Racing Clubs

Nothing in Spokane.....

Many of the old timers know of the league I am involved in, but for the newer ones-

The league races from February through November (Follows NASCAR Season) on a 50 foot/four lane track. Races are at a church in Cedar Rapids Iowa.

We keep people coming back with having a season long goal. We give out points to the top four finishers in each class (7 classes). We keep points going and after the November races, the top four in points get trophies. We also garage and keep all of the winners for each month. Those cars are then raced against each other in November for the car of year trophy. And its not all about speed! We have a slow poke class where the winner is the last car that crosses the finish line. Everyone has fun with that. Especially when a car just inches across.

You also get "money" for finishing in the top four to then spend on new cars from a prize table that is set up. There is also a vendor on site.

We keep it cheap. Just $5 for a max 24 cars that can be entered. Each kid gets a free car from the prize table if they enter the max 24 cars.

We have a power point that runs throughout the races that shows current point standings, pictures of the winners, and past league results. Updates are also made on Facebook as the final race is run for each class.

We have more problems with attracting new people. Just not sure how to promote it to get people there. I

I have become a lot more involved with the league by helping establish rules, I am responsible for the website, update points, help set up and tear down the track. I have got to announce the races a few times this year. Not crazy about that as I try to keep track of how the cars finish and its a little hard to do that at the same time.

I bought a small keriokie machine to use as a P.A.SYSTEM at our league heets and car shows... I cranked the treble and added echo, ran it through a getto blaster... sounds like a vintage portable sound system at the dragstrip... the kids loved to introduce themselves before each pass...[I couldn't remember their names]

+1 to Smitty for using "ghetto blaster"

Maybe check around this forum a bit because I know we've touched on this type of topic before...wish I had things better organized, sorry.

Overall, I think you need a few guys that can get into it and help out. Organizing the races, marketing and outreach are three separate jobs. As with many things in life, you need an A-Team: someone with a plan, someone that can sweet talk people, someone that can build anything and someone that's not afraid to try anything. If you can round up that type of crew, you'll have a great platform to build on.

After that it's all about getting the word out and staying consistent. Routine is key, I feel. The more you do it the more people will see/hear about it and if they're interested, they'll come. Diecast racing certainly has a limited appeal, I think, so just setting your expectations is important.

Routine is key, I feel. The more you do it the more people will see/hear about it and if they're interested, they'll come.

This is true. I've helped with promoting live music shows. I think half the battle is getting it into people minds that something is happening. Then getting them to know it happens the first Satuday of the month (or whenever). Eventually that Saturday comes around again and people decide to go see what's going on.

I've looked into using the room at the library here, anybody can use it. I just can commit to doing it every single week/month or whenever. Like RLD says you need a team.

Many of you know about the Lincoln Johnny Lightning Race Club. Next year is the fifth anniversary. I've only been involved a little over a year now, but I'd have to say it's very successful. Last month there was a total of 598 cars raced if I remember correctly. Over 250 were the Kid's Class alone and we've had a different winner every month. We had about 70 people show up, all ages.There's a good variety of classes to run in as well as a monthly Feature Race (Hot Rods this month). We had the local Fire Dept. bring vehicles in Sept. (and what kid doesn't want to climb on a Fire Truck), a cookout in August, and on the 10th we'll be back at the Tasca Ford dealership for the 3rd time this year. There's always something going on. And we do a number of different things to help others. All of this keeps parents and their kids (and us big kids) coming back and we've even added a few newcomers the past couple of months. I know this kid looks forward to the second Sunday every month.