Automotive Company Sponsored Winners

[Jay TenBrink]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

Ever since I've been in FIRST (since 2003), there has always been a team that is mainly sponsored by one of the automotive companies.

In 2003, the Huskies (#65) sponsored by GM
In 2004, The Martians (#494) sponsored by GM and DaimlerChrysler (I believe)
In 2005, the Hot Team (#67) sponsored by GM
In 2006, The Thunderchickens (#217) sponsored by Ford

What about before this? Any other interesting connections between winners?

Just curious...

Don, my thoughts.

It could be for several reasons that the big three are well represented in the winners’ circle:

1) Sponsor Commitment: GM, DaimlerChrysler, and Ford have been involved with FIRST for many years and have been very supportive and generous to FIRST and their many teams. Look on the big blue banners hanging at an event where they list the founding sponsors.
2) Pool of mentors: There are tons of engineers, designers, technicians in South East Michigan that create, design, build, trouble shoot products for a living. These folks work on vehicles, tooling, equipment, components, etc. Many of these mentors have the basic skills and do well working with teams to create, design, build, and trouble shoot robots with FIRST teams.
3) Good Communication: FIRST gets good coverage in South East Michigan. Many of these potential mentors know about FIRST and many have chosen to get involved. Plenty of mentors from the big three are also working on non-big three teams.

These big three reasons: sponsor commitment, pool of mentors, and good communication make for a very fertile environment for FIRST to thrive. Certainly this environment exists in other communities and there are certainly many teams that excel in less fertile environments.

I have wondered for some time: Where are the non-domestic automotive sponsored teams? Yes, I know that DaimlerChrysler is a German company. I don’t recall ever seeing a team sponsored by Honda, Toyota, or Nissan? Are they out there?

Jay