204 replies to this topic

[The Number of]

All it takes is sponsorship dollars.

LM

And there in lies the problem,who can line up the money needed to promote this to a company who's demographic base is old guys playing with toy cars,reliving their misspent youth. Viagra or something similar? Harley pretty much has that market wrapped up.Money talks,BS walks,until someone comes up with the dough,this remains a pipe dream and a waste of bandwidth. Bill (aka Mr. Obvious)

[Mr. Frank]

SO TRUE , Bill

[John Streisguth]

Anybody who has watched TV during off hours knows what you see...info-mercials! Used to be that's when thay ran some odd-ball programs on ESPN or Speed. Now it's all about money.

Also, "National" TV in the US probably covers a much bigger area than anything in Europe (probably). And "local" TV is not widely watched. So what comes first, sponsorship money to get TV coverage, or TV coverage to get sponsership money.

What works in Europe may not work in the US.

[The Number of]

What comes first is money,period. You will need seed money to even begin the process. Unlike the Annette and Frankie Beach Party Pics where they make the annoucement Hey kids we have a swell idea lets put on a show! a lot more is involved in it. I know Larry can tell you whats involved in making presentations to sponsers,Money,research,and time. Who has these and will step up?

[MSwiss]

Used to be that's when thay ran some odd-ball programs on ESPN or Speed.

John,
You hit that right on the head.

Jerry Kulich had the Chicago 500 in 1986. Other than the Nat's, it was probably the biggest race
of the year.

He had a racer who was a crack PR guy who not only lined up a new cable sports channel,SportsVision, to film
the whole G7 race,(I'm pretty sure for $$, but not a huge amount) but also got the local ABC network come in and film for
15 minutes or so.
The Indy 500 got rained out on Sunday that year, so I wound up on the local ABC sports broadcast for about 45 seconds, maybe a minute.
I can still remember the lead-in.
"Rain kept them from running at Indy today, but that didn't stop them from racing inside, here in Chicago".

I'm sure if Indy had been run that day, I would of been out of luck.

The cable footage was edited down to either a half hour or hour and the local racers got together
for a viewing party at a sports bar(hardly anyone had cable at the time) when it was shown at about 8 PM
on a weekday night about a month later.

I forgot about it until a year or so later, when I would run into old neighborhood friends, they would always
congratulate me on my slot car win. "What did you do with the $500 ?".

Finally, one day, I commented to one of them, "I can't believe so many people happened to see that broadcast."

They replied:
"You're on all the time. I see you 2 or 3 times a week at around 3 or 4 in the morning". LOL

[tonyp]

That was a long time ago and a time where cable was looking for anything to fill time slots. Now cable is the big bucks and terrestrial TV the small players... How many people complained to you that you scared their kids who 25 years later still have nightmares?

[MSwiss]

At last count, 127. LOL.

[John Streisguth]

Mike, that's a pretty funny story, and really illustrates the way things were back then, and there's even a lower chance of slot car racing on TV now.

Has anyone given though to a pay per view scenario? It might be only slot car racers might tune in, but that's a more possible audience for something like this than regular TV. If it's produced well (most webcasts are not very satisfactory to watch). I know I would pay a few bucks to watch such a major event.

[Ron Hershman]

I think it could be webcast and run the sponsors names tons of times as you could probably do some live announcing and interviews during the webcast.

Put links or make posts on as many slot and motor sports blogs and that would pull in many to watch for sure and that can all be done free.

Not sure a PPV would be the way to go to reach the masses.

[John Streisguth]

Seems to me it might be a higher percentage possibility, IF it's done right. Webcasts with just background chatter, only views of the track and no way to see the standings and laps counts on an ongoing basis, makes for a very boring time. If someone actually produced the webcast on a (near) professional level, I would pay to watch a huge event like this.

Now, is it enough to sponsor a good number of racer's travel expenses? That seems to be the core of the problem. Most of the general populace knows what the Indy 500 is, or the Daytona 500. Except for the baby boomer generation, most people have no idea what a slot car is, and therefore no interest.

A good example is that except for avid skiers, most people probably have no clue about Lindsay Vonn's success in the World Cup.

[Ron Hershman]

most people probably have no clue about Lindsay Vonn's success in the world cup.

That depends on how many sponsor "commercials" she is in.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

Chicago isn't really the "center"... Denver is closer to the "central location physically" concept.

But in these situations, logistics trump tactics, and Las Vegas is the place that is designed for this sort of thing, and is actually usually easier to get to, cheaper to deal with than anyplace else.

Fate

[flem1959]

Even slow retro cars are hard to see on a webcast.
They don`t look like much more than a blur.
What would you show on TV?
You would have to show the lap counter monitor.
I`m afraid most people wouldn`t have a clue what was going on.
99% of North American`s would just see old men playing with toy cars.
They wouldn't get the competition aspect at all.

The most recent TV coverage of slot cars I've seen is on OWH.
A flat track race in Seattle I think.
It was actually a pretty good piece.
I doubt if they would have even shown it if not for the kid with autism racing.

[John Streisguth]

To which they say " she's pretty... so she skis??"

If you're watching ski racing, you probably already know who she is. Most people who are not skiers only watch ski racing when the Winter Olympics are going on. I'm sure WAY more people know who Shawn White is...

[John Streisguth]

Now if you could get a celebrity race going, that might generate some interest... where's Tiger Woods number???

[Ron Hershman]

To which they say " she's pretty...so she skis??"

If you're watching ski racing, you probably already know who she is. Most people who are not skiers only watch ski racing when the winter olympics are going on. I'm sure WAY more people know who Shawn White is

Agreed about Shaun and how many would actually know who Tiger Woods is if he hadn't been pimping Caddys, American Express, Tag Heuer, Accenture, AT&T, Gillette, Gatorade, ET Games, Nike, Upper Deck, etc., on "Prime Time" TV???

This brought Tiger to the masses WAY before his cheating ways took over.

[Ron Hershman]

Even slow retro cars are hard to see on a webcast.

JP wants to promote the drivers of the cars... if this is done then there is promotion of slot racing. He wants everyone to know who the "racers" are in the real world.

[tonyp]

When Joel Johnson won the Japanese 1/12 Nationals back in the beginning days of R/C the race was held in a mall. For the mains they had a camera suspended from the ceiling pointed straight at the track. Made it very easy to watch the racing. Possibly this would work with slots?

[Ron Hershman]

Yes, that would work very well for slots, too. I raced at Nationals in Canada in a shopping mall and the area the track was there was a second floor with a opening above the track and spectators were up there looking down and watching and we had a guy shoot it with a video camera and you can actually see who is in the lead and stuff. It's a pretty cool video to watch.

[flem1959]

I hope to see Ron driving on TV and Rande in the pits, like Roger Penske!

[JohnnySlotcar]

Check out my facility @ lakebarringtonfieldhouse.com. I could possibly swing it in the summer months, as we are booked solid in the fall/winter/ spring.Might even be interested in keeping the king track here. John Austin

[MSwiss]

Do you have room to store the $3500 ex-Sonny's Gerding King until you could set it up?

[JohnnySlotcar]

No problem. John

[tonyp]

Sonnys track was beautiful when I ran on it. Not sure what the condition is after the other people had it and put it in storage...

[MSwiss]

Sonnys track was beautiful when I ran on it. Not sure what the condition is after the other people had it and put it in storage...

If they didn't store it in a filled up swimming pool, it should be fine. LOL