Jaynes leaves Road AmericaLong time PR man and racing enthusiast Roger Jaynes is leaving his job as PR man at Road America, a position he has had for eleven years.
Jaynes is widely regarded as one of the best PR men in motorsports, and him leaving Road America is a blow the circuit really doesn't need right now. Jaynes will take a job as VP of Corporate Communications at the EAA, or the Experimental Aircraft Assn. which puts on the huge Oshkosh Fly-in festival which attracts 850,000 people and 15,000 planes each year.
Asked to comment on Jaynes' departure, Superbike racing enthusiast and fairly serious car guy, Mario Andretti, stated this morning via telephone from his home in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, "I've known Roger for many years and his work has certainly been an asset to motorsports. The guy has such insight into things and he understands things in a way that it's easy for people to understand. He knows how to promote racing. He'll be missed, I can tell you that. I hate to see him go, not only because he's very good at what he does, but because he's a good friend of mine."
If you know anything about motorsports promotion, then you know that guys like Jaynes put people in the seats. Jaynes is infamous for this multi-state PR runs with the likes of Fred Merkel, Tom Kipp. Doug Chandler or Freddie Spencer in the car with him, doing advance event stops at newspapers and television stations in Chicago, Indiana and in Milwaukee.
Former AMA Communications Officer Larry Lawrence too lamented Jaynes' departure. "Roger set the standard and really led the other tracks in how things should be done. I know that when I went to the AMA, I used many of his techniques for the work I did there. He really got to know the reporters and they told me that they knew when Roger called, they would get a story, not some fluff piece." Jaynes was a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal for nearly twenty years.
"This is not without some regrets," Jaynes said this afternoon from his home in Cederburg, Wisconsin. "After 26 years as a writer and PR man in motorsports, it's tough for me to leave. I love Road America. But this opportunity is simply too good for me to pass up. I'd like to thank everybody in Superbike racing for all the help they have given me over the years. I hope we'll still cross paths." -- Dean Adams
Your links:
