I peered into my work mailbox and when I spied a thick white envelope, I nearly groaned out loud.
I peered into my work mailbox and when I spied a thick white envelope, I nearly groaned out loud.
The calendar told the story, it was time for open enrollment and I was again tasked with selecting from a menu of insurance options. Let‘s be clear. I‘m a lucky man to have access to employment-based coverage. While this always feels like a tedious process, my wife and I try to be as diligent as we can in our decision-making process. I don‘t have to be told twice that this is important. When you reach adulthood and your responsibilities go beyond your own skin, it is easier to grasp the necessity for this kind of protection. Unfortunately, some only recognize how critical insurance is when they find themselves without it.
Bernie Stuebgen is well known and respected in racing circles for his business, Indy Race Parts, and for beingan active sprint car owner. One day with his wife Betsy and the family dog in tow Stuebgen was headed to Pennsylvania to pick up engines for his race cars. It‘s a long slog from Indianapolis, but there was some joy in heading back to his old stomping grounds.
The family was just outside the greater Indy beltway when the dog decided to empty the contents of its stomach. They darted into a rest area to get matters in hand, little knowing they would soon be making a U-turn.
“Just as we pulled back out on to the interstate the camera out in front of the shop goes off,” Bernie recalled, “that‘s not unusual because animals or something trips it all the time. But I look at the phone and see someone is stealing my trailer. Betsy gets on the phone to call 911 and I‘m trying to figure out how to dive across the road and go the other direction.
“I called Joe Devin whose shop is across the street and told him what was going on but the trailer was already down the road,” Stuebgen continued. “I called the police and I don‘t really want to say they didn‘t care, but they didn‘t care. The first officer who talked to us said, ‘Well, you have insurance don‘t you?‘ I said, ‘Well that doesn‘t make any difference, that‘s my trailer.‘ That‘s when Tom helped us.”
Tom Johnson, who has been in the insurance business for 50 years, followed his father into the trade. Today, Johnson‘s primary partner in motorsports activities is his son, Jeff, now an award-winning agent.
Tom Johnson‘s card notes that he is a senior sales executive with Shepherd Insurance but tends to refer to himself as an independent agent. Don‘t try to tell him that insurance is boring, particularly when it intersects with a sport he loves.
He first attended races at the Indianapolis Speedrome and was in the stands when Bill Vukovich endured withering heat to win the 1953 Indianapolis 500.
Since then, he has been a part of race teams, he‘s been a promoter, but he has always been an insurance man.
When Bernie called, Johnson asked a key question — Where was your trailer? The answer was critical.
“Because it was within 100 feet of his building it was covered under his shop contents policy,” Johnson explained “If it had been anywhere else, the $70,000 worth of stuff that he had in there was gone. I couldn‘t have done anything about that. That‘s why we write cargo policies which are off-track storage plans for motorsports. We include trailers on that policy, so we can get them replacement cost settlements with no depreciation.”
The sad truth is that in the racing world things often get stolen. The folks who snatched Stuebgen‘s trailer were professional thieves. He recalls a conversation with a young man who was just starting his career.
“I‘ll tell you who put a bug in my ear, Stuebgen said with a laugh, “Years ago Tyler Courtney worked for me and one day he said, ‘Oh man, I have to pay for my trailer contents insurance with Tom.‘ I went home and told Betsy about it. I had never thought of doing that, but it is a brilliant idea.”
Personal injury is another matter. Yes, some larger teams have workman‘s compensation plans in place, but not all.
“Workman‘s comp is something I have been a proponent of in racing,” Johnson said. “These guys can get it and they don‘t think they can. Drivers can buy that policy, too. Levi Jones called me one time and said he was going to race for Tony Stewart and he needed a certificate of insurance for workman‘s comp. He said, ‘I want to exclude myself from coverage.‘ I said, ‘Levi, let‘s back up here. Do you want to buy a worthless piece of paper?‘ He said, ‘I have to or I can‘t race their car.‘
“So I said, ‘let‘s look at it both ways — excluding you or including you.‘ The difference was $250. I said you‘re worth more than $250 to me so I‘ll pay it if you can‘t. Levi thought it would be a lot more. Anyone who is driving those cars or working in the shop should be thinking about this.”
Robbie Rice knows all about this as well. Beyond being a Hall of Fame driver and notable broadcaster, Rice‘s dad, Larry, worked for years at K & K Insurance. A quarter-century ago, he founded Short Track Independent Drivers and Associates, which in Robbie Rice‘s words, provides “excess medical racing coverage for race car drivers.”
The plan begins with an annual fee and from there Rice noted, “We have three different options. Once you become a member of our safety organization, the insurance is given to you as a benefit. I think it is very important for everyone to have a safety net given what we do in the arena.”
Rice followed his father in the racing game as well, and so he knows there are inherent risks for all participants. He also knows the psychology of the participants. Before Larry Rice died, he offered his son some sage advice about selling insurance.
“Dad said you always want to talk to the wives and the girlfriends,” he noted, “because the drivers don‘t want to talk about it. They think they are invincible. They think they aren‘t going to get hurt. So you have to talk to the women and tell them to put this back in your hands.”
When Johnson and Rice discuss racers and their reactions to insurance, they have identical observations. They note that for most, the money drivers might spend on insurance is seen as cash that could have gone to a shock or a tire.
Neither of these things are going to help you if they are in the back of an uninsured stolen trailer, nor can you use them as collateral at the hospital.
Rice said the target of his program is the local, short-track racers who is a privateer or a member of a mom-and-pop team.
“If you are going to race 30 or 40 times a year you are looking at a $400 investment,” he said, “which is $10 a night. We are talking 10 bucks a night to save your family from losing your house. Think about it. If you have to take a helicopter ride, you‘re talking $50,000 right off the bat, and you haven‘t even left the race track.”
Johnson takes matters one step further and in so doing pierces another illusion that many hold dear.
“Most of these drivers think that whatever sanctioning body they race with is going to take care of them,” he said. “Well, I have a racing friend that went through the USAC limit twice.”
The truth is bad things really can happen to you. In the period between the time Tom Johnson and I had an initial conversation about this topic and the moment I began this column, a young man was badly hurt in a shop accident, a racer was severely injured and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum trailer was stolen at the PRI show (luckily it was found quickly).
The insurance industry gets its share of negative press. Sometimes for good reason. Still there are many good people involved in this world and some are die-hard racing people.
When the chips are down these folks can be an important ally.