What's your take on this? Social Media bashing vs tracks taking responsibility

[Highwayman]

I can see both sides I suppose. I've been to tracks that time and again promise they are gonna do better and yet the surface is still junk, single file, sand-storm dusty by the end of the heats. I mean you get to the track and at 5:30 its still bone dry and hard as the local granite with the rubber still on it from the week before... Then you get on the InterWeb and their PR and a few dilussionals are touting how awesome the racing was. After being duped time after time you become jaded and less sympathetic to promotors who don't really promote, they manage like an accountant and the whole thing death spirals. People complain on the web about it, fewer peeps return, the gate gets smaller, the promoter begs, whines, threatens, promises, but nothing improves and the completion times get later and later until your hauling the car from the track to church hoping you make it in time for the sermon, this week...

On the other hand some people use the web, social media and the like as their entertainment. They don't actually add to the conversation or want to help with anything they just like to swap insults with anybody who crosses their path, be it a race, a track, a fan, a promotor, someones death, grand parents and on and on. I'd like to see less of the "free" message boards and social media be replaced with pay sites. I think if some of these quacks had to pay to post and risk losing money if they start getting stupid, things would get better. But as long as 4m and others are free there's gonna be idiots saying dumb stuff for a laugh or revenge. Another thing that detracts from things and makes people want to say negative things is the censorship that goes on. Your not allowed to say negative things about anyone who has ad space on these message boards because they pay the bills, even if its true, especially if its true. We need a new 4m type place that raise the bar of entry a little to dissuade people like, "Black I" and others from using the board for narcissistic entertainment.

[PRCKartRacer9]

If you want to get people in the stands, add classes that are cheap to race in and have good racing no matter the surface. I started racing 4cyl and we would have 80-90 mini stocks a night. If each racer brings 2 people to watch then the stands fill up quickly. We also had a V8 cruiser class that would have 40-50 a night as well. We never had entry fees, only pit passes. Each class ran 2 features if you transfered with the A paying $250, $25 to start and the B paying $150, $25 to start. The fans loved watching these classes because there was racing front to back and always entertaining. The amount of kids racing was more than a 1/3 and the grandstands actually had family areas because of the amount of kids there watching. We would have kids night a couple times a year where the kids got to ride around the track in the cars. As the season would get longer, the more new faces you would see in the crowd simply by word of mouth. It cost adults 14 and older $10 for gen admission. Stands were full every Friday and that's competing with high school football later in the year. My point is if you keep gate costs to a minimum and have support classes that are just that, you don't have to charge an arm and a leg to make sure you cover the purse for the latest and what not. People were going to the track because they heard the racing was good and the whole family could go. The track was a bullring so the lates never really put on the show that the minis and cruisers put on. I've read on social media where people miss going to this track because there was always excitement. Everyone knew what the track surface was going to be each week. Horrible. Turns 1 & 2 had a natural spring in the middle and was never smooth. Let the racing promote itself and dont try to sell people on a great surface with great racing. Sell them on the experience and the stands will always be full. Pennsboro was always packed with people and the racing was the same year in and year out.

[Krooser]

ptown... I would say I can ask 25 of my friends and biz associates and at least 15 would say the same thing... no computer or they have a very limited internet presence.

My race fan buddy Tracey is 52... he does FB now but has a tuff time figuring out how to do a good search on Google... he's no dummy. Never been on a tracks web page. In the auto parts biz for 20 years... his brother doesn't own a computer. There are lots of folks just like those two and they are everywhere. They are our neighbor's and friends...

If online promo's were so good no consumer goods would be advertised on TV... no business would advertise at the local track... no business would buy naming rights to a ball park or speedway.