Speedway Show

[racerjim2]

Ok, I've been thinking .What should a fan( customer )of a speedway see ,get ,or feel when they are at the races.In other words, what should the "show"consist of ? give me your thoughts.

[jp17]

The first thing I think that a typical fan notices is the facility itself. Someone outside of our "community" may pass by a race track a thousand times and never give it a second thought because it doesn't look like some place they would take their family. Secondly there needs to be excitement in the air from the second they walk in the front gate. I've noticed Thunderhill has done alot in this regard in the last couple years. A new Corvette for Dad to look at, race cars on display, music etc. Once inside the place needs to be clean. This includes the restrooms. Just because Mom and Dad will suffer through marginal facilities to watch Junior play high school football doesn't mean that they find it acceptable. Lastly the show itself needs to be exciting, concise and leave the fan wanting more. I fear we all too often leave them wanting less. I can think of a half dozen ways that would each knock 10 minutes off the show and cost the track owner little or nothing but we'll save that for another post. JP

[double-trouble]

The show should go on smoothly! Track officails need to have the stuff togather.As less down time as possible.Quick clean up of wrecks.Good track annoucers.Fair flag man and officials.I have been to many tracks across the state and I have to say THR is one of the best is putting on a good show with little delays and problems.Nice clean facility too.

[Racerpix]

I couldn't agree more! It isn't just about the race itself... it has to be about the "whole experience". I think what happens at a lot of smaller tracks around the country is that they wind up being owned by racers or race fans and not so much by business people. There is an art to promotion and every track should have a profesional skilled promoter. While it's true that a good hotdog, cold beer and a clean restroom along with a good show will keep fans comming back tracks need to continually try to pull in new fans to maintain a healthy rate of growth, every business needs growth and a racing facility is no different. Without growth a track becomes "stagnant" and people begin to think all you have to offer is the "same old thing every saturday night". How many times have you visited a track that you were at two years ago and found the exact "same old thing"?

[NickHolt]

More food for thought from the fan's perspective.

 

At a minimum, well-written driver bios should be part of the printed program. Better yet, there should be a weekly insert into the program to keep the material fresh. Tell them how Driver C is doing after the big wreck last week. Tell them about the engine sway Driver D had to perform in just four hours before last week's race. Tell them how Driver E is positioned in the regional points standings. Tell them who got disqualified and why. Stuff like thatl. I used to write a thing call the Backgate News every week and it was passed out to every driver coming in the back gate. It was mainly designed to keep the drivers up to date with things. Eventually the owner decided to pass them out at the front gate too. You could see people reading them in the stands during caution flags, during intermission, etc. A similar update could be done for the fans. Fans want to identify with what's going on down in the pits, but with no information it's hard to do so unless you personally know a driver or are somehow already connected to a competitor down there.

 

Also, the PA announcer should know the drivers well enough to be able to share personal stuff about them with the fans. And not the same one fact that is one the announcer's notes being repeated week after week. I hate to keep bringing up Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, but they just plain do it right. At that track the announcer knows all about the drivers and their crew and their wives and kids and where there race shop is and where they started racing and why they switched from a 6-cyl Hudson to a Ford Flathead, etc. etc. This way the fans get to "know" a driver. And as we all know, when a race fan adopts a "favorite driver" that fan will be back to watch him/her race even if there are only two cars in the class. Just knowing that Driver A is from San Antonio and drives the Number 2 car is not enough information to get the fan interested in him or her. But knowing that Driver A is a shop teacher at McCullum High School, is 46 years old with two kids that play softball, has a dog named Spot, got started in racing as a crew guy for Driver B, and his wife is in the pits doing the suspension work on the car... well.. that gives the fan something to love or hate about the Driver A. That's how fans are made.

 

You get the idea. While both these things take lots of time and effort to make it work right, the cash outlay is not all that great.

 

Nick Holt

[tqj3]

Nick,

You have most of it right, but getting an announcer who knows all that stuff would cost a fortune, because he'd have to spend all his time getting to know the drivers and everything about them.

The reality is that the announcers don't know everything, but they have something, a bio sheet on each driver, a media guide, something, that has the information.

Watch and listen to a football game. The announcers come up with all sorts of information, often on some third-string player who came into the game unexpectedly. Within one commercial, they come up with all kinds of stuff, from where he went to college and high school to how successful his teams were.

They don't get this from being smart enough to know beforehand that two players are going to get hurt and this kid is going to get his break and so do an interview with him.

No, they read it out of the media guide; assembled, printed and handed to them by the team's sports information director. As I've noted before, the University of Texas prints 15 separate media guides, with the one for football alone running hundreds of pages.

This morning's Austin American-Statesman carried a short piece about Mark Cuban an Jerry Jones and the media in which they both said they realized the value sports pages have in reaching fans.

"The advantage of being in sports is the huge equity called a sports page," Jones is quoted. "Any other segment in this country would kill for that kind of exposure."

Except, of course, auto racing. We can't even be bothered to put out a few press releases a week. We'd rather complain about how unfair it is that we don't get handed to us the kind of coverage the other sports work their tails off to get.

[Bandit]

I agree with both Nick and TQ. If fans do not develop a favorite driver, then what is the point of watching? I don't watch a race on TV unless there is a driver I like participating.

[racerjim2]

Well these are my thoughts we want fans to be entertained. When the fans come through the front gate maybe have some officals ,drivers,or the Promoter\ GM\ Owner of the track, in a pie throwing or a dunking booth. Maybe have the offical that gave a questionalbe call or DQed a popular driver in those booths , what do you think about that Nic, a track could make a fortune off Randy lol.they could have a side of a race car that people could get there picture taken with on display I'm sure a track could get drivers to donate some slightly used fenders and doors for such a project.Have someone build a tire changing fixture and have a monthly contest where the winners from each week compete for a trophy or a couple of free passes to the racesn the front straight during a intermission.Have booths out in the open where people can see t-shirts and souveneers that are for sale. During intermissions have something like the little blimp that they use a t the Rampage (S.A.'s hocky team) to distribute redeamable prize balls for any company that would donate anything.Introduce the drivers on one weeek ,crew chiefs on another week and a sponsors representaive another week.with the short fields we could shorten the race length so the fans are not watching a parade of car with no passing being done. After the races have the GM\owner\promoter thank the fans for coming and invite them back at the front gate when they are leaving.Make the fans feel special, not like a problem

[zoom]

I think I get your meaning racerjim2.

More of a fun, carnival, state fair type of atmosphere. Where going to the races is a special event.

Instead of the attitude for the fans of come in, sit down, shut up, spend money, watch the races and go home.

A bunch of these things could be done with almost no cost. they could also have a drawing at the beginning of the evening where a fan and his guest could sit in some specially situated recliners to watch the races. Maybe even use the 50-50 tickets to draw from. And whatever happened with the young people working the stands with soda, peanuts, hot dogs and popcorn?

And make sure there are no long periods of silence. There should be sound, talking, music, something at all times.

Just a few thoughts.