Race-A-Rama

RSTPerformance

RSTPerformance

New member
Thanks you to those who spent time promoting our sport... I saw a couple booths with the latest Pit-talk out promoting SCCA...

SCCA booth
Lime Rock Park booth
Snapdragon booth

I don't remember seeing a NHIS booth??? Hummm...

Thanks again for all those who volunteered.

Jake and Dan I like the video's in the SCCA booth
wink.gif


Raymond Blethen
RST Performance Racing
www.rstperformance.com

PS: SCCA booth... best booth of show
smile.gif
(Snapdragon was a close second, and the Like Rock booth definatly had props with the LMP900 Panoz)
 
Thanks, Ray!

That was the first time I saw that video, from that car...I have the full video from my car too! I was back there the whole time, there is a TON you don't see from his viewpoint. There were 4 of us trying to occupy the same spot for lap after lap. One of the best races I've had the pleasure of running.

NHIS was there, they had a smattering of different cars there. I think they were close to Lime Rock.

Lime Rock was cool with a tape of the rain SPEED race last year with Auberlin and Pobst. Another fun video.

I think that next year we should get three plasmas, and put three loops on showing road racing on one, rally on one, and autocrossing on the third, pointing in three diffo directions.

Which would be cool, but after looking at the crowd, I see why we don't........

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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by lateapex911 (edited March 07, 2004).]
 
I personally was pretty disappointed with the event. Yeah, the SCCA and LRP booths were cool but the others...


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Dave Gran
NER #13 ITA
'87 Honda Prelude
 
Originally posted by gran racing:
I personally was pretty disappointed with the event. Yeah, the SCCA and LRP booths were cool but the others...


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why are you so NEGATIVE dave?

The show was the same as it always is 95% circle track. this years event had an increase in volume of traffic over last year, which gave the the SCCA the chance to market to many new people. As a whole I felt the show was good, many deals on supplies for the up coming season as well as the chance to see what else is going on in the North East. that is of course what a Race Expo is all about...

Brian M
 
What is Race A Rama? Never heard of it, but I'd go a long ways to attend a show on racing if I knew about it. Any other stuff coming up while the weather is cold?

Cheers,

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BenSpeed
#33 ITS RX7
BigSpeed Racing
[email protected]
NNJR
 
Guess you're right Brian. It was probably me that changed. Last year I was there to buy a suit, nomex, racing shoes, ect. This year I was just there looking for small stuff.

I did get to talk to Jim at independant racing wheels about the rims that he will be making for me. So that was cool.

If I were into the roundy-round stuff I would have been in heaven. It just seemed as if there wasn't as much stuff for sale (other than die cast cars) this year. Again, it's probably my perspective that changed.

Ben - basically it is an a racing exposition where many vendors set up booths to show their products. There were several roundy-round clubs there promoting their various events (for spectators and racers). As mentioned above, the NER region was there too. It is an annual event in the Springfield MA area.

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Dave Gran
NER #13 ITA
'87 Honda Prelude
 
Why are you so DEFENSIVE, Brian?

I went to the show for my first time Saturday, and from my perspective it sucked. Maybe my expectations were out of line, but I sure won't be spending another ten bucks to walk around the building looking at everybody's roundy-round car. The features I really wanted to see, the parts and suppliers/vendors, were terribly sparse (unless I was looking for a model car or a Dale Earnhardt collectible item) and the ones there were overpriced, and in one case, very rude.

That, Brian, is no reflection on you, the SCCA, or the Region's effort to promote SCCA; there's no reason for you to feel offended by your efforts. I'm quite certain it is productive for the region and I wholly encourage, and thank, you for doing it.

Greg
 
Originally posted by grega:
Why are you so DEFENSIVE, Brian?

Greg
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I have been advised by counsel (my wife)to not get involved in no productive banter on the internet!

this is non productive..

5 weeks till the first event!! hope to see you all there..

p.s. don't forget to sign up to help staff the SCCA booths at LRP

brian

[This message has been edited by bgracing (edited March 09, 2004).]
 
Originally posted by gran racing:
If I were into the roundy-round stuff I would have been in heaven. It just seemed as if there wasn't as much stuff for sale (other than die cast cars) this year. Again, it's probably my perspective that changed.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I thought. Very few vendors for actual racing stuff. At least, it seemed smaller. But in years past, the collectible vendor's where in the other building. This year, it was just 1 building, so something had to go.

Jeremy
 
jake touched on an idea....

Has the NER or other local regions ever thought of putting together a small video team to document a typical Road Race, Autocross, Rally Cross, Pro Rally, and TSD Rally???

I think that multiple screens playing a professionaly created videos would be very cool and would attract a lot of attention. In-car video is cool and all, but their is a lot more to SCCA than sitting in the drivers seat.

Not sure of the cost but I would think that with all our members we should have some knowledgable volunteers that might donate their time and/or resources.


Raymond "No I don't know how, wish I did. I would love to work with someone to do this if their was an interest" Blethen
 
Originally posted by bgracing:
That show has been basically the same for many years and thousands of people pass through the turn stiles each day.
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And exactly how many of those thousands of people have become involved in SCCA because the region was spending money to be at the show?

It seems that the (excelent) work to have a booth at the pro events at Lime Rock has been a lot more productive and cost effective.

[This message has been edited by RKramden (edited March 09, 2004).]
 
actually Ralph "if that is your name", they cost about the same to opperate and until this year we had no real way of tracking interest.

