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Sitting in the stands, after the fuel cars run about half seats go empty for Pro Stock. More leave when the alky cars come up. When the throttle stop cars come up nearly everybody leaves. I'm surprised how few watch Comp. I love Comp, but more money than I'm willing to spend here at the end. Some come back for Comp, Stk & SS, but not many. I've seen guys post about how excited spectators get when a nine second car is chasing down a fifteen second car, but that's only in their minds. Almost nobody watches us do anything.
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Everyone's seen that happen. What I have ALSO seen is thousands upon thousands of fans stay and watch all of the sportsman classes at a national event at Norwalk. I have ALSO seen the stands empty out during the sportsman classes at a national event at Norwalk. Yet another year, I saw thousands upon thousands of fans stay and watch all of the sportsman classes at a national event at Norwalk. What was the difference? At some events, the announcer TOLD the fans: Okay, time to get up, buy a hot dog, and go back in the pits to watch the Pros work. (Thereby creating a logjam at the concession stand, restrooms, and in the pits) Other times, the announcer explained the sportsman action people were seeing, and many stayed and enjoyed it. There always a segment that wants to go eat or watch the Pros, but if you just let them go when *they* want to, the lines and congestion stay more manageable. My first year working for IHRA, I was manually posting DRC-provided results on IHRA.com from the track office, and when I had a break, I'd go sit up in the stands, watch, and more importantly, LISTEN. People were interested in what they were seeing -- they just had a lot of questions. Stuff we take for granted anymore like "What are they spinning their tires in?" Once I started answering questions, everyone within earshot was asking questions about 'how does this work?' and 'what if this?'
If you advertise a race as "Show starts at 6:00PM!", then guess what, people are going to think the show starts at 6:00PM. If you tell them there's an incredible rolling car show going on all day long and educate them about what they're seeing, a lot of people will come, watch, and enjoy. If you tell them to leave, go buy a hot dog, and watch the Pros in the pits, then that's what they're going to do. I've seen it happen both ways.
Since I was a kid, all I've heard is "there's no kids coming into the sport, it's dying". There are dozens of kids coming into the sport at any given time at podunk little Beaver Springs Dragway alone, who bothers to market to them. Then you hear say "People can't understand bracket racing." Think about that for a second. Do you know how ridiculous that is? They're called rules (and there aren't very many of them). There are a massively larger set of rules in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc. If people know what the rules are, this is NOT HARD TO UNDERSTAND. It just needs explained. Make someone watch any game with no knowledge of the rules and without telling them what's going on, and they're likely to get bored or frustrated.