[KBruSBRS]

Re: the exposure at the ‘major’ events…

This is strictly my point of view and has nothing to do with why the schedule is how it is. I’m just simply pointing out some pros at NOT running at these main events.

At major events, the National drivers are at the very bottom of the totem pole. Not because of competition or quality of racing, of course, but because we’re the starting steps of the ladder system. Very few team owners are watching the National Series when they’re on track: they’re busy focusing on their own team and their own business.

It does give drivers an opportunity to go network and see what other race series are like, however, very very few drivers actually take advantage of that no matter how much we encourage it. This past year, most of them opted to have more one-on-one with instructors or coaches, go karting or go back to their hotels.

As for fan exposure, since the National is a training and development series, the fan base is somewhat limited. Getting people to watch the lower part of the ladder system is not as easy as it was back in the ‘glory days’ when everyone was throwing their money towards television, making sure every race is at a main venue, or other areas of marketing that clearly failed in the end. Everyone in racing was spending more money than what was actually working, and now sadly, many high quality series are gone because of it.


And news exposure. I’ll use RACER.com for my example. When I write a press release on a National weekend, it automatically gets posted on websites like RACER.com. Our exposure on that site depends on how much racing news is going on that week. If an event such as Petit us happening the same weekend, hundreds of journalists will be posting their own stories, and the National news will quickly blend in and fade to the back. And because there is more interest in series higher up on the ladder, those articles will be the center of attraction and have higher read rates. However, if the National is racing on its own weekend, we actually have higher exposure rates with our news stories. Journalists are not forced to choose between us and the ‘higher ladder’ events.