Promoting Drag Racing

chris3racing · 02-17-2010, 10:36 AM

I'm going to put this on this portion of the site because I think there are a lot of people here who will find this interesting. I was invited to put my race car in the classic car portion of the International Auto Expo this past week-end, in Raleigh, snow and no place to race. During two days I found out some very interesting things.

The age group of people interested in drag racing and drag race cars has no limits, from small children 2 or 3 years old who wanted to look inside a car and touch it, teen agers who have an interest in the cars and the various aspects of engines and racing, to 60, 70 and 80 year olds who want to talk about how it use to be and the enjoyment they got from going to the track.

There were people who were interested to know that our whole family participated in drag racing and how many generations (3) that are represented by the car we had on display and race on week-ends.

The thing that really set me back was how many people do not know that they can still go to a drag strip locally, within 60 miles in any direction, and see a drag race every week-end in North Carolina, other the Z-Max Dragway in Charlotte. I spoke to people who do not know that some of the oldest drag strips in North Carolina and this part of the country still operate every week-end. Most of the people thought the tracks were torn up and gone. There were so many people there that can remember names of drag racers from 1960's and 1970's at all of the local tracks but don't know a single name of a racer currently racing. I had people ask me if I knew a certain driver at Kinston, Broad Slab, Fayetteville, 258 Dragway, Easy Street, Person County, Sanford, Piedmont, Red Springs, and the names went on and on. Old racers, when you look at the names of these tracks mentioned by these people over the week-end, do you see a pattern here.

Everyone, including me, talks about how few spectators come to a race on the week-end. If folks do not know that there is a drag race going on, they are not going to show up. I have been thinking more and more about this. If a track, which to most folks I talked to, is part of their memory of days gone by, would assemble a group of race cars, make the spectator admission reasonable for people to go (2,000 spectators at $8.00 or $10.00 and not 200 spectators at $20.00) and advertise the race. Stock/Superstock, Gassers, Gear Jammers, just put together a promotion ad and see what happens. Don't depend on the Internet to get the word out, because most people don't know we have tracks to race at and are not looking for an event. I had people who remembered the old drag race ads on the old "WKIX"radio station here in Raleigh. How many of you remember ads for best 2 out of 3 races on Sunday at Sanford dragstrip?

Just something to think about.

02-17-2010, 10:36 AM	#1
chris3racing Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 528 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Promoting Drag Racing I'm going to put this on this portion of the site because I think there are a lot of people here who will find this interesting. I was invited to put my race car in the classic car portion of the International Auto Expo this past week-end, in Raleigh, snow and no place to race. During two days I found out some very interesting things. The age group of people interested in drag racing and drag race cars has no limits, from small children 2 or 3 years old who wanted to look inside a car and touch it, teen agers who have an interest in the cars and the various aspects of engines and racing, to 60, 70 and 80 year olds who want to talk about how it use to be and the enjoyment they got from going to the track. There were people who were interested to know that our whole family participated in drag racing and how many generations (3) that are represented by the car we had on display and race on week-ends. The thing that really set me back was how many people do not know that they can still go to a drag strip locally, within 60 miles in any direction, and see a drag race every week-end in North Carolina, other the Z-Max Dragway in Charlotte. I spoke to people who do not know that some of the oldest drag strips in North Carolina and this part of the country still operate every week-end. Most of the people thought the tracks were torn up and gone. There were so many people there that can remember names of drag racers from 1960's and 1970's at all of the local tracks but don't know a single name of a racer currently racing. I had people ask me if I knew a certain driver at Kinston, Broad Slab, Fayetteville, 258 Dragway, Easy Street, Person County, Sanford, Piedmont, Red Springs, and the names went on and on. Old racers, when you look at the names of these tracks mentioned by these people over the week-end, do you see a pattern here. Everyone, including me, talks about how few spectators come to a race on the week-end. If folks do not know that there is a drag race going on, they are not going to show up. I have been thinking more and more about this. If a track, which to most folks I talked to, is part of their memory of days gone by, would assemble a group of race cars, make the spectator admission reasonable for people to go (2,000 spectators at $8.00 or $10.00 and not 200 spectators at $20.00) and advertise the race. Stock/Superstock, Gassers, Gear Jammers, just put together a promotion ad and see what happens. Don't depend on the Internet to get the word out, because most people don't know we have tracks to race at and are not looking for an event. I had people who remembered the old drag race ads on the old "WKIX"radio station here in Raleigh. How many of you remember ads for best 2 out of 3 races on Sunday at Sanford dragstrip? Just something to think about.