Stock car driver Peyton Taylor will do anything to promote a sponsor — even if that means dressing up as a chicken. He donned the bird costume for Slim Chickens, an Arkansas-based national food chain with more than 100 locations.
Taylor drives for Andrews Autosport. Team president Spencer Andrews has an extensive background in marketing. He worked with on the NASCAR level with Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs, David Stremme, and Michael Waltrip.
“Being from Arkansas, [Spencer] concentrated on Arkansas businesses,” Taylor, of Batesville, said. “He was showing them the metrics — what all we can do for them.”
When Andrews secured Cadillac’s Chassis & Fab as a sponsor, they made the stock car look like a Cadillac. Then, Andrews had an idea for approaching Slim Chickens.
“Spencer was making a pitch for the sponsorship when he told me there was a catch,” said Taylor. “I’d have to be wearing a chicken suit for promotional photos.”
Taylor didn’t hesitate in his response.
“I told Spencer not to threaten me with a good time — let’s do it,” Taylor said.
However, as confident as Taylor is, he did have a tinge of reluctance. He called his friend and fellow Batesville native, NASCAR hall of famer Mark Martin.
“I told Mark, ‘We got this deal going down, and I’m kind of nervous — I have to wear a chicken suit,’” said Taylor. “Mark said, ‘Nothing wrong with that. I drove with Viagara on my car for six years.’”
After photos of Peyton Taylor wearing a chicken suit surfaced on social media, he received nothing but positive feedback.
“We were greeted with laughter and smiles,” Taylor said. “Slim Chickens has brought joy to grassroots racing. I commend them for letting us have everyone laughing.”
That laughter helped further his relationship with his sponsor.
“Spencer got with the Slim Chickens marketing people,” said Taylor. “They were excited — 60,000 views in six hours and 100,000 total when we released the promotion. It is crazy awesome. We had a team meeting and we are proud that we accomplished everything we set out to accomplish with this partnership.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
