Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I can tell you what I would like to see improved is the Jumbotron actually be a Jumbotron that fits the Vision range of the track!  This this is almost impossible to see or make out from the Grandstands. Eldora actually has a pretty decent one but then again their track is not as big as Knoxvilles. 

Also something I don't understand is why is there a $5 service fee if you use your credit card to purchase tickets???  I mean I use my Credit / Debit Card for just about everything anymore and nobody charges $5 to use it... Don't understand this.  I rarely carry cash anymore but need to withdraw when I go to Knoxville because they can not simply swipe my card and charge me for my tickets with out an additional fee.

With all that said.... Please don't let me be mis-understood: I still Love Knoxville.......

Oops!!! Sorry Vande, I just seen that you mentioned the $5 service charge.

Dont get forced to watch support divisions is the worst for me.

Pay alot of money to go to outlaws and then get forced to watch trash I dont want to see and did not pay to see.

qualify 4 or 5 cars at a time instead of the way it is.

at eldora they do this for the 360s and its nice

Start the program and races on time instead of waiting on a nascar guy to get there who wont win anyway.

I sit in Section K row 31 right on the aisle. Every year people are tripping and falling on the steps because they change in this area. They go from a large longer step to a smaller step and people miss judge it and bam there down. Saturday night at nationals I bet 5 or 6 went down on my aisle alone. If anything put some reflective tape on the front edge of the steps to draw attention to it.

A few of them were older folks and I felt bad for them, had to hurt like hell falling down on them.

I think it is ridiculous to charge customers $5.00 to use a credit card to buy tickets. I asked the lady at the ticket booth how long this "fee" has been in place and she said years. People are spending $$ on tickets and Knoxville does not have the common business sense not to charge customers a fee. It is very disappointing. By the way the NSCHOF does not charge you a fee to use your credit card to purchase tickets for the suites. 

"Scotty Cook, during the Osky Challenges does a good job of interacting with the fans during intermission"

That guy drove me up the wall!... "Hey are you drinking adult beverages?" over & over. Most people barely responded. Who wants to hear a bunch of drunks babbling anyway?

The credit/debt card transactions at the consession stand creates a paper trail for the IRS and taxes. Cash is cash in the promoters pocket. Just ask Lanny.

Start mid week shows by 7pm, get rid of intermissions for mid week shows.

Mid week shows should be over by 1030-1100. Not midnight.

Family Video? Like VHS rentals??? They still have those in these times?  

You bring up some good points though, Vande.

I don't think I've ever not had to pay a "convenience" fee when purchasing tickets online with a credit/debit card. Same with the ATM fees. Just part of the deal I guess, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Start times may be a little different with the required track prep for dirt tracks than an asphalt race, stick/ball sports.

A neat thing the guys at US 36 have been doing is to bring all the drivers up to the front stretch after hot laps (could maybe be done at intermission as well) and chat with them briefly. They all line up, say a few words over the PA, then they can stop and sign a few autographs for the young ones lined up on the bottom rows on their way back to the pits.

So you want them to lie ?

 I have an AMEX Costco card, and everything that I can use it for is my gain. I pay my bundled DTV, home phone- internet, cellular service. Its about $400 a month. Thats $48 cash back at the end of the year. All my gas,food clothing is charged on it. I got back over $400 last year for using it. That money helps pay for my leisure expenditures. Granted I don't get out as much anymore, but it sure helps! So using a credit card has its advantages. If a track told me that I have to pay a convenience fee for purchasing tickets, then I just guess I would find another venue to attend. Lebanon Valley Speedway in NY takes only $1 dollar bills, and that speeds things up if you are using the concession stands. So if a promoter won't go the credit, debit card route, at least thats an alternative. Also a far as handrails in the aisles of the stands go my wife has 1 hip, and 2 knees that are bionic, and she won't go to the tracks anymore because they are not handicap friendly for people with physical disabilities. So there is one less person to get ticket, and concession revenues from! Of all the tracks that I have been to (about 110) Irwindale was probably the best for fan amenities. That includes Knoxville. The time we went to the 1200 lb nationals we had seats that were about 3 rows down from the top. My wife had a heck of a time climbing up and down those three rows, as there was NO handrail!  Not a fan friendly experience.

Nearly every race was started on time this year and most were completed by 1030 or 1100.

Concessions are being looked at. The only time this becomes an issue is during Nationals.

Handrails have been discussed but the isles are narrow and a proper handrail will limit access.

Sound system upgrade is in the works.

When I was a kid growing up the races did not get done any earlier and I always went to the pits BECAUSE I was a race fan.

