I agree with Nunzio that there is a market for the booked in shows.
If it is to work, the track promoters will need to see the benefit in getting some "front gate" revenue. We all know the racers can't pay for this whole deal forever.
Four decades ago, you couldn't get a Top Fueler into the sixes here in Colorado. Today, we've got Fast 16 - type events with cars running that quick up here in the mountains - and - they're paying the track to race! Things have changed. Despite the fact that the shows are better, the crowds aren't there.
The olde days of counting on the racers' grapevine to get the word out are gone. Shows such as Driving Force and American Dragster are doing more for our sport at the national level than are any of the more traditional promotions. Tommy Johnson, Jr. and Melanie Troxel get more (and better)publicity for us than we get from sportcasters.
The tracks could do more and smarter marketing, but the traditional media aren't cheap. Some track operators don't do much marketing because they are getting by on the racer's money. Others don't do it because they aren't interested. Some others just don't know how.
Here are three suggestions:
1) I think a circuit will work if a sponsor can be arranged up front to do the marketing and drive the spectators in the front gate. Track operators who see it work will want to be part of the circuit. As it is, most tracks aren't going to pay for a show when they don't see the payback.
2) We can do our part by continuing to push the so-called "sports journalists" to cover drag racing. When I had my own business, I refused to advertise with people who didn't cover sports. They'd insist that they did cover sports and point to their coverage of the local baseball team or whatever. I responded that they covered "games." When they were ready to cover sports - including the biggest sport in the world (motorsport); I'd be ready to advertise. I made my point with at least one of them and did advertise. They were shocked at how much positive response they received from increased coverage of racing.
The game sports do so well, in part, because they have so much publicity from these "sports journalists" yammering away incessantly about their product. If the upcoming National event got billboarded every night on the news the way the stick and ball sports do; we'd all be complaining that we couldn't find a seat! The media are driving this.
3) The NHRA should set up programs to assist teams in marketing and to train track operators. An NHRA "University" could bring in the best and brightest - and most successful - to build the franchise by analyzing what works and what doesn't. Every successful franchise system has a marketing component built in to the business plan.I know they do some of these things at the track operators' meetings; but anyone who has attended one of Milt Gedo's marketing programs or the Frank Hawley school can tell you that there is much to learn from others in this sport, especially when it is presented in an organized format.
Sorry this is so long. Thanks for reading this far!
Cheers,
Ed
