fan experience (1 Viewer)

[mick]

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...ntary-does-the-fan-experience-need-an-upgrade

IMO there is a lot of truth in what Michael Knight writes in this article.

In two weeks i'd like to take my adult son to BIR for sat/sun with one night
of camping. For the last 23 years I have at least camped for one night, whether there with sons, friends or solo.
This year if i decide to follow thru with this plan, my cost at the gate will
be $440.00; this buys admission, reserved seats(no GA) and one night camping,
then add gas, food, beverage; figure the two days will cost $600.
really? $300/day? for a drag race? seems a bit high don't you think?
(although the sat. night fireworks have some value )
very close to deciding on one day only

 

[Rat]

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...ntary-does-the-fan-experience-need-an-upgrade

IMO there is a lot of truth in what Michael Knight writes in this article.

In two weeks i'd like to take my adult son to BIR for sat/sun with one night
of camping. For the last 23 years I have at least camped for one night, whether there with sons, friends or solo.
This year if i decide to follow thru with this plan, my cost at the gate will
be $440.00; this buys admission, reserved seats(no GA) and one night camping,
then add gas, food, beverage; figure the two days will cost $600.
really? $300/day? for a drag race? seems a bit high don't you think?
(although the sat. night fireworks have some value )
very close to deciding on one day only

You beat me to making this thread, I been saying all along and still holds true for next month when I wanna go to Reading, do i really have to hope I don't need maybe to take out a loan?

 

[FC138fan]

I paid about $300 for F-S-S, camping, reserved, and an ATV for BIR. Gas for me, figure about a tank ($60)- Food, pretty much burgers and hot dogs for 2 days (no need to eat sunday) ($20), I have the charcoal and grille (free), Throw in $20 for at track food and a case of water and beer for $15.00 which rounds the total to around $420... or $140 per day.

On the surface its a crap load of money, but I look forward to these days like Christmas, so to me its worth it, hands down.

Glaring point about that article... bring in moonwalks (bubble gym) for the kids?? A concert midway through the day?? Give me a break. I agree we need more entertainment, but do it with a better variety of classes I'd want to watch (cut this following sentence from 50 other posts I did and paste here -->)Get rid of PSB and dial in cars, bring in Nitro harley, pro mod, jet cars, wheelie cars, nostalgia cars - and in the case of BIR night time qualifying - although Im sure that last one is not the NHRA's fault.

Vendor food quality... eh... what do you expect a gourmet meal? Give me fresh cut fries, a side of cheese curds and fresh squeezed lemonade for lunch on Friday and Im good to go.

 

[mick]

don't care if it's BIR, a music festival, a KOA campground, or disneyworld;
just trying to draw a comparison of money spent vs. reward.
looking strictly at the gate fee; two days for two adults equates to
$110.00/day..... that's two days and one night on someone else's
private property.........probably a medium to low cost comparatively speaking
if considering various forms of weekend entertainment?

have to agree with article though, cheap seats @ the phoenix nascar
worked and it packed the place; residual income from concessions and
souvenirs i would think help greatly to offset the lower admission price?
not to mention annual returning customers.

i am as easy a mark for nhra as possible; from 10 yr. kid to now middle age,
spending money at the drag strip is like money falling out of my pocket;
but please, even an addict knows when the cost of the drug is too high.

 

[Toejam]

The biggest complaint I hear from people who dont go is the prices! I go solo to every race, how a family of 4 can afford more than one day at the track is beyond me! Back in the 90's the NHRA used to allow 2 kids under 16 Free with a Gen add adult ticket, they quit doing that for some reason!

Now I did notice that Indy will allow one free kid under 12 with a paid adult Gen admission, so that is an improvement! And then there's the stand up factor, at SOO Many tracks everyone has to stand up every time Fuel cars go,down the track! Kids cannot see! Which is why I think they needmFamily sections at most tracks!

 

[clwill]

In many ways, at least for me, it doesn't have to be cheap, it's about the value. I'm willing to pay for a quality experience.

I go to a lot of NHRA events, Vegas, Pomona, Seattle, occasionally some others. In Vegas, it's a clean facility, almost all seats are nice aluminum bleachers with a back and although not "spacious" they aren't crammed in. The entire pit area is paved, there are lots of vendors, many with a lot of different kinds of food. The sound system is good, the bathrooms are clean enough to satisfy the women I know (a tall order). They even have covered seats with a tent with a nice catered lunch if you're willing to pay for it. All-in-all, it's among the best "traveling event" venues (as opposed to a fixed venue like baseball) there is.

