Colt15 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 I dunno how many people get Late Model Digest. But I was wondering why there hasnt been any articles on ROMCO races like there have been in the past years. I know last year they had a whole page or two but havent seen to much this year. ?? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
44SS Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 I know last year that there was a LMD reporter at some of the races, and I have not seen him this year. Did he quit and LMD needs a Texas reporter? If so I know that there or several people from TSZ that can do a good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonestar88 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 44ss that was my question also, does someone call the info in or is there a reporter at the races? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
44SS Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 I dont know how it is set up, but i looked at LMD website and they had race results from THR,SAS, AND other Texas tracks, maybe one of our writers could contact them and get a gig. The guy last year was also a photojurnalist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 I talked to LMD and was told that they do not always recieve photos or a full report. I like our current photographer, but we need someone that will come to every race and press releases after every race. TQ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Late Model Digest does not pay their regional and local correspondents. At least they didn't when I was reporting for them back in the 90's and I doubt that has changed. What I got was a byline and was listed in their long list of contributors. I don't believe they have anyone from the South Texas area submitting stories and results at this point.. They probably get most of their results from the internet. Â Any one wishing to volunteer for the unpaid reporting job should call Jim Carson at (828) 837-9539 for more information. Â Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Romco should be doing this for there own promotion, we need another Pat Maberry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Nick, you're probably right about LMD not paying. It's been standard for years to get people with an interest in a sport (not just motorsports) to do event reports and even photos for nothing. (One usual tipoff, at least for local media, is if the byline says "Special to the... it's usually a freebie.) ROMCO had someone sending stuff out up until this year, which is probably why they got coverage in LMD, but I think I read on this forum that that person had stopped doing it. Bandit, even if I wanted to do it, I have conflicts and can't be in two places at once. Mullins needs a PR person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROMRD Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Bandit  I agree with you we need another Pat, I have asked many people if they would be intrested in going to the Romco races and doing the stories for all the papers , but so far no takers. We are looking for someone to travel with us and do the stories and get them LMD and other papers, if anyone is intrested please contact me or Robert Mullins. My e-mail address is on the web site.  Thanks Terry Barden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Terry, I know there is no lack of effort on ROMCO's part. Have you ever thought about a journalisim student at one of the Universities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonestar88 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 With all the talk on this forum about what the track's can do to promote their show's, this sounds like a great oppertunity to get the word out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 LoneStar88, this isn't about track promotion, it's about series promotion. Two different animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 LMD is on my email list for THR results. They get our results every Sunday by noon and have been getting them since last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonestar88 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 TQ, I think promotion is good, no matter what brand. Anything that help's the track's or the series is good dont you agree???????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SASPEEDRACER24 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 I would do it but Im not that great of a writer in my opinion... The photography could still use a little work too.... Guess I will keep pluging away here at SAS for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 I would have loved to do it, but Mr. Mullins never replied when I volunteered to do so after Pat Maberry left. And now I'm helping out with the TPS series and the two series quite often are at different tracks on the same night. Â Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racecar25 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 i used too write for late model digest but only doing the local san antonio speedway class. back in the day i would send results and usually lmd posted them. every week or so lmd sent me a box full of there newspapers so i could hand out (for free) to the race fans at sas. i would leave the box at the front where the ticket ladywas. after a while bill hagalund began taking over my "job" for some unknown reason and therefore lmd stopped sending me papers. once mike sepich took over i tried too write again but he would have no part of it because he could make $$ by selling the lmd papers and i gave them out for free so i stopped writing for that track all together. the only "story" i did was when david star won a tida race there and pete peters (the best sas photographer ever) sent in some pics and it all turned out pretty good. i would love too write for them again but i also want the race fans too enjoy a lmd free of charge..