Good News, Bad News

[jmcarter]

Originally Posted by Jared Jordan

Larry,

Maybe one plan for the service that we've all gotten used to (read: spoiled by...) and an extra fee for incremental times?

My $.02

I really like Jared's idea...incrementals a big bonus and willing to pay extra.

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by randall klein

in thinking over the comments about a membership support of your costs, i mulled over what ceiling i would be comfortable with....$500 made me wince a little, but in order to throw a figure "out there", for entertainment values alone i am in the $200/yr range

now what number of subscribers needed at what fee is for someone else to figure

A *lot*. And I suspect that $200/year would price out most people. You might be able to sell it at "$10/month" (of course then you have even more costs involved with establishing and maintaining a payment/subscriber system), at which point you need thousands of subscribers.

If it goes to a subscriber-only model, the value to sponsors drops dramatically along with the traffic to the site. On the flip side, if non-subscribers can get everything for free that subscribers pay for, then you will have significantly less subscribers.

[Chris Hill]

Who owns http://www.dragracecentral.com/?

[jmcarter]

Chris, Larry Sullivan. He started the thread.

[Toby Lang]

I actually like the end-of-day reports. I get to see eliminations for every round. Ever since I joined ComuServe in the early 90s, I have wanted to see eliminations for all rounds posted.

If end-of-day reports is what it takes, then I'm all for it.

[Toby Lang]

Originally Posted by Chris Hill

Who owns http://www.dragracecentral.com/?

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: DRAGRACECENTRAL.COM
Created on: 14-Jul-99
Expires on: 15-May-13
Last Updated on: 08-Nov-12

Registrant:
Autosales Incorporated
1200 Southeast Ave
Tallmadge, Ohio 44278
United States

Administrative Contact:
Master, Web email@summitracing.com
Autosales Incorporated
1200 Southeast Ave
Tallmadge, Ohio 44278
United States
+1.3306300270 Fax -- +1.3306305330

Technical Contact:
Master, Web email@summitracing.com
Autosales Incorporated
1200 Southeast Ave
Tallmadge, Ohio 44278
United States
+1.3306300270 Fax -- +1.3306305330

Domain servers in listed order:
CBRU.BR.NS.ELS-GMS.ATT.NET
CMTU.MT.NS.ELS-GMS.ATT.NET

[Larry Sullivan]

Originally Posted by Chris Hill

Who owns http://www.dragracecentral.com/?

As far as I know, the name "Drag Race Central" and the website belong to Summit Racing Equipment. Rick Green and I are "FastNews Network Inc." We supply the content and operate the website.

[Bob Don]

Originally Posted by Larry Sullivan

As far as I know, the name "Drag Race Central" and the website belong to Summit Racing Equipment. Rick Green and I are "FastNews Network Inc." We supply the content and operate the website.

Mr Sullivan - Thank you for doing what you do. We may be spoiled by the great reporting we've gotten in the past but I, for one, am thankful even for end of day reports. Back in the day, we had to wait for the next issue of National Dragster to get results.

[RacingRicki]

Originally Posted by Larry Sullivan

Short answer - it takes several races for a new reporter to work together with an experienced reporter and become familiar enough with the reporting software and the sometimes recalcitrant interface with the timing system to "solo."

Most of the guys (and occasionally gals) who do this for us have been doing online drag racing reports since the CompuServe and AOL days in the mid-eighties.

The reporting software has evolved to take advantage of the data feed provided by the CompuLink timing system, but it takes experience to know what can go wrong, how to fix it and, if necessary, how to do the job by manually keying in all of the race data from the printed reports produced by the timing system.

It's time-consuming, detail-oriented work that requires full-time attention. It doesn't fit in very well with a typical racing family's daily schedule at the track. Their focus is usually on the race car and their daily routine depends on when that car is scheduled to be on the track. Our focus is on getting the results posted as soon as possible, but not until they have been proofread to make sure they match the official results.

I was afraid of that answer. I still think its sad that in this information age, the data coming from Compulink is so unreliable and problematic. I remember talking to the guy from iCard several years ago and him telling me all the troubles of interpreting the data feed, etc. so I understand what you mean.

[Larry Sullivan]

Originally Posted by RacingRicki

I was afraid of that answer. I still think its sad that in this information age, the data coming from Compulink is so unreliable and problematic. I remember talking to the guy from iCard several years ago and him telling me all the troubles of interpreting the data feed, etc. so I understand what you mean.

It's not unreliable or problematic at most tracks, but all tracks are not equal and not all are running CompuLink systems. Timing system maintenance is critical, especially the old non-fibre-optics systems which act like lightning rods. CompuLink is also the only drag race timing system that has a dedicated data feed.