|
Post by akchallenger on Oct 30, 2011 12:06:34 GMT -9
Man you guys are a tough croud. My intensions were meant to be light hearted with a just slight bit of shock factor. I did not mean to single anyone out ,you took it waaaaayyyy to personal. I feel like the stuffins been kicked out of me. Any one get the number off that car that just hit me, I think it might have been a nova. So if you will hold off on firing sqaud for just a bit i would like to try again. Why is it that on 4th of july it could be raining for two days and the pits are still full of race cars,but at the next event its sunny and 70 with a good track and the pits look like a ghost town. Where did every body go? I do understand that work schedules and other comitments dont allow every one to be at every event. The bottom line is this. Earl is doing a complete change up of the 2012 schedule in a effort to get the car count up. In a tailgate conversation i had with Earl at the end of last season he didnt say this was a last ditch effort. but he did imply that he was running out of options. I can't express enough, how important it is that we dont let him down. So get out in the garage and get busy, and take a look at that work schedule, and see if you can squeez in a few more races. With some hard work and a little luck with the weather i am confident we can turn this thing around. Greg Thornsley. OK bring on the firing squad.
|
|
|
Post by AkRacer on Oct 30, 2011 13:20:33 GMT -9
Thanks Greg, I'll let it slide. And agree that Earl is doing all he can, but car count isn't the big issue. The track doesn't make that much off the racers, It's spectators we need. The gate is where the track makes most of it's money at. We have to figure out a way to the spectators out there as well as more in the throphy and street cases. Last year i suggested anyone that can, should put their cars on open trailers to be taken to the track. Let the public see a Race Car being towed down the road and just maybe we can get some of them to follow. If we can fill the stands that would be a great help. Next year i plan on putting the S10 on an open trailer and pulling it all the way from Kenai, Just as JJ does all the time. If i could figure out how to get my big trailer there, I'd try and put my rail on an open trailer and show it all the way through anchorage on our way out. Just maybe those people in Anchorage would see it and want to watch. It's just an idea. You guys in the Valley should be able to have a parade on Race weekends. Maybe get the sports annoucers interseted? Have a sports casters challenge race. Maybe get all the channels involved and get some free air time. I don't know? But i think the racers know what's going on and are doing the best they can. If we were all rich we would'nt have these problems....
|
|
|
Post by ProStreetNova on Oct 31, 2011 5:59:28 GMT -9
I would put my car on an open trailer, but I need somewhere to sleep. I don't do Tents too well. Maybe I can figure something out before next year.
Also with the added week-ends, that could work out better for my off time too.
|
|
|
Post by 9secondsatellite on Oct 31, 2011 9:04:57 GMT -9
alright, i'm going to give my 2 cents on something and it will probably ruffle some feathers. if you want more spectators and racers, especially new comers and out of towners, then it needs to be more user friendly. tech shouldn't be looking for reasons for you to not run and be a bit more common sense. if it is something that is a major risk factor, i get it, but if not, let the racer know what needs to be fixed and make sure they get it fixed by the next race. if a spectator drives a few hundred miles and takes time off to come down, then don't harass them to give up their drivers license in order to camp for the night. i for 1 am not going to spend a lot of money and time just to cheat the gate out of their fees. make it more inviting for people to want to come. the track wasn't always this rigid and when it was more of a relaxed atmosphere, there were more racers and spectators. i'm not trying to make this a bitching session. just stating my observation as someone who has experienced it first hand and have both racers and spectators who won't come down for these very reasons. earl, karen and the rest of the crew bust their butts to make this stuff happen and i am grateful. please make no mistake about that.
|
|
|
Post by akchallenger on Oct 31, 2011 9:08:36 GMT -9
I have to agree and disagree John, you are exactly correct about the spectators, they are the ones that pay the bills at ARP,but they also expect value for their $ and if they don't get it they will simply spend their $ some where else. Low car count is directly related to low spectator turn out, and now we are going to have one less class. Last season there were days when eliminations only lasted a little over an hour,simply because it dosen't take very long to run a few cars. Iam pretty sure race fans dont care how fast and shiny your race car is if they cant see it.
|
|
|
Post by AkRacer on Oct 31, 2011 10:52:59 GMT -9
I understand the value thing, your right. I was talking about getting spectators out there and the best way is not hiding our cars in enclosed trailers if possible. It's the carrot thing, dangle it out there and maybe they'll follow it. As for the car count, the only way that's going to happen is if all those that have cars just sitting in the garage, bring them out. I don't know why they don't, Is it tech? the cost? is it the classes? who knows, we need to find those people and ask why they don't come out and see what can be done to get them there. Maybe with a low car count we should be looking at double eliminations? I don't know. But I'll say this, This forum has a lot of very smart people on it and we should be able to figure something out. One other thing i can think of is a drawing for a ride in a 10 second car. I know all the legal B.S. about it, BUT! That 14 second thing is stupid. Give someone a chance to ride in a fast car, I'll bet that would get a few out there. The Racers would love to do it and so would the spectators.