Then again, I'm just now getting in the car to head down to Pacific Raceways to see the national event. I know what I'm in for. Parking will be a cluster, on a rutted, bumpy grassy field randomly organized by a rag-tag group who seem without a clue. The place is a jumble, hard to figure out what's where, some of the pits have been paved in the last couple years, buy many/most are just catch-as-catch-can in the dirt around the road course. The "seat" that my premium reserved ticket will buy me is a splintered, warped and ratty 2x8 so close together that I buy two, and still have to jab my knees into the back of the person in front of me. The sound system (especially in section A3) cuts in and out and is hardly audible. There are a few vendors selling fried food that you wonder about consuming, and the bathrooms are largely porta-pottys and those that aren't are dirty and over-used. This experience has so turned off my wife that she'll never go back, unless we're racing and then only out of a sense of obligation. And for this, we pay the same price as a ticket in Vegas.

And as someone else has noted, this is all happening on the same weekend as Seattle's Seafair, a decades long tradition of parades festivals and hydroplane races. Let's see, ratty Pacific Raceways or sun, boats and bikinis on the water. I'm betting the crowds at the drag races will be a little thin.

Like most things in life, this is a value proposition. Even in these hard times people are willing to spend for something of value. Is drag racing the best value? Hmmm...

 

[sammi]

The single biggest problem, relating to the fan experience, is the fact the NHRA and local track promoters do not see the event from the perspective of the fan. NHRA Championship Drag Racing is an insular little traveling circus. Everyone involved stares inward and does their thing.

Take my twice yearly jaunts out to Pomona to visit the mothership and take in the kinetic car show.

I stopped going on Sundays because it has because pretty clear that I was the one paying all the money and doing all the work. Start with paying $10+ to the Fairplex to park my car on a piece of pavement that hasn't been maintained since the nitro-ban days.(yo Fairplex, I don't need 20 people helping me park my car.) $60 for a seat on Sunday, maybe if I could see a ton of cars going down the track and maybe if you turned off that godawful failed actor Full Throttle clown.(oh, and kill the commercials on the Jumbotron while you are at it.) Get rid of the stupid rules about bringing food into the track. You know, the food court/county fair dining thing isn't too bad-though Hot Dog on a Stick appears to be the only safe thing to eat. You know, I just don't get a vibe from those people who run the event that they don't care if I am there or not.

Now, let me turn my ire toward the teams in the pits and the "every ticket is a pit pass thing." All would agree that the pit pass is the best part of the drag racing fan experience. Sadly, over the years, with the advent of the 18 wheeler and moving van trailers(thank you Billy Meyer), it has been nearly impossible to watch teams work on the cars.(now, we have some genius who came up with the concept of monetizing watching the car maintenance) Hell, even the sportsman guys hide their cars in between the monster trailers. Now, the only time you can get a good look at a car is when they blaze past you on the way to the staging lanes. Hey teams, want sponsorship? Start with showing off the car. Who wants to give you money if you hide your car from the fans?

I go on Thursdays and that appears to be the best fan value. All the cars are there and nearly all of them will make a run. Still have to give the Fairplex their tribute for renting 50 square feet of their parking lot (who really owns that land?) The teams appear to be a little more welcoming in the pits (still get way to much stink-eye if I get to close to a car in the comp pits), and I usually only pay are $25 for the day.

 

[Rat]

ticket prices are too much, nice to know that some of you guys have the money but I live in NY and the "middle class" definition here is far worse than the pretty picture the media paints. I just don't have the close to 500 to go to Reading for the weekend and I shouldn't have to ever have that much!

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Part of the problem with the fan experience (imo) is it's now better to view on tv then in person. Used to be the cars sat higher, now they sit real low, we've got those cement walls, and several dozen Photogs next to the walls. I don't want to pay $60 to see a photog butt crack either. The poor fan can't see the cars anymore.

Seems other sports do everything to NOT block the viewing public,..but drag racing puts walls and people between the fan and the object of their attention. ...jmo

 

[Toejam]

Part of the problem with the fan experience (imo) is it's now better to view on tv then in person. Used to be the cars sat higher, now they sit real low, we've got those cement walls, and several dozen Photogs next to the walls. I don't want to pay $60 to see a photog butt crack either. The poor fan can't see the cars anymore.

Seems other sports do everything to NOT block the viewing public,..but drag racing puts walls and people between the fan and the object of their attention. ...jmo

Paul, I don't think I have met anybody who said Drag racing was better on TV than Live! Now as far as watching replays of a close race or a crash I can understand, but just the Noise Rush alone is what this sport is about!

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

The sound and vibration are the only thing missing at home.

 

[Buns]

The sound and vibration are the only thing missing at home.

If that's the case, it's more-than-worth the price of admission!

You're missing the smell, the pits and more.

