2008 wish list

While we're waiting for the start of the 2008 season (which, I feel is the USMTS show at JMS on March 7), here's some wishes I have for the New (Racing) Year:

1. Someone (IMCA, NASCAR, tracks, etc.) with the cojones to delcare a five-year moratorium on the creation of new classes.

(Nobody said these wishes had to be realistic)

We don't need SUV races, or yet further limited version of what was supposed to be a limited class, or whatever concoction some back-gate promoter, sanctioning body or guy who isn't winning every week comes up with. We have too many classes now and none of them are filling the pits at tracks giving us boring, empty A features and diluted talent pools. It amazed me to see results with 2, 3 or 4 cars in a class. Nobody likes it. The fans don't like it and heck, I've talked to drivers that don't like it. FIX the classes you have or sh*tcan 'em. It's OK if you don't run the same classes everyone else does.

2. I hope that my favorite trend, moving the show along continues. It's nice to see series race directors, traveling shows and such demand that things keep moving. There's a reason ball games and movies are 3 hours MAX.

News Flash to promoters who drag things out - beer sales drop off after intermission and dragging the show out an extra hour doesn't make you that much more money - and considering the cost of help, you actually start to lose. What it does do is get the fans grumpier, the drunks angrier and the track drier. Any track that can't get a show finished in 4 hours is running too long.

3. It's time for some tracks to step up their Public Relations. A post on a message board is not advertising (talk about preaching to the choir), and poorly-written announcements which often lack date, time, etc. aren't going to get picked up by the press.

I can't believe in this day and age some tracks don't have a website. Can't afford one? You can get one for FREE! And if you want to add all those neato graphics, most tracks could be served by a site that costs less than $100 per year. Don't know how to build a site? Get over to google and get their site builder - it's FREE! Go buy some cheap web authoring software. Get some kid to http://www.nvu.com/ and download a full fledged site creator for FREE. Hell, write something in MS Word and save it as an HTML format file and post that.

Go to http://www.blogger.com/ use their FREE tool to post your announcements onto your website which they'll host for FREE. Log in, type your message in the box and click "publish." Done! If you use Yahoo or Hotmail for mail well, Blogger is easier to use than that.

Wanna get fancy? Pay 10 bucks to http://www.godaddy.com/ and you can even get your own custom name (like http://www.whatever-the-name-of-my-racetrack-is.com/)! For the price of a case of Old Mil you get an internet site. You want to jazz it up? Give someone who knows a free pass to the races and have them put up a graphic for your track at the top. Have a high school or community college make your homepage as a class project (and maybe get a few new fans in the process)!

Can't write? Don't! You need to answer 5 questions:

• Who (that's easy, your track),
• what (the classes and if it's a special show or weekly show),
• where (give your track's address and directions),
• when (the time),
• how - as in how much are tickets.

That's IT. If you really feel up to it, throw in a why (point chase, extra purse, etc.). Oh, and any time you want to say "I" or "we," replace that with your track's name and you're good to go.

What...you say you're too old for "them computers?" Well, your current AND FUTURE customers aren't and they expect you to be on the Web. 75% of Americans have internet access and by proportion, the percentage of internet users using a high-speed (not dial-up) connection is HIGHER among rural Americans. GET IT?

It's estimated that of the group of "serious" race fans (more than 3 shows per month), 85% get track information via the track's website. If you can't even hit your own customers, who the hell else will know?

OK, take a deep breath....

Part two later....