Job Search and the selling of my dreams

Well the time is almost here...I put my heart and soul into this and thought the LGBT Community would have my back. Guess not. I am selling my motorcycle (2003 Suzuki SV 100 Standard) as I am in need of the funds for bills. It is the last thing I have that is worth anything. An old lady smashed my car the other day so that is worthless now. I am applying for jobs in the auto industry again. Don't make the same mistakes I did. If you are thinking of coming out in sports give it alot of thought. The LGBT community would love to see it and many young folks would benefit but do not expect companies or individuals to sponsor or financially support you. I thought I had a big sponsor interested (a Las Vegas Hotel) but they cheaped out saying they couldn't afford me LOL...I'm not THAT expensive! They want your media and to show that they are doing something but will give very little in return. We have a long way to go. I thought I had an entrepreneur Gay billionaire interested (he was quoted as saying he was going to give his fortune away) but decided to spend what little he does on tax write off investments and politics. It is really going to take a wealthy person to break into sports that does not need a sponsor...I am unfortunately out of resources. I sold everything and put it all on the line. Big mistake. Oh well lesson learned! We still need a presence in sports...especially red state sports but without support it will never happen. This is a huge demographic in itself (stacked on the 800 Billion dollar GLBT demographic) and I do not understand why someone wouldn't want this kind of exposure. I still have my website up for a while and will be hoping to delete this post and say I am sponsored for 2013...

Here is a link to my bike for sale if anyone is interested:

http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/mcy/3257083288.html

The year is flying by!

I can't believe its almost March already! I am headed to NC again next week to fininsh the BMW I am working on for a friend...I cant wait to get it to VIR and test it out! I am going to bring my Mountain Bike with me as there are some great trails in the Wilmington NC area...Blue Clay Park and a new one Brunswick...will have to try that one out! I have been riding the road bike alot lately and decided to race in the Bill Bone Challenge (http://billboneproam.com/) road races, time trials and criteriums. Should be fun and alot easier to find sponsors...the events are local and way cheaper than racing cars.



On another note, I just watched the first show of the second season of Top Gear USA (the muscle car episode) and it was pretty good except for the gay remark...It is real annoying when you watch a show and someone disrespects and alienates an entire community to try and sound like a tough guy...Adam Ferrara jokes with Tanner that his "boyfriend picked out the car" referring to his Camaro implying the "gay" thing. I mean really? c'mon and man up and stop trying so hard! Its not that funny. Remember there are lots of people out here watching these shows and when you go hating and get negative you lose more than you gain.

Still trying for sponsors and hoping for the best.

Evan

Trying to get something going

I have noticed alot of international traffic on my website and blog...Lots of visits from Russia lately. Anyone there want to respond? I am still trying and will always try. I may be shutting down my website soon as it doesn't seem to make sense for me to keep it up if there is no interest in sponsorship. I will put the video on youtube and just get a cheap to maintain webpage. It is with great sadness that I shrink into the backround and get back to work and try and forget the last 5 years of struggling and begging. I do not know what I would have done differently or could ever do in the future to get people interested. There really is just no place for an out race car driver. I pretty much ended my career by trying to do this honestly and openly. I also should have listened to my conservative family and not tried this. It is embarrasing how little financial support has come from all of this. I love my fans and please keep the great emails and words of encouragement coming! I will always try and be my best (and get sponsors) but the GLBT financial world has spoken with no interest in getting someone out there in the straight world with an open message to our youth that you can do anything. I really thought it was an important message but I guess not. We live a stereotype. Sad.

I also just think I failed with my celebrity contacting skills. I tried paying publicists thousands of dollars to just make contact with Lady Gaga, Elton John, John Travolta and anyone else that may have interest in my mission but they all failed or just didnt put in the effort. If anyone knows how to contact a celebrity let me know!

