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NHRA membership up

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You make a good point here but what are they going to put into those 48 issues? Stories about how times are tough and nobody can find a sponsor? :confused: The ND issues are going to get slimmer and slimmer...

There are a lot of good tech articles in there in just about every issue. If you are the average fan, it's probably not worth it. If you are a racer, it's worth it.
 
. When i got mine in 1989 it was $40.00. I got my ND, my rule book, A Pen, my sticker, my patch...BUT WHEN I CALLED THE NUMBER ON THE SCREEN I GOT MY CHOICE OF THE 89' membership T-shirt, or my copy of the diamond P video DECADE OF THRILLS.


yeah those were the days . it was like a cub scouts renewal.
 
In most mag subscriptions the membership isn't the revenue main generator, its the ads where they make the money

ND is very nice, but if lucky by the time I get it the news is 2 weeks old. When I used to get Sports Illustrated, it would get to be every Thursday and still had info from Sunday's events in it. I wish ND would do that. I do like the stroies and coverage but its ancient history by the time I get it. Plus with the web and sites like Comp+, dro and others...lets just say I have a better chance of learning the full story about something.

The last 2 years when I re-upped it was just for the audiocast. The $10 discount tickets were not as useful as they should be in that you can't use it if you pre order tickets.

Beyond that I don't want to have my money go for ideas that I just can't get behind.

Hey PJ - you bring up a ton of interesting points and what exactly is wrong with the magazine/publishing business. It's not just NHRA's ND or IHRA's DRM - it every piece of publication out there . Think about it - Chicago Tribune... what happened to them is what the future looks like even for The New York Times.

Back when I had a real job it was in the publishing business - and it's all 'old school'. Or, it's an old school mentality trying to embrace some of this new technology and not knowing what to do with it.

Seth Godin calls it a "meatball sundae" in his book called "Meatball Sundae" - and who wants a meatball sundae? (the meatball being old school and the sundae being the new way).

The problem is that status quo has to be reworked - and everyone is afraid to do it. There are many excuses from 'we've always done it that way' to 'that's what the readers want' to others.

And as readers - we are to blame too. What would you do if ND went to another format? What would you say if all those stats and points standings and stuff wasn't in the back pf the publication?

I venture to say that the phones in Glendora wouldn't stop ringing.

But to make "new communication" work it has to be 180 degrees different that what it is today. We consume information much different by our own admissions.

IMO
A publication should be nothing more than slick teaser to drive traffic to the website where more information resides. No race reports - we already know who won. Give me a feature on an unknown driver who is interesting. Drive me to the website to learn more about him. Give me a couple of cool photos that teases me to go to the online photo gallery.

Once I'm at the website:
Let me download the raw podcast of the post race interview. Send me text messages during the race for my favorite drivers. Send me streaming data of my favorite teams time slips. Let me download podcast opinion pieces from the announcers or watch unedited raw footage of video shot in the pits.

Some 'old school' folks would argue that if they give me all that, why would I even come to a race. I argue that it would excite me to become a part of the action.

I'm not going to hijack this post and type another page of boring stuff. I guess the take-away i wanted to leave is that consume information differently - I'm tired of eating meatball sundaes, and that we should support efforts that take us in a new direction. While it may not be perfect at first - it is the willingness to change that will get us there.
 
Jim.. i agree.. but.... you might be very amazed how many people still are not connected to the net...... and have no plans to be...lol...

Billy
 
interesting side note to you points Jim here in Detroit our 2 newspapers just announced BIG changes this week.

No more daily home delivery, they will only do that 3 days a week. They instead will focus on a digital version which they hope will push people to that and drive revenue. The digital version will be sent to subscribers email accounts complete with the coupons, ads and inserts that accompany the traditional paper. The digital will also be more in depth then what is on the current free website. They will still produce a daily paper all 7 days sold on newstands but it will be a different version/style then it is now.

They claim they are the first traditional newspaper to make such a move and I think this is kinda what you were thinking.


Personally I like laying on the couch and reading my paper, can't do that with the monitor. I'll give it a try but I'll likely be switching to a different paper.

