85 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

Let me beat the dead horse again...
 
If there was an effective top-level organization advocating for the hobby in all its diversity, it could probably help to reduce the silly errors we see in the general press, by working to originate such stories for newspapers and other media, who usually send out the new guys to cover such unknown activities.

[n9949y]

So, Greg, what would be the income source(s) to attract the publicist(s), advocates, and public relations people to effectively put our hobby under a favorable media spotlight?

 

Slot car activities mainly circulate among builders, collectors and talkers, few racers.
 
Actually I'm not sure such PR tactics would be worth the expense. Far better in attracting interest is what you do. Like so many obscure activities the Internet provides universal access  to them. Slotblog can provide as universally circulated medium as is possible these days - working with Internet providers and our developing algorithms that attract  search engine sites like Google, you can provide far more access to our activities than can hired PR hacks. Try an exercise; email the right editors of various newspapers to engender. Written media interest; link video media producers to video recorded slot car activities.

 
In so far as paper-published media goes in promoting the hobby - not very effective. There've been a couple of recent attempts to start paper magazines; however from the paucity of timely scheduled issues paper publications seems this minute media effort is of little value. 
 
For what ever it’s worth here in Eugene, OR, which is a small media market, our club's public presence is made better known through a local hobby shop's distribution of printed flyers to the store's customers who inquire about slot cars. Works well. Occasionally motivated modelers and 1:1 motor sports aficionados make contact with us and from them we get new club members.

[Cheater]

Todd,

Let me start by relating my feelings on this complex issue have been developed by looking at how other hobbies and industries advocate for their activities, both leisure-time and business.

To address your first sentence question, well-written content provided free or cheaply to media outlets very often gets used. I suspect that was the case in the article featured in the initial post, "By Jeff Layton, Special to Autos."

There are numerous small organizations, certain one-make car clubs to give just one example, that promote and communicate the benefits of their activities to the public much more effectively than the model car racing industry, such as it is, and many of these organization operate on a near "pro bono" basis, though some do derive income from dues and product sales. There are more well-run one or two-man "associations" than you might suspect. Many of the leisure-time related organizations I am familiar with largely utilize unpaid and volunteer "labor."

 

Sadly, in model car racing, as compared to many other organized activities, few seem to have much inclination to advocate for the activity itself. The attitude seems to be that of "build it and they will come." And "I just want to race."

 

The medium is not the message, despite what Marshall McLuhan said, and for model car racing, the critical fact is that no coherent message about organized model car racing is being relayed. Marketing does not a priori require significant expenditure, as seemingly you and so many others assume. What it does require is the dissemination of a consistent message, one crafted (and tested!) to attract the maximum level of participation or purchase. 

 

For example, the idea that slot car racing provides a significant percentage of the same experience that 1:1 racing gives at far less cost and personal danger has never been widely promoted. So many of the same factors are involved: horsepower, gearing, tires, aero, precision assembly, "the best combination", and of course, driving. This would probably be attractive to the 1:1 racing fans in the stands every weekend or perhaps even to some of the 1:1 racers sitting in Street Stock, Hobby Stock, etc., cars they can't really afford, but since that message has not been related on a national basis, no one knows if it would bring in new racers.

 

How to know what message will be the most attractive? That requires an "institutional memory," an archive of what worked and what didn't to expand the hobby over time, which is another function top-level advocacy organizations/associations frequently provide. As the situation exists today, every new commercial raceway owner has to start from ground zero to figure out what will make his facility profitable and stable (and of course most of them insistently know what works best... until they close LOL).

 

Yeah, I agree that the organized competitive hobby has probably shrunk to a level that its trajectory can't be affected or reversed. And that the larger part of those who participate don't seem to feel the need to ensure that model car racing continues after they have gone. Which is not the case in many other hobbies, based on my observations.

[Half Fast]

Strangely enough, I agree with both Todd and Greg. 

 

Cheers,

[Zippity]

The use of correct spelling would be essential...

[Cheater]

LOL. Just two typos, Zip. Fixed now.