I am getting ready for my first USA Cycling race next month to get a category rating (everyone starts at Cat 5) and begin my amateur bicycle racing journey. I have raced BMX bicycles for years, Mountain bikes and now road bikes. This is a great hobby getting me into the best shape of my life. I will try and blog about my progress even though it is much more boring than blogging about racing cars on the Pro level.

Thanks everyone for being there!
Evan

That time of year again!

Hello all, the 2011 Charge of the Headlight Brigade is almost upon us. This is a 13 hour endurance race at Virginia International Raceway http://www.virnow.com/ . I am very excited to say I will be driving a BMW in this event! I have my Trevor Project logos ready and waiting and am having some embroidery done on my suit. I will be tweeting updates throughout the race and will put links in for results and such. This is a great step in the right direction as I got some private support to move forward with Racing for Diversity!

The 2012 plans involve Pro racing and trying to get the word out on many important subjects. I am hoping to bring light to some of our bigger problems like LGBTQ suicide issues, bullying issues, our environment and health and fitness issues with adults today.

I am also excited to say I am doing The Smart Ride 8 in November! This is a 165 mile ride for AIDS/HIV funding. We go from Miami to Key West and should be a great time for a great cause! If you want to make a tax deductable donation you can go to: http://thesmartride.org/ and make a donation...dont forget to use my rider number (#354). The training I have been doing for this event has opened up a new hobby/fitness training routine that I am really enjoying! Cycling in Florida is pretty flat but we make up for it with speed and headwinds! I just started riding with a group on the weekends and they regularly hit 28-32MPH for a good distance! Its amazing how fast a group can go and how it pushes you individually. I have been dropped out the back of the group for the first few weeks but am now beginning to hang with them. Speed averages on my bike computer are now cresting 20MPH after 50+ miles! I have never been able to do that before. My overall fitnes has improved dramatically and my mountain biking skills have also improved with sheer speed and strength. My legs and butt have also reaped many benefits ;-} but I still won't shave my legs.



I am still trying to reach Elton John, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and others to see if they would like to be a part of my diversity project. Imagine if they helped with thier resources! I could have a green racing project that helps LGBTQ youth with a great message! It would also benefit everyone with acceptance! If anyone knows how to reach out to these people please pass the word on!


I am working with Holly Chervnsik at Stinger Sports Marketing and we are working towards some great things!

I hope to see more positive things in the near future so stay tuned!!!

Evan

AMAZING

I have been working on figuring out how to do some promotions to gain visibility and maybe compete again. I started searching and looking at different blogs and such and found some disturbing stuff. We all know Fred Phelps is a coward that hates everyone but when you see the number of supporters and fans he has its disturbing. I looked at his blog http://blogs.sparenot.com/ (comments are off of course as he is afraid of public opinion) and he really is an activist of the worst kind. I wish I had as much support as him. I am one of the few people that represent the LGBT community by coming out in my sport and my demographic hasnt yet supported me and the trevor project. Are there that many more wealthy hateful people that would support someone like that in comparison to our community? Disturbing. We have alot of wealth in our community and it seems to be a very self serving group we are part of. There are lots of great people that work their asses off to help and support our organizations but the majority of the wealthy ones only seem to support themselves and tax write offs. When will someone step to the front and help some sports figures compete in the mainstream straight sports? It will not happen without support.

I wish I had a better way to reach people as I am no marketing expert. It looks like people like Fred Phelps reach people through extreme hate and negativity. I can not to that. I need a way to reach out to the ones that want to help. I have many letters and packages out to people that don't seem to care. Does anyone care is the question. As I go back to work and try and dissapear into normal society I take with me the bitter taste of rejection. I really wish someone could change that...

thank you everyone for your support and words of encouragement through the past few years and sorry I couldn't find people or companies to support an Out racer.

'till next time,
Evan

Revival of Hope

I must apologize for not writing more on my blog but frankly not much has been happening lately. I have run out of funds for publicists and such and agents want nothing to do with an Out Gay Race Car Driver LOL. Don't take that as I have given up...I will never give up. I will always be trying, sometimes more than less depending on my schedule, funds and attitude. If any of you have friends that may want to get involved don't be shy!