As far as ND, I agree they should do more behind the scenes type of stuff and driver bios and such. Really I like what they do now, I would just like it more timely.

Sad thing is I never remember a time where I didn't get the dragster. Dad got it as I grew up, I learned how to read by going through that more so then any text book. What scares me is that I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would.
 
whoops...that should be hat pin not writing pen! I have all of my hat pins thru the years. I think some day i will put them all on my own made NHRA 'BOONIE' camo hat and be 'that guy'

No that was my red edit, an old joke, back in the day the audio advertisement (i forget who. Linda Vaughn or someone who sounded like Jackie Bryce) would pronounce 'pin" as 'pen' and I remember the one announcer saying to his partner. "hey i didn't get a pen? did you get a pen?"
 
Jim.. i agree.. but.... you might be very amazed how many people still are not connected to the net...... and have no plans to be...lol...

Billy

You're absolutely right Billy - but if an organization does their demographics they should see who their audience is. then you have to weigh out the cost of keeping it the way it is VS how many people you'll lose by making the change VS how many people you'll gain by making the change.

  • It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~W. Edwards Deming

  • He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson

  • Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ~Shunryu Suzuki

  • It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. ~Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Charles Darwin

  • After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over. ~Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958
 
I'm still waiting for NHRA to leap into the nineties.

where are all the on-line stats that other sports venues have going back decades?

why don't they post live incremental via Internet broadcast?


why not live Internet video?


NADSCAR had live Internet in car camera where you can ride in the car of your choice with lap counters speed etc. Why cant we have similar where we follow the car starting from the staging lanes down the track and right into the pits and watch our favorite teams thrash between rounds with say four or three cams mounted on the canopy per pit? you can have a status window on screen with previous round performance qualifying position, time to next round call. time remaining to finish the thrash. Click and drag them to match against other teams. ETC.

Why not bring everything in house instead of using outside vendors like Yahoo?
I certainly don't host my business page on Myspace or geocities. get that third party branding off the audiocast site. it looks unprofessional. The NHRA site NEEDS to be more interactive and customizable. similar to a portal.

develop a streamlined discounted subscription format re:the above

They will generate more revenue via people sitting behind computer screens that twice that expense to the subscriber by stuffing your mailbox with recyclables every week. people don't WANT paper anymore.
 
I don't know, I guess I just look at things differently. We all are here discussing the sport we're addicted to, which involves millions and millions of dollars, and while there's a lot wrong with the NHRA, I feel like I should spend the 64 or whatever bucks a year to support the organization that puts on the show. I admit it's not as exciting to get it in the mail as it was pre-internet, but I still enjoy seeing it in my mailbox as I pull out all the bills. Being in the print media business is not easy, so I doubt anyone is getting rich off of the increase. Based upon what is going on in the world, I encourage other gearheads to subscribe to the hardcore stuff, such as ND, Drag Racer, Drag Racing Action, and Hot Rod, which has been a very enjoyable magazine for the past few years. I enjoy all the internet racing sites such as the Mater and the rest, but I would hate the day that the print media involved in our sport went away due to lack of readership. And subscriptions to all the aforementioned mags are really so inexpensive, especially compare to newsstand prices, even if you add 'em all up, it's really not a ton of money. JMO.
 
I actually have big ideas how they could make the audicast interactive and profitable. Something tells me they will not want to hear it from me lol


I do miss hearing the audiocast, I used to listen to it Fridays while sitting at my desk working
 
I'm still waiting for NHRA to leap into the nineties.

where are all the on-line stats that other sports venues have going back decades?

why don't they post live incremental via Internet broadcast?

why not live Internet video?

.

I know you are looking at the big picture but ESPN360.com had the Countdown races with a live feed and it rocked!! I hope they continue and/or expand it. My next project will be to hook it up to my big screen....:D
 
I actually have big ideas how they could make the audicast interactive and profitable. Something tells me they will not want to hear it from me lol


I do miss hearing the audiocast, I used to listen to it Fridays while sitting at my desk working

Hey PJ. Does your plan have a large number of audiocasts progressively reduced to one over the course of the season......:D
 
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