Waterloo, Iowa. The Grand American Road Racing Association has selected Short’s Travel Management as its exclusive travel and event management partner, it was announced by David LeCompte, president of Short’s travel.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for us,” said LeCompte. “It is a valuable addition to our sports-related travel business. Factor in the fast-growing popularity of motor car racing, and this market-segment has a huge revenue potential.”

According to Chris Barnard, senior sales consultant, the agreement calls for Short’s to provide a wide array of travel services for the Grand American Board, staff, racing teams and sponsors, as well as, create and market tour packages to U.S. & foreign travel agencies and tour operators for international fan groups. The value of the award is estimated at $5 million over the two year contract.

“Grand American is looking for us to provide a-to-z travel,” noted Barnard. “That means getting staff and race teams to and from the race events; negotiating and managing lodging, car rental and charter contracts; providing on-site travel and hospitality support for staff, teams and sponsors; creating memorable kick-off events and annual award banquets,” explained Barnard.

Grand American Road Racing Association was established in 1999 to bring stability to professional endurance road racing in America. Since then the Rolex Sports Car Series and Grand-Am Cup Series have established themselves as well-run professional racing programs that cater to American teams and American fans.

Grand American joins other sports and championship travel clients NCAA, United States Equestrian Federation, Kansas City Chiefs and National Youth Sports Corporation for which Short’s provides travel authorization, registration, fulfillment and onsite meeting management services for athletes, staff, coaches, sponsors and fans.

“We have been working with Grand American for about six months, designing the processes, services and support that will be needed. From on-line travel bookings for staff to on-line registration for race teams to 24x7 telephone support for all events, they want a first-class product. And we know we can deliver exactly that,” concluded Barnard.

Current plans call for group and event planning to be managed by the company’s Incentives + Meetings division out of the Overland Park office. Individual travel fulfillment, 24x7 support and charter utilization will be managed from the Short’s Travel Waterloo, Iowa call center and charter operations department.

Short’s Travel is a $175 million travel management company with offices in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Missouri. The company provides travel, meeting and group incentive services to corporations, businesses, associations, sports organizations and public institutions on a national scale. The company is ranked 14th in the 2005 Business Travel News Annual Survey.