Constructive criticism or “bashing “

[MI Dirt Fan]

Is that still going on now?

Maybe. Maybe not... They know who they are...

[Krooser]

Exactly, and I can give a recent example of this. Since I moved to Georgia five years ago, Screven has been one of my local tracks. One thing we didn't like though, was that everyone had to purchase a pit pass, even though we usually don't enter the pit area when we bring a large group with us. There were no grandstand-only tickets. For that reason, we skipped a lot of their races. Then they changed their policy and started selling both grandstand and pit passes. Now we go to all of their big shows. For an event back in the fall, we had a group of 14 people. Had the track not changed their ticket policy, our group wouldn't have been there. This was a perfect example of a promoter listening to criticism and making some changes. We will now support Screven every chance we get.

Lots of drag strips do that so the fans can mingle with the drivers and make that "connection" between the fans and drivers... not a bad idea.

I often tried to implement a deal where a season or partial season ticket holder gets a number of pit passes included with their season pass. They could then choose what nights they want to be in the pits.

I also used to give free passes to my drivers main sponsors if they need to help out their program or to woo a new sponsor. All I asked was for them to be reasonable in their requests.

Back to our regular programming...

[Highwayman]

Nothing wrong with truth, obviously. How and where truth is delivered I think matters. I don't think running to a message board or social media site and just blasting away is the best idea if you want positive results. A lot of times on here and other places on the web the truth is used as a weapon meant to hurt and injure and I don't think that is beneficial to the sport. Sometimes the old adage,
"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything." is the better course. I've been guilty before of being less than friendly or helpful, but I'm trying to be better about that going forward. Just because something is true doesn't mean it needs to be said... Capeche'

[champion24]

My 2 cents, if it's worth that!! Presentation, as stated above, is important. But most people, don't want to hear it regardless!! Most will listen, but most of them won't process it! In 1 ear and out the other, for the most part!! Racing, sports, & life in general! As for admission prices, policies, & classes ran at tracks, been told numerous times to take it or leave it!! Too many classes are very common problems in our world, but aren't seeming to change soon! I've had track gate openers and promotors alike tell us that they CAN NOT make it without all the classes, even on a weekly basis!! They said they can't make it even a week, with less classes! 1 said it would be a "housing development tomorrow" without all the classes!! They can't understand why most don't want to sit there for hours and hours, and the stands keep showing it!

[President Clinton]

Seems to me nobody is willing to listen to the other side because it might financially hurt them at the present time???? So basically racing as a whole has became political???? You just are on side a or side b???? I know there are exceptions, but I had this brought up by a non racer, gave it some thought, and have no choice but tell him he is right. We are all like politicians wanting only what is good for our side

[Barbecueboy]

All good points and all very well said.....but there are two sides to that social media bashing bit, some folks just shouldn't come near a keyboard if they are representing ( or trying to)a track, a series a team or a supplier.

Good operators and promoters run into less drama and critique because they prepare better and work harder.......pretty simple.

Guys like that know the difference between bashing and constructive criticism and generally overlook one and embrace the other.

[MRM]

We have discussed this several times on InsideDirtRacing.com. Bashing is people that just want to start trouble. It's pretty easy to see. Constructive criticism is when people point out problems, then offer suggestions to help those problems. I see no problem with that. Unfortunately, there are owners that think everything they do is being done the right way. Any legit constructive criticism to them is bashing because they think what they're doing is right. And some of it is people have some thin skin.

Message boards like this one used to be a home for constant bashing that was unnecessary. At least with message boards, there are moderators to help weed out the troublemakers. Nowadays, people use social media to bash tracks. There are no moderators. When it's posted, it's there and no one can take it off except for the person posting it. While social media can get a great tool for promoting, it's also a home for people that only want to trash others. It's that way for racing, politics, sports, or anything else.

I have always told people (and I did this when I was working for a track), offer a statement to basically say why complainers are wrong. Don't be mean about it or call out those people. Just use facts and hope it dies. Smart people will see when a troublemaker is just trying to get a rise out of everybody and will leave those people alone. When they don't get the attention they want, they find something else to do.

[President Clinton]

So if a track routinely drags a show till 1-2 am is it acceptable to make light of that? If a track is consistently dusty??? If an engine builder has multiple engines pop? A driver consistently tearing equipment up? Your average fan will not have solutions to fix any of this,,,,,so are they to not say anything????

[pushin cushin]

There is a difference in the presentation

Bingo. It’s all about the delivery...