This Writer Nails It!!

By T.J. Buffenbarger

Recently a track in Michigan was shut down unexpectedly after being sold. One of the reasons the track owner cited selling the facility was criticism on social media outlets were to blame for the lack of success. This is a cry I have heard increasingly over the past several years, I also believe in most cases blame that is misguided.

Recently I have seen a movement of people that feel nothing critical should ever been said about a race track, and that fans and teams (customers) should just be happy they exist. This is a sport where the objective is the win and to do so is to work at getting better as a driver or race team to do so. The same has to be done from the track and series management side. If I were to go out for a hamburger and had a less that satisfactory experience should I just be happy there is a hamburger place to go to when there are 20 other places offering the same thing down the street? That holds true in the entertainment field. There are more entertainment options than ever for families. Having a business that can’t start the program on time, finish at a reasonable hour, and have less than adequate facilities and blaming social media is not getting to the reason things are not working.

When a facility cannot provide clean facilities, start remotely close to on time, or end a program at a reasonable hour on a regular basis and in turn expect paying customers to be stratified just by your existence is not a sustainable business plan. Often times these are the same facilities that don’t update information or results until days after the event. How can you build a fan base if those customers can’t find out what happened the next morning? Can you imagine your favorite sports team taking up this practice? Often times the tracks complaining about social media also are guilty of this practice as well.

For every track I see complaining about social media I see others thriving and embracing it. The ones using this to their advantage can convey their passion and what they think is great about the sport or their facility in creative ways. I’ve seen “track selfies” being encouraged during the race night and often will flood my feeds during race night of people enjoying themselves at the races. If someone is searching for a night out in their area there is a good chance they can stumble across images like this and it might intrigue them to come.

No matter how well a facility is run there will always be customers that are not happy and will use it as an outlet to complain. If the track is well run though they generally will not have a leg to stand on and their complaint will be more of anomaly.

Asking your customers just to exist is not good enough. With entertainment options springing up everywhere the racing community needs to be more creative on how we convey what is great about the sport. There are so many things we do right on the short track level. Fans can get a nights entertainment at a reasonable cost, with reasonable concessions (or bring your own cooler/food at some facilities), and meet the “heroes” at the end of the night. Social media is another way to remind people of these things.

Instead of worrying about what customers are saying about your track, series, or racing on social media they should be focused on how they can make the racing experience at their facility for the customer. If the customer experience can continue to evolve for fan and race team then the later problem with social media is self-correcting.

Instead of convincing fans they should be happy for your existence, show them with creativity and the desire to make things better each and every race night.

True but.. Easier said than done.

Everyone has an opinion and you usually only here the gripes, not the kudos. But like someone once told me, if you don't want them talking bad things about you don't give them anything to talk bad about. And yes...easier said than done.

Promoting has never been easy, nor for the thin skinned. Not many could put up with the pre social media days of trying to balance a bunch of competitive people (racers) complaining about so and so's cheating, rough driving, rules changes, etc. Throw in the unhappy spectators complaining about how their favorite driver got screwed over, the cold hot dogs and so forth. Add in today's instant internet griping, much of it by arm chair experts that seldom, if ever, attend a race and it has to be even more frustrating for a promoter. I've been in this sport for nearly sixty years as a driver and car owner and have dealt with more promoters, both terrific and terrible, than I can count and have always gotten better response to my complaints by talking to them one on one in a reasonable tone. Didn't always get the results wanted but sure was a lot more likely to. The old saw about getting more flies with honey than vinegar applies.

If most of the Time you do it Right. Then you can live with the Times it goes Wrong.. Look at Fairbury Most of the time they do it Right.. What it get them Track of the year...Look at FarmerCity They looked at Fairbury and say thats how we should do it and they have turned it a Round....All the Bad Press that they were getting is why 3 on the Board said we can run it better. And they did. Now look at them. Ever year they get Better and Better....The Best thing for Bad Press is too do Something about it....