 

I don't usually spell-check my Slotblog posts, like I always do with the Jaguar Journal copy.

 

As an editor, you quickly learn no one is perfect.

[Arne Saknussem]

In my opinion the Horse isn't dead. It's actually a Mule and it lacks ambition.

[Cheater]

PM received from an unnamed member:

"Slot cars are a little like ice cream parlors. No one needs to go to an ice cream shop. They see an ad in the paper, on TV or maybe the Penny Saver. Then are reminded that ice cream is fun. Maybe a coupon. Ads for raceways are few and far between. Sell the fun in ads. Selling the fun is not normally done. They normally advertise races and warm-up races."

The concept has been all over the news in recent years: the experience (of slot racing) is more important than the 'stuff' (of slot racing).

[Arne Saknussem]

When my old raceway opened the original owner spent about $3,000 placing a very well-done TV ad during motor racing broadcasts on cable here in Rochester.
 
The results were excellent and business was really good. Unfortunately, he made a few wrong turns when the mini-boom created by the ad started to drop off.
 
Getting them in wasn't terribly hard to accomplish, but sustaining the goodwill was. That's where I think the problem lies with most operations.

[Cheater]

Strangely enough, I agree with both Todd and Greg.

Easy to do.

I suspect everyone has seen this or some variant of it.



Slot racing "behaves" as if what happens locally has no influence on the hobby as a whole and I don't think that's true, especially as it has contracted.

Very few think "globally" in regards to model car racing.

[Rob Voska]

Friend and I were talking. His idea was having a location next to or close to a Harbor Freight? Mainly a guy store visited by people that are working / building stuff with their hands.
 
But until slots has a national organization with a steady hand at the wheel, well thought out classes that bring stability and a clearly defined ladder system it won't work.

The mini fiefdoms that all tracks become with bastardized classes to retain "their racers" simply don't work.

Attraction is not a problem as we see a LOT of people get into the hobby but when they leave in short order it proves that you have a retention problem. WHY DID THEY LEAVE? 

That's the real question that we need answers to. Along with the fragmentation of the hobby. Drags, banked tracks, ovals, flat track, scale, Retro, wings...

[Eddie Fleming]

WHY DID THEY LEAVE?
 
Because it was not fun.
 
Spending hours and money every week to get beat by long experienced racers is not fun.

No answers, just an observation.

[Arne Saknussem]

As far as an individual raceway goes, does anyone disagree with any of the following?

 

1.  Cater to your community.  Your community is your customer base, not the racers from out of town you might see twice a year. 

 

2.  Develop a fun, repeatable party/group program and promote it.  It's a much more reliable and less seasonal source of revenue. 

 

3.  Adhere to your posted hours of operation!

 

4.  It's possible to have a good time running slot cars around without an organized racing program but if you have an organized racing program emphasize the ORGANIZED part.

 

5.  Newb racers need help. encouragement, and a place to learn (a "B" class).

[Rick]

WHY DID THEY LEAVE?
 
Because it was not fun.
 
Spending hours and money every week to get beat by long experienced racers is not fun.

No answers, just an observation.

BINGO! we have the winner!  
 
IMO, there are always of course people that ennter a raceway for just plain leisure to run their cars with their kids, pals, etc. But the main reason people get into slot cars is racing. You don't see people building drag strips or road courses (one to one now) for people to come in and just run their Subaru around the circut. They are built with the intended function of racing. Just like slot car raceways.
 
Why do they leave? That's an easy one, there are the elite 5 or 10% that are just good at it, and the 90/95 percent that are just average at the hobby. Doesn't take a long time to see the 90% isn't going to win or place and they lose interest. ergo LEAVE and move on to the next hobby or pastime they can find.  American saw this, very early on and started T-slot tracks but the hard core and fad had already done its damage. The 90% don't have any issues in spending the money for the top shelf equipment right up and until they realize their place in the pecking order is set. 
 
