Where does your time go? (Continued)

We continue, as we have for the last several posts, asking... "Where does your time go?" Here are four more ideas that will help you finish shows earlier, and send fans how with smiles on their faces.

TOO LONG RACES... How long are your heat races? If they are 10 laps or more, they’re too long--especially on a track bigger than a 1/4-mile. Your consis, your features--25 or 30 or more? We repeat our observation made last year. Competition ended and follow-the-leader racing began in most races we watched last year (and so far this season) at half the posted race distance--no matter the race surface, no matter the race length. Can you shorten 10-lap races to 8, 30 lap features to 20? The shaved laps themselves don’t save much time. The big savings come when you reduce the risk of unnecessary yellows by 20-30%.

CHECKERED LAPS... Many tracks still give the winner a lap to tour the track carrying the checkered flag. We like tradition and recognition as much as the next person, but save it for the big races. Find another way. Add up the time it takes the starter to get track side or a marshal to get the flag to the car, for the car to tour the track, and for the starter to return to the stand or driver to return the flag. It’ll be more than a minute, we’re certain. How many minutes is that in all classes and races combined?

PICTURES... We still see drivers pose for pictures on the track after they win--photographed by plodding photographers. Move pictures to the infield, out of harm’s way, or to a winner's circle elsewhere, nearer to fans. Get good publicity pictures, but do not hold up races for them. It’s another way of doing your work on the fan’s time. Plus, doing them elsewhere makes it easier to include family, friends and sponsors without restricted area access problems.

SLOW OFFICIALS... Some officials simply do not move fast enough. They seem to act as though they have all night. Perhaps they have nowhere else to go, but fans do. Fans, unlike many officials, are not nocturnal, and want to be home for the late news.

FEATURED RPM PROMOTERS WORKSHOPS COMMERCIAL REGISTRANT

The Directory of Services for Promoters, published monthly in RPM is the promoters' go-to directory for services and equipment.

AMB TIMING & SCORING
Over 100 American oval tracks rely on AMB Laptiming and Scoring Systems. AMB timing systems provide instant restart lineups after cautions, live data to scoreboards, and each racer’s results on your website. Financing available. www.amb-it.com 3200 Highlands Pkwy., Smyrna, GA, 30082, 877-4-AMB-it-US

Outstanding Ohio Opener

Limaland (OH) Motorsports Park recently counted its largest opening day crowd in ten years of operation, and DR. JEFF JARVIS and BOB FRICKE are justifiably proud of the track's new skyboxes.

Where Does Your Time Go? (Continued)

In the last several posts we ask, "Where does your time go?" Here are four more ideas that will help you finish shows earlier, and send fans how with smiles on their faces.

RACES "ON-DECK"... Always have two races lined up on-deck and ready to enter the track--one on track plus one ready to go, and one forming up behind it. That way tardy, selfish or uncooperative drivers can't waste the fans' time.

START WITHOUT THEM... If drivers cannot make the call, start without them. Don't wait for them. Yes, they are the show, and they are customers too, but the Yankees don't wait for a player who's not suited up.

MID-EVENT TRACK PREP... Do you rework your dirt track between races? Avoid it if you can! Find ways to make it as brief as possible. At Boone (IA) Speedway, ROBERT LAWTON has enough equipment that he can do it in seven minutes, sometimes more quickly. At other tracks, crews mist with a light spray very quickly while cars clear the track and the next race comes on--with little or no interruption in the action. Make mid-event track prep so brief its “invisible”--no more than 7-10 minutes. We repeat: avoid it if you can.

QUIET FOR DRIVERS’ MEETING... If your announcer stops talking and the property goes quiet for a drivers’ meeting, it’s not good. Ball teams do not hold up a ball game while the manager and players figure out the batting order. Don’t do your work on the fans’ time, do it on yours. Most drivers’ meetings take 15 minutes or more. That’s the average fan’s homebound drive time.

FEATURED RPM PROMOTERS WORKSHOPS COMMERCIAL REGISTRANT

The Directory of Services for Promoters, published monthly in RPM is the promoters' go-to directory for services and equipment.

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Where Does Your Time Go? (Continued)

The season is young, with race nights enough remaining to fix the late-running shows that turn fans off. Here are three more show shortening ideas to try at your track.

PARADE LAPS... How many laps pass after your cars leave the pits before the green? If your starter can't throw the green after one lap, something needs to be fixed. Parade laps, wave laps, whatever you call them, waste time. Forty years ago, when the "big cars" came to town once a year, such laps were OK, but not in today's 100-car weekly shows. Three slow parade laps add up to 1-1/2-2 minutes on a quarter mile, more on bigger tracks. Except for special races, get rid of such laps. Your announcers will find another time to talk up drivers’ sponsors.

"MYSTERY LAPS"... That's what we call those unexplained slow laps before green, as though the cars were going round and round until the scorer gets out of the restroom. How many can you count in your next show and how much time do they consume?

CARS NOT IN LINE... Do your race fields come out of the pit lined up or as a mixed bag, left to find their own starting position once on the racing surface? Pre-stage your races in the pit. Paint lineup spots on the tarmac in the pit or in grassy pits put up numbered signs in your staging area, but have races enter the track lined up. That way they are ready to take the green after one lap.

Where Does Your Time Go?

The season is young, with race nights enough remaining to fix the late-running shows that turn fans off. Here's our challenge to promoters. Before the season ends: If you race now until 12:30 or 1 am, find a way to finish by 11:30 p.m. If you race until 11:30 now, find a way to finish by 10 or 10:30 p.m. Here is the first of several ideas for places where you can trim time from your shows. We'll post more here periodically.

START ON TIME... There are as many reasons why races start late as there are tracks. But starting late is inexcusable. Starting late is an instant fan turn off. Fans arrive excited, anticipating edge-of-their-seat action, then find the opposite. We know you couldn't get the track run in, or the ambulance was late, or the timing malfunctioned, all real excuses? But fans don't buy them.

WAITING ON PACKERS... How quickly do drivers answer the call to pack your track? If all are expected to pack, then all should show up without coaxing. If your pit steward or announcer must repeatedly call for them to no avail, and you do not discipline them, it’s no different from nagging at a child without disciplinary action. Do not allow drivers to hold up the show. It’s all about minutes, and they are wasting your fans’ time.

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SIMES GRAPHIC DESIGNS
Simes Graphic Designs is an art studio that services the short track racing community. Designer and producer of brochures, posters, promotional materials. www.simesgraphicdesigns.com, 500 W. Main St., Mandan, ND 58554, 888-457-4637

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Track Cleaning Idea

HANDY UNIT: Buffalo Turbine makes this neat little blower put in service this season at Golden Sands (WI) Speedway. The track uses the unit to remove sand and tire rubber chunks from the track surface. DARRELL BASSUENER, owner of Golden Sands, also the owner of a nearby golf course, discovered the unit in use at PGA tournaments for greens keeping. The blower mounts on ATV’s skid steers, or a golf cart as shown here. Bassuener is a licensed dealer for the Midwest.