Gerald A. Newton: “He felt it was time for something different”
Arizona Sport Shirts has been making merchandise for Scott Bloomquist since 1985. In fact, they were the very first company to bring a Scott Bloomquist Racing shirt to dirt track racing fans.
“He felt it was time for something different,” Gerald A. Newton, Sr VP of Operations at Arizona Sport Shirts told RacingNews.co.
For 2018, they will be heading in a bolder direction. A new 53′ merchandise trailer is currently under construction. It’s soon to make it’s debut, behind the grandstands, on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series tour.
Arizona Shorts Shirts will now handle all of the Scott Bloomquist merchandise sales. This includes the management on the new trailer. However, this new agreement isn’t limited to at-track sales, they will also be placing more items for sale online than ever before.
“We will be at each race he enters, with a trailer. Most of them will be in a 53’ Featherlite trailer, very nice and different fan experience,” Newton explained.
The trailer will be exclusive to Scott Bloomquist merchandise. While managed by Arizona Sport Shirts, it will feature #0 branding from top to bottom.
“While this trailer is being finished we will utilize the trailer he was using. Soon fans will be able to purchase online at www.gottarace.com. There will be more selection of product than ever before,” Newton detailed the new agreement.
I was curious, has Arizona done this before? It’s not uncommon for drivers to delegate merchandise sales through a 3rd party in other racing series. But, I can’t say I’ve seen it too often on the dirt. Though, maybe it’s just harder to tell from the surface.
“This is not the first time we have done this, we have and still do field trailers for various drivers and series,” Gerald concluded.
Arizona Sport Shirts currently handles the sale of merchandise for; The World of Outlaws, DIRTcar, CRA, Darrell Lanigan and Don O’Neal.
In 1974, Arizona Sport Shirts was founded out of Phoenix, AZ by Karl Korbacher. He was an avid photographer via Arizona Sport Photos. Karl saw a demand for racing shirts but at the same time, a lack of supply. Arizona Sport Shirts was born.
In 1989, Karl and his wife Cherie moved their family and business to Indianapolis. This is also the point where Gerald A. Newton joined the team. Newton was already making shirts in Kentucky “on a much smaller scale” as he puts it. Gerald has been with Arizona ever since.
Scott Bloomquist
Merchandise Announcement
“An apparel agreement has been made to team up with Arizona Sports Shirts. With the agreement, Arizona Sports Shirts will handle all online and trackside merchandise as of January 1st, 2018,” the announcement read via the Bloomquist website.
“This will not affect pre-ordered #18 diecast orders – To Ship Shortly. We thank you for your support of Scott and Arizona Sport Shirts.”
More
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Related: Bloomquist Racing debuts new hauler
Links
Scott Bloomquist | Gerald Newton | Arizona Sport Shirts | Gotta Race | LOLMDS | Shane Walters
