But, he started his journey washing cars and his education is in the premedical field. So, you may wonder how he gained the skills needed to succeed in his career.
It all began when he was 12. His family believed in the value of having a hard and continuous work ethic and wanted to instill that same value into John. So, after school, they had John work at the family business washing cars.
At 15, John was promoted to the service department where he further learned the value of hard work. He also learned the value of education and worked hard to do well in his studies. After graduating High School in the top two percent of his class, he went on to college and graduated with honors.
He, at first, planned to get a Master’s degree and was even accepted into Stanford University Medical School, but he decided to return to the Automotive world.
There, he took on position after position working hard to learn how to succeed in each one. Eventually, he was promoted to Sales Manager and learned one of the most important skills that led to his eventual success.
That skill was negotiation. In order to increase sales, he learned that he needed to be great at negotiation and seeking out the right partnerships. He soon grew a reputation for greatly increasing sales wherever he went—so much so that General Motors approached him with an offer.
General Motors wanted John to buy an Oldsmobile-Cadillac store that was heading toward bankruptcy. Seeing the potential that the store had, John bought it using his self-made savings.
Then, he negotiated a deal with Mazda to add their cars to the store’s lineup. It was a success, and the store went from selling 25 units a month to over 280 units a month. Mazda even awarded the store with the prestigious President’s Club Award for its outstanding sales.
John continued to seek out partnerships and negotiate deals which resulted in the Bommarito Automotive Group seeing unprecedented success and becoming Missouri’s #1 choice for consumers in all of their automotive needs.
He then set his sight on the racing world and negotiated a deal with Curtis Francois—the CEO and owner of the Gateway Motorsports Park—which led to a multi-year agreement and a world-class INDYCAR series event that saw competitors come from all around the world.Appropriately names the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
But, John knew that having something to sell (the event) was only one part of the equation. He also needed to “sell” that event by ensuring that it was packed with onlookers. So, he came up with his “Audience Enhancement Program,” which resulted in the series reaching record attendance after only two events. The popularity of this event and its overall success then turned heads of Nascar officials and today his home track, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway Motorsports Park has one of only 3 venues to host NHRA, NASCAR AND INDY CAR, plus over 300 more events a year.
He also decided to start two NASCAR teams and sought out a partner to do so. He ended up teaming up with race car driver/owner Jordan Anderson and the two started a NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series team and the Bommarito Chevrolet Xfinity team.
All in all, John Bommarito excelled at his automotive career because he not only had a hard and continuous work ethic, but he also realized the importance of negotiation and finding key partnerships when it comes to increasing sales and making things happen.
