Camping World Holdings, Inc. is an American

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

specializing in selling recreational vehicles (RVs), recreational vehicle parts, and recreational vehicle service. They also sell supplies for

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more na ...

. The company has its headquarters in

Lincolnshire, Illinois Lincolnshire is a village in Vernon Township, Lake County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The village is a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 7,940. Lincolnshire was incorporated on August 5, 1957, from the un ...

. In October 2016 it became a publicly traded company when it raised $251 million in an IPO. Camping World operates over 180 retail/service locations in 46 states, and also sells goods through

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

and online. It claims to be the world's largest supplier of RV parts and supplies. The company is heavily involved in sponsorship of sports entities, such as serving as the title sponsor of

Camping World Stadium Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, ...

and the

Camping World Kickoff The Camping World Kickoff is an annual college football game played on the opening weekend of the college football season in Orlando, Florida at Camping World Stadium. The game, a collaboration between Florida Citrus Sports and ESPN Events, debut ...

, which is played in the same stadium. It is also the official presenting sponsor of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

League Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the semifinal round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969. In 1981, and since 1995, the two annual series have matched up the winners of the Division Series, an ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

's Camping World Truck Series, and the

National Hot Rod Association The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorspo ...

's Camping World Drag Racing Series.

History

Camping World began in 1966 with a small store in Beech Bend Park, an amusement park outside of Bowling Green which billed its campground as the world's largest. Campers at the park were requesting a store where they could buy supplies, so David Garvin—son of the park's owner—took out a loan and opened the store. Garvin amassed a large customer list as the years went by, which proved to be sagacious later when he added a mail-order division to the company. That division thrived, fueling the company's growth for years to come. In 1997, Garvin sold the company to the current owners,

Good Sam Enterprises Good Sam Enterprises (formerly Affinity Group or AGI) is a provider of membership clubs, as well as subscription-based products, services and publications, targeted toward recreational vehicle and other outdoor enthusiasts in the United States a ...

(formerly Affinity Group), of

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

. In 2005, Garvin announced plans for a huge development near

Franklin, Kentucky Franklin is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Simpson County, Kentucky, United States. The county is located on the south central border of the state, and its population was 10,176 at the 2020 census. Kentucky Downs, formerly ...

called "Garvin's". The development, described by Garvin as "a combination of

Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

, Camping World and

Bass Pro Shops BPS Direct, L.L.C, doing business as Bass Pro Shops, is an American privately held retailer which specializes in hunting, fishing, camping, and other related outdoor recreation merchandise. With headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, Bass P ...

", will feature a large Camping World store with RV 250 service bays; a five-story, 650,000 square foot (60,000 m²) permanent RV trade show and exhibition area; a "free-range" campground with dry-camping sites; camping

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

; and much more. Due to the recession, however, the venture never got off the ground and much of the land proposed for development was sold at auction in October 2011. In early October 2016 Camping World raised $251 million in an initial public offering. The 11.4 million shares sold for $22 each.

Marcus Lemonis Marcus Anthony Lemonis (born November 16, 1973) is a Lebanese-born American businessman, television personality and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Camping World, Good Sam Enterprises, Gander RV and The House Boardshop, i ...

co-owns the company with private equity firm Crestview Partners and plans to retain "substantial control" through his ownership of ML Acquisition and ML R.V. Group.

Operations

Under the Freedom Roads brand, the company sells RVs through a network of about three dozen independent dealers. In 2007, the company opened the Camping World RV Sales dealership; formerly known as Stout's RV. It is located on Interstate 65 south of

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. Since then, the chain of dealerships has expanded to more than 100 locations. The company also operates RVs.com. In 2017, the company expanded into hunting and fishing gear by acquisition of

Gander Mountain Gander Mountain, later known as Gander Outdoors and Gander RV, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, was a retail network of stores for hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor recreation products and services. History Gander Mountain Inc ...

, which includes the Gander Outdoors and Overton's brands. In December 2020, Lemonis announced a partnership with electric vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors. The deal will see Camping World act as the service and maintenance provider for the Lordstown Endurance pickup truck, as well as potentially marketing and selling the truck at their Camping World centers. Lordstown Motors will sell batteries to power Camping World electric trailers, as well as help design and manufacture an all-electric motor home at their Lordstown Assembly Plant. The motor home, dubbed the "Class E motor home/RV" is meant to cater to the motor home customers of the future.