Promoting has really improved this year. Did you see the TV ads? Did you hear the radio ads? Knoxville has over 45000 FB fans and about the same twitter followers. The ads were not as aggressive to help draw in more families. There were also plenty of print ads in almost every publication in a 9 county area. Also Knoxville Raceway sponsored the Drake Relays, LAZR Fest, along with other events.

All drivers were given pamphlets to pass-out advertising free kids nights of which there were 4 along with a Pre-race Party before the races. Also many local drivers were involved with the events that were attended by the Knoxville Raceway Trailer. They would bring their car and sign autographs and promote the track.

Every year Knoxville Raceway contacts all the schools in Marion County to attempt to give away coupons for free tickets. Some of the schools accept and some do not. The track has Race for Your School Night and HAS to use a coupon to tell were to donate the money back to the school.  This year the 4 kids nights were a huge success as anyone 19 and under were allowed to GET IN FREE! All they had to do was go to the ticket window. This must have been acceptable rather than having "tickets in hand" due to the success of it.

For the past 10+ years on I beleive Wednesday of the Nationals the Marion County Fair Association HAS had a FREE lunch for ANYONE, in the Hog Barn at the track. Many people think this is put on by the KELE folks but I personally guarantee it is put on by MCFA. It is VERY well attended by many many locals along with Nationals fans. I beleive this year they served well over 2000 people. 

I disagree on more ATM's.

I do agree with you on the Debit cards.

thanks Dan,

my original post in no way was meant to be a "this has to change", merely suggestions that I think will increase the fanbase for ALL racetracks, this was not a "knoxville raceway" specific post, it just so happens that knoxville is home, so I'd love to see many of these changes from a selfish standpoint.

There have been numerous POSITIVE changes over the last 3-4 years and I'm sure the list the MCFA has is more in-depth than anything we fans could come up with (especially on a message board), and I'm glad that new ideas are constantly being looked at and considered.

I agree, Knoxville started "on-time" 99% of the time this year (my suggestion was more for other tracks that do not do this)

I agree, Nationals is the worst time for the concession lines, but with more events growing and getting larger, as well as new events (360 Nationals, Late Model Nationals, MonsterJam), it becomes more of an issue on a regular basis.

Promotion has improved for Knoxville considerably the last few years (I still think more can be done -especially for the WoO stand-alone nights).  However, I can't think of ANY other tracks that I heard or saw any advertising for outside of the Osky Challenges (and we have 4 tracks I can think of right now within 60 miles that run WEEKLY races (Osky, Knoxville, Marshalltown, State Fairgrounds).  So obviously this is something that MOSt racetracks need to do a better job of. 

Many drivers are doing their part, but there are some that are doing nothing, might be worth a look to have the drivers put their name on the coupons that they hand out and give a "bonus" to the driver that has the most tickets purchased over the course of the season during the banquet in December for all the other teams to see (especially if it was one of the better prizes like a new frame, cylinder heads, or the like).  Make it a competition just like the races are (I think we all know that the drivers are ultra competitive).

I agree, you can't force the schools to be involved, but maybe every year when you go back you show each school the amount of $$$ that other schools received due to this promotion to try to get them to let you in the door.

The picnic on the Fairgrounds during Nationals has always been well attended I agree.  However, in years past you had to show a NATIONALS ticket to even get in (maybe that has changed).  I was thinking along the lines of rewarding those that support you ALL YEAR (much like what you are doing this weekend with the Cook-out in the pits following the races) - some tracks in the area (within 75 miles) have a Fan Appreciation night ONCE  A MONTH and offer $5 admission (normally $10). 

I agree with most of what Vande77 said at the beginning of this post. Dirt track racing needs to step up their game when it comes to fan convenience and promotion.

I was associated with a Knoxville 360 team for a couple years. Our primary car was almost always presentable every day of the week. And we had a secondary car. We could have hauled it to any number of venues around central Iowa to help promote Knoxville Raceway, our current sponsors, or even new sponsors. Only once did we get asked to do something like that - a local parade. Our driver, like most, loves talking to fans. I'd love to see Knoxville cars displayed around the Des Moines area at malls, grand openings, The State Fair (duh!), Iowa or Iowa State football games, etc. We must get new fans as Vande said. Us die hard fans are getting older.

I really like the idea of moving concession buildings out from under the bottom of the Knoxville stands. If you've ever been at Knoxville during a rain delay you know how precious that space under the grandstand is. I know they're slowly reconfiguring that area but much more needs to be done. The sooner the better.

Thanks Vande for getting us to think about this stuff. And, I'm sad tomorrow night is the last Knoxville sprint car show for the year. Eight months without racing is painful.

