Chris Throgmartin

Chris got his love from cars from his father, a factory driver at Oldsmobile and from his older brother Dave who has been a car enthusiast from childhood days as well as being a former drag racer. In later years, Chris turned away from the mechanical side of cars and looked towards another side of autos; business and marketing, a much more exciting alternative in his eyes.

He began his quest into the business sector of marketing / public relations by offering contracted services to a local race car driver from Lansing, Michigan. The involvement with one driver soon lent itself to the direct involvement with 17 other drivers two years later.

As his work began spanning several divisions of racing and numerous race series, the list of corporations that Chris assisted in developing and implementing motorsport's marketing programs included several that are part of the Fortune 100. His driver / client list also went from local stars to regional, then eventually to national superstars.

During the developmental stages of Talin Media Group, Chris listed on a piece of paper one objective and goal, to be working in NASCAR’s Winston Cup series within 5 years. He felt by listing just one goal and objective, all else would follow suit and by building his reputation on solid business ethics and integrity, Talin Media Group would carry him to his goals. It did, and he obtained his goal in 4 years, one year ahead of his self imposed time line.

Since his initial involvement back in the 80's, his client list reads like a who's-who of racing. He has been directly involved in the marketing and public relations programs for drivers that have spanned over 16 race sanctioning bodies from across the U.S. , including all of NASCAR's professional divisions, the famed Winston Cup and Busch Grand National series along with heavy participation in ASA and ARCA.

In addition to his marketing and PR expertise, Chris was considered a business expert in many facets of motorsports by many racing insiders and was called on by the Michigan Senate to give written testimony on a proposed 80 million dollar racing complex. His research and ensuing report gave his professional opinion to the requesting Michigan Senator who later killed the proposed deal. Based on Chris’s written testimony the proposed development was underfunded and presented a large risk to investors and government alike. The Senate later found out that Chris was correct and that the developer had mis-stated his proposed developmental costs and demographics report. It saved the State of Michigan and investors hundreds of thousands of dollars in research and planning costs.

In 2003, the series in which he helped co-found bestowed a huge honor upon Chris by naming one of the USPRO Cup races the " Chris Throgmartin  50 ". The race held in Chris' hometown of Lansing at Spartan Speedway was a huge event and the race proved to be extremely exciting. The USPRO drivers and officials donated their winnings for the night to a special fund set up for Chris' medical expenditures. During the event Chris autographed the special edition of the USPRO coloring book for race fans and signed shirts, hats and pictures. His long time friend Mark Kortz and his wife Lisa who together own a graphics business had decals of Chris likeness made and were attached to all the race cars during the event. Mark in addition had a specially designed logo placed on his hood for the night that had Chris' picture blazened across the front of it. The hood was then signed by all the drivers from USPRO Cup and the hood presented to Chris as a special gift at the end of the night.

Still not satisfied with his accomplishments in racing, the USPRO series was acquired by the American Speed Association ( ASA ) in late 2003. He seen a huge void left for the budget racer who wanted to limit their travel yet still race a template bodied series. Thus he came up with the idea of SuperPro, which was designed to begin introducing the template bodied/crate engine concept to the Michigan motorsports industry. Today, his plans have become reality as friend's Jim Leisure and Bill Lackey have formed the MISS SuperPro series. 2004 will be the inaugural season for the new series.

Through his involvement in motorsports marketing many of the sports best have touched his career in one form or another. Drivers, team owners and national celebrities took an interest in his Chris and his career and have helped him with advice and moral support along the way, including Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Jeremy Mayfield, Terry Labonte, Robert Yates, Jack Rousch, Ned Jarret, Junie Donlavey, Dave Marcis, Ted Musgrave,  Benny Parsons and many more.