The problem with social media is people get on there and say things that are not true but, people believe it to be true and then it spreads like wildfire. There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism of how a track is run but, the best way to do that is to talk to the owner in person and not express it on social media. Yes I realize some owners don't want to hear it and does nothing about it and those tracks are the ones that are probably struggling anyway. You can have a person do something at the track and the track either kicks the person out or suspends that person and then they get on social media and say things that's not even true because they are pisssed and like I said people believe it to be true and then say well I'm not going to that track if that's the way they treat people. So yes social media can be good and it can be bad for a track.

If it was easy everyone would do it, and it wouldn't be worth doing.

That track is Cherry Raceway in Fife Lake, Michigan. I see the Owners Facebook post back about Monday evening.

Honest question regarding this stuff:

How many people that actually run things at tracks used social media when it first came out in the mid 2000s? How many of them had their 1st use AFTER 2012?

Fact of the matter is that most promoters and others that run PR for tracks seem to be 45+ years old... They don't understand and know how to use social media for the most part... Dirt Track Racing is the "Old Boys Club" pretty much...

The sport as a whole has lacked the social media insight compared to other sports... I graduated from college in 2008 and was looking for a career in Sports Marketing... I have seen just a handful of "social media" jobs in the racing world compared to the 100's of jobs from clients like MLB, MiLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, etc. The few jobs I've seen from employers in the racing world have been NASCAR and organizations that cater to the under 30 crowd like Monster Trucks, Drag Racing, and various Motocross/X-Games type motorsports...

Short Track Racing as a whole has failed to change with the times... It shows in the job market and is the main reason why I gave up trying to look for work in this neck of the woods...

That's kind of the nice thing about race tracks in MI. You either race at the UMP tracks or the IMCA tracks. Nothing really big happens. Its pretty low key. The facilities aren't top notch and we don't have the "big" money races but the locals put on a good event each week. Some tracks get the cars and some almost get the cars. Hardly ever do any "travelers" drop in. With water on two sides of the state and the U.P to the north, the travel distance is just to far.

2 tracks I know of have curfews. One could and I know there has been a lot of rich city folks trying to get one enforced or have the place shut down for MANY MANY years but 2 things, it sits just outside that township and it sits outside the village limits making it hard to happen.

Being Friends with the top People in UMP and WoO Lates.. Makes this Hard to do.... But I blame them for it not being better .. There is a lot they could do too make the sport better but they just don't get it....SN have all most become a Joke....No one Cares if you won UMP Champ...I might not get in free no more after this but WoO Lates are not where they should be.. I think they have just Lost sight of whats needs too be done....

A friend Who make a lot of money use to say, You keep bringing in new cheese cause the old cheese get Moldy after a wile .
They need more young people on the staff. Then use them too get the Young too Come....
Social media today $ucks Cause lots of people today LIE... then when they use it (the tracks) they drop there web site or don't up date it , were a lot of people don't want to use social media.. Like me lose out ....Social media is the easiest to Hack of all things on your Computer.. social media Its the easy thing too do and the kids to day want it all handed too them.... So if your are OLD its going to Die just like YOU......

Just think ...World class Skiing. All They have now is time trials.. Now you line them ALL up at the top and all of them race too the bottom and the first one too the bottom Wins. NOW Skiing would be fun too watch LOL......

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Originally Posted by kidrock

The problem with social media is people get on there and say things that are not true but, people believe it to be true and then it spreads like wildfire. There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism of how a track is run but, the best way to do that is to talk to the owner in person and not express it on social media. Yes I realize some owners don't want to hear it and does nothing about it and those tracks are the ones that are probably struggling anyway. You can have a person do something at the track and the track either kicks the person out or suspends that person and then they get on social media and say things that's not even true because they are pisssed and like I said people believe it to be true and then say well I'm not going to that track if that's the way they treat people. So yes social media can be good and it can be bad for a track.

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And just what did we learn by reading that???

