Guest HMPFlagman Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 I heard there was a bad wreck there the other day - had to calll lifeflight, it runs EVERY day during the week.... I wonder what kind of purse they're posting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 Quote: "...but if everyone in Houston doesnt know or have heard of HMP from advertisement from the track them the track isnt trying to make noise for itself....." Dang, Arts22, sounds like you are agreeing with me... Naw, that can't be right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 Hey TQ, even a stopped clock is right twice a day! Just messin with both of ya... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KISS_Racing Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 Agreed! Advertising is the key to this thing... Who you team up with in doing this advertising is another key... I have to give a BIG HAND CLAP to Terry Dickerson and USRA for teaming up with Dave & Busters, also getting K-ROCK out to do a live broadcast... Way to go guys... I think this will be well spent monies and will help in drawing in the crowd!!!!! Just a question, has anyone meaning Jason, Nick, LL or anyone involved with Speedzone thought about having booths at the different tracks and even apparences like the USRA event next weekend? At this booth we could get fans involved in TSZ and give them the opportunity to talk to their favorite drivers? This would be a way of getting more fan participation and give them a way to know who's racing where... Just a thought and maybe I'm beating down an old path? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 yes, variations of those have been discussed...we just need to do it...LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22crew/ Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 Maybe back tracking a bit. I spend alot of time in Houston and everyday that I am here I talk to someone about USRA and HMP (at least once a day) and find it surprising that I always find myself giving directions to the track because they have never heard of it or confuse it with the track(dirt) in Baytown. What more can we do as racers, crew, and fans to get the word out and get the people to remember about us on these weekends. Maybe some flyers could be made up and given to the teams, with schedules dates and times, some action photos etc, to hand out through out the season and off season. Just a thought. What other ideas could we come up with as a community and act on not just talk about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HORSEPOWER Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 HMPFlagman, SAS was suppose to close, I think I heard Nick say that, and Mike Sepich did his best to keep it open last season. I understood what you were saying, but I was not aware of Thunder Hill. Anyways to keep asphalt racing in Texas alive, these tracks should all be working together, and we already have seen signs of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REBELRACER Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 USRA for teaming up with Dave & Busters, also getting K-ROCK out to do a live broadcast... that is a good thing they are doing, i hope the results will show it........i was wondering why the radio station couldn't do a live broadcast from the racetrack once in a while too.......... At this booth we could get fans involved in TSZ and give them the opportunity to talk to their favorite drivers? that would be a neat idea, but i don't know with some of the negative stuff that gets said on here sometimes..........might end up biting the tracks and drivers..............jmo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HMPFlagman Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 I thought alot about things we could do, on my way home from the track and the flyers with directions and the schedule, given to the drivers,etc. To help hand out is a GREAT idea that I think every track should look at. When people ask what I do I tell them I have three jobs. A drafstman, high school basketball offiical, and starter for the oval at houston motorsports park. They ask if thats the horse track? I tell them no, encourage them to come out to the next event, etc. I even try and bribe 'em by tellin them if they come out, I'll let em wave the green flag for one of the races... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REBELRACER Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 A drafstman i'll be damned, i did the same thing for the past 7 years............just recently switched to something else and only do drafting on the side now............anyways, the flyer idea is a great idea and if you could work a deal with kinkos or another copy house in exchange for a good deal on the copies, it would be an even sweeter deal..............every little bit of advertising helps, no matter how big or how small............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 The SAS/THR team were handing out flyers like crazy last night at THR. Probably did the same thing at SAS. I got 3, without ever asking for one. It's promoting next Sat. night at SAS for the USRA SLM/Truck/Mod race. Its a good looking quality flyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 flagman-did i read in a previous post you just graduated from high school a few weeks ago-rule in life you will learn is, get your facts straight before talking about a subject(sas and thr) and maybe people wont jump on your case so bad-i have a 17 yr old daughter who just graduated and according to her she should be president cause she knows it all-not bashing you young people,but us older people know more than you young people think we do-always remember,we give you just enough rope to hang yourselves-and you did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 Tommy, I'll loosely quote my father-in-law on this subject. "For years my kids thought I was really stupid. Just about the time they finally had me thinking maybe I was, they figured out I wasn't so stupid after all." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 Budman- I'm glad THR was handing out flyers for SAS last night, but that just encourages people who go to THR to go to SAS, particularly for special events, and vice versa if SAS hands out THR flyers. What we need to do is attract more people to both tracks by reaching out to those who've never heard of either track or of HMP or CCMS. There are two million people in San Antonio and over a million in Austin. We really should be able to attract four thousand or so to our race tracks on a weekly basis, but how do you do that when they've never heard of the track? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 TQ, You're preachin' to the choir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 Yeah, and they were handing out flyers to the choir at THR last night... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arts22 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 The SAS/THR team were handing out flyers like crazy last night at THR. Probably did the same thing at SAS. I got 3, without ever asking for one. It's promoting next Sat. night at SAS for the USRA SLM/Truck/Mod race. Its a good looking quality flyer. Are they just handing them out at the track or throughout the city..... Hopefully they handed more out in the towns, cities, etc. Does it help that much giving flyers out to the people who already come to the races? Please tell me tq isnt on the same page......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jracer98 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 He also made some excellent points about how SAS was supposed to close, THR was due to close... HMP, I understood you the first time quite clearly. I don't think it's common knowledge that these tracks were right on the edge of going totally OUT OF BUSINESS. The ex partners that were in these deals didn't pull out because they were making too much money. It's not a coincidence that there are new partners/leaseholders in these deals. I don't think they are venture capitalists that have spotted a great investment as much as they are owners of racing series that were about to be a whole lot less viable if they did not "defensively" get involved in the tracks. Not everything young people say is wrong. I have the privilege of managing a great group of young enthusiastic people everyday. Thanks for your input HMP. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22crew/ Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 TQ, thats the exact point I was trying to make. Something we all could to create interest from the people we run across in our every day lives. If they are already at the track and we are all doing are jobs, and puting on a great show, they will come back for more. Lets get new blood out there. I talk to people who might see a t-shirt or ball cap I am wearing that is race related and it turns out they are race fans too. Still they havent heard of the tracks or the series, much less there is asphalt racing in Texas. Hopefully we can get the tracks and series together, print some flyers. All we have to do is keep them in our personal cars and when you mention the series in conversation hand them a flyer, not to hard. Glad this getting some positive responses, keep em coming guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HMPFlagman Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 From now on I'm just going to bring a tape recorder to drivers meetings and post an audio file on the web. I've been kind of hoping a legends drivers, or legacy driver who was in that meeting would have jumped in by now.... Course I'm automatically targeted because I do not have an affilation with THR and SAS, which seems to be the only drivers/fans who hang out here besides the few USRA, TAMS,TPS, and TSRS drivers.... *The only official position I hold is a flagman, I do not speak on behalf of the Bakers, Houston Motorsports Park, and great guys and girls I work with out there. My opinons and posts are exactly that, MINE.* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arts22 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 HMPFlagman, hey dont worry about it. In six or seven years most wont even remember what you said...........lol......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLegend96 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 I have worked with Graham and Sara Baker in the past to get the word out about Houston Motorsports Park. They have supplied me with close to over 2000 free tickets in 2004 with only one stipulation. I was to only give them out to people that have not been to HMP. People that would not normally go to a race. This meant no giving them out to friends and family no matter how much they begged. And they begged. I work in the trucking industry so I gave them out customers on a regular basis. I even stretched the rules a bit at work and held ticket giveaways. We see around 750 – 1000 people at our dealership in the parts department alone each day. I made up the raffle tickets on my printer (used a business card program). All they have to do is fill out the card and drop it in the slot next to the flyer. If your raffle ticket was picked you won a family pack of 4 tickets. We picked winners several times a day till the tickets were gone. Everyone had good intentions when they picked up their tickets, but