A promoter helping himself

Kdub_14 That's always the first question I have to answer to a non racing person " how fast does it go?" Is it wrong to say 88 mph and it travels thru time?

Then the next they say is… “well, shoot 88 mph, I drive that fast on the freeway…” You go on explaining that it’s a oval track with turns other cars, etc., etc…” and their eyes glaze over. Then you say, (some sarcasm here) “and the crashes, stuff flying all over… death defying thrills!!” And you got them back, “wow, I’ll have to check that out…” We have to be real here, some people do go to watch racing just for the crashes. And we can hope they come back someday to watch the competition.

Wouldn’t it be great if local race tracks (or any local track) got just one-tenth of the coverage of stick and ball sports on TV. The problem is most networks use sports experts (talking heads) that are quite often former stick and ball players.
 
TheBigWheel said:
Kdub_14 That's always the first question I have to answer to a non racing person " how fast does it go?" Is it wrong to say 88 mph and it travels thru time?

Then the next they say is… “well, shoot 88 mph, I drive that fast on the freeway…” You go on explaining that it’s a oval track with turns other cars, etc., etc…” and their eyes glaze over. Then you say, (some sarcasm here) “and the crashes, stuff flying all over… death defying thrills!!” And you got them back, “wow, I’ll have to check that out…” We have to be real here, some people do go to watch racing just for the crashes. And we can hope they come back someday to watch the competition.

Wouldn’t it be great if local race tracks (or any local track) got just one-tenth of the coverage of stick and ball sports on TV. The problem is most networks use sports experts (talking heads) that are quite often former stick and ball players.
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You are very correct there, majority of everyday people want to see the wrecks. They want to see daredevils defying death, take a look back at the post war era. Midget cars filled the stadiums of soldier field, along with 10,000 spectators. Why so many people, because they were guaranteed to see a guy die driving a racecar. It was like a circus act. Now a days people can stay at home and view whatever they want to view. Hard to get new race fans out of their routines.
We all should focus our attention on the kids, I whole heartedly agree about taking racecars to school and teaching kids that things they learn in school apply to racing. making them a better student.
 
Everyone knows what needs to be done but don't want to be bothered doing it......it is what it is and I think it may be to late to bring back the good old days
 
Exposure is exposure. The small town radio stations are just as if not more important than the bigger market stations. Bigger may mean a bigger broadcast area, but typically the smaller stations have a higher concentration of listeners.
 
rvincent21 said:
Exposure is exposure. The small town radio stations are just as if not more important than the bigger market stations. Bigger may mean a bigger broadcast area, but typically the smaller stations have a higher concentration of listeners.
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I will have my vintage car at the car show Fri. May 1st at Faith Church off HWY 30 in Fenton,MO provided I get it back from the painter by Wed. 4-29
 
Here's a few things I think has hurt local dirt track racing.

1. Downturn in economy. Since around 2005-2006 it was noticeable that people were coming to the track less and less. Talk to anyone who was promoting at the time, gas prices, threat of layoffs, lack of overtime at work, closing down this that and the other due to poor economic performance was going on all over. The Crash happened in 08, but the warning signs and tell tale clues were all in the economy leading up to it starting around 2005/6. We all have Wall Street to thank for siphoning off all the surplus cash in the American economy and stuffing their pockets with it. Unfortunately Wall Street financial whiz kids don't go racing.

2. Lack of wage growth. Fact of life, the majority of blue collar America is not getting better off any more, it's all just working to pay the bills and that's about it. If you have a good job and some extra cash, good for you, but if you don't, you probably don't have much hope of ever achieving that again or for the first time. Extra cash for a racecar or to go to the track? Seriously? Most people are just trying to find an extra 40 bucks for the Golden Corral all you can eat buffet for a night out Friday night.

3. X box and PS 3/4 etc. I work with some 6/7/8th graders from time to time, and all the boys always talk about Call of Duty. I talk to other kids around that age, and all the boys talk about is their gaming consoles and what games they play. Once a parent shells out that $350-400 plus games, that's it for entertainment for the kid for a long time to come. Forget spending money at the track or taking the kid somewhere, he's stuck in front of his X Box with his headset on fighting imaginary enemies for hours to come, talking to his friends who are doing the same. Parents just let them do it, it sure beats finding money every week to entertain the kid by going and doing something. Cheaper too.

4. Everyone's a winner, Baby! We give kids trophies for showing up at activities these days, and at the dirt track most go home with nothing more than a tore up, dirty race car that needs 3 hours of work on it for every hour at the track. Where's the morale boosting, ego inflating, you're the best Billy, good job! in all that? It's nothing like how they get coddled at every other activity they engage in these days. Racing is hard work. Period. No one cares about your precious "self esteem issues" at the track, if you ain't first, you're last and there is no trophy for second place. Which makes it way too demoralizing and hard for most kids who are used to getting a pat on the head and their butts kissed for showing up. Most kids who are groomed to think of themselves as great successes for participating can't handle the real hard nosed competition of racing, and parents are less likely to entertain anything that might hurt Jr physically, or more importantly, emotionally and endanger his future astronaut career or whatever.

Just my thoughts. Promoters have a hard time fixing stuff like the above, but I think it plays a significant role in reducing the popularity, attendance and participation at the local dirt track. And by significant, I mean like 30-40% drop in attendance and participation on a weekly basis. Ask any promoter if they would like to see even 25% more people at their track and I bet most would say that would be a Godsend. But we need to see some fixes to the bigger problems nationwide first before we start seeing some improvements locally. (And those answers are probably never coming in our lifetimes.)

So I say get used to the new normal, reinvent racing in some fashion that more can afford it on less, and see what happens.
 
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