Sports sponsorship

Camping World has major sponsorship involvement in sports, particularly college football and

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. In a 2020 interview with ''

Autoweek ''Autoweek'' is a car culture publication based in Detroit, Michigan. It was first published in 1958 and in 1977 the publication was purchased by Crain Communications Inc, its current parent company. The magazine was published weekly and focused ...

'', Lemonis emphasized the importance of a "conversion rate of familiarity" for sports fans—particularly those from racing series—into potential Camping World customers. Since 2016, the company has held the naming rights to

in Orlando, Florida, and also sponsors the stadium's

college football game. The stadium's bowl game was known as the

Camping World Bowl The Cheez-It Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Citrus Bowl and the Florida C ...

from 2017 to 2019. In 2017, the company became the inaugural title sponsor of

Auto racing

Ron Hornaday's truck prior to qualifying (2266491986)

Camping World's involvement in racing began in 2006 as a sponsor of

NASCAR Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to ...

driver

John Andretti John Andrew Andretti (March 12, 1963January 30, 2020) was an American race car driver. He won individual races in CART, IMSA GTP, Rolex Sports Car Series, and NASCAR during his career. He was the son of Aldo Andretti, older brother of racer Adam ...

. The following year, Andretti would also race with Camping World sponsorship in the NASCAR Cup Series and

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

. Other Camping World promotions during the 2007 season included sponsoring races like the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

Grand Prix at The Glen The Grand Prix at The Glen was an IndyCar Series race held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. American open wheel racing at the circuit dates back to 1979. Following a five-year hiatus, Watkins Glen was added back to the sc ...

and forming partnerships with NASCAR team

Kevin Harvick Incorporated Kevin Harvick, Inc., colloquially referred to as KHI, was a NASCAR team owned by NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick and his wife DeLana, who is the daughter of former Busch Series driver John Linville. The team owned cars in the NASCAR Natio ...

. Camping World would also sponsor various races and teams in both series over the years, such as Cup driver

David Ragan David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on Fox on ...

and IndyCar's

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...

in 2017. In 2008, Camping World assumed title sponsorship of the NASCAR Busch East Series and NASCAR Autozone West Series, dubbing them the Camping World Series East and West. Both series names lasted until 2010 when

K&N Engineering K&N Engineering, Inc. (also known simply as K&N) is a manufacturer of air filters, cold air intake systems, oil filters, performance parts, and other related products. K&N manufactures over 12,000 parts for various makes and models of cars, truc ...

became the new sponsor. Camping World became the title sponsor of NASCAR's Truck Series in 2009, replacing 13-year sponsor

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

through its Craftsman brand (since sold to Stanley Black & Decker). The sponsorship started in 2009 and will last until 2022. On May 8, 2018, NASCAR announced an extension of Camping World Holdings' involvement in NASCAR, including a rebrand of the Truck Series to the

Gander Outdoors Gander RV, formerly Gander Mountain, Inc. and Gander Outdoors, Inc., headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a retail network of stores for hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor recreation products and services. History Gander Mountain ...

Truck Series, a move made as Camping World's 2017 acquisition of the brand has allowed them to brand the series with an outdoors store. After two years with Gander Outdoors branding (the second of which was as the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series), the series reverted to the Camping World Truck Series name in 2021. In October 2020, Camping World acquired the naming rights to the

's pro series, branding it the

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is a drag racing series organized by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). It is the top competition series of the NHRA, comprising competition in four classes, including Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, ...

. The sponsorship had been spurred by a tweet from Lemonis in September expressing his interest in supporting the NHRA after it had lost its title sponsorship with

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

. In February 2021, in response to the previous season's Truck Series champion

Sheldon Creed Sheldon M. Creed (born September 30, 1997) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing. He is a member of Drivers Edge De ...

's truck running nearly unsponsored during the first two races of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Lemonis made a "challenge" to all unsponsored teams for the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Bucked Up 200 at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

. His deal was to give teams $15,000 just to have the truck wrapped in Camping World colors and logos, $25,000 if the truck comes in the top 10, $35,000 for a top 5, and $50,000 if the truck wins. Numerous drivers and owners took Lemonis up on his offer, including Creed. Lemonis' sponsorship campaign continued in later races, with his other companies like Good Sam also being involved, and included supporting NASCAR Xfinity Series teams. Ahead of its inaugural season in June 2021, Camping World became the title sponsor for the

Superstar Racing Experience Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), officially known as the Camping World SRX Series, is an American stock car racing series founded by Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Sandy Montag and George Pyne. The formation of the series was announced on July 13, ...

, naming it the Camping World SRX Series. The collaboration was led by Lemonis' donation to the Plating Change charity.

References

External links