At Race A Rama we had a raffle for a SCCA vest people interested in the club signed up. and now we have actual names and #'s
we also asked on the entry if they had interest in the club so that also will help

we will use the same system at all the major events at LRP and hopefully we will get the same quality leads.

brian
 
every year thousands of nascar fans walk by the booth uninterested, but every year a number of people walk up and say oh good I was hoping you guys would be here, how do I....

and if there were so few good venders how come i spent so much money
dick
 
Originally posted by dickita15:
every year thousands of nascar fans walk by the booth uninterested, but every year a number of people walk up and say oh good I was hoping you guys would be here, how do I....
dick
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Dick,

Thats exactly my point. The folks there are either totally uninterested or they already know about us. There is just about 0 new recruiting from the show.


Brian,

In my profile, I asked that my e-mail address be visable, but unfortunatly, it does not appear to be. It's not something I am trying to hide.

[email protected]
 
Not sure if I would say it isn't worth it. It would be tough not to have something there - "racearama" with out the NER SCCA being there? The year that happens is the same time we all complain about the lack of effort (or what ever other reasons we can think of at the time) on behalf of the SCCA / NER for not being there. Guess it is tough to say without looking at all the numbers and facts.

I think it is good to show the roundy round people (and others at the event) that there is another type of racing out there. I know from my road racing perspective it was interesting to speak with some of the "other" vendors. (You know, those people that protest right turns) Last year I almost fell to the floor when talking to one of the organizations. A few of us were asking about the costs to race with them and how much to get in as a spectator. He said $15. Alright, but how much to race. Yup, $15. What about the car? Can't be worth more than (around) $500. No, not a demolition derby (not that rubbing wouldn't happen of course). But what about other hidden fees? We just couldn't get it - $15 to race?

Although we didn't do it this past year (just began my first year with SCCA club racing last year - so a kind of tough time to start yet another car build), it did get me thinking. I also mention to others (like here).

This type of marketing is a bit tough to track how many new members it may bring in. But the key point is that it does bring publicity to SCCA.

Are there other methods IN ADDITION to this event that could be valuable? Well of course. The two LRP events (memorial day and 4th of July) would be a very good place to really work on promoting the SCCA. I would imagine that the NER will be there or at least attempted to get a booth.

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Dave Gran
NER #13 ITA
'87 Honda Prelude
 
Originally posted by RKramden:
Dick,

Thats exactly my point. The folks there are either totally uninterested or they already know about us. There is just about 0 new recruiting from the show.


[email protected]
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Ralph,

this year we had 3 people actually fill out and pay for a membership.

I was very pleased.
Brian
 
A Race-A-Rama story for those with the negative feedback...

Back in the day when my mom ran RST Performance she had a booth set up to sell safety equipment. She concentrated on Road Racing not circle track. The show was always successful for her.

Around 91-92 a Gentleman named Cam Ludwig went to the show. He was a Mustang enthusiast and also loved the Mt. Washington Hillclimb. He wanted for his 75th (?) birthday to have a car race up Mt. Washington with his name on it. He was chatting with my dad at the show (he new of my dad from the Capri) and my dad said he would do it but didn't have a car. Cam agreed to buy him a car to race and my dad said that’s fine but I would like to run this car in a few races to get the feel for it. My father won, and Cam then got very excited about SCCA road racing (not that he wasn't already).

Since then my father is probably one of the only people with a fully sponsored ride in regional SCCA races for over 10 years... SSB Mitsubishi Mirage, then ITE Saleen Mustang, then AS Mustang. Not to mention Cam bought several different cars including a WRX for my father to race up Mt. Washington.

I guess the moral of the story... Race-A-Rama attracts a very wide variety of visitors that need to see what SCCA is. I think that this event is probably one of the biggest events in the Northeast that gets the SCCA name out to race fans. Many SCCA members including myself would be very disappointed if they were not in attendance.

I spent every year of my childhood going to this event either for my mom’s booth or to set up the Lime Rock booth (I think we have helped with the SCCA booth before as well). I wish that I had the time to spend more than 2 hours at the show but my schedule always conflicts so I haven’t been able to do much volunteering.

My suggestion to anyone that thinks the show is a waste of time is that next year you volunteer to help run the booth. I think you WILL see that it is a very needed investment in our club.

If the show wasn't a success (which I think it probably was) at least some people are trying, have you done something better? If so give the NER your "better" ideas. The more the SCCA name gets out the better we all are.

Raymond Blethen
RST Performance Racing
www.rstperformance.com

[This message has been edited by RSTPerformance (edited March 10, 2004).]
 
OK everyone - easy now.

If you didn't know what this event was all about - and had expectations from an SCCA Road Racer perspective, it is very easy to see how some felt disappointed. It IS 95% circle track focused. Dave has every right to feel that way toward the event as a whole. He DIDN'T critisize the SCCA booth or anything...

As far as SCCA exposure to this demographic and it's usefullness, we could debate that all day.

Thanks to Brian and his team who did the work on behalf of the SCCA - it's a thankless job.

AB

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Andy Bettencourt
06 ITS RX-7
FlatOut Motorsports
New England Region #188967
 
Originally posted by RSTPerformance:
I spent every year of my childhood going to this event either for my mom’s booth or to set up the Lime Rock booth (I think we have helped with the SCCA booth before as well).
Raymond Blethen
RST Performance Racing

yes when you and you brother were in that annoying 7 to 12 year old age range in order to get rid of you your mom would send you over every morning with pledge and papertowels to clean all the cars. after the first year or so ted would look forward to it.
dick
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