El Bandido Yankee Tequila To Fuel Sun Print Team Again In 2024 – Speed on the Water
Less than a month before the Race World Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla., earlier this month, Mod V Sun Print team owner Steve Miklos had decided he wasn’t going to vie for top honors in his class at the storied venue. Despite that he and longtime Sun Print driver Steve Fehrmann had claimed the 2023 American Power Boat Association Mod V National Championship in late September, he couldn’t justify the expense and time away from his business in Sarasota.
With 2023 world and national titles to the Sun Print’s credit, El Bandito Yankee Tequila could not have picked a betternseason to step as a team backer. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
But then the marketing people at El Bandido Yankee Tequila, a first-year sponsor for the Sun Print team, convinced him to participate. And after three days of Mod V-class racing in Key West, Miklos and Fehrmann returned home with the 2023 APBA Mod V World Championship trophy.
Better still, the tequila brand has signed on to back them again next season.
“Did winning the world championship help?” Miklos said, then laughed. “Well, it certainly didn’t hurt.”
“They only got involved in boat racing earlier this year,” added the veteran offshore racer, who learned of the brand through a friend who is a former Lake of the Ozarks-based liquor rep. “We grew the relationship slowly throughout the season. Their CFO came to the Cocoa Beach race this year and enjoyed it. We found our flow as the season progressed.”
Though El Bandido Yankee Tequila is made in Jalisco, Mexico, by famed female distiller Karina Rojo, its corporate headquarters are in Bloomington, Ill. The company is owned and was founded by former National Football League player Jim Bob Morris and former National Hockey League player Chris Chelios. Its marketing program runs deep into the motorsports world.
“We consider ourselves ‘the official tequila of racing,’” explained Tami Babij, who handles the company’s marketing initiatives in Florida. “We sponsor everything that moves—cars, motorcycles, you name it and now we have an offshore racing team in our sponsorship portfolio.
“They’re a great group of guys,” she added. “And we got to see them drink tequila out of a world championship cup. Who better to team up with?
Babij, who grew up in Key West, said she was impressed by the Sun Print team’s social media reach, as well as that of Powerboat P1.
“Through them, definitely gained a lot of tequila followers on our own social media channels,” she said. “People want to know what the winners are wearing. People want to know what the winners are drinking. El Bandido Yankee Tequila is a super-clean, additive-free tequila.”
Babij paused, then chuckled. “And now the boat is ‘fueled’ by our tequila.”
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