My reply - (done on social media, nonetheless. :) )

"THIS. My opinion... Most race tracks are a business. The non-profits aside, the business is there to make money. Racers are a supplier of those said businesses. If a supplier/racer is unhappy (and is vocal about being unhappy on social media) then yes, the business has every right to sever ties with that supplier/racer. The proper route would be for the business to fix its shortcomings to attract more suppliers/racers. As happens in the rest of the business world, good suppliers are finite things. Eventually, your suppliers will dry up and WHEN they do, what happens? The business shuts down because it can no longer source its product and turn a profit.

Tracks - FIX YOUR SHORTCOMINGS. Positive social media from a great experience spreads like wildfire (just ask ‪#‎FALS‬). Instead of bitching because your suppliers/racers and customers/fans are bitching - don't give them anything to bitch about in the first place.

If you are shot and bleeding profusely, what makes more sense? Wiping and spreading the blood already on the floor? Or actually stopping the source of the bleeding? You can clean up later..."

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Originally Posted by shaferz

My reply - (done on social media, nonetheless. :) )

"THIS. My opinion... Most race tracks are a business. The non-profits aside, the business is there to make money. Racers are a supplier of those said businesses. If a supplier/racer is unhappy (and is vocal about being unhappy on social media) then yes, the business has every right to sever ties with that supplier/racer. The proper route would be for the business to fix its shortcomings to attract more suppliers/racers. As happens in the rest of the business world, good suppliers are finite things. Eventually, your suppliers will dry up and WHEN they do, what happens? The business shuts down because it can no longer source its product and turn a profit.

Tracks - FIX YOUR SHORTCOMINGS. Positive social media from a great experience spreads like wildfire (just ask ‪#‎FALS‬). Instead of bitching because your suppliers/racers and customers/fans are bitching - don't give them anything to bitch about in the first place.

If you are shot and bleeding profusely, what makes more sense? Wiping and spreading the blood already on the floor? Or actually stopping the source of the bleeding? You can clean up later..."

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(The non-profits aside) 1/2 the tracks are non-profits.....(Positive social media) Will what do you do when the person is out right Lieing....I have been at a race were the Driver Crashed Punch someone in the Face and then when and Lied about it on social media .. How do you fight that....

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Originally Posted by Cardirt0

(The non-profits aside) 1/2 the tracks are non-profits.....(Positive social media) Will what do you do when the person is out right Lieing....I have been at a race were the Driver Crashed Punch someone in the Face and then when and Lied about it on social media .. How do you fight that....

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What happens when non-profits cant pay the bills? Exact same as for-profit. They close up shop.

How do you fight what you mentioned above? The answer is - You dont. You cant. You can be like every other business out there and explain what happened - provide proof if necessary.

The situation you propose is a bit different than a driver bitching about a night taking too long, or a complaint about tires being pushed out (which has happened, specifically at FALS.) In your situation, if a driver really acted like that - he would be barred from the track for a few races or even the rest of the season - but it would be from his on-track/on-grounds actions - not from a facebook or twitter rant. There is no 'one size fits all' solution, but generally speaking - the idiots weed themselves out. Nobody wants to be a fan of a guy or gal who consistently does nothing but complain.

My point was that if tracks run an exciting, relatively 'clean' show - the positive praises will far outweigh the negatives.

It doesn't surprise me one bit this day and age that tracks would complain about social media hurting their business. It's a prime example of entitlement and laziness of some people today. If anyone is out there making false accusations then it's up to you to figure out ways to cover your a$$. Video doesn't lie, set up a camera and video each race. Enforce rules, black & white... no gray area. Then you can always say rules are rules and this is what's happening. Too many tracks think they can't enforce rules on the guys who are consistently running well at their tracks because they think they won't come back. You need to show you have balls and that no one is bigger than the law. When tracks don't have success it's because the owners/promoters are willing to do the work required to put on a smooth show and keep coming back. This tracks warning is laughable and I wouldn't go there ever again because I hate lazy mf'ers who just expect good things to automatically happen because they think they're so important and better than everyone else. I would guess Paducah raceway won't be around much longer with their little disclaimer.

That "social media " door swings both ways. We can praise a track or promoter just as well tell of its short comings . Take it all with a grain of salt and work to make it better !