Drag racing needs to be promoted better.
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Is that Justinp in 7?
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It is interesting thought. If you think about it..... who's marketing the product in the first place ? NHRA ? I guess for the Powerade series they do and is market specific based upon where the next race will be.
Local tracks, might occasionally have a little propoganda on the local radio's, but even that is very limited. Fact of the matter is, I don't think anybody is marketing the sport in itself. With hundreds of tracks around the country and 2 major racing associations with the IHRA & NHRA, you'd think something more could get done. Franchises, even the smaller ones, figure out how to make value of their marketing dollar somewhat. Maybe they could too.
I don't know, but I do agree with you.
btw, my money is on # 8..... has the look of "I'll do anything to win"...
Local tracks, might occasionally have a little propoganda on the local radio's, but even that is very limited. Fact of the matter is, I don't think anybody is marketing the sport in itself. With hundreds of tracks around the country and 2 major racing associations with the IHRA & NHRA, you'd think something more could get done. Franchises, even the smaller ones, figure out how to make value of their marketing dollar somewhat. Maybe they could too.
I don't know, but I do agree with you.
btw, my money is on # 8..... has the look of "I'll do anything to win"...
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Hell I see Duck and Pudding as the top promoters in the country right now. Our local track barely makes enough to keep the lights on. In the end its all about entertainment and competeing against comcast and such. If you can not entertain the people you might as well stay home and watch reruns of 2 and 1/2 men
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Funny you put this up. I recently wrote a letter to BIC lighters. I was tired of going into the bathrooms at Speedway and the poster on the wall advertised NASCAR or Football lighters. One time I saw a lighter vaguely referring to drag racing. My efforts may be in vain, but we'll see what happens.
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I'm just starting to try and promote an outlaw 10.5 series for the Chicago area for 2012,And I cannot believe that 3 out of the 4 track owners or managers in this area have not even heard of the class.
They just want wheelies,They don't even care if there is a race.
I think if Drag Racing is going to succeed there needs to be an actual RACE once in awhile.
Also the spectators need to be educated while at the race,And that is hard to do when the announcer knows NOTHING about what is going down the track.
Also it would be nice that if you owned a dragstrip that you would actually know something about drag racing.
I am impressed with the tracks out east and down south that have a lot of Heads up no breakout racing.
They just want wheelies,They don't even care if there is a race.
I think if Drag Racing is going to succeed there needs to be an actual RACE once in awhile.
Also the spectators need to be educated while at the race,And that is hard to do when the announcer knows NOTHING about what is going down the track.
Also it would be nice that if you owned a dragstrip that you would actually know something about drag racing.
I am impressed with the tracks out east and down south that have a lot of Heads up no breakout racing.
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The races in 2011 seemed to do just fine for everyone. From car counts to spectator counts.. everything seems just fine. This thread in my opinion is a little outdated.. we are seeing an increase in participation not a decrease.. flame away but those be the facts
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At a few races I agree,but on a local level they are getting hit hard. Lets make a small comparison . Orlando used to have close to 100 cars in 4 classes, anymore at any event your lucky if you have half that many, 275 being the exception, but even they have 5 races on the east coast on the same weekend with good purse's, so the heard is sometimes spread thin. The big independent races like the YB Nats, Shakedown, ORTC, and SCSN seem to be the big drawers, it looks like NMCA/NMRA car counts have suffered. Carl has been driving people off for the last several years so for the moment Orlando isn't even considered a big dog anymore.
There are a few exceptions to all this as far as promoting is concerned, like you along with, oh 40,000+ members promoting YB Nats, the Pritchett bros. Royce and Jason Miller, Dave Hance, Mel with PSCA, and yes even Donald and Amanda although they would not be the 1st choice as far as being any kind of spokes person for the sport.
I get a flyer from MIR every year with the schedule and usually a few times a year whenever they have a big event coming up along with emails, that's the only track. My daughter lives 10 minutes from VMP, the only way any of us know what's going on there is their website, there's no newspaper add, no radio or tv, nothing, and most time there's not a mention of anything in the 100's of race publications, and then they will bitch about car and fan count.
Yesterday at a track 20 minutes from me, there was a huge nostalgia race, again, nothing at all unless you happened across their website, someone ask me today if I went, I didn't know a damn thing about it because it was never promoted.
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I was having a discussion the other day about races and the topic was raised wondering why the YB nats is in Md when you are based out of Mich? We have a small group of racers here in the hills and I can assure you that most of us tip our hats to those that do put on great races like your YB Nats, Duck's races, the Shakedowns, etc but the reality is they are out of reach for a lot of our racers. I think that might be more towards what this thread is geared towards. Drag racing's decline in the Americana social scene.
Most of what we as drag racers see as big races now a days are small beans in the scheme of things. We put on a few lil races for our guys that have conitinued to grow and have been great for those involved but our reality is that we aren't competing against you or Duck or anyone else, but we have to fight for scraps because 2x a year across the parking lot, 180,000 spectators invade our region because NASCAR has left NHRA in the dust through marketing. Even at that, some at BMS will bend over backwards for NHRA and their numbers are 1/2 what they were 10 years ago. I have met and talked with Tom Compton and had a lentghty discussion with him and Gary Darcy, at the end Gary was handing me a biz card for me to call him. The truth is tho, I felt their concern wasn't with the heart of the sport but simply bottom line and maintaining their Glendora lifestyles.
How many spectators came to the YB nats or Ducks race aside from board members or crews? How much of the local population do you think showed up? I am not sure this is the right way to try to have somewhat serious discussion as topics can be quickly derailed on message boards but I am interested in others perspectives who understand the effort behind making things happen. I am an absolute nobody, but I do have a few years lurking around the business end of racing and today's world is ruled by branding and traveling circus organizations who in this hurt economy have shown they are not immune to decline either. Nascar being down 30k seats this year sounds awful until you think they still sold 150k seats twice here alone.
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The car counts once seen at races like Orlando will take a long time to see again. This is not due to people losing interest but more likely people losing their jobs or their once upon a time income. Outlaw racing has also become a lot more expensive than it once was.. The numbers in my opinion are improving and this can be a result of the economy bouncing back or people interested in coming back. I don't have the answer to which but I can say IMHO it is getting better.. Much better..
As far as promoting? I personally believe this dump is a great place to get the word out on races. It costs the promoters ZERO to post here and that leaves them with enough money to build the purses you now see. I believe Orlando was spending close to 60 grand on advertising.. In today's world, without the bullet, that would net a purse of a couple hundred bucks for the racers.
Sponsorship money is harder to get today than it was yesterday.
The economy is worse today that it was yesterday.
The average income is worse today than it was yesterday..
But hell.. it's getting better and I think we as a group here do a pretty damn good job of getting the word out on races. Several members step up and pass the word and some even print flyers, on their own dime, to get the word out. People like Mo Hall, Alex Vrettos, Chris Crusse and Jim Halsey are flying the YB Nats stickers on their cars this year and next. There are 4 more willing to do the same. They have asked for nothing in return and I believe these guys only care to see the sport grow and see much more competition the years to come.
Sure we can spend $60,000 on advertising to grab the interest of the general public.. But do you honestly think the races would be as much fun with a bunch of people who have no clue what they're watching in the stands next to you? If so, go to an ADRL event, talk with the spectators about drag racing and get back to me..
I think rather than having everyone spend 10's of thousands to get the word out.. that all of us working together is netting better results come race day.
Again this is my opinion.. and you can kiss my ass if you don't like it..
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