Given the choice, I'd much rather be at the race. ESPN does a good job covering but being there is much better than watching on TV.

 

[mick]

to a spectator at his/her first handful of races, i think the NHRA 'show' is
quite a spectacle for the senses; is it's ticket price inline with the
casual fan's perceived value? enough to almost guarantee a return
purchase and possibly a new hardcore fan? i don't know ($64,000 question)

to me the 'show' is still spectacular, but
not the same 'spectacular' that it once was.
prices increasing / perceived value decreasing

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

I agree, it is spectacular - but no where near, what it was. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy going, but it's no wonder we can't attract new young fans.

 

[n/a]

Seems that quite a few of us have been around Drag Strips for quite a while so maybe this will apply so some. Haven't decided if I'm spoiled or just lucky to have been there in the day. As I grow older I tolerate the hassle factor less and less. Back in the 60's and 70's I'd get up early, pile into a car and head down the road all of 20 minutes. One time we had 3 tires go flat on an old two lane highway (237). But that didn't stop us. We thumbed a ride with the flats, got them repaired, thumbed back to the car and finally got to the strip. Food sucked but we bought it. Bathrooms and port-a-potty's were trashed so I'd go back along the fence by the entry and empty my bladder there. Sat on terrible benches, ended up with splinters in my legs and azz. Got sun burnt as all get out but sat from 8am till 7pm if that's what it took. Most of the pits were dirt and the sound system was as bad as it could be. Took at least 1.5 hours to get out of the only gate at the end. But man I loved it and have been hooked since 1961. Now I'm much older and things have changed to say the least. Have to drive 1.75 hours to Sears Point since Fremont is no longer. The seats are Wwwwwaaaaay back from the track, and the pits are packed so I stay in the seats and watch everything run, and enjoy pretty much everything except the 120 8.90 rails. The price seems very high if you just look at the $60 entry, $20 food, and $50 gas. But $130 divided by 10 hours of entertainment isn't too bad per hour.

 

[Buns]

I'm only 29 and I know some of you have been a fan as long as I've been alive but I'll give my perspective.

I've heard the stories from my dad all my life about US 30 and the golden years of racing. They were no doubt magical. I would pay huge money to transport back-in-time to see Garlits, Connie, The Ace and so many others in their prime. Dry hops are something I've never seen at a national event and I never will. Jungle Pam, Linda Vaughan and the other legendary ladies are just stories and pictures to me - I never had the chance to see them up and close like many of you. Seeing a drag car come into a drag strip on a flatbed truck has been ditched in favor of a super rig that catches everyone's eye on the freeway. These things and many more are all idiosyncratic to the golden age of racing that I never got to witness with my own two eyes.

But I'm ok with that..

Racing now isn't what racing used to be. Everything changes and everything stays the same. We still go to see the racing that stirs those competitive juices in all of us that make us root and cheer for the driver of our choice; to the point that we may make fools of ourselves at times. We still go to see the mechanical feats that enable these cars to do what they do. The hot ladies are still there and the food is still good but not good for you.

Big business will always come in and change things. When sponsors started coming in and allowing teams like Prudhomme and McEwen to have the Hot Wheels cars, it signaled a change that was coming. It didn't happen overnight but it set the stage for what we see today. We don't even have to bring up the strides that have been made in the name of spectator safety. Racing was never gonna stay grassroots.

Sometimes we get so attached to the way things used to be in racing that we have a hard time embracing the changes that will inevitably come. It's expected - the heritage and tradition of the sport are things we hold very dear.

We must all realize that the grassroots days are gone and they aren't coming back. We sit farther away, it costs more, the cars may not be as accessible and the personalities may not all be the same, but it's still the best damn motorsport there is and every time I get to smell nitro and feel those cars burn down the track, I count myself blessed to be there.

 

[mick]

bernie, your passion is admirable

 

[robinjackson]

Bernie, I am 30 years older than you.
I've been attending drag races in Britain for 44 years and in USA for 37.
And you are absolutely right.

 

[Huge]

Bernie... I have read your posts on here for quite a while...and I really admire your passion for drag racing. Nhra, and the teams, are lucky to have a fan like you interested in what they do. I hope nhra is around for a long time, so you, and other fans like you may enjoy the sport of dragracing for many years to come..

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

Bernie-- im 58 yrs old and seen my share of races over the last 35 yrs. Pomona gainesville englishtown firebird and maple grove. I agree with you. Going to a drag race then and now is a thrill for me and i might add i think it is a good value. I think we have a bunch Of old farts on this forum who would rather stay home with a beer in their hand and snooze than get up and go to the track and have some fun because they dont want to "suffer" the pain and inconvienence of modern day drag racing. Well thats ok. But dont blame the tracks for your inertia guys.