Two weeks in and let me tell you we are learning alot here in the offices of the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene.
One of the first things we learned was race fans have the addiction for racing just about as bad as racers do.
Only, racers get their fix by racing, while race fans get their fix by watching racing. Or reading about racing.
That means if your the guy who is suppose to be suppling the fix and you’re late, well, its not good.
The next thing I picked up on was race fans are just about as resourceful when it comes to piecing things together as a race car driver is. Give a driver a roll of duck tape and a bag of zip ties and he’ll find a way to fix a blown motor. At least make the attempt.
Well, give a few thousand race fans a brand new racing newspaper and not put your own contact phone number or billing address in it and watch the legions of race fans go to work.
One of our original sponsors found this out in a big way. Steve Crane is the owner of Wildside Fabrication and Speed Shop in Battle Creek. His ad, along with his phone number ,ran on the front covers of the paper. Race fans must have figured that if is ad was there he must know how to get ahold of me. So they called him. To the tune of over 250 phone calls !!
As your reading this, you’ll notice over there on the left in the red, we clearly have our mailing address and phone number.
So please, if you need a new Hans Device, some Sunoco Racing Fuel or the front end clipped on your race car, give Steve and Wildside a call. If you need me, try 888.824.7448 !!
Needless to say, I can 100% verify that advertising in the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene does get readers attention.
It also gets Promoter’s attention when you goof up.
Like spelling a track owner’s name wrong !! We did that to the good folks at Butler Motor Speedway. Sorry Carl & Helen Frederick. I conversed several times with Carl while doing the Butler owner’s interview and he requested several modifications to the article. On the website edition, we got them right. On the newspaper edition, we didn’t.
Carl reads the paper !
You’ll find the complete edited and corrected copy on page 10 of the MARC Times Racing News side. My sincerest apologies to the Frederick’s.
Good News - Bad News !!
The World of Outlaw Sprint Series is coming to I-96 Speedway on May 30th. That’s good news !!
However, the tickets are not going to cost $12 !! In Issue #1 & #2, we posted a $12 ticket price for that night. Obviously, that isn’t correct.
Mike reads the paper too !!
Its not $100 to win, its $200 to win !! That was the message from Merle Holden down at Mottville Speedway.
Merle has put together a very generous payout for Mini-Stocks to race for at Mottville and when he said $200, he means $200.
Another item we learned is how fast things come and go in the racing industry. What you know as correct and factual today can be completely inaccurate tomorrow.
Especially when it comes to sponsorship and promotions.
Kevin Koscher is the new owner/promoter at M-40 Speedway (where I’ll be Friday Night) and he put together a really nice promotion with a couple of NASCAR guys for August which we featured prominetly in Issue #1.
But, the deal has hit a snag and now it looks like M-40 isn’t going to be able to put this show on. Kevin has worked very hard on this deal and he still hopes to get it done, but I don’t want anyone to think he wasn’t 100% honest or forthright about this event.
Lastly.. Rumor Central.
Nothing gets your attention quicker then someone reporting a rumor to you about yourself !!
So, for the record.
) I have never been a flag man at Michigan International Speedway. In fact, I’ve never been a flagman anywhere. I’d like to try though !! Hint-Hint.
2.) I am not involved in ownership of Merritt Speedway in any way shape or form. Rod Ancel is doing a fantastic job at one of Northern Michigan’s finest race tracks. I actually spilt my coffee and laughed out loud when I was asked that question. No, No, No !!!
3.) No, I didn’t win the lottery (unless your talking about my wife !) but I do think I’m one of the luckier guys around to be given the opportunity to be a part of the bigger racing family. I wake up every day charged up to read your emails, talk with racers and spend my weekends at the tracks gathering the news and bringing to you. So I guess I feel like maybe I won the lottery (twice over !) but no, I didn’t get the powerball.
4.) The MARC Times Race Car is under construction. This is true !!
Not so much construction as re-construction. Many of you know I raced a bit the last couple of years (I called it racing, you might have called it driving around in circles not very fast)
We are taking one of the cars and converting it into a powder blue #43 super bird looking thing.
Lets not forget that it is a Dodge Shadow so you will have to use your imagination when it comes to seeing the “Super Bird” aspect, but I think once we show off the final product, you’ll see where we were going with it.
Once complete, we will publish a “MARC Times Racing Car” schedule and we are going to attempt to race as many different tracks in our area as possible.
And we are going to put a bounty ourselves when we do. Meaning, if you race us in a feature and finish in front of us, you’ll get a free digital subscription to the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene !
That’s it for this week. Again thanks to everyone for the phone calls of enouragement and support.
We are back and we are keeping up with the Times.
