nhra drag racing is just as much about the stars as it is the cars, and the sport used to have many more stars, that arguably drew the fans who paid the price to see the stars and the cars.
if you say it's just about the cars, then name one other entertainment that fans attend because of just the entertainment vehicle
I guess we disagree. There's people that follow people, and people that follow racing. Cars attract the racing crowd. People that like the cars, will always like the people involved with them. People that follow people, will always like the people, and never really care what type of cracker you spread it on.
Since we're selling racing, and not crackers, let's start with the cars. The racing is what is important to these types of fans. They will return if the racing is there, and they will be interested in the people involved. This is how you grow a sport. You make the sport #1. The human interest stories come with it, but it will never be the reason a sport survives. If you make the people the stars, you will fall prey to that crowd, as they move on to whatever is next in the popular watercooler circle.
Using your music analogy, I can't begin to tell you the number of "entertainers" that have passed into obscurity, even after having experienced a huge success as a "person". In the end, if their music was good, they remain popular. If it wasn't, you can't get people to remember their full name. The music is the star. But I guess that's where our opinions differ.
Very right, Mike. Some people bemoan the social media stuff as just a "kids" thing, like attention paid there is only to attract a younger crowd. They should note that 47% of Facebook users, and 44% of Twitter users, are 35+. That's hundreds of millions of people -- with a lot of leisure time $$ to spend. You ignore it at your peril.
I ignore it because I understand it's limited true value and impact in keeping drag racing a good product. There's a perceived value, and a real value. Like paper money. It's more a tool for advertising to heavily weight it's effectiveness in a boardroom or a high-level sales pitch. It's only real if it impacts sales. So yes, for some products, (Doritos, Online Music Purchases, Television Productions), it's an asset, and helps brand awareness in the ultra-competitive soda-pop aisles. The issue I have is catering to the melodramatic appetite that is the Reality TV crowd. It's not putting our best foot forward, it is in-fact, playing into the "give me the highlights as I have money to spend on something else" mentality. We (drag racing) only "trend" when there's a horrific fiery scene to display. It's a quick rubber-neck reaction, then we're a distant thought. It's not relating the thrill that is drag racing in all it's glory. The skill of building a vehicle that can accelerate like they do. I am sure it's one-in-the-same for some minds. The idea that any media attention is good attention. That any association of a product branded across the side of a car getting a bump in cyber curiosity is better than none. For the health of the sport, the sponsors need some return on their investment. But listen to that carefully. It's becoming a simple equation. Lets sell our products, not "let's make drag racing popular". They would advertise on the side of a virus instead if it meant more return. That's business, I get it. My comment is that the two have radically different agendas. One wants to promote a racing league, the other wants to promote a consumable product. High-Performance Equipment and Car manufacturers are about the only ones that are aligned with these racing sports. No simple answer there, but when it comes to computers, and the fickled nature of popular software, make no mistake, they come and they go.
When asked, I warned friends that buying the Facebook stock was a ultra-high risk deal. There is no product. It's simply a glorified billboard. Teens are what made Facebook popular. In fact, Facebook made it's largest leap in users when news outlets started reporting about it's popularity with teenagers. The latest numbers show that yes, Facebook is primarily 28 and above. They followed the teenagers there. And those same latest numbers you quoted are because of the mass exodus that is occurring with that same teen crowd. They are leaving Facebook and gravitating to other sites (remember when Myspace was the rage? That's just it. It's a faded memory). Some owned by Facebook, some not, but my point still stands. It's short term thinking. We're trying to grab a consumer that's just not interested. Tossing around ideas about how to woo this demographic by changing the racing scene, that is my issue. It's not ever going to work. We can do our best to expose folks to the sport, but if it's not their cup of tea, nothing we do will ever sell them on it, and the most it will do is give someone a great powerpoint graph in a boardroom somewhere lauding about how many "hits" they got. Great. That sales team gets another contract, but there's fewer butts in the bleachers.
better b careful kevin on the rappers/esclade comment u will b branded a racist
by da NNN AAAA CCCC PPPPP !!!! LOL
Yeah, but funny thing is, when I wrote that, in my mind I was thinking about entitled middleclass d-bag white kids throwing gang-signs in selfies.