There is , (IMO!) only one way to cure or save the hobby and that is bracket racing, break out racing and slowing the cars down for Joe Average to be competitive, Doesn't matter on what class or genre, there has to be a min time that is reasonable. For example, when I was asked to race direct a Nats a few years ago. It was very apparent, the 90% could run 2.5/6 sec lap times but there was the elite that would come on the track and run 2.3/4 lap times. I could have predicted the A main during practice, barring torpedoes, equipment failure and just bad luck. If at that time, there would have been a break out time of 2.500 sec, it would have been a whole different outcome.
 
Everyone , well almost everyone said I was nuts in the late 90's when I was pushing spray glue format, in Groups. But today, pretty much main stay and biggest numbers. Hummm...Now everyone or almost everyone says I an nuts promoting break out racing. Just as I keep preaching, where would golf and bowling be today without the handicapping? They both are seasonal hobbies but the players come back every year. No so much with slots. If I had every racer that stopped in April return in Oct, each year. I would be a wealthy man today. Every Oct it was a rebuild with the hard core,(5-10%) and thrash again and again.
 
Off my soap box, and flame on...............

[MSwiss]

I've been lucky.

My elite guys are more interested in good racing, than winning all the time, and are very generous with their time to help the newer guys.

This frees me up to concentrate on helping the casual rental racer.

Two things I'll add on that subject.

Fully adjustable power supplies are super important.

You can never make it too easy.

[Arne Saknussem]

No flames from this corner, Rick. I've disliked "limited" glue racing since the very first time I tried it. It wasn't something I had any luck with at my place. Given the success we had with our drag program, I started a couple of breakout road racing classes and had good success with them. The fun factor was way up there. Very popular.
 
Now all you need to do is come up with a brief and attractive presentation for the public!

[Rob Voska]

Rick I never thought about break out racing.  We did it in karting and it worked for a long time but as classes became more specific it faded away. 

 

It worked like this.  Lets say there was 50 guys at the track (a real problem with slot cars) we would qualify.  Then you were grouped in to 5 groups of 10.  Lets say the 25 second class the 26 second class etc.  May not have been a perfect split as there may have been a lot of people at say 26.4 - 26.8 but classes were made.  Chassis, engine, clutch, weight did not matter. There was some good racing & sandbagging was watched.  You were only allowed to be so much faster than your qualifying time but today software could be adapted to track that specific to the racer.  The lane might make it a little harder to monitor.

[olescratch]

I don't enter into races due to medical reasons, but one of the best times I had at a track occurred when I was just testing one I just completed building.  A couple guys walked by saw what I was running, joined in and we ran.  Nobody checking to see what motor, tires, etc. were being used until we all stopped.  Then everybody was checking to see what turned out to be the "fastest".  That car got to be the one with the setup everybody went on to "copy".  By the time the "official" racers came to see what was going on, all you could hear was "you can't run that motor, you can't use that gear, that's too high, etc.etc.etc!!!!  When fun becomes work, it doesn't last long.  I prefer the kind of run what you brung races, then you get to see what runs best to "copy", or not.  Being forced to build by a certain set of rules is a negative to real "scratch builders".  JMTC, and one of the reasons I think clubs are doing better than commercial tracks. 

[Michael Jr.]

I've thought long and hard about advertising. We've been fortunate that in the first year we had two great TV spots, one was a morning news show and the other a community magazine type show and a full front page on the business section.
With all of that.....little traffic. Some, but nothing that was really noticeable.

Billboards.....they have the force of impressive size and repetition. And well done add with an attractive graphic on a billboard would be seen every day by commuters.

[Rob Voska]

Another stupid thought.  The 1/32 Scalextric / Carrera market is HUGE the world over.  In Europe where slot racing is much more accepted they run a lot of 1/32 stuff.  Stamped and steel chassis. Just sayin......

 

Smaller tracks, lots of 4-6 lane tracks, flat tracks, both coupe & F1 style body's..... 

