[captrat]

We often here the lament about the shrinking size of our fan base. So a few thoughts to perhaps IMHO to combat this. 1. Have a program or at least a sheet of paper listing car, driver and hometown. Veteran fans know this info., but not the newcomer 2. Single car quals so the newcomer can match car and driver with program 3. On track driver intros. before feature with driver not in car 4. Push program start time ahead 1 hour during DST so more racing done under lights, rather than blazing sun drying out track 5. no support classes for major events, reducing overall time of program and track deterioration 6. reduce dust 7. clean restrooms 8. knowledgeable and professional track announcers who actually call the races; Jack Miller and Chris Economaki understood this 9. in a perfect world where insurance companies, litigious lawyers and space permitted pit areas would be in middle of track. Of course this means the giant Mayflower trailers would have to be outside instead of blocking the view of the paying customer.

Captrat, off the ocean and back on land

[Mud Packer]

Originally Posted by captrat We often here the lament about the shrinking size of our fan base. So a few thoughts to perhaps IMHO to combat this. 1. Have a program or at least a sheet of paper listing car, driver and hometown. Veteran fans know this info., but not the newcomer 2. Single car quals so the newcomer can match car and driver with program 3. On track driver intros. before feature with driver not in car 4. Push program start time ahead 1 hour during DST so more racing done under lights, rather than blazing sun drying out track 5. no support classes for major events, reducing overall time of program and track deterioration 6. reduce dust 7. clean restrooms 8. knowledgeable and professional track announcers who actually call the races; Jack Miller and Chris Economaki understood this 9. in a perfect world where insurance companies, litigious lawyers and space permitted pit areas would be in middle of track. Of course this means the giant Mayflower trailers would have to be outside instead of blocking the view of the paying customer. Captrat, off the ocean and back on land

If you could get all of this accomplished, you would have the perfect race track to promote.

[ThePurple73]

Great post. 100% agree.

[Charles Nungester]

The more interaction you can have between drivers and fans, Cars and Fans, The better. It would pay back ten fold for tracks to have some cars down at the track entrance with drivers. Put the kids in the seats. Chat with the driver.

Those going for a long time, Knew the Stewarts, Gordons ect. Some who've gone on to be superstars. I still see em as the hard racing guy next door (in the Pits) that is

[racephoto1]

I hear all about what the tracks should do all the time. The most important part is YOU !

Take a kid racing with you. If you are taking your family or kids with you, and have an empty seat, fill it ! It's cheap entertainment , and the kid never forgets. It's easier to bring a child into the fold and start them young, then trying to get an old fart interested.

Also , don't just make it a one time thing. If your going to the track, and the kid wants to go bring'em.

Start them young, and they'll stay.

[apexonephoto]

I agree with a lot of these ideas.

I would also like to see a racetrack maybe give free passes out at little league/youth sport events. These games are a perfect place to find a good family to turn into a good racing family. Also are most of these games played during the week leaving weekends free to go racing?

Something I think all tracks should do is free admission if it's your birthday. While many will just go by themselves, it would be a good opportunity to pay it forward and use the money you saved to pay for someone less fortunate.

[c47]

i think the problem, at least around here (pa, nj, ny) is that there are too many "back gate" promoters (and i use that term very loosely)
they stopped "promoting" and the fan base dropped off so they try and make it up by adding more classes, which KILLS the casual fan fanbase.
no one wants to go see a midget race if they have to sit thru 6 classes of fender cars (or worse).....no matter how big a midget fan they may be.....not to mention what 6 classes of fender cars do to the track before the midgets run their feature.
so you got a casual fan sitting thru crap they dont want to see only to watch what they came to see....be run on a junk track.....thats one less person that is gonna show up next time.
and....think about if you did bring kids....they would be bored to tears and wont want to come back.

good track prep....start on time....keep the show moving (no 1 hour intermissions to sell hot dogs)....provide some sort of interaction with the drivers and cars....and some sort of giveaways for the kids and adults (bike night with discounted kids admission, ect) and start advertising...not just posts on the internet...
bottom line, IMO....promoters have to get back to promoting....not just opening the gates and thinking "they will come" cause in todays economy, they wont.

Originally Posted by c47 i think the problem, at least around here (pa, nj, ny) is that there are too many "back gate" promoters (and i use that term very loosely) they stopped "promoting" and the fan base dropped off so they try and make it up by adding more classes, which KILLS the casual fan fanbase. no one wants to go see a midget race if they have to sit thru 6 classes of fender cars (or worse).....no matter how big a midget fan they may be.....not to mention what 6 classes of fender cars do to the track before the midgets run their feature. so you got a casual fan sitting thru crap they dont want to see only to watch what they came to see....be run on a junk track.....thats one less person that is gonna show up next time. and....think about if you did bring kids....they would be bored to tears and wont want to come back. good track prep....start on time....keep the show moving (no 1 hour intermissions to sell hot dogs)....provide some sort of interaction with the drivers and cars....and some sort of giveaways for the kids and adults (bike night with discounted kids admission, ect) and start advertising...not just posts on the internet... bottom line, IMO....promoters have to get back to promoting....not just opening the gates and thinking "they will come" cause in todays economy, they wont.

I'm glad to see a post about the excessive number of classes. I don't know the real reasons behind this, and I really don't care what they are because I just don't like it. There have to be some sponsors that hate it too. It's bad economic policy for the sport as a whole for so many reasons, though I'm sure some sponsors have just as many reasons for why it is good for their particular business. I don't know, sometimes greed is good.

Alsok, I'm not saying there shouldn't be variety, there HAS to be variety. There has to be wings sometimes, there has to be pavement sometimes, and there has to be fenders sometimes. Sometimes you have to have a road course or two and even a dragstrip. All of these need a few different skill levels. However, when maximizing the economies of scale for the sport as a whole, it makes more sense that there be fewer choices than currently offered. We wouldn't know Henry Ford's name today if he insisted on making 20 different types of cars on his assembly line The problem is in deciding what gets cut where, but people should at least stop making up new classes, at least for a while.

[terrehautian]

One of hte things I liked about Terre Haute Action Track the last years I was at the track, they would do driver introductions for the feature, on track, with cars sitting on the front stretch, and then push them off. Did a little interview with some of hte drivers and then had the race. This was with DHK doing it, I haven't been there since Sargent did it last year and of course they haven't had one this year.

I also agree on the drivers sheets, if not a printed a sheet, a piece of paper that you can write down yourself the drivers. I honestly don't know half the drivers that have been at Putnamville the times I have been there and they introduced during hot laps and I couldn't here half of them.

Also, as for support classes, at the small tracks, it sees to be okay (like Putnamville) while at bigger tracks, like THAT, the support classes would def. slow the show down (and since they normally don't have support classes, they know this).

[KMS2683]

The on track driver intro's and related things have ceased because most tracks run 6 to 8 divisions and in order to get them done in a "reasonable" time they do not have fan based interactive time. If there were just sprints and/or midgets there would be time for the intro's and other fan interactive stuff and still get the program done in 3 hours or less. Unfortauntely, the backgate promoter is prevelent across the U.S.