Getting Booked on Podcasts: Bring an Angle, Not a Résumé

A podium interview lasts about 30 seconds. A social post gets a few seconds of someone's thumb. A podcast can give you an hour with listeners who chose to spend it with you. That's why podcasts have become one of the easiest media wins for racers who aren't winning yet. The hosts who spoke at my Sponsorship Summits book guests every week, and they all said the same thing about how to get on: come with a story worth an hour, not a list of results.

Hosts book entertainment, not lap times

Cory Texter, two-time American Flat Track champion and host of the Tank Slappin' podcast, put it plainly. "The biggest thing honestly that we look for on our podcast is entertainment," he said. "If you're a good racer, that doesn't automatically mean you're getting a spot on our podcast. You got to have some entertainment value." He said many racers lose that on the podium by trying to be politically correct and reading off a sponsor list. ▶ Watch Cory Texter explain this

When I asked how a racer should approach him, he said: "You don't have to win every race for me to want to talk to you on the show." What you need is an angle. "Everybody has a story. I probably have six different angles I could take with my life," he said. He listed a few: "whether or not you struggle with anxiety problems or say you lost a lot of weight or say you're a stay-at-home dad and you race." Find yours, he said, and sell it. ▶ Watch Cory Texter on how to pitch him

Texter speaks from experience. "I was very average, so I had to get good at marketing," he said of his early pro years. "I went to college for marketing because I wasn't gonna get a ride based off my talent." He wrote for Cycle World and started the podcast so he "could have a brand to keep racing." ▶ Watch Cory Texter on building his brand

"I'm the best racer" is not a pitch

George Hammel, creator of The Dirt Life Show, told a summit audience what doesn't work. "Don't come up... and say, oh, I want to be on your podcast, I'm the best racer," he said. "Okay, well, there's a thousand other best racers too."

He told the story of a jack-company owner from Pro Eagle who wanted to come on and sell more jacks. Hammel asked what was interesting about that. The man admitted it was just a jack but promised to think about it. About nine months later he came back with an idea: he would propose to his future wife on the show, at one of the dealers that carried his product. The episode connected his brand to a real human moment, people recognized him at events afterward, and Hammel said, "I can promise you that sold more jacks." ▶ Watch George Hammel tell the story

Talk with listeners, not at them

Hammel also explained why podcasts suit sponsorship. On social media, he said, "a lot of that is talking at people. The key word is at people, and when you talk on a podcast you can talk with people and you can engage with them."

He pointed to a young racer, Caden Danbury, who "reaches out to be on the Dirt Life Show as much as he possibly can." By co-hosting next to top off-road racers, Danbury shares their audience and gets to "genuinely show his personality, share his story, something that he didn't get to do at the races because he was so busy." ▶ Watch George Hammel on this

Max Lee, moto athlete manager at Troy Lee Designs, said that's what sponsors are looking for too. "You really don't gain too much about a person with a 30-second interview on the podium, but the podcasts, even vlogs nowadays, being able to get that behind-the-scenes inside view on these people's lives, their personality, and being able to relate to them is huge." ▶ Watch Max Lee in the full session

Pick the show that fits your story

Not every podcast wants the same guest. Don O'Neal, a racer who co-hosts the Racers and Rental Cars podcast, said his show started "based off of the fact that it was an education piece," with executives and subject matter experts from motorsports. It grew until companies were approaching the podcast for sponsorship rather than his racing program. "We don't really do race recaps," he said. If a racer comes on, "it's because they're doing something in the motorsports marketing world."

He also reminded racers who's listening on the sponsor side: "Nine times out of ten most people don't care about what the racing is. They want to know what they're doing for them to help their marketing team as an asset to increase sales." ▶ Watch Don O'Neal on this

The right show might not be a racing show. O'Neal, an Army veteran, suggested racers look at podcasts built around their other interests: "if you are a guy like me, you're a veteran, so being involved with some different veterans podcasts." A podcast outside racing puts you and your sponsors in front of people who have never heard of either. ▶ Watch Don O'Neal on niche podcasts

Ask politely and keep asking

Four-time Supercross winner David Pingree hosts the Whiskey Throttle Show, built on long-form interviews. "I got laughed at when I said we're gonna go maybe three, four hours," he said. "People were like, dude, no one's gonna watch that. Well, no one's doing it, I'm gonna try it." His media company was adding a segment on amateur kids and privateers, and he said hosts often don't know who to call. So reach out: "Respectfully reach out, whether that's through social media or find our email address, and just contact us." If someone asks politely whether there's a way to be involved in the show, he said, "man, I'm going to snap that right up." ▶ Watch David Pingree on how to get on his show

Texter's version was blunter: "Just email everybody, reach out. I was a pain in the you-know-what for so long." Nobody, he said, is going to know unless you ask. ▶ Watch the clip

Once you're on, be a guest, not a press release

Podcasts give you room that a podium doesn't. "A podcast isn't a podium interview," Texter said. On the podium after a win, "I gotta be more thank my sponsors, mention the team, do things like that, but in a podcast I feel it's more personal." Bring stories. Mention your sponsors where they fit into those stories, not as a list read at the end. ▶ Watch Cory Texter on podcast interviews

The episode keeps working after it's posted. Matt Holt, a rock bouncer racer, commentator and off-road shop owner, put it this way: "You might do a podcast and three years later VP Fuels or Nike or anybody listens to that and goes, oh my gosh, that guy's great, hey, give him a call." ▶ Watch Matt Holt on this

The takeaway

• Write down three angles about yourself that aren't race results: your job, your family, an obstacle, a hobby, a cause.
• Listen to a few episodes before pitching, and match your angle to what the show covers.
• Send a short, polite message that leads with the story, and follow up.
• Plan where each sponsor fits naturally into the stories you'll tell.
• Clip the episode, share it with your sponsors, and add it to your sponsor report.