Truck99 Posted November 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 TQ, Last year, the pit passes went up from $20 to $22. If $1 from each pit pass would generate a points fund like that, I'm all for it. However, I would like to see the track kick it in from the existing $22. If that's not financially possible for the track, I would still support it because it's the best idea I've seen yet. On a semi-related note, I've had a few fans bring up the subject of general admission price to me. Last year, SAS went down to $8 while THR went up to $12. Given the state of the economy, most believe that THR should have followed suit and dropped their admission price to $8. In an effort to boost the fan count, I think this idea should be discussed at one of the THR staff meetings. Thanks for the feedback, Chase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 tqj3, I like the idea of putting a buck in the points fund for every pit pass purchaced, but I doubt it would generate a $15,000 point fund. That would take 15,000 pit passes a year! Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 THR does sell a lot of pit passes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daffynmark Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 What about 'Points Fund' t-shirt sales with the proceeds going directly to the points fund? There would be an initial investment with printing costs. Or you could possibly have the t-shirts printed in trade for sponsorship then all proceeds would go to the points fund. If you sold 500 t-shirts at $15 each the expenses were sponsored/paid for by a local business it would add $7500 to the points fund. Even if you only sold 300 shirts all season at $10 that's still $3000 added to the points fund. You can't pass up a t-shirt for $10! You might even be able to get multiple local businesses to sponsor the t-shirts in exchange for their logo on the back of the t-shirt. Kinda like the way charity runs and city sponsored events do it. Your large, colorful logo would go on the front and 10-12 one color business logos would go on the back in trade for their sponsorship of the t-shirts. The extra $1 for the pit admission is a great idea also! Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jracer98 Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 THR racers, There was a driver hurt at Devils Bowl (Dallas) this year and some shirts were produced and sold to raise money. Contact "joman00" on whowon.com to get the financial details of how it ended up. That may give you a starting point. Tell him jracer98 directed you to him. He is the flagman there. On the extra dollar deal. just some quick math and assumptions... 20 races after rainouts etc. 100 racecar car count each race To get to 15K would require each car to produce 7.5 pitpasses per night. Also, if the track collected this, they would have to show it as income and pay taxes on it so there would be a reduction in the total. That seems a little strong but you know your track...just trying to help. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck99 Posted November 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 I'm not a tax expert, but I think the tax issue would "wash out" if that income was paid back out as an "expense." I still think the idea has promise, but others do as well, such as the T-shirt sales and the track kicking in $100 for each class with a 20+ car count. That would possibly serve two goals - increaing the points fund and encouraging larger car counts. cs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp17 Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 My first comment would be to ask for a bottle of whatever cough medicine you’ve taken a liking to. $15,000.00?????? At one dollar a pop, Thunderhill would need to sell 600 pit passes for 25 straight race nights to raise that kind of cheese! I've been in the pits at every "significant" show THR has ever had and I'd wager there wasn't 600 pit passes sold at any of them. My second comment would be to ask when did you change your mind about marketing and promotion? You have espoused the benefits of both in a number of posts and yet your only two suggestions are: 1. Get the racers to pay for their own point fund 2. Get the track to pay for it. My suggestion would be to have whoever is in charge of this project have class specific meetings with the car owners and drivers. Have a round table discussion encouraging each team to make point fund raising suggestions. Afterwards every team makes a list of potential class sponsors and the track representative then makes a presentation to each and every one them. JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 JP- Everyone's points are well taken. I didn't suggest the idea of adding a buck to the pit pass cost, I merely passed it on, along with the idea of adding to the points fund if the class pulls more than 20 cars. There are three sources of income: drivers, sponsors/advertisers and spectators. The possible sponsors and advertisers are limited by the number of spectators and increased as the number of spectators goes up, which is why I keep talking about promotion. But just how much attention can we generate for the sport in the few months between now and the opening of next season, and in the even smaller time between now and the time when we need to sell sponsors and advertisers on the sport. We need to provide a points fund some way. If we can do enough promotion and attract enough spectators, that problem will take care of itself. But it isn't likely to happen before next season, as nearly everyone agrees that Thunder Hill, Houston Motorsports Park and even the San Antonio track are pretty much unknown to the general public in each area. Nor is this something any of the tracks can solve all by themselves. I have seen a few press releases this season, mostly on this site, and I wonder when other drivers are going to start promoting their teams and whether any of those releases have been sent to, say, the local newspapers, TV and radio stations, because putting them here is preaching to the choir. (For instance, we already know who the "Three Amigos" are; it's the rest of the Texas world that is unaware.) The T-shirt idea is good, though some of the folks who sell T-shirts for a living, like