Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooter
many (not all) promoters don't promote anymore....as in...bring a friend to the track night...dollar dog nights...Big wheel races...anything to sell extra tickets to NEW faces...anything to get a new fan in the gate...keeping in mind you need to retain the familiar faces..
Racing has lots of competition with "other" activities. Gotta keep it interesting.
Social media is a promoters friend.
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I agree wholeheartedly with this point. There are a few tracks in Indiana that fully embrace the promotional side of all of this. For instance:
- Joe Spiker at Lincoln Park Speedway does phenomenal job trying to get fans in the stands. First of all, he scheduled 30 or so dates for his track this season. When the season begins and I'm making my schedule for the season and have a free Saturday, I don't have to worry about whether LPS is running or not. I think that makes it more friendly for fans that aren't as involved on social media or tech-savvy. Joe schedules the "Little Feet Challenge" events where he gives away bikes to kids, does the cookout during ISW, etc.
- As for the special nights, I'd say the most involved with those has to be Lawrenceburg. Scout Night, Little League Night, Fire/EMS/Police Night, Veterans Night, etc. Hell, they even have CDL Night. Not sure why other tracks wouldn't do that kind of thing to get potential new fans in the stands. I haven't finished my MBA yet but sure seems like good business to me and it doesn't come at the price of alienating your current fan base. Additionally, Lawrenceburg like LPS is almost always running, if there's a big sprint race elsewhere they'll run LMs instead but that track is hardly ever dark on a Saturday nights.
It's also no secret that the vast majority of sprint car fans are older. When you look at the demographics of the crowd it's easy to see that the younger generations are underrepresented. Tracks need to find ways to get the younger kids in the stands. Maybe the chance of winning a brand new bike or getting to go with your entire Little League team is just the thing that will get a young child to the race just once, get him or her hooked, and have them begging their parents to go back moving forward.
Lastly, as Scooter pointed out, the internet and social media is definitely more of a friend than foe. With one post on Facebook or Twitter you're instantly letting thousands of people know about an event. Why would a track not take advantage of a free marketing tool that is used by more Americans than not?
I do want to point out that promoters or tracks that don't do these things aren't necessarily "hurting" sprint car racing but they certainly aren't helping it either.