Eighty days ago, a minority co-owner of a NASCAR Sprint Cup team announced he was selling his 10 percent stake in the team.
The announcement, by BK Racing’s Anthony Marlowe, came on Twitter.
For Sale: 10% equity in @BKRacing_2383 a 3 car @NASCAR Cup team & RTA member. Contact Anthony@IowaCityCapitalPartners.com 4 NDA & details.
— Anthony Marlowe (@AnthonyMarlowe) September 11, 2015
The price for my company's 10% stake in @BKRacing_2383 is $1,000,000.00*. (*Accredited investors only - Venture financing available) #NASCAR
— Anthony Marlowe (@AnthonyMarlowe) October 21, 2015
More than two months later, Sports Business Journal has a feature on Marlowe, whose stake is in BK Racing, a three-team operation that fielded the cars of Jeb Burton, J.J. Yeley and Matt DiBenedetto in 2015.
Marlowe, who runs the investment firm Iowa City Capital Partners and has more than 55,000 followers on Twitter, says that the “lead sled dog” in the pursuit of his $1 million stake originated from his Sept. 11 post that drew 70 retweets and 90 likes.
“The NASCAR community is very active on Twitter, and the recent JOBS Act and crowdfunding bill kind of loosened up the regulations to be able to post a tweet like that without any regulatory worries,” said Marlowe. “The person who is most interested in acquiring my stake — was a lead obtained through Twitter.”
Marlowe told SBJ he originally got into NASCAR ownership due to a lack of restrictions on those looking to get into the sport. Now he’s getting out of it just as speculation is increasing over the sport establishing long-term equity for teams through a charter system. The system would limit the number of franchises that could be in the Sprint Cup Series at any time. Marlow admits the timing of his decision may be unfortunate.
“With the prospective charter system being discussed, I’m looking at this as a window of opportunity where I’m likely selling too early,” he said. “But it’s an opportunity to get out whole or make a little bit of money, something that 95 percent of NASCAR owners up until this point had a very difficult time doing.”
Marlowe isn’t leaving the sport entirely. He told SBJ that since his company had locations in South Dakota, he is in talks with Iowa Speedway executives about buying race sponsorships or hospitality packages at the .875-mile track.