2025 Continues to Get Busier for Matt Maglodi Racing: NASA Southeast, New Sponsors & a New Grassroots Sponsorship Program

Between time at the track, developing the car, meeting other racers and connecting with businesses interested in grassroots motorsports, we have a lot happening as we head toward the end of the year.

We wanted to share a few updates about where we're headed, welcome some new sponsors, and introduce a new sponsorship concept we've been developing specifically for small businesses and fellow grassroots racers.

Finishing 2025 With NASA Southeast

We plan to close out the remainder of the 2025 season by attending the final three NASA Southeast track events.

That's only the beginning.

For 2026, our goal is to attend and participate in the full NASA Southeast schedule.

As the program continues to develop, we'll be sharing more race-weekend updates, photos, videos, results, behind-the-scenes content and updates on the continued development of our Mazda Miata.

We're building this one weekend at a time.

Sponsorship Update: Welcome Online Advantages and Cottage Grove Bakery

We're also excited to announce that the Matt Maglodi Racing sponsorship family is growing.

One of our newest sponsors is a company I know particularly well: Online Advantages®.

I founded Online Advantages in 2012, and over the years we've helped small businesses compete online through SEO, local search, digital marketing, content, public relations and emerging digital technologies.

There will be much more news about Online Advantages and its involvement with the racing program coming soon.

We're also extremely happy to welcome Cottage Grove Bakery.

A big thank-you goes to Nikki and Cottage Grove Bakery for supporting our racing program — and for making some seriously delicious baked goods and pastries along the way.

We also currently have approximately three or four additional sponsors in the works. We can't announce those partnerships quite yet, but we hope to have more news shortly.

And those conversations helped reinforce an idea I've been working on for some time:

We think the answer is yes.

Rethinking Grassroots Motorsports Sponsorship

There are relatively few drivers who make a full-time living racing cars.

But there are thousands of passionate racers competing in Spec Miata, autocross, time trials, motocross, sprint cars, karting, club racing and countless other forms of amateur and grassroots motorsports.

They're active in the sport. They invest in their equipment. They travel to events. They build audiences. And, like us, they're constantly trying to find ways to offset some of the cost of doing what they love.

Traditional sponsorship often focuses primarily on putting a logo on a race car, trailer, helmet or driver's suit.

There's nothing wrong with that. Brand exposure is an important part of motorsports sponsorship.

But we believe grassroots racers can offer small businesses considerably more.

Combining Motorsports Sponsorship With Local Digital Marketing

This is where my two worlds intersect.

I'm a grassroots racer, but I'm also the founder of Online Advantages.

Since 2012, Online Advantages has provided professional digital marketing services to businesses, including search engine optimization, local SEO, content marketing, public relations and other digital strategies.

Our traditional full-service digital marketing programs typically begin around $1,795 per month.

That's appropriate for a business looking for a comprehensive digital marketing program.

But it's simply outside the marketing budget of many very small local businesses.

A neighborhood bakery, independent repair shop, contractor, specialty retailer or other small business might not be in a position to invest $1,500–$2,000 per month into digital marketing.

Could a grassroots racing sponsorship help bridge that gap?

That's what we've been working to develop.

A $200–$400/Month Small Business Sponsorship Model

Beginning September 1, we're planning to introduce a new type of Matt Maglodi Racing sponsorship designed around approximately $200–$400 per month.

This isn't intended to replace a comprehensive digital marketing campaign.

Instead, we're taking selected strategies from the work we already perform professionally and combining them with the promotional opportunities naturally created by a grassroots racing program.

The objective is simple:

That could include opportunities such as:

• Sponsor visibility on MattMaglodi.com
• Business features and blog content
• Social media exposure
• Race-weekend content
• Links and online mentions
• Sponsor spotlights
• Other promotional opportunities

The exact program will depend on the sponsor and what makes sense for their business.

Why the Racer's Online Audience Matters

One of the things racers naturally want to do is grow their audience.

We're posting photos. We're creating videos. We're talking about events. We're sharing results. We're documenting car development. We're interacting with other racers, fans and businesses.

That audience can become an asset for sponsors.

Instead of a sponsorship relationship ending with a decal on the side of a race car, the driver becomes an ongoing advocate for the businesses helping make the racing program possible.

There can also be digital marketing value to that relationship.

When a legitimate website publishes useful content about another local business and links to that business, it can contribute to the broader collection of online signals that search engines use to understand businesses, topics, locations and relationships.

The same concept is increasingly relevant as businesses think about visibility across traditional search engines and emerging AI-powered search and answer platforms.

We're not giving away all of our trade secrets here.

But there is considerably more that a digitally savvy grassroots racer can offer a sponsor than simply putting a sticker on a car.

Could This Work for Other Grassroots Racers?

That's the bigger idea.

The program we're developing for Matt Maglodi Racing could ultimately become a model we share with other hobbyist and amateur motorsports competitors.

That could mean a Spec Miata driver, motocross rider, sprint car racer, kart racer, autocross competitor or another active motorsports enthusiast.

The driver doesn't necessarily need to be making money from racing.

In fact, that's precisely the point.

If you're spending thousands of dollars each year competing, what if you could create genuine marketing value for several local businesses and use those sponsorship dollars to offset:

• Tires
• Brake pads and other consumables
• Fuel
• Race and track-event entry fees
• Transportation and travel
• Vehicle maintenance and development
• Other racing expenses

The business gets affordable exposure and marketing support.

The racer gets help funding the racing program.

And both sides have a reason to actively promote each other.

That's the kind of sponsorship relationship we're interested in building.

More Details Coming September 1

We're excited about where Matt Maglodi Racing is headed, both on and off the track.

With more NASA Southeast events ahead, plans for a full 2026 season, new sponsors joining the program and several additional partnerships currently in development, there's going to be plenty to talk about.

We'll officially introduce more details about our new small-business grassroots racing sponsorship program beginning September 1.

In the meantime, if you're a small business owner interested in supporting grassroots motorsports — or a fellow amateur racer interested in what we're building — stay tuned.

We're just getting started.