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Sorry, LoneStar88. I didn't take the time to make myself clear, as I was on deadline earlier. You were talking about ROMCO getting coverage, and then talked about how this could help the tracks promote their shows. Some of them do. Kathy sends the THR results to LMD as she should. But it's up to ROMCO, not each track, to promote the ROMCO series. At the least, they should be doing what Kathy does: sending their results to LMD (and other news sources) as soon as possible after the races. Beyond that, they should have a replacement for Pat, even if they have to pay him or her, to send in stories about the series and its drivers. As we've noticed this year, without someone doing that, the coverage falls off. Tracks can advertise that the ROMCO series is coming. They should, but can only do so if ROMCO is being promoted, because otherwise, they're advertising something most people have never heard about. Advertising without promotion just doesn't work, and the track won't be able to recover the extra money spent on advertising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckLicata Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Just a stab in the dark here, guys and gals... Â I believe that, by now, everyone knows that TQ Jones and I both do promotions/marketing..TQ has been doing this for a long time, he has his list of clients and he is well-respected in the racing community for what he does... Â I "officially" started my promotions' duties about a month ago, and I have a couple of clients as well...there may be others on TSZ who do the same--if they do, then I apologize for not mentioning you, I just didn't know that you did it... Â Speaking for myself ONLY...I have offered a couple of series (ROMCO and ARTS) my services for promotions...now, to be upfront and honest, I didn't offer them for free, I asked for a small fee...considering my personal situation, I don't have the money or time to do it for free----if I were to EVER win the lottery, then I could change that policy and I'd be HAPPY to travel the state and cover racing series for free.. Â People like Rebelracewriter (aka, the Gardener), Nick (aka, What's that smell), Jason (TSZ) and Kathy also get paid very little/nothing to help promote racing and they do a phenomenal job...and there are MANY others (including most of the fans on TSZ) who do the same for free... Â We'd all love to live in a perfect world, where we make $100,000 a year working a 9-5 job where we DON'T have to take our work home with us, and we'd have time to support our local drivers, tracks and series for free..However, reality dictates otherwise...for a lot of us, it's NOT ABOUT the money----but we do have to live and pay the bills! Â I have ALWAYS hated the phrase, "You get what you pay for"...unfortunately, especially in today's world, it's a very TRUE statement.. Â So, to para-phrase what I believe TQ has said in many ways on threads throughout TSZ..you have to spend a little money to get some promotions/marketing at the "next" level..(TQ, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)... Â Just my .01 worth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfgarvin Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 All, I have been doing the Photography for RatTraxx paper for a number of years now, just as rebelracewriter has been doing the stories, I know quite a few people in the area have contributed alot of time and expense trying to promote Autoracing in Texas, Most of them do submit Stories and Photographs, I am trying to get with Rebelracewriter and send him pic's so he can send with his stories, sometimes sending them in seperate does not always work. Â SASSPPEEDRACER24 and Jim also do a very good job on the Photography, between us and the other reporters out there we can only try our best to get this stuff in on time and hope they will publish. Â I will be concentrating on trying to do this for whatever race I am at. Â TSRS Photographer Jeff Garvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Chuck, Close enough, but one thing I've tried to point out consistently is that you don't have to hire someone to do PR and sponsor search IF you can do it yourself, or your maiden Aunt Minnie can do it for you, or you have someone on the team who can do it. It doesn't matter who does it, just that it be done, and done well. There's an old saying that "Racers tend to stay broke at the appropriate level," meaning if they can afford to run street stock, they stretch to run late models, or if they can afford to run late models, they stretch to run a traveling series, always on just enough money to keep going. But, even if you do that, part of deciding where you can afford to run is including money for PR and sponsor search. Too many drivers race at a level that allows no time or money for spreading the message about who they are and what they do, and for putting together sponsor packages that make sense. And, in modern racing, you just aren't going to get anywhere that way, even if daddy has really deep pockets. Again, some, probably most, drivers don't plan to race at a higher level. They're having fun running their class at their local track, and that's great. To me, they are the real backbone of the sport. But there are still things they can do, if they want to, to draw attention to the sport. Some of them have been mentioned on this forum, and I've said over and over that I'm willing to answer questions and offer advice (as I'm sure you are, Chuck). But I can't afford to do major work for free, either. If you have any ambitions beyond your local track, you will have to have someone (mom, wife, best friend, Aunt Minnie or, yes, a professional) working to get you known and to get you sponsors. By the way, I had kind of a weird dream the other night. I dreamed we were doing what we do now, racing the same tracks in the same cars and with the same crowds. Only... There was no NASCAR. It had never happened and didn't exist. That's worth thinking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckLicata Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 TQ, Very well put... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonestar88 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 I agree, well done TQ, just goes to show ya that there's always more than one way to do things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertx Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 I've got an idea we all talk about how bad promotion the series and the tracks do [ i do see some things being done ] Lets start a drivers, team owners,seriies group we all pay a small annual fee to this group to hire guys like tq and chuck to promote texas racing not individuals. would that be something that anybody would be intrested in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted September 6, 2003 Report Share Posted September 6, 2003 TQ so you think we should get rid of NASCAR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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