Led by one of the most successful and innovative owners in motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing has won 22 championships dating back to 1990. In addition, 2016 saw the team pick up their first-ever victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Overall, Ganassi has won six of the seven most iconic races in the world of auto racing with wins in the Indianapolis 500 (5 times), Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex 24 At Daytona (8), and the 12 Hours of Sebring (2).
On the business side, CGR had one of the longest-running relationships in motorsports history with Target and currently can claim partnerships with PNC Bank, DHL, American Legion, Parkland, Honda, and General Motors, among many others. Today, Ganassi teams include five Honda cars in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, one Cadillac in the IMSA series, and one Cadillac in the WEC series. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art facilities in Indianapolis, where INDYCAR, and IMSA teams are located, and a corporate office in Pittsburgh.
This position is responsible for the execution of public relations for Chip Ganassi Racing programs (in INDYCAR and IMSA. This position is one of the primary contacts between the team and assigned driver(s) and IMSA/INDYCAR and the media and a secondary contact of each of their team’s partners.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Serve as the day-to-day point of contact between the team and assigned driver(s), IMSA or INDYCAR, and the media as it relates to public/media relations
- Develop yearly public relations plans to include:
- Pitching opportunities to motorsports and lifestyle media
- Building and maintaining media relationships and subsequent media lists
- Supporting partners, partnership programs, and partnership retention
- Writing press releases, bios, Q&A documents; maintain statistics, team history, etc.
- Travel to select IMSA or INDYCAR race events and appearances and manage the following:
- Pre-race advances, end-of-day reports and post-race recaps weekly
- Driver PR schedules, messaging
- Onsite driver/team media availability, interviews, etc.
- Social media content/in-race live updates across CGR social media platforms
- Collaborate with internal departments such as Account Management, Social, Graphic Design, Competition, etc., to support the following:
- Social media campaigns
- Social Media updates from the race weekend
- Production days
- Other opportunities to create and promote content surrounding team, drivers, and partners
- Updates from sanctioning bodies, media, etc.
- Provide internal and executive communications support across team
- Develop and maintain ways to measure and report on public relations programs; understand media monitoring and measurement tools (e.g., Meltwater)
- Perform other duties as assigned or needed, which could include support for Account Management or Social Media, agency management, employee events, etc.
- Build and maintain relationships at sanctioning bodies and race tracks
- Demonstrate behaviors aligned to the organization’s core values of Performance, Integrity, Innovation and Partnership and represent the company accordingly
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s/master’s degree in PR, communication, business, marketing, or related field
- 4+ years of experience in communications or related field
- Strong interpersonal skills with ability to build and maintain relationships internally and industry-wide
- Experience in media pitching and creating PR plans
- Ability to think big picture and create long-term ROI and growth plans for the team and partners
- Up to date with media trends within and outside the industry
- Creative approach to problems and multitasking in a fast-paced environment
