RacerUSA

Granted, it was with my oldest grandson, whom I promised a couple months ago that I would take him on opening night, something we have done for every Spider-Man movie (the first Spidey flick was Hunter’s first ever trip to the theatre) so I guess I can be excused for missing a race.

But by Sunday it hit me: Choices.

Choices are what will make or break the dirt racing industry. After having part of the weekend to read the trade papers and scan the internet I was amazed at what I had read. Dirt track racing, on a weekly basis at least, is in big trouble right now. Car counts, whether for dirt Late Models, Sprint Cars or any support classes, are down all over in my region (OH-PA-WV) and by most reports so are crowd counts.

Choices.

Some teams have chosen to park or sell of their operations due to the ever-climbing and rising costs of fielding competitive equipment. It’s getting tougher and tougher. But what alarms me the most is the shrinking fan count at so many tracks.

Choices.

People, especially the casual ‘fan’, has lots of choices these days and with the graying of the sport we need, as an industry, to get off our asses and make an industry-wide concerted effort to grow this thing before there is nothing left. With the ‘hardcore’ base of fans seemingly shrinking, it’s time to covert the ‘casual’ fan into hardcore fans and keep them coming week in and week out but we have to, as an industry, give them what they want.

Choices.

Go to a dirt track that may or may not have safe restroom facilities, that may or may not have dust covered food before you purchase it, and may or may not have quality fields or too many divisions that require fans (i.e.; families) to sit on a hard wooden plank for five, six seven hours?

For the ‘casual’ fan, in this fast-paced world, that ain’t gonna cut it. They’re going to see SPIDERMAN 3 (hell, it did $148 million opening weekend domestically) because of the hype, the marketing, the promotion and the publicity. Or they may go to a minor league ball game, an amusement park, a casino or nay other of the multitude of options (i.e.; choices) that are out there.

How many tracks in your area have shrinking crowds at the front gate and increasing costs at the backgate?

That many, huh?

Perhaps all dirt track racing is closing in on those mythical “crossroads”. The time may be nearer than we think when only the strong will survive. Maybe the time is coming when those with the foresight to implement aggressive marketing campaigns, publicity campaigns, install VIP suites, upgrade their facilities and fan amenities (i.e.; RESTROOMS), install state of the art lighting, keep front gate costs affordable.

The time may come when the only promoters still in business are the ones who bring their facility and programs into the next century, forget the 90s. America is turning corporate through and through and you can yearn nostalgic for the good old days, hell, I miss them too, but it’s that mindset that has gotten so many tracks and teams in trouble.

It’s time for dirt track racing in general . . . and Late Model racing in particular, to regroup, rethink, readapt and enter this new century with a PROGRESSIVE mindset.

Too many racetrack promoters are hurting and while many of them who are can only point to themselves to lay blame and fault, we can all help, especially the movers-and-shakers of the various series and others in the industry who weld power. As for the series themselves the big two, in particular, now have the mainstream marketing clout to pack a megaton punch on mainstream America and really expose this sport to the masses. Make that happen and the turnstiles at dirt tracks across America will spin with a force.

That helps everyone.

The promoters need to do more to build, grow, nurture and broaden the awareness of this sport, their facilities and especially their drivers, but dammit, so do we all. People in the industry, drivers, series, manufacturers, media, we can sit on our asses and do the same old-same old or we can crank it up a notch, do a little more, extent ourselves some. Whether you want to or not, whether you feel you have to or not, we need to crank it up and help the promoters.

No ticket sales simply means no teams, no series, no manufacturers, no racing publications.

We need to create a hip, new image for the sport, we need to make this sport appealing and cutting edge, at least in the marketing and promotion if it, to the youth of America. The endless money stream begins and ends with 15-28 year olds and we ALL need to work on creating an IMAGE that says this isn’t grandpa’s sport anymore.

We need the casual, or novice ‘fan’, to make that CHOICE to go dirt racing.

It can be done.