The old excuse of not using an ATM because they will charge you a fee doesn't hold water in this day and age.

In the old days that was true.

Now banks are so competitive you can find a bank who reimburses you at the end of the month when you use an out of network ATM for money.  And, you don't have to carry a "big" average daily balance to get this benefit.

 
I LEARNED ESP FROM MY MOM

"PUT YOUR SWEATER ON: DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHEN 
YOU'RE COLD?"

depends on where you live, in central IA, you either get $$ from your bank ATM or pay a fee to get $$ out of someone else's (and sometimes you pay a fee to your bank AND the bank who's ATM you are using (Wells Fargo doesn't waive fees in Iowa becuase they have ZERO competition from other nationwide banks), nor do a majority of the local banks - not much else around central IA).

It is about being "Fan Friendly" - especially when every "fee" someone has to pay to get $$ means they actually spend LESS at your venue (becuase like it or not, if my budget is $1000 for my vacation, and I pay $2.50 every time I use an ATM (I'm not going to have more than $100 on me at all times, just in case my wallet gets lost or dropped in the stands), I'm making at least 10 trips to the ATM (maybe more) if everything is "cash only", that means $25 is spent on fees and I don't buy anything with it (no T-shirt, extra food/water/beer).

That is POTENTIAL Revenue that racetracks (pretty much all of them) currently have ZERO chance of collecting and turning into profit.

Racetracks (or any other entertainment venue for that matter) cannot afford to operate the way they always have, the way people spend $$ has changed and the racetracks are WAYYYY behind compared to other entertainment venues currently.

The other positive to having debit/credit card readers:  no chance of counting change incorrectly and giving too much $ back to someone (or not enough), no bounced checks for tickets (they tracks don't find out until after the event generally), and accounting is WAYYYYY easier, it spits out how much $$ was taken in when you run an accounting report (which means less payroll is being spent having people count the cash which means your overhead costs go down.

It's about making racetracks easier to do business with (and let's face it, racetracks MUST become easier to do business with due to all the competition for entertainment $$$'s (other sporting events (college, pro, semi-pro), concerts (checked out their prices lately, usually about $100/ticket and they SELL OUT), fairs, movies (theatre, netflix), etc., etc..

All race tracks need aisles for one, Hand rails for safety, and BATHROOMS that civilized people would use with running water. Actually have someone clean the bathrooms from time to time.

At some smaller tracks, you can only enter seats on the end aisles, there are no other isles, and to exit the stands you have to climb over people and walk down rickety, wobbley bleachers like a tight rope walker.

Then we ask why attendance isn't higher.

been to many of those in my lifetime, the worst part is that most have now closed and they blame it on the fans for not supporting the track instead of investing the $$$ they made in the years prior to make their venue more fan friendly...

There are plenty of them left...around the country.

Well Vande77 sounds like you got it all figured out. I will look for your name on the ballot this winter so you can be elected on the fairboard so you can actually do something other than complain about how bad things are. I'm serious, I will be looking for your name. 

Agree with the premise of your post.  Promoters and track owners have to start thinking about change and create ways to attract the next generations of fans.  While i am a cash only kind of guy (keeps me from over spending) I have nothing against the use of cards at the concessions.  But then again, I am a back stretcher at K-ville and have yet to wait more than 60 seconds for anything back there.  Lines move very quickly.  As far as start time goes--I see your point--but not a big issue for me.  We are camping anyways with no place to be the next day.  Can't say the same for the folks that have to drive somewhere though.  We just kind of learned not to get to the track before 8 o'clock. 

The $5 fee to buy tickets--or any handling fee, period, is a joke.  Just tell me what the ticket costs me and you deal with the handling in your own office--can't agree with you more Vande.  If the ticket is $37.00 and then they charge you an extra $3 for this and $2 for that--just make the damned ticket $42. 

Don't know about the front stretch, but you cannot hear the PA in the back stretch.  That would be a nice upgrade.   Also miss the rolling board for time trials that they had on the back stretch up until a couple of years ago.

I will say this about access to the drivers--You could get almost any driver's autograph you wanted on Friday afternoon this year.  Most of the drivers were very friendly and very accomodating.  I think I saw 20+drivers in the midway on Friday.  Sammy actually said 5 or 6 words too!  Couldn't make them out, but they were words.  And Steve Kinser was hanging around his sponsor tent and a little girl stopped him and asked him politely for an autograph.  You should have seen the look on Steve's face and the interaction he had with the little girl.  (probably 5 or 6 years old.)  He knelt down and talked with her for quite a while.  I think they have it going pretty well at K-ville for driver/fan interaction though.