|
|
|
Post by scott9x33 on Oct 31, 2011 11:08:03 GMT -9
Y is it when we have beautiful sunny days , they run through the eliminations like they want everyone out of there , throw some more t and t in there to give the racers some more cool down time and give the spectators more cars to watch...more value for there money...throw together a 10 dollar money bracket on those days...
|
|
|
Post by "Wild Child" on Oct 31, 2011 11:23:17 GMT -9
I understand the value thing, your right. I was talking about getting spectators out there and the best way is not hiding our cars in enclosed trailers if possible. It's the carrot thing, dangle it out there and maybe they'll follow it. As for the car count, the only way that's going to happen is if all those that have cars just sitting in the garage, bring them out. I don't know why they don't, Is it tech? the cost? is it the classes? who knows, we need to find those people and ask why they don't come out and see what can be done to get them there. Maybe with a low car count we should be looking at double eliminations? I don't know. But I'll say this, This forum has a lot of very smart people on it and we should be able to figure something out. One other thing i can think of is a drawing for a ride in a 10 second car. I know all the legal B.S. about it, BUT! That 14 second thing is stupid. Give someone a chance to ride in a fast car, I'll bet that would get a few out there. The Racers would love to do it and so would the spectators. I think the problem with the ride along is insurance. Just for the record, if we do this, ill ne more than happy to do a half tracj pass with a spectator. I even have a 2nd set of gear. I would love to do that for someone. I know that would sure as hell put a smile on my face. I'm still waiting for my ride from pumpgas540!
|
|
|
Post by "Wild Child" on Oct 31, 2011 11:29:55 GMT -9
And i agree with scott. There shouldn't be down time except for the anthem and clean ups. And I also agree with 9aecondsatelite. I remember when I wad little playing on that dirt hill where the grand stands are now. Betting with other kids which car would win. I was only 4-7 years old mind you, so we only won pride for guessing the right car. But I also remember, if memory serves, that when you bought an entry for a class, you got a 'crew member' in for free. What happened to that? Also, if my truck is completely done by spring, I will be hitting up every car show i can. Fire that bitch up and get people interested. Let people sit in the passenger seat with a respirator mask on. How cool would that be?! Someone asks you to sit in a pro mod while it runs, what are you gonna do besides smile?!
|
|
|
Post by badlady53 on Oct 31, 2011 12:15:04 GMT -9
I want you to know we appreciate all the suggestions and keep them coming.
It's true - the entries on the pit side are not what makes a profit at the track. Most of the time it's a lucky thing if we can cover the insurance and prizes and some overhead from the pit side. The profit comes from spectators - admission, food, beer, merchandise.
There are three distinct end users at the track and it's a balancing act to keep them all working together well. The spectators come out to see a show. They come out to see you race. They expect us to keep cars going down the track and they expect it to be on time. IE: if we advertise eliminations at 1, they will be at 1.
Racers expect that we have a clean, safe, fair place for them to race and enjoy their weekends.
Sponsors expect that there are folks (spectators mostly) at the track to hear and see their advertisements and they expect increased sales due to their involvement with the track.
It's a hard balancing act but if we all work together it will work out in the best interest for everyone.
As racers what you can do is build your fan base and try to participate as much as possible. Open trailers are a great way to advertise as is putting graphics on your enclosed trailer so folks know what's inside. Car shows are a great way to get the word out to fans. Promote yourself! Trading cards for kids, t-shirts, stickers, whatever you can do to make a connection with a spectator makes a huge difference. If you are fortunate enough to have sponsors, take your car to their events. It makes them feel good about what they have invested in and it gets you more fans.
9secondsatellite - I hear you about entry at the pit gate. Unfortunately there is an extreme amount of folks abusing the ability to get in the gate (IE: sneaking in) and holding licenses is one of the measures being implemented to try to curb that. Remember - if folks arrive late they can always park overnight on the spectator side and come in in the am. And if anyone has any other suggestions - please let us know.
Thanks,
Michelle
|
|
ax87
Grabbing Gears
Posts: 167
|
Post by ax87 on Oct 31, 2011 13:14:37 GMT -9
So the track takes a customers drivers license when they want to camp out on the pit side? There has to be a better way! Can't we come up with a better way to eliminate sneak-ins? How do they sneak in anyway? Once you have a wrist band on, its on. It cant be taken off and "loaned" to anyone else, how the heck do people get in? I must be mis-understanding this whole DL thing, cause this is nuts! IF this is the case, can we figure something else out other than taking someones most important piece of ID away for collateral?