I am in the process of sending out a large batch of emails to some prominent people. If you are someone I emailed or an agency representing someone I am trying to contact, let me know!

My latest plan has me looking for private sponsorship as corporate sponsorship seems like a stretch, LGBT issues are hot but big companies seem scared to support Out Pro's anywhere for fear of losing out on straight business. I am also trying to hit up some non-racing/sports industries as the impact of supporting an out person in a straight sport is exposure to an audience that may not be thier market but the splash of media to follow and people to see would definitely be the right demographic...everyone!

My other "BIG" plan involves you, the reader of my blog, facebook fan/follower and Twitter follower. I would like to send out some of my hero cards (autographed of course!) for a donation. 50% of what is sent to me gets sent to The Trevor Project and the other half goes towards my racing plans for 2011/2012. If I recieve enough support I will be racing for all to see! Donations of $50+ will recieve an E. Darling Enterprises racing hat (pictures of products will be up shortly on my website) and get thier name/logo somewhere on my race car...obviously a $50 donation would be a small spot and a $50k one would be much bigger ;-)...Either way I wil photograph the logo/name(s) and email them to you.

If you would like to partake in my plan, send me a mailing address to zracre@hotmail.com and I will send a signed card to you regardless. If you want to drop a donation in the envelope I send with it that would be greatly appreciated!

For this plan to work I am going to need all the help I can get...forward a link to this page to anyone you would think would want to help...If I get all my facebook friends to at least look at this and maybe some help out and maybe some forward to people that may have interest, I may get somewhere!

I am still trying to get Lady Gaga, Elton John and Madonna contacts to see if they want to partake in this as well...if Paris Hilton can have a motorcycle racing team one of these other superstars should be able to help me be an Out role model competing in a mainstream straight market. On the level of the above stars, sponsorship is not real expensive for the positive media and impact on society that will come from it...

Cheers,
Evan Darling

Happy New Year!

Well it's January 3rd and still no sponsors. It has been a long 4 years of struggling and I thank the people that supported me through these tough times. It is a bad sign for young athletes and sports figures to see someone trying to be active in a high profile sport and not getting any support from Gay Inc. The big companies have not been very supportive and I hope times change soon and can be more inclusive so people can see that we all can prosper no matter who we are. Even though I am going back to work and cannot afford to renew my Pro license I will continue to try to get support for this endeavor and I will keep you up to date if anything changes! Also thank you to the many supporters and fans for staying with me!

Evan Darling

Year End...

Well the last race of the season for me was a BMW Car Club of America club race (BMWCCA) in Savanna, GA. I was planning on driving my friend Craigs M3 in IP (I Prepared) and Robs 325i in ITR (Improved Touring "R"). Friday was a sprint race, Sat was the Endurance race and andother sprint on sunday. I am a co-driver in the endurance races and I was to start in the M3 and finish in the 325i. Thursday testing went well and both cars were very competitive on old tires posting some pretty fast laps so we were happy going into friday. Craig had a decent qualifying effort for the sprint and started 2nd in class and Rob due to some other factors entered the car in IP (there were no other entrants in ITR and it is no fun racing yourself). For what it was he did great! With 3 laps to go a Spec E36 car being lapped by Craig in the epic battle for 1st spun in front of him in a 100+MPH corner. There was not much for Craig to do but hit the brakes to minimize damage. They hit and Craig continued on with lots of damage. The car was not leaking anything and the temps remained good so he finished out the race holding on to 2nd place. Rob finished safely in 7th in class posting some respectable times. We worked until 2AM saturday then right up to Enduro qualifying to get the car straight. Its amazing what you can do with chains, trees and F250's. Got the car ready just in time for a rainy qualifyer. I love the rain and tend to be real fast but the car kept popping out of 4th...a very important gear! we ended up 9th on the grid and 4th in class. We quickly tore into the car looking for something and found 2 destroyed transmission mounts. We barely had enough time to swap them in and put dry tires on (it stopped raining) and tweak the setup (never got all the adjustments done for the dry). I got the start and it was evident that the transmission may not survive this one! I got it to work pretty good and worked my way up to 2nd catching the leader pretty easily (man I wish that transmission worked!) and pitted in 2nd overall. Craig got in and held on as long as he could but the trans kept getting worse. He limped home in 3rd in class and 6th overall...not bad for a car that had been rebuilt at the track with beer duct tape and zip ties! Anyways I got into Robs car and his clutch was starting to slip. It wasnt too bad but it will need to be fixed before the next one. I only did about 3 laps and the checkers fell. Long and eventful weekend! Thanks to all the guys from BMWCCA and VDCA (Vintage club) that came over and helped pound the car back into shape!