[stumbley]

This discussion comes up over and over again in the hobby/sport. "Commercial" tracks have to deal with a couple of problems: it costs big bucks to rent the kind of space needed for the tracks that the "racers" want to use, and the primary customers are racers. Club tracks are housed in basements, shops, and garages, sometimes in large rented spaces, but most often in homes, and the primary customers (club members) are there for the socialization. Some, of course, are racers too. As I've said often here and other places, people involved in slot cars come in two main types: slot racers and model car racers. The two are often mutually exclusive, although retro racing does have cars that mostly approximate their 1/1 counterparts. Slot Racers (mostly those who frequent commercial tracks) are interested in racing, and their vehicles rarely look like actual cars. Model Car Racers are mostly interested in having fun, and the cars they drive are accurate representations of 1/1 racers. It's why clubs last longer than a lot of commercial tracks; there's more fun and (mostly) less competition involved. This dichotomy has, in my opinion, fractured the hobby/sport so much that neither group tends to agree with the aims of the other, when in reality, both could use support from their constituents.

 

This thread is about how we can get BOTH types of slot racing publicized, and how we can "grow the hobby/sport," perhaps by showing the great unwashed that it still exists. Manufacturers and hobby stores don't seem to be doing much in the way of marketing, nobody can seem to agree on standards for digital racing, there's a plethora of scales competing with each other. There are few national events, and those that do exist are rarely publicized heavily.

 

Alan Smith of Scale Racing in Tacoma has held a 24-hour enduro featuring BRM 1/24 scale cars for the past two years that has attracted greater participation each year, and actually has an international attendance. I plan to do some documentation of the race (an article and photos) that might get placed in the Tacoma paper and the Oregonian; maybe that's a start.

[MSwiss]

Model Car Racers are mostly interested in having fun, and the cars they drive are accurate representations of 1/1 racers. It's why clubs last longer than a lot of commercial tracks; there's more fun and (mostly) less competition involved.

 

I had an ex serious commercial racer come by my raceway yesterday.

With a young son, he installed a routed track in his basement and became part of a large basement circuit in the Chicago area, racing at both his and the other tracks on the circuit.

I casually asked him if he was having a good time. Surprisingly, he gave me a half-hearted "It's OK".

I sensed he wasn't entirely happy, and I asked him "What's up?"

He replied he was disappointed with the lack of knowledge flowing between racers. IOW, guys weren't willing to share speed secrets.

He added home racing doesn't compare with commercial racing.

I didn't ask him to expound on that, but I got the impression it was a combination of longer tracks, racing against more guys, (directly), in the same race.

Clubs don't last longer than commercial raceways because there is less competition. They last longer because there isn't a landlord at the first of the month, with their hand out, asking for the rent. LOL.

[stumbley]

Mike, the good clubs—like the good commercial tracks—last long because they give their customers/members what they want. A good club has members that share "speed secrets" and offer help with tuning and driving. I'm sure that commercial tracks with long-running programs have some of the same characteristics. And yes, as I mentioned, the commercial track has the hurdle of having $ commitments to meet. The business model is certainly tough. But if you're catering to ONLY "racers" in a commercial venue, unless you've got a great program, you'll be stuck with a dwindling supply of customers as those who can't compete find other ways to have fun. They are all toy cars in one way or another, and we're all in it to have fun. Racers have fun when they win; most club guys have fun when they show up. Lord knows, I'm not a winner by any means, but the worst day slot racing is better than  most best days doing anything else, as far as I'm concerned.

[MSwiss]

No rent gives clubs a distinct advantage.

And with so few commercial tracks around the country, if a racer is faced with running at the club, or not racing at all, he usually steps in line with the format, whether he agrees with it, or not.

[Steve Deiters]

I've felt for a long time with an evolving feeling a non-traditional, smaller footprint, smaller lane count, tiered hill climb style "out of the box" concept designed track easily assembled/easily disassembled/possibly expandable would be a avenue for a new generation of commercial tracks to fit the reality of todays commercial real estate market business models. 

 

While racing on King tracks and others with similar large footprints has it's place, I sometimes wonder if this obsession with super speedway style tracks is suitable for more widespread acceptance of slot racing and bringing it ot the masses. 

 

Just a thought...