on Versus, an obscure cable TV network that began life as the Outdoor Channel.