The Tech Complaint has been an issue for years and this has to stop! Marc needs to, HAS to lighten up! If the car has all its lug nuts and is not spewing fluids all over the place let'em run. I've seen street cars turned away for the wrong size of battery hold down bolts. (that was this year at a KOS event) TURNED AWAY! No warning or anything, simply , "Nope, load up and go home. Come back when its fixed" This guy should've gotten a,"I'll let you run today, but change out those bolts before next race" And I am sure there are PLENTY of other similar examples.
|
|
|
Post by 9secondsatellite on Oct 31, 2011 14:14:27 GMT -9
Clint, thanks for restating the point. my wife and i personally did not come down much this last summer to spectate because the first time this summer when we came down at 1:00 am, we were told we could not camp in the spectator side and were escorted to the racers side. when we were finished signing in, the guy told us we had to give him our licenses or we could not stay. i didn't have a problem with having him copy it or write it down but i'm sure not going to give it to him to hold. what if we had an emergency and had to leave? i even offered to pay in advance but that wasn't good enough. it is actually illegal to take someone's license(unless you're a law enforcement agent) but that's a whole different issue. that one instance escalated to several of my other friends not wanting to come and participate or spectate. that's just 1 example. like you stated, how many more? i'm sure that someone with some real common sense can determine the difference between someone wanting to stay and pay from someone who is sneaking in. okay, enough said on that subject. tech is the other problem with racers wanting to travel a long distance just to be chased away. i'm gun shy myself, which makes a lot of my friends with cars feeling the same way. i have been trying to get some of my friends with race cars(kos to be specific) to come down and participate for the last 3 years but are not willing to travel the distance just to get a lot of grief from tech. some of it is warranted but most is not. like i stated earlier, i am grateful for earl, karen and the crews effort to make this happen. i understand how difficult it is to make all of this happen. i've done it myself in the past for a few years. but please don't take it out on the racers or spectators for it being so difficult to manage. thanks for listening guys and i hope everyone has a great off-season. looking forward to being part of the show next year.
|
|
|
Post by badlady53 on Oct 31, 2011 15:23:18 GMT -9
The situation is when folks arrive after the gates are closed and want access to the pits for camping. Or folks come to the pit side but don't want to pay to get in because they are just "dropping something off for a friend" and they only need to go in for a few minutes. Mom got alot of slack when we tried to institute a only paid admission policy, even though we are still working towards that. The night guy is on shift on big weekends when folks come well after hours to let people in. Dave, he doesn't know you or I or any of the racers from any of the spectators that might be trying to sneak in, he's just doing his job. While I know you and Tammy will come back in the morning to see Mom and settle up, the gate guy does not. Generally holding something of collateral has made it so folks come back. It's not a perfect system but it does work.
If we did go to a no entry without paying then the gates would have times they would be closed and locked which would make it harder for those of us that arrive late in the evening because we wouldn't be able to get in. It is kinda nice to be able to get to your spot after the long drive. I do know at other tracks I've been to out of state the gates close at certain hours and you are locked out for the evening because the gate staff is gone.
Like I said, I'm definitely open to suggestions that don't require huge overhead.
Something that does help with sneak ins is for everyone to wear their wristband on their wrist. It makes identifying those that maybe haven't paid much easier. I know I'm preaching to the choir but it does help.
|
|
|
Post by 9secondsatellite on Oct 31, 2011 16:31:18 GMT -9
why not let people pay for the night and spectator for the next day when they arrive that night? wouldn't that solve the sneaking in problem? no pay then no camp for the night. what would be the problem with that? can i pay in advance and have my name on a list for when we arrive? i get what you mean when you stated he doesn't know me from adam, but if i offered to pay that night, you don't think that should have sent him a message that i wasn't sneaking in? it's a matter of using good judgement and common sense. maybe post something on ak raceway park website addressing late night arrivals and how to go about pre-arranging getting in for the night. i have contacted the track in advance in the past just to arrive and find out no one knows anything about it. you and don have been the only ones to have followed up on that in the past. thank you by the way. we have all winter to try to figure this out but lets do figure a better way.
|
|
|
Post by "Wild Child" on Oct 31, 2011 17:40:49 GMT -9
Instead of takibg the i.d. why not buy a $70 camera andd take photos of the i.d's? I didn't know this was going on, but if he told me to give him my i.d or I had to leave, o would have politely told him to shove it.
I also agree on the tech thing. I remember the other tech guy, not mark, turned a guy away because he was like 1 1/2 threads short on the lug nuts. Atleast he had all 5. I've seen cars run missing a few. I peraonally watched a 10 second car run with 2 lugs on one side. Tech needs to be as little more lienient on some things. 4 tires, not leaking, helmet, belts, Windows,
|
|