The 2026 season is already turning out to be a busy one for Patrick Mulligan and his PM Promotions company. With a range of promotional activities and fuel sales in full swing, the Cornwall, ON resident is excited to return to the track for a 24th season.
Mulligan started PM Promotions in January 2002, while he was still in high school, to manage sponsorship and marketing for dirtcar racer Joey Ladouceur. He continued his business as a side hustle while studying public relations at a French college in Ottawa, before growing the company after graduation.
PM Promotions got involved with multiple teams, before an opportunity in the fuel sales industry came from JP Gobeille, who Mulligan met at the race track. Gobeille started B&G Race Fuels, which became the official fuel supplier for the NASCAR Canada Series through their distribution of Sunoco race fuels.
“I was basically his right-hand man, helped him run the business, and I was also overseeing the Ontario customers,” said Mulligan. “After the first season, working managing his DIRTCAR 358 modified team, I started doing different things for JP…my first duty working for the company was him bringing me to the PRI Show to introduce me to all the top guns of Sunoco Race Fuels.”
While B&G’s ownership and NASCAR Canada’s fuel supplier have since changed, that history laid the groundwork for PM Promotions’ current involvement in the space. Mulligan continues to sell Sunoco, Fuel Factory and Lucas Oil Products, with the latter ranging from lubricants to oils to Lucas Oil’s Slick Mist.
Mulligan also started his own karting team more than a decade ago. He currently fields a kart for 15-year-old Benoit Jean-Louis at Cornwall DIRT Raceway Park and is planning to field a ride for Jean-Louis on the big track in a future season.
The young driver and his dad take care of the raceday karting operations while Mulligan wears another hat, overseeing sponsorships and promotions for the Tuesday night karting program at Cornwall. He stepped into that role when the track was considering shutting down, helping keep the facility going for the next generation.
With motorsports being a seasonal industry in Canada, Mulligan says that his schedule has highs and lows throughout the year.
“Let’s take today for example; as we speak, I’m doing some work for GO FM 91.9 & 92.1 radio, where it’s radio advertising sales,” said Mulligan, speaking with Inside Track on a Friday in May. “Before the day ends, I’ll be touching base with a customer who bought a drum of fuel off me this week, to make sure that he has it for the weekend. Then, there’s also double-checking that the trophies are ordered for next Tuesday at the go-kart track.”
Mulligan got involved with GO FM, a French-language radio station in Cornwall, as a co-op student in high school at around the same time that he started PM Promotions. As for a typical off-season day, there remains plenty to do.
“Selling some advertising, selling a bit of fuel, maybe selling a few go kart nights for the upcoming season,” said Mulligan. “Also setting up any potential promotions for Cornwall DIRT Raceway Park.”
Mulligan was born into motorsports; his dad Brian was a longtime drag racing announcer before joining Cornwall to manage announcing, promotions, sponsorships and public relations. Patrick was brought to the track at a young age, where he sat in a stroller with noise-cancelling earmuffs watching runs at the drag strip when he was two-years-old.
With 24 seasons of PM Promotions and a lifetime in motorsports, Mulligan has no plans to slow down. He’ll be launching a new website for the company in the coming weeks and encourages potential customers to give him a call.
“We are here to help you promote and sell your services and products, no matter what type of company or business you are,” said Mulligan. “When it comes to racing, if your business is in the racing industry and you’re looking for help to promote it; that includes your race team, somebody to help you negotiate your sponsors, media relations or if you have your sponsors lined up but you want somebody who knows how to go in and do the proposals that have to be done.
“PM Promotions is also very strong in helping the up-and-coming generation and that’s where the involvement of owning a go-kart and having Benoit Jean-Louis driving for me comes in as well.”
For more information, contact Patrick Mulligan at (613) 551-2400 or pmmotorsports@hotmail.com.
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