Sorry for the grim reaper heading but I need some answers. Reason I ask is we have several diehards putting in a lot of time and effort into supporting these events, not only racers, show owners, sponsors, vendors and promoters/directors but also spectators, families etc. My question is what will it take to get the hobby back in the drivers seat for the Buick community?
Factors such as economic, gas prices, job loss, loss of interest,etc are all fine and dandy. But listening to reports from friends who attended the Mopar Nationals this past weekend (several said to me the highest amount of cars and people in the 22 years he has been attending) and Pontiac Nationals which I attended at Norwalk last weekend which had 500-600 cars racing and another 300 to 400 showing makes me wonder what has happened to our community? Though assisting in an event is very new to me as i have about 7 seconds of experience doing it , nevertheless i have participated in the GSCA for a period of '90-03 and been to BPG, Norwalk Race day and next year Tb.com. Now the question is where did all the cars and people go? Obviously we have an older community and the heydays of 1k car counts at Beech Bend were fueled by TRs being practically brand new and the musclecar movement of the late 80s early 90s coincided a terrific timing for the event. But now no Buick event can come close though we still have diehards attending year after year so obviously it must be worth it!
So we all know the obvious factors, but the question is what will it take to bring back the masses? As you can tell im helping out with 2 events now. The question is what can i do to get people to come out and attend the events? Fact of the matter is i probably have unrealistic expectations b/c i want to see Buick events go back to having people run to the fences to see Super 16 and get full fields in TR/GS classes. Owners getting older, some people dont have time/money to keep upkeep on these cars, some have lost interest and have them torn apart or sold everything or to some its not worth it b/c of cost, fear of getting into accident, cost to trailer/drive vehicle, moved on to other cars etc.
So from a person (myself) trying to keep the community alive what will it take to get these events back with people attending and bringing their cars? Auto cross? Hemi vs Stage 1 shootouts? GN/T Type vs Mustang shootout (something i want to redo again)? LS vs TR? Give me some ideas.
Kind of tied to Julios article about is racing dead? Thoughts? Input?
Factors such as economic, gas prices, job loss, loss of interest,etc are all fine and dandy. But listening to reports from friends who attended the Mopar Nationals this past weekend (several said to me the highest amount of cars and people in the 22 years he has been attending) and Pontiac Nationals which I attended at Norwalk last weekend which had 500-600 cars racing and another 300 to 400 showing makes me wonder what has happened to our community? Though assisting in an event is very new to me as i have about 7 seconds of experience doing it , nevertheless i have participated in the GSCA for a period of '90-03 and been to BPG, Norwalk Race day and next year Tb.com. Now the question is where did all the cars and people go? Obviously we have an older community and the heydays of 1k car counts at Beech Bend were fueled by TRs being practically brand new and the musclecar movement of the late 80s early 90s coincided a terrific timing for the event. But now no Buick event can come close though we still have diehards attending year after year so obviously it must be worth it!
So we all know the obvious factors, but the question is what will it take to bring back the masses? As you can tell im helping out with 2 events now. The question is what can i do to get people to come out and attend the events? Fact of the matter is i probably have unrealistic expectations b/c i want to see Buick events go back to having people run to the fences to see Super 16 and get full fields in TR/GS classes. Owners getting older, some people dont have time/money to keep upkeep on these cars, some have lost interest and have them torn apart or sold everything or to some its not worth it b/c of cost, fear of getting into accident, cost to trailer/drive vehicle, moved on to other cars etc.
So from a person (myself) trying to keep the community alive what will it take to get these events back with people attending and bringing their cars? Auto cross? Hemi vs Stage 1 shootouts? GN/T Type vs Mustang shootout (something i want to redo again)? LS vs TR? Give me some ideas.
Kind of tied to Julios article about is racing dead? Thoughts? Input?