NHRA Marketing Strategy, or Lack Thereof..

[hemidup]

Originally Posted by drooze

I agree

3)If you dont get new people to the races and let them race, you cant get new fans OR entrants....

With every racer I figure he brings at least 5 fans to the sport just a guess...but think about it , Joe Nobody Races.....Ok, his mom and pop are built in fans following, his gal, and a buddy and maybe an aunt or uncle. They have no prior exposure to racing, NOW they do, they are at the track filling the seats. THEN You have Joes Cousin Johnny, who through Joe gets exposed, and decides he likes it, and so on so forth.

Its socially viral in its spread......to do that you need to seed it.

Seed it with a LOT of people who would have otherwise had NO exposure to racing.

Dont start with FANS to make the Sport big, cant get a fan in something they dont understand, Get the Racers, the fans WILL follow.

Point well taken. A couple years ago, some friends of my sons stopped by and was talking crap about my supercharged pickup truck and telling me how their little turbocharged Civic, WRX and Camaro would kick its butt. I told them to put up or shut up..... let's take 'em to the track.

Now these little street racer's had very little track experience so I set up the meet for an NHRA Friday Nite Street Legal event about a month in advance. Off and on for the next few weeks, I helped those kids with certain items and issue's so their cars would pass tech. They all thought they had 11 second rides based off their butt dyno and I gave them crap about how slow they would be that they probably wouldn't even need a helmet. lol Those kids were on their cell phones, Facebook, etc, telling their friends to come out and watch the race. I couldn't believe how many kids and family members showed up. There was a caravan of them. Must have been at least a couple dozen and for most, it was their first time ever at a track.

A few things were achieved that night.

#1, I took their racing off the street and put them on a safe track where racing belongs.
#2, Introduced drag racing to people who've heard of it but had probably never even watched it on TV.
#3, Grudge racing is fun. The kids had a blast setting up races with other racers they met for the fisrt time and building new friendships.
#4, Sportsmanship. I told them to never under estimate your competition and don't be a sore loser cause they'll aways be someone faster than you, especially an old guy in a big yellow pickup truck.

These kids have now moved on from the Friday Nite Street Legal drags and compete in bracket racing at Rock Falls. They've broken, busted, rebuilt and repaired their cars, but are having a blast doing it with family and friends.

Maybe its time for us racers to get involved if scheduling permits it. Maybe volunteer a Saturday or Sunday once a year? Maybe go to your local school and setup a field trip? Talk with your local newspaper for some free press? Talk with your local parts stores and have them kick in a few bucks to keep the cost of the field trip down? Talk with your local track for reduced or free admission since they'll make it up at the consession stand?....Just throwing some idea's out there is all.