What if ?

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

The idea is to make it a 2 day event Friday and Saturday with Sunday used as a back up in case of a rain out or a head start to get back home for us working people. Thursdays would be for set up, ....

Personally, I'd rather have a Fri (setup) Sat-Sun schedule. Yes, you'd have a Sunday travel day, and the rain date *is* a good idea, but you've got 100% of the people that have to miss work on Fri, and most will miss Thurs. If you race Sat-Sun, only a % of people will miss Fri, and a much smaller % may have to miss Mon. Most guys would be eliminated from competition Sunday afternoon and have plenty of travel time. In either case, you're looking at a third day at the track, which means more money... although you could negotiate with the track that they could have a test'n'tune the night of the 'setup' day, and have that be their 'take' for the first day.

On the up-side, Fri-Sat are better spectator days. But, in either case, do we have the guts to pull an ADRL and offer free tickets to pack the joint? It's more likely to draw a major sponsor for the series if we can promise a packed house. Charge for parking, sell t-shirts, and the track is happy with concession sales -- could the potential of outrageous concession sales be used in negotiating the track rental contract? Could always go the route of free general admission, and then sell upgrades for reserved seating.

This might even play into an idea I have. I'd like to do a limited-edition set of trading cards for Stock and Super Stock. One of the toughest obstacles would be obtaining photos (or the rights thereof). With a stand-alone series, we'd own the rights to the photography, and could market packs of trading cards with real heroes on them.

Re: Pinks.... it's all about the TV. Whether or not people like Rich, you have to hand it to their production crew. They do a pretty good job of capturing the action. I nominate Larry Pfister for videographer! (Horsepower Heaven, of "4 Days in May" fame)

Announcing staff is going to be key.

More later....