See 'yall next year!
evan

Its Funny...

It's Funny

As a race car driver through the years I have done pretty well behind the wheel. I started autocrossing (races for time around cones in parking lots), graduating to track days in my old Mustangs and Z cars then on to amateur racing at tracks around the country. I always wanted to go Pro and knew I had the talent to do so. Racing is an expensive sport and most people get enthusiastically into racing hoping to be the next big thing only to realize there are many people that are very good at it as well. There are 5 main groups at an amateur race. The big budget guys that are talented enough to win, the low budget guys that scrape everything they have into the car and fight for wins, the guy with the budget and mediocre talent, the guy with the skills but no budget and the guy with want and drive but no budget and not the best skills. The many people I have talked to over the years trying to get into pro racing seem to think if you are good you just go to the racetrack and get in a car and win. There is so much to it, it is almost impossible to explain to someone who knows nothing about racing.
I have had a very successful amateur career in racing winning my share of races and wanted to take it to the next level. Many racers and media types always say you need a hook, something that sets you apart from everyone else. I look around at all the racers and see money and talent...what do I have that is different...well, I am Out and being myself in this straight sport, why don't I come out as the Out Pro Race Car Driver. I know I am good at what I do, I don't look so bad in front of a camera and there is no one else like me in the sport. I do it. Steve Rothaus from the Miami Herald did a great interview and gave me an entire section before the Miami Grand Prix in 2007, my first Pro race. We did well finishing 7th in a stout field of Pro's. I had many well wishers and haters contacting me through my website explaining to me how to live my life. I did not know how to handle the media very well and had a series of mediocre but well intended publicists and agents that did not know anything about sports and racing. I did the best I could to attract sponsors and got a little support from local businesses but not nearly enough to sustain a racing career. I needed to go big. I started contacting celebrities but realized you just cant call them up and ask them advise or for sponsorship without going through a labyrinth of "people". On top of this many people keep asking me why I had to come out as a gay race car driver. If you are a good driver you should be able to make it on those merits. Well yea I should be able to do that but without money and sponsors I can't drive to show my talents. I have met many great people along the way and wish to continue. My coming out has gotten me some great media attention, but still no sponsors.
The current state of the economy has not helped matters but things seem to have stabilized. There are many great charities that could benefit from sponsoring me in a Pro televised series and I am sure there are some big hearted people that would like to see this, my problem is getting them as an audience. My new publicist, John Blanchette, Is trying to get me in front of these people. We are contacting The View, Ellen, Rosie and Oprah in an attempt to show the world what I am trying to do. On my website (edarlingenterprises.com) is a short film put on by Subaru and LOGO that shows who I am. A Google of my name has many articles and interviews I have done. I have taken a lot of flak doing what I believe in and do not want to give up. Jay Leno has told me he thinks there is a place for me and I should keep trying. David Letterman has a BMW race team. I am trying to get through to him as well. Any help, leads, contacts and sponsorship is needed and appreciated!
BTW the point of all this is to try and show people how it is in the racing community so they can make educated decisions on participating in a sport like this.

