who
is
your
DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR?
Alternative Division Director
South Australia
Divisional Council
Making a high school friend would lead to a long-time love for the sport
of drag racing for Vladimir Ostashkevich.
“I remember as a 13-year-old being in awe when my friend Craig Chapman
and I used to go in the shed and look at his father’s dragster. I think it was
Proud Australian Top Fuel Dragster then. I went to the drags a few times
with the Chapman family,” Ostashkevich reminisces.
From that introduction came trips to Adelaide International Raceway
for the national open meetings and also with older brother Sergei for
street meets in his Monaro. When Sergei partnered up with Bob Sherry
in the 80s to build an A/Street Commodore, the bug well and truly bit for
Ostashkevich and he started working as part of the crew.
At the same time, he was studying a business degree in Marketing at
university and was soon using that knowledge to chase sponsors for not
only his brother’s exploits, but for the sport of drag racing, even holding a
marketing seminar for the Group One racers in 1986.
After establishing his business Quarter Mile Marketing, Ostashkevich and
his brother would buy Jim Read’s dragster and take it all over the country
with support from West End Beer, with Bob Sherry driving. Spending time
with American Chuck Swift around this time would years later lead to
Ostashkevich racing in Vegas, Seattle and Spokane as well as Australia
and Tasmania in a Wheelstander alongside Swift in an experience
Ostashkevich says he will never forget.
In the years since, Vladimir has worked as the Marketing Manager for the
Hidden Valley Drag Strip, which was run at the time by the King Cobra Rod
and Custom Club, and would also go on to run a Fuel racing program with
his brother with the support of NEC Corporation.
“It was the first motorsport sponsorship the company had ever undertaken
globally. We sold over six million dollars’ worth of computers for NEC in
three years,” the South Australian proudly recalls.
Vladimir
Ostashkevich
Email: [email protected]
South Australian Council Members
Andrew Favotti
Bob Scerri
Bruno Romeo
Rob Rath
Danny Buccella
Sergei Ostashkevich
Margaret Oppes
Andrew Braithwaite
He also organised the first drag racing demonstration at the 1988
Adelaide Formula One Grand Prix after two years of discussions with
the Australian Grand Prix board, and negotiated a television deal with
Channel Seven Adelaide for a local drag racing show – Drag Racing Today
– hosted by Bruce Abernethy. He also organised the show’s funding with
major companies such as Tectaloy, Wynns and Sprint Auto Parts and sold
the show to the Sky Channel in England.
“Drag Racing Today was one of the most successful motorsport shows on
TV at the time, out-rating local football shows and the cricket,” he said.
Later, he would be contracted to the Adelaide Speedboat Club as its
Marketing Manager. As part of the role, he organised the Australian tour
of world record holder Scott Price (Kentucky Thunder Top Alcohol Drag
Boat), with the tour gaining wide recognition for the publicity it received
nationally.
Now, Ostashkevich is hoping to use his business and marketing
experience for the benefit of South Australian racers as the Alternative
Division Director for ANDRA in SA. At the same time, while he might not
be racing, he keeps his finger in the pie with sponsorships of a number
of racers.
“I get enjoyment out of watching the racers we sponsor through ULX110
Oil,” he explains.
“It is hard to be a spectator once you’ve been a racer, but for now I’m
happy just begin involved and working to lift the profile of the sport by
organising events such as the demonstration we will have at the Adelaide
500 this coming March.”
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