did they go. I called several people after the race and asked them their opinion of how the race was. Would you believe that after calling eleven of the numerous winners only one winner went, and one gave his to his neighbor. But hey all that went had a blast and either wanted more free tickets or were willing to go again on their own dime. It seems as hard as you work on helping out your local track Murphy’s law is working just as hard. For a track to give out over $40,000 worth of free tickets in a year and still not get the turn out they would like to have makes it hard to figure out what direction you are going in and what direction you need to turn to. I have called and emailed Sports radio 610am several times trying to unload some free tickets in their contests they have each day in different programs. I always get the same response, like currently we are not looking to be affiliated with auto racing in any way but please check back with us at a later date. I explained to them that these are free tickets (like one fan giving tickets to another for free) and I am not affiliated with HMP in any way. They didn’t care to be involved then and to my knowledge they still don’t. A lot of you are right, when I mention the track, the word Baytown is not far behind and if for some reason they forget about Baytown they think dirt. I have even had someone ask if it is the old Meyers Speedway. I often forget that what I think is a good time is not someone else’s perception of a good time. The guys that work for me think I am a certified idiot due to the daily racing babble that comes out of my mouth on a regular basis. They could care less about racing. I have tried every trick in the book to get them out there. I have offered to buy them tickets, pay for gas, you name it. One thing that has been brought up on here by Nick and others is the competition between Nascar on TV vs. your local track and touring series. As much as we talk on here about the competition between tracks I find our biggest competitor is the silent one called Nascar. When talking to someone about HMP or USRA I find there are several types of potential “customers.” They range in various states from racing denial to yeah I’ll be there, where are the tickets? Out of every 10 people I talk to I am lucky to get one person to the track. Out of 100 tickets I give out probably only 20 tickets show back up to the track. Where did the other 80 go? Some people just forgot, some went out of town, and last but not least I have people say they would just rather just sit at home and watch Nascar on TV. Even the guys who are saying where are the tickets don’t show up half the time. I like would like to see everyone’s home track succeed, but due to demographics things do not always turn out to our favor. In Houston you have a million things to choose from before going to the track. Here’s a few. (NASA, Kemah boardwalk, Galleria, Rockets Games, Astros Games, Houston Aeros Games, Astroworld, Splashtown Outlet Mall, Lake Conroe, The movies and Etc.) I am sure I didn’t name them all but you catch the meaning of what I am saying. Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus all have their own places and events to choose from. This means that what might work in one place may not work in others. Over time some will succeed and some will fail. Thank goodness for a little insight on the Bakers part by adding a drag strip or else we would not be having this conversation. All of the track owners have it much harder than any of us can prepare our selves for. They must please the fans, drivers, and media. Much to the surprise of their harshest critics, they (critics) are usually the ones gaining more than most in the situation. They just forget it’s not their credit, namesake, or money on the line and that it’s not all about themselves. To sum it all up everyone is doing thier best to keep racing alive in Texas, not just SAS, THR, CC or HMP. My hats off to all track owners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie49 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 To HMP Flagman. I don't know how old you are, I could care less. I was only commenting on one issue- and let me be very clear when I say this so there is no misunderstanding- You did not get jumped on because you were young or because you are HMP and we are SAS or THR. You got jumped on because you came on this website and said that Graham Baker said that SAS is supposed to close and THR is due to close. It was then pointed out that maybe your age was a contributing factor in the lack of judgement exhibited by m,aking those statements. I'm not speaking for anybody else, but I would suspect the others who reacted negatively would probably say the same thing. Jracer, I may not have understood what he meant but I know what he said. If it wasn't taken the way he meant or if he misstated something then he needs to straighten that out, not those who read it and understood the same thing I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 NOTE TO HMPFlagman: Hang in there dude. Your views and opinions expressed on here are just as valid as anyone else's. Don't worry about ever embarrassing yourself on here either. Hell, I've finally figured out if I don't embarrass myself on here at least once a week, I'm not having enough fun. When it happens, I stay embarrassed at least 10 minutes before I get over it and move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie49 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 Budman, I agree with you. I hope that everyone realizes that my last post wasn't jumping on him I was just explaining the previous fallout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.