More Trenchant
Observations
Reaching Out to the Next
Generation
4/8/04
got a call last week from someone I'd forgotten
about; on the phone was a call that brought
a bunch of those high school memories to the
surface. It was Russ Mukai, the instructor at
North Hollywood High School's auto shop; when
I was in that classroom it was run by Mr. Wilson.
I don't think I ever knew his first name. Anyway,
last fall a neighbor kid came by the house with
his yearly 6th grade fund-raiser magazine drive,
unfortunately for him most of my hot rodding
magazine subscriptions are already extended
into the next decade. So rather than turning
the kid away, I thought of my old auto shop
class and signed them up for a year of Hot Rod
since I knew they already had access to Drag
Racing Online Magazine. The phone call from
Mukai was about the first issue showing up in
the teacher's mailbox and his gratitude for
my help.
I've been giving my old car magazines in bulk to the auto shop class for the
last couple of years. With continual budget cuts for our city schools,
having the latest issue of a car magazine is a prized possession for any
shop teacher nowadays. I know there aren't that many auto shop classes
across the country anymore, but if you've got stacks of magazines gathering
dust and no longer need them for reference, consider handing them off to the
next generation.
I was thinking that these are the same people who'll fill the SoCal
grandstands and staging lanes at future Winternationals, Thursdays at
Irwindale's 1/8 mile and Saturday at the new quarter mile at Fontana's
California Dragway. Somehow grassroots and guerilla marketing ideas have
fallen off the radar of the sanctioning bodies today; you've heard the
phrase, "thinking outside the box". With the significant ticket prices we
find at the gates today, not very many of these kids can show up on a
Saturday or Sunday morning at Pomona and grab a seat, whether it's a sport
compact race or the Big Show. There are just too many other things vying
for the attention of today's youth; there are lots of things that cost a lot
less money than a drag race for a weekend of fun.
While attending the recent NHRA Sport Compact opener at California Dragway
there were so few Saturday spectators I wonder why nobody invites local auto
shop classes, every local Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troop and the local Big
Brothers and Big Sister groups with free admission for the day's event.
NHRA Sport Compact Event Director and marketing consultant Javier Ortega
conceded Saturday ticket sales were traditionally low, so why not open it up
to watch for free or $5.00? Fill the grandstands!
During the SummitRacing.com Vegas race, there was the traditional driver
pre-race appearance held at the ESPN Zone on the Las Vegas Strip. The
racers included Rhonda Hartman-Smith, John Smith, Del Worsham, Phil Burkart,
Mark Pawuk and his Summit-backed Pontiac racecar, Tony Schumacher, Jerry
Toliver, Jim Yates, Kurt Johnson, Tommy Johnson Jr., Terry Haddock, David
Baca, Jeff Arend, and Doug Herbert. Surprise guest Brandon Bernstein stole
the show with his late appearance, however nobody handed out surplus copies
of National Dragster, discount coupons for a Friday or Saturday ticket,
membership applications or even free POWERade stickers. Some great racers
and exceptional spokespeople for NHRA Drag Racing were there, but since this
was deemed a promotion by the local racetrack NHRA missed a greater
opportunity to spread the word to more civilians who knew little about the
local event.
The bottom line here is, and I know I've said it before, the only way that
drag racing is going to grow and thrive is to hold onto the fans we've got
and reach out to those who might still be on the fence. It's a matter of
getting those potential fans into the seats, standing at the fence smelling
the nitro, meeting drivers in the pits and feeling the real power of today's
drag racing.
These missed opportunities cannot be quantified and attempting to think outside
the box is difficult for just about any large
organization. I'll never pretend to be the second
coming of Bill Doner and have no resume to justify
these opinions as people like Bill Stephens
seem to require, but for many years I have attended
numerous drag races on a local, divisional and
national level. I see the crowds dropping, but
keeping the lid on the box is not the way to
preserve, protect, and perpetuate the sport
of drag racing as stated in the NHRA Mission
Statement.
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