Racing with Rich Energy - How a rogue sponsor took Formula One for a ride

By Alanis King & Elizabeth Blackstock Book Review by Ken Davies

Motor racing attracts a glamorous aura together with some dubious characters! Some that spring to mind include Sidney Miller, one of several aliases of Southern Organs fame who sponsored anything that moved in national motor racing during the mid-1970’s including a singleton Surtees F1 entry at Silverstone. Then there was charismatic David Thieme of Essex Petroleum, with trademark goatee beard, square shades, and black Fedora hat, who sponsored the Lotus team 1980/81 before being arrested and charged with fraud.

More recently F1 enthusiasts will recall the bizarre tale of Rich Energy and the American Formula One team HAAS, who announced the unknown energy drink company as their title sponsor during a lavish reception at the RAC Club in Pall Mall February 2019. The founder and CEO of the fledgling company was William Storey, a relatively unknown entrepreneur and salesman who became multimillion-dollar F1 sponsor just one short year after records showed Rich Energy held a mere $770.00 in its bank account.

Storey publicly mocked any doubters and even the HAAS team itself for its lack-luster on-track performance. But where were the unseen cans of Rich Energy drink, and did the sponsorship funds, said to be $20M, actually exist? In the six months between Storey's inaugural F1 race as sponsor and his very public exit, he stole the limelight with a flurry of smoke and mirror publicity, aided by an active Twitter account highlighting his bizzare beliefs. He also goaded his nemesis, the championship winning Red Bull F1 team.

Proving that truth is stranger than fiction Alanis King and Elizabeth Blackstock, authors of this forensically researched, and well written book, delve remorselessly into William Storey’s background while carefully dissecting the HAAS F1 team and Rich Energy, seemingly a company with no products, proven by consumer’s inability to locate the distinctively packaged, black and gold cans of go-juice in retail outlets.

Made famous by the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ potty-mouthed HAAS team boss Guenther Steiner sarcastically described Storey’s relentless Rich Energy news Tweets: "I'm getting sick of answering these stupid f*****g questions on a race weekend. I've never seen any f*****g thing like this." The truth was, no one else had either and this 292-page softback book uncovers the fascinating and often wacky tale.

Did HAAS receive any Rich Energy money before the deal ended after the 2019 British Grand Prix? We never found out as Storey and HAAS declined to cooperate with the author’s regular requests for information. Perhaps in HAAS’s case they were embarrassed for failing to exercise due diligence on an unknown sponsor. That said, some former HAAS team members did talk anonymously, and the final word comes from one of these: “Storey had some good marketing ideas. Listen and I’ll tell you something. If the whole story had been about making an energy drink popular and famous, it would have worked. Everyone knows what Rich Energy is, it’s famous. That bloke deserves some kudos. He did a good job”.

Published by McFarland & Company in 2022, the book is comprehensively indexed and complete with detailed chapter notes and appendices containing lists of questions the authors posed to both Storey and HAAS, which remained unanswered. Ref: ISBN-13 9781476688800 the book displays no cover price but can be obtained online from the publishers for $30 (£24) including delivery.