Gwinnett Hooters restaurant appears in video revealing special car design for NASCAR’s Chase Elliott

Dawsonville’s Chase Elliott is arguably the most popular driver on the NASCAR circuit so when he takes part in a promotional event, it’s a pretty big deal.

In January, Elliott was the star of a video that provided the “reveal” of the design of the Hooters-centric car he’ll be driving in three races this season. The spot was produced at Hooters Mall of Georgia in Buford and featured several Hooters servers, including Gwinnett County resident Chela Gamboa.

Gamboa, who has worked at the Hooters restaurant in Lawrenceville for nearly five years, said the NASCAR star’s warmth nearly made her forget how cold she was.

“It was freezing,” said Gamboa, one of four Hooters servers in the video with Elliott. “We had jackets that they provided us for some of the shots, but a lot of the shots were showing off the Hooters girl uniform and it was just freezing.

“Before I got to the shoot, I was very nervous — I’m meeting a celebrity! But when I got there, he was a very chill guy, super-nice and very helpful. And his team was very helpful — anything you needed, they were there for you, making you feel comfortable. It was just a really good, fun experience.”

The Buford resident said she’s done a lot of promotional work for Atlanta-based Hooters of America, appearing in three calendars and on billboards, and she added she felt that was one of the reasons she was invited to appear in the video, which prominently features the Hooters logo on a white car with black and orange trim.

Credit: Chris Stanford/Hooters of America

Credit: Chris Stanford/Hooters of America

“It was a blessing, honestly,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of promotions for Hooters for a while now. It all started with getting into the calendar in 2018 and since then I’ve done commercials and billboards and a bunch of other things, so I guess that’s what brought me into the NASCAR campaign.”

Hooters is an auxiliary sponsor for Elliott and he’ll drive the Hooters car in three races in 2022 — in St. Louis on June 5 (NASCAR’s inaugural race there), in Bristol, Tenn., on Sept. 17, and in Las Vegas on Oct. 16.

“What’s great about the partnership is he’s NASCAR’s most popular driver and he appeals to a very broad demographic — both loyal NASCAR fans as well as a younger demographic,” said Bruce Skala, senior vice president of marketing for Hooters of America. “He appeals to NASCAR fans who are loyal to Hooters as well, and Hooters Racing is bringing in a new group of fans with our sponsorship with Chase Elliott. It’s been a great partnership.”

In the days before the Daytona 500, Elliott — who turned 26 in November and is the son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott — signed a five-year extension with Hendrick Motorsports and Skala said he’ll also continue to have Hooters sponsorship.

“We see a long relationship,” said Skala. “Chase just signed a new deal with Hendrick Motorsports and with that extension, we’ve recently extended our contract as well and we’re very happy to be part of a long-term partnership with Hendrick Motorsports and Chase Elliott.

“We don’t sponsor any other drivers. Anything Chase does, fans react positively to and he’s a great ambassador for our brand and we love having him in our restaurants.”

This year’s design of the Hooters car is quite different from a year ago, Skala said.

“We have three races each year and a different paint scheme every year,” he said. “We reveal the paint scheme, which is a popular thing that a lot of NASCAR fans look forward to, seeing what the car will look like for each sponsor each year. It’s completely different — last year was black and orange and this year is more of a white-and-orange base. It looks great. Last year was a unique opportunity and we named that car the Night Owl. This year we have it tint of blue, haven’t given it a name yet.”

Although she wasn’t a NASCAR devotee before meeting Elliott at the video shoot, Gamboa — who graduated from Mountain View High School in 2015 and is currently studying nursing at Gwinnett Technical College — said she’ll be paying more attention to race results going forward.

“Before this, I had not watched a lot of NASCAR,” she said. “I heard about it all the time working at Hooters, but I wasn’t much into it. But since the shoot, I’ve definitely tried to keep up because even though it’s not like I really know (Elliott) personally, I do know him and I want to see how he’s doing. So this shoot brought me more into NASCAR and wanting to know more about it.”

Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post

Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post

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