Promotion

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Correct me if I am wrong (and I know yall will LOL)

 

But if the racetracks are short of money for promotion, advertisement, etc. would it not be a good move for them to perhaps shift focus a little and concentrate on helping the driver to promote themselves. If you go with the assumption that their would be no racing or racetracks without cars, then helping the drivers to acquire sponsorship/advertising dollars you would then help the track to attract spectators. When a track gets the spectator count up, businesses notice and will be more eager to bring their advertising dollars to the track and also the drivers. Teh track could get a pr/marketing person to put on seminars for the drivers to teach them how to market themselves. I know that I could sure benefit from this.

 

Thanks for your time.

[NickHolt]

zoom,

 

It's the old, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" thing. Track owners will tell you that if there were no track, there would be no racing. Race teams will tell you that if there were no race teams there would be no racing. Fans tell you that if there were no paying customers there would be no racing. Sponsors tell you they are doing the best they can. PR guys tell you, "Pay me and I'll see what I can do fer ya... "

 

So, just who is responsible for promoting racing, filling the grandstands and making it worthwhile for race teams to participate? I know there will be those who will disagree, but IMHO it all starts with the track ownership and track management. In my book they are responsible for getting the word out to potential customers about their business, for providing enough purse money to attract an ever-increasing number of race teams, for fostering a fan-friendly (and racer-friendly) atmosphere, for providing a level playing field for competitors and for offering excellent, affordable concessions on both sides of the pit wall. I know this is a TALL order and that it is very expensive.

 

That being said, there are very few owners/promoters with deep enough pockets to do it right. Track promotion takes big bucks. Good purses don't grow on trees. Competent staff are hard to find and even harder to keep if they are not fairly compensated for their services. And maintaining and improving the the racing facilities costs lots of money.

 

However, we all know it has been done in other parts of the country. I keep on citing Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Maine as an excellent example of how it can be done. You probably are aware of other tracks who have suceeded in a big way.

 

In the case of South/Central Texas, it still can happen. But it won't happen unless someone with deep pockets and who can see the potential steps up to the plate and invests in a significant way to make it all happen. I guess I better go buy another lotto ticket.. lol

 

Nick Holt

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Nick,

What you say makes a lot of sense. but the angle I am looking at is a division of task. sure the promoter must do all the things you said. But the way I see it, if they help to make the driver teams successful in gathering sponsorship, that team will be a source of advertising/promotion for the track in and of itself. If I have a local track that I know is working on my behalf as well as it's own, and is helping me. I will work real hard to make sure that track is successful also. The fans will come to a great show, the drivers will provide a great show if they can afford to. and the track will be the place to go. Everyone gets what they want, but it starts with the track IMHO.

 

BTW, if there were no tracks, we would just use a pasture somewhere. done it before!

[tqj3]

Nick, you're absolutely right. It seems as if everyone thinks it's the other guy's job to promote and publicize. They're right, in the sense that it is EVERYONE'S job to promote and publicize at whatever level they can handle (which doesn't necessarily mean money; not everyone is comfortable writing or making phone calls), but what usually happens is that they decide it is EVERYONE ELSE'S job, so no one is promoting and publicizing, including the promoters.

Worse, you can't get information out of most race teams without a prybar. When I ran a publication, I NEVER got an unsolicited press release from a race team, and when they would see me and say, "Hey, we just did such and such, why don't you do a story?" I would ask for them to send me some info to get me started and give them a card. I'm still waiting for the info.

The bottom line is that the only source of money in racing, as in any other sport, is the fans. The promoters don't supply the money, they just handle it. The drivers and crews aren't the source of money, they ultimately need to get it from sponsors, and that means fans.

There are drivers trying to get 50 grand to run something like the ROMCO series when no businessman in his right mind would pay that kind of money for the small amount of exposure he would get. If you want more money, you have to increase the value of your product.

That's true of promoters as well. The more people in the stands, the more you can charge for track advertising. Eventually, you can even raise ticket prices.

The beauty of it all is that the only way to get more folks in is to make the show interesting. I think most of us agree that NASCAR racing at the Cup and Busch level isn't all that great, while the trucks are putting on a heck of a show. But that doesn't matter, because Cup has the stars; the folks whose ups and downs the fans are following. They don't care how good the race is, they only want to see Gordon win and Smoke lose, or vice versa.

That's good, because people drive any sport (football, baseball, basketball, you name it). It's people that people come to watch.

That makes it simple for us as well: all we have to do is make heroes out of the drivers, and we can all work together to do that because it benefits us all.

But, who is going to bell the cat?

[only a racing fan]

I can agree with all of you about what your saying. I think its all about getting the fans to the track. As a fan I think the most important thing to get me to a track is a decent car count. The biggest turn off is when I here about tracks around here with late model cars averaging under ten per week. I attribute this to small purses. Nick, i agree with you about Beech Ridge motor Speedway. I was stationed in Maine while in the Navy and went to that track several times. I also went to Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine quite regularly. Both put on great shows each week(please dont tell me to move back there, its way to cold for my taste). The fan count at these tracks are usually 3,000 to 5,000 each week with the Pro stock car count usually between 22 and 28 per week. Just last week Oxford had a 100 lap race with a $5,000 to win and 39 cars that started. Now Maine is not very populated and there is not a lot of money there but one reason racing seems to be big is the fans love there drivers and they want them to make it to the big time. So they support them the best way they know- by going to the races each week. I almost hear nothing about local drivers here when they get to other series. Maybe some track owners should go visit some other tracks that are succesful. Is there any way to talk to track owners? maybe there out of touch with what fans and drivers want. To me its build it and they will come. Please check out www.oxfordplains.com or www.beechridge.com. these two tracks must be doing something right.