NASCAR and Hunt Brothers Pizza: A heavenly partnership
Like the old song says, “All the boys will sing and the girls will shout and the ladies they will all turn out” when the No. 66 Hunt Brothers Chevrolet rolls into Paris on Aug. 26 and Frankfort on Aug. 27.
Some will turn out to see a new addition to NASCAR racing while others will stop by for the prizes, like gasoline money and Hunt Brothers Pizza.
Either way, the No. 66 Chevy represents more than just food and fuel to a company that calls Paris and Nashville its home bases.
No. 66 symbolizes the rise of a family company that began with the merger of four brothers’ small town pizza businesses in 1990 and grew into 6,000 locations in 27 states in 2008.
Those locations are generally rural convenience stores that sell Hunt Brothers Pizza. It arrives frozen and is cooked at the store.
The Hunt brothers’ customers are generally NASCAR fans and that’s why the Hunts went into racing, said Bryan Meng, nephew of the brothers, including Jim Hunt of Paris.
“NASCAR is really a big step for us,” Meng said.
Along with it comes the Hunt Brothers’ first national advertising campaign, a indication of how high the company has set its sights.
“We definitely want to be nationwide,” Meng said. “We have just prayed about it and it’s where God is leading us.”
That reliance on a higher power is spelled out in the “guiding principles” on the Hunt Brothers Pizza Web site: “Place God first in all we do, be a blessing to people, trust God to meet our needs, strive for excellence.”
We don’t know if God is a NASCAR fan, but it looks like somebody up there likes pizza and the Hunt brothers. Competitors might want to know that.
The No. 66 Chevy will be at the South Main BP in Paris from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday and at Cowboy’s Food Store, 1585 Versailles Road, Frankfort from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