Thanks for reading!
Evan

New Idea and Great Opportunity!

I am back and starting a new marketing program. As many of you know, I am a supporter of TheTrevorProject.org and I would like to offer a program that would bring media attention to this great program and my Pro racing career. In this tough economy it has been difficult to procure enough sponsorship to race in Grand Am and be able to survive. Many big corporations have cut back sponsorships and that has made it difficult for everyone in the racing (and all other!) communities. I am reaching out to everyone and all communities with this program. My idea is to get lots of private and small corporate involvement in my quest. It is pretty simple. I need to get contributions ranging from $100 to $1000 to race next year (and this year if there is enough interest). I cannot afford my own Grand Am car so when I race it is always a different teams car. I am allowed a certain amount of area on the cars depending on how much I contribute to the team. The idea is to get 2-3 large graphics that have "TheTrevorProject.org" with everyone's names (company names, personal names etc) printed within the graphic. I would also use these graphics on my personal race car (amateur series car as Pro cars are way too $$$).

Here is a list of some of the benefits that would come from sponsorship:

• Support for TheTrevorProject.org in front of an international audience on Speed Channel
• Support for the only Out Pro Race Car Driver
• Links from my website (edarlingenterprises.com) to your organization or web page
• Photo and video media from each event
• Exposure at media events I will attend
• $1000+ sponsors will receive tickets to a chosen race in your area

For this to work I will need to reach a financial goal. I would like to launch this program immediately and will have a progress bar on my website and here when I start to receive donations. I really think this can work with all the support I have received in the past! In doing this program I believe I can generate even more media in some of the larger publications and TV media. I just need to get the ball rolling with your help!

The Demographics for this race series is very large and when you include the GLBT demographic it makes my audience one of the largest in Professional sports! Please give me some feedback on this program as I get it started! I also have a paypal link on my website so be sure to contact me if a donation is going to be made thru that so I can forward all the media to you!

Thanks and hopefully more to come soon!

Evan Darling

Updates and Ups and Downs

Well I almost completely finished my move to Florida. I have been going back and forth to NC trying to get all my stuff secure. It has been a difficult few months! I got back from VIR (Virginia International Raceway) 2 weeks ago after racing in the BMW Car Club of America endurance race. We had a great time and finally won! My co-driver, Craig Lippe, did a great job behind the wheel and with strategies. We won by .503 seconds! What a great time! This is coming off the last time I drove it. that was Roebling Road where it was pissing down rain and we won that with the bonus of an overall pole position! The car we were driving is a BMW M3 running in IP ("I" Prepared is a class with limited modifications to the car). I got back to FL and received a call from one of the top Grand Am teams. I needed to come up with some money to get up to VIR again to race in the Grand Am race! Well my fundraising skills are not so good and it was short notice so I tried to the last minute. Didn't make it. I am still pretty depressed about it but there isn't much I can do about it now but try for the next one! Someone please step up and help for Mid-Ohio in June!

I have some great strategies for sponsors and would like to put them out there for discussion. I am and always will try and support non-profits. The Trevor Project has always been very high on my list as it is one of our most important assets as a community. here is their website:

http://thetrevorproject.org/home2.aspx

I believe having info on this organization on my car in front of a televised audience would do a great job getting outlets like this in the mainstream media where it is most needed. Many of these kids are not exposed to GLBT media and have very few options. By getting the word out in front of a predominantly straight oriented market, more people would be reached! Help me make this happen!

On another note before I went to VIR for the BMW race I went to Wellington FL for the first ever Gay Polo League Polo match. Wow what an exciting sport! I had no idea...These guys move fast on these horses and play pretty aggressive! Here is a link to their website:

http://www.gaypolo.com/splash/

I have also tried to contact Ricky Martin about sponsorship or support for me and the Trevor Project but I have not heard back from him or any of his agents. It seems almost impossible to get through to some of these people. Maybe he will see this...never know!

Well that's all for now!