Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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I'm a new subscriber to Flat Out and am very impressed. This months article on race promotion 'Returning the Thunder to Fairmont' is really entertaining, full of great thoughts and info and funny as hell. Great job guys!

Maybe a few of these keyboard jockeys that think promoters are getting rich will have a new appreciation. Sure seemed like a lot of work to only make $500 but it was a good overview on what goes in to putting on a show. Big thanks to A to Z Promotions for showing the behind the scences numbes.

It was a great article and for those of you who do not get Flat Out, here is the breakdown of the JSTS show at Fairmont this year. A lot of work involved for only $500 to split between the two co-promoters of the race. They rented the track so all concession sales went back to the track.

Revenue:

Adult Tickets $11,888

Kids $912

Pit Passes $3,675

Sponsorship $700

Total Revenue: $17,175

Purse:

Sprints $8,575

Sport Mods $1,795

Sport Compacts $335

JSTS Sanction Fee $700

Total Racing Costs: $11,405

Outside Costs:

Track Rental/Insurance $2,500

Announcer $150

Advertising $1,780

Taxes $832

Total Outside Costs: $5,262

Total Expenses: $16,667

Final Profit: $508

Still love husets 

I think the track prep was included in the 2,500 rent

Just one observation. I would like to know what the total car count was, cause the $3675 in pit passes seems low. Heres my thought, most tracks I go to, the low pit price is $35, at that pit admission price it would mean they only had 105 people come threw the pit gate? Seems low if they had a 75 car (just a average show # I used) total show I would think that the drivers and pit crews it would be closer to 300 people coming in the back pit gate.

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If I remember right, it was something like 18 sprints, 9 hornets (or whatever the hell you want to call them) and..................don't exactly remember how many b-mods they had, anywhere from 14 to 20. All day that day, the weatherpeople were calling for a 100% chance of rain and I'm sure, like the article said, that kept more cars from showing along with more people. I left pretty much right after the checkers and trophy presentations and hit rain 5 miles west of the track.

Cheers!

Per the article: 147 pit passes @ $25 per

18 Sprints

17 Sport Mods

I don't remember seeing how many Sport Compacts. Races started at 7 and over by 8:45. They moved the program along as fast as they could to get the show all in before the rain.

Other than Knoxville where do you ever see track prep 3 or for that matter even a day prior to the race?

Most of the tracks I've been to this year it appeared that track prep didn't even start 3 hrs prior to race time.

So they still made money even with a really crappy forecast/rain coming and small turnout, both cars and fans.

Doesn't seem that bad to me.

I tend to lose money when things go bad in my business.

Thanks guys, obviously I didn't read the article, I was just looking at the #s so the clarification makes more sense. Seems like they showed the numbers on kind of a poor show.

On the other hand last weekend I was at the Jamestown Stockcar Stampede in Jamestown ND. They had 317 cars sign in in 6 classes. It was a Fri./Sat. show and I would say that for every car at least 4 people came threw the gate with that team. At $55 for 2-day pit pass thats 1268 people in the pit, $69,740 at the pit gate alone. And it wasn't like it was a big money show, I think the late model feature paid $2000 to win.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

Thank you for a number of kind words above in relation to our race and subsequent article. The opportunity to put on an event like this was a fantastic opportunity, one that we hope to repeat in 2013. As mentioned, the weather can always take a huge success and put an event in jeopardy. That is one of the "joys" of promoting.

When we were deciding the details about the race, 2 things came into play. The first is that we wanted to feature sprint cars. The second was that, while we respect other classes, had no desire to sit through a 6 division program. Both Justin and I have little kids, and we like to be home in bed by 11(or having a beer?). We both felt that a good crowd would turn out for a 3 division show, and they did. The opportunity is always there to add classes, but I don't go to races to see 200+ cars, with the exception of the Nationals. I watch because I love to identify with the drivers and hear their story. It is very difficult to do that when you run 6 classes.

We certainly had the ability to increase the prices of the pit passes. However, to take more out of the pocket from the race drivers and teams, who provide you entertainment and the draw for fans, always seemed backwards.

Ultimately, we like to promote races we want to see, and write articles you want to read. We are very appreciative that people enjoyed both.

Nice job Mr. New Promoter! Now start your own workshop and actually 'teach' these ideas and qualities to some of the more famous yet in my opinion lesser lights in the business. I was very fortunate to come across a whole bunch of great promoters over the years that helped me in my business so I am aware there are many very hardworking good ones out there. We could always use more though and this group seems to be on it's way there, Congrats!

Thank you for not "back gate" promoting.

I have little kids also. I like to take them along to the races but taking them to a "sprint car special" that has 3-5 support classes just isn't going to happen.

If you do it again next year hopefully the weather will cooperate better and you'll see a bigger crowd. Maybe I'll venture over, sounds like it was a fast moving show.

I hope you didn't take my post previous to yours as telling you that you needed to run 6 classes. That wasn't my point. I like that you ran the show the way you wanted and did it for the satisfaction of the customers. I had just been to the show I talked about the weekend before and even before this thread was thinking about the pit pass $ they had come through there and was just throwing it out there, I was also impressed that the show drew 317 cars. I believe it was the Stampede's 41st year and is always there big end of the year show, on normal weeks I would guess they get about 60 cars for a weekly show.

Thanks for throwing the #s for the show out there as so often everything is a mystery and everyone is just shooting from the hip guessing what a promoter makes. Hopefully the weather cooperates better next time and that final # gets bigger for you and your partner.

http://gph.is/XMLGff