Automotive News - October 16, 2017 - Supplement - S32

32 | OCTOBER 16, 2017
M E L H A M B E LT O N F O R D , W I C H I TA , K A N .

Mel Hambelton Ford's party
attracts performers and other
students from area high schools,
above and bottom of next page.

TAILGATE PARTY IS A HIT

Kansas store rehabs its reputation with annual high school sports bash
and surrounding communities attend the
event, Hambelton said.
During the three-hour event, five male and
female athletes receive trophies for athletic
Ken Wysocky
autonews@crain.com
and academic performance. About a dozen
cheerleading, dance and pompom squads,
hen Lisa Hambelton took the
as well as drum lines and bands, get $1,000
reins at Mel Hambelton Ford in
apiece for their schools, just for performing.
2008, the Wichita, Kan., dealerAttendees feast on free hamburgers, chips,
ship her late father had founded 24
water, soda and ice cream. And student
years earlier suffered from a reputation
bodies scream at the top of their
for bad service.
lungs as they vie for cash prizes of
Almost a decade later, vehicle
Annual tailgate
up to $1,500 for first place in a
sales and service revenue have
party celebrating high
spirit contest judged by a sound
rebounded dramatically, an inschool sports
meter.
crease that Hambelton largely
strengthens store's
Phil Nightingale, the dealerattributes to the dealership's foties to the
ship's general manager, mans a
cus on something dear to the
community.
giant T-shirt gun - purchased for
community's heart: high school
$1,500 in what Hambelton called a
sports.
go-big-or-go-home moment - and
Every year on a weeknight during
barrages students with shirts emblazoned
the last week in August, the dealership moves
with the Hambelton Ford logo. Students reroughly 1,200 vehicles off its expansive lot
ceive mini footballs, baseballs, basketballs
and hosts the Mel Hambelton Ford High
and soccer balls, also with the logo. Students'
School Tailgate Party. Roughly 2,000 students
names are drawn from a box throughout the
from a dozen or more high schools in Wichita
Printed in Automotive News June 5, 2017

night for dozens of smaller prizes.
"I love sports and that's what this event was
borne of. We don't give enough attention to
high school sports and how much work the
kids put in, so it's great to have a forum that
recognizes them and the drum lines and
cheerleaders and dance groups. And it's all
free. People absolutely love it," Hambelton
said. "And it has changed completely the face
of our dealership."

Rebuilding
Local residents weren't always so fond of
the dealership. "We had a bad reputation and
it took me a long time to live that down,"
Hambelton said. "I had trouble hiring managers. Our service was so bad that my own
employees didn't use it - and they received
an employee discount.
"When I took [the dealership] over, I knew I
had to step out" and do something "really different," she said. "Now we're known for holding
special events and contributing to charities."
see HAMBELTON, next page

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