Jerry Spencer, might not be crazy about it. We're looking for ideas, ideas for now, and ideas for the future. That's why I threw out the suggestions, and the numbers aren't mine, either, by the way. I was just going with what was said in conversation. I don't have any idea what any of the tracks are drawing in revenue from any source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97car Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 TQ I read your post on the previous page,and think the combination of the two ideas would have potential. A lot of tracks do not even have a point fund anyway,so any incentive should be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 TQ3, I know Jerry Spencer and he loves racing he has been verry helpful wit the FASCAR orginazation at SAS and he would probably help sell some of the "points fund shirts" if someone ask him providing they were good Quality .Jerry is a friend to racing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 a shirt design I have seen is to put the top ten cars on the back if the shirts with the drivers names and the track name on the front. it would make each years shirts a collecters item Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 my idea-pay for your pit pass(whatever it is)+the driver pays an extra $20 to race that goes into points fund-say you can get 20 cars a race in that class-that's $400 a race that goes to the points fund-and your class gets to race 20 times a season-that's $8,000 in the points fund-then pay it out to the drivers who compete in 75% of the races.That way if a driver wants to get some of the point fund $$-hes got to show up for 75% of the races to earn it-that can keep the car count up-running a touring series i can tell you that including a pit pass and a fee to race, i spend an avg of $120 just to race-this is not counting other expenses(travel-fuel in the hauler-fuel for the race car-food & drinks-lodging if needed-tires if needed-toll fees to get to some tracks-etc)-this is just my idea-take it how you want to-by the way-with a large points fund-you might want to talk to your tax man-cause unless you know how to play the game-it will be earned income and Bush will want his cut.It's fun giving the government a few more $$$ in taxes cause you got some racing BUCKS at the end of the year along with your weekly race earnings-IRS loves Racing- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie37 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 thats a good idea Tommy...i agree with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt5858 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 THR prices are already too high, they need to find a way to at least lower the grandstand admission. As for the drivers point fund Good Luck on finding a way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVCMNGR1 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Well heck, now that TSRS won't be racing there you should be just rolling in the dough. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wkr77 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Hey yall tell me something...how big was the points fund this year after they raised prices to get in? With TSRS gone, I'm sure that THR will sell even more passes for people to get in, thus raising more money for the points fund! Alright THR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerpete2 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 I only get to race a few times a year. I don't care about the points fund because I'm not going to get any money at the end of the year. Why should I pay for their point fund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daffynmark Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Hey racerjim2: The idea I suggested with the sponsor logos on the back of the t-shirts was to get the sponsors to pay the entire cost for having the t-shirts printed. If that is done then all proceeds from t-shirt sales would go to the points funds for the drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racegirl15 Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 I agree with the earlier question...was the points fund bigger this year after the raised the cost of admission? I definately think that the price of grandstands admission should go down - with this economy, it's hard for a "family" to come watch racing @ $12 a person...I have talked to several fans of THR that don't come anymore b/c it has gotten too expensive. Also, some drivers that mostly do it for fun & barely ever get a check the next week, don't bring anyone with them b/c it cost too much to get in the pits. There's got to be a way THR can lower the cost of admission & then maybe they would have a bigger turnout. Possibly sell season passes to the grandstand folks for a discounted pirce? T-shirt sales is also a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck99 Posted November 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 To answer the question that has been asked a couple of times, the points fund this year did not increase at all as a result of the pit pass price being increased. The points fund was, in fact, much less than it was last year. One must conclude, therefore, that the increased pit pass price was not contributing to the points fund at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted November 7, 2003 Report Share Posted November 7, 2003 i think there is something wrong with my computer big john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wkr77 Posted November 7, 2003 Report Share Posted November 7, 2003 i think there is something wrong with my computer big john thanks for the info Big John...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted November 8, 2003 Report Share Posted November 8, 2003 daffymark A combination of the two may be a part of the answer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daffynmark Posted November 8, 2003 Report Share Posted November 8, 2003 racerjim2: That could work! It would be cool to have the racers cars and a logo for the series on the front to promote the series and the logos for sponsors on the back to promote the sponsors...I think we are getting somewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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