VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

I think it was already mentioned on here BUT race track owners and NHRA should take notice!
VMP passed out 60,000 (that's the number I heard) FREE tickets to saturday's final eliminations.
The placed was packed! The tickets were passed out at NAPA stores (could have been a VMP/NAPA joint effort- I don't know).

How many points meets have you been to that had more than a handful of spectators in the stands?
There aren't many tracks that do a good job of drawing crowds for points meets.

Here is a list of the tracks that do a good job...........

Norwalk......... $1.00 ice cream, tons of advertising, great show for the fans
VMP (08)....... did the same thing last year, tons of free tickets from NAPA
Maple Grove(08).... on saturday nite, they offered $20 car load special.... the place was packed! cars were lined up for miles trying to get into the track.
Belle Rose........ I've heard of the great job Pat is doing down there... just have not seen it first had yet!
MIR............Always draws a crowd..... must be tradition!
I'm sure there are others........ (don't feel offended if you did not make my list)

GREAT JOB VMP!
Keep up the good work

Tom Sheehan

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

Tom,

I second that on VMP...... Marc & crew continue to make upgrades and bring in the crowds... There's nothing like racing in front of Big crowds ... Bill Bader, at Norwalk always puts on a great SHOW with Big crowds .... Treats Racers and Fans great and they keep coming back ....

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

Thats great to hear someone else is doing some promoting for the divisional races. I do know NAPA is giving away free tickets for the Norwalk divisional race as well. Definitely need to get more people in the stands. Hope to see you at Englishtown, Dave. I'm sure MacNeish knows where there is an Outback near by!!!

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

VMP also announced to their huge spectator base that they could reserve a seat for the National event while they were at saturday's race.
Here are the details I heard announced.........
1) pick out the seat you like best
2) go by the ticket booth and reserve your seat for the october national event
3) the kicker was... your credit card would not be billed until August

Sounded like a great marketing plan.........

Again.... great job VMP..... great job!

tom sheehan

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

The dumb part is, most tracks look at free tickets as lost revenue. You give out 100 free passes. Maybe 60 of those people will actually show. Out of that 60, likely 30 wouldn't have come anyway so you've lost the sale of 30 tickets, but the track counts that as 70 tickets they lost money on. They completely disregard the fact that they now have 60 people on the property spending money and potential future customers if they enjoy the show.

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

One of my Mopar restoration customers, who also owns a prominent nightclub in New York, offered this statement many years ago as part of his business philosophy, which totally applies to ANY business, including drag racing:

"A funny thing happens when you stop promoting."

"NOTHING"

Bill Rolik SS 1514

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

Joe - Had dinner the other night in Virginia with MacNeish/ Ribeiro/ Totaro -- They new exactly where the local Outback was..........Surprised ???????

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

Tom - this year Maple Grove is giving out FREE car load ticket for Saturday of the LODRS. Plus as a special promotion from A&A Auto Stores, if you bring the ticket in you'll get 10% off your purchase too. AND if that's not enough there's a $5.00 off coupon to the VF Outlets too.

Lex was giving piles of tickets to anyone with a retail outlet so they should be plentiful.

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

I was wondering why i seen all those fans, i have not seen that many fans at any ponts race.

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

Not only did they do a great job of promoting the race,and getting a little local news coverage [ against the NASCAR race!], But I lost track of how many times I was THANK YOU'D for coming to VMP by the track personell !!! .....That's something I've only experianced at Norwalk up to now. .....Tom

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

Thank you, everyone, for posting such a positive topic. It's seemed like all I've seen for months is complaining about this and that. When we talk about what works we get more of it!

I just wish I was there to watch my Godson Kyle Cultrera make his first competitive round in comp...

Regards,
Bruce Deveau

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of those racers who came out in support of the NHRA Division 1 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Virginia Motorsports Park this past weekend. Whether you traveled 50 miles or 500 miles we sincerely appreciate your business and support of both NHRA and VMP. It is with the continued support of the racers that race series like LODRS and facilities like VMP will continue to prosper even through these tough economic times. Thanks to our great friends at NAPA the weekend was a success both on and off the race track. As many of you have mentioned NAPA Auto Care Centers were kind of to give race fans a free ticket to enjoy a great day of drag racing. Again, I would like to extend an overall thank you to the racers, the sponsors and the NHRA for a great weekend.

I wish all of you good luck in the 2009 racing season and I look forward to seeing you all in October at the NHRA Virginia Nationals.

See You At The Races!

Marc Wesler
Track Manager
Virginia Motorsports Park
Mwesler@vmpdrag.com

Re: VMP D1 race moment #1.....
 

Marc,

Thanks for doing a great job packing the stands-it's always nice to race in front of a lot of people. I also got a chance to explain comp to people and you know what. As soon as I talked about handicaps in bowling and golf, they got the whole CIC deal in about 30 seconds.