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What contact location for Red Bull did you speak with? Reason I ask, is I have a family member who does promotions for Red Bull. Goes to all the Nascar events and does sponsorships. I can pretty easily get information on what they will, and won't take the time to look at.

 

I talked to Dietrich Mateschitz. He said he would definitely be interested in attending some races.

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Big name sponsors aren't reluctant to finically back 300' sand drags due to safety. :huh:

 

The issue is the lack of interest. A sport doesn't "Grow" because a sponsor feeds money into it. The sponsor puts his money behind it because it already has a large growing fan base.

There are PLENTY of sports where safety gear or rules are lacking, yet they still have sponsor backing.

The 2 sports that are the closest cousins to 300' sand drags are AMA MOTOCROSS and NHRA DRAG RACING. Chad Reed (22) Played the roll of human lawn dart last Saturday with a crash that broke a lot of bones. Safety gear???? Just helmet, boots and gloves. No neck braces.

I'm a fan of the neck brace (Tho I do not own one at this time) But for a while AMA racers were moving towards more armor. Full knee braces, elbow guards, neck braces, etc. Now with the top riders are running minimal gear….the trend is back towards a stripped down amount of apparel.

This lack of safety gear and the subsequent injuries to top riders is not a problem for the many sponsors of that series. Still, that racing series is filled with fans who are mostly riders themselves and even with them filling stands every weekend only see late evening media coverage for one day on cable. The outdoor series was spread over 2 networks with one showing heat one and the other showing heat two on different channels and at totally different times of day!

 

NHRA has a HUGE fan base due to the fans ability to relate to the sport in their daily life as drivers of cars. It's had GENERATIONS of followers and tracks are spread all around the country. It's not a big effort to find an NHRA sanctioned dragstrip. The auto makers have fed the sport with HP wars over the years that help the grass roots involvement that starts with friendly stoplight runs between young drivers. Even with all that going for it, the sport is mostly filled with gear heads who have SOME level of a modded car of their own.

 

Now lets look at 300' Sand Drags. 90% of people watching the races showed up with a racer or know one personally. 99% of the women fans are only there because the guy they are with is into it. The payouts are too low to reimburse the racers for the cost to drive to many of the events.

Most tracks are on a complete shoe string budget. Some winners of a particular series championship simply showed up to more races than anyone else. Since east coast, southern, west coast racers can't afford to tour the country without loosing money doing it….you don't get a big national following, nor do you get to see just who is the fastest and how one region stacks up against another. (NFL and MLB at least have divisions that play for a final overall title.) There are no real classes. Sure they will limit cc size to build a class….but nothing like NASCAR where they specify wheelbase, engine, tires, minimum weight, etc. So you don't get a sense of "Rider Ability" it's more of a "Bike Ability" leaving many with the impression that wins are simply won by buying the most power or having the lightest bike/jockey. Light weight jockeys discourage fans from feeling like they personally could be part of the action. Then there is the time involved…..I go to 300' tracks and participate in the Friday "Test and Tune" and for $20 make sometimes as many as 15-20 runs from 5-9 pm. But I go to a track that's only a 5 minute drive from our dunes. So I get to ride the dunes from about noon till 4pm before going to the strip. Then I ride the dunes all day Saturday. I really don't have any interest in killing a weekend at a dragstrip to make minimal passes knowing I could spend my day actually riding instead of watching endless track prep…..

I enjoy the track….be I would never build a track specific bike.

I've been involved with this hobby/sport/lifestyle since the 80's. You wanna know how many times I've seen ANY kind of ATV drag racing on TV?……NEVER! I've seen swamp buggy racing, Top Fuel/Jet Boat drag racing, Snomobiles drag racing on grass, Bar Stool Racing…..

HELL I've even seen CIRCULAR SAW DRAG RACING!

So the fact that ATV drag racing can't find a following on TV…..but Curling in the olympics has days of coverage should be an eye opener. (The most I get is a quick 1/2 hour update on GNCC races from RacerTV and the swap every other weekend with the motorcycle coverage) :angry:

Is there an action sport that RED BULL doesn't sponsor?……Yeah ATV racing of any kind. How many times does Travis Pastrana have to get a concussion or break himself before RED BULL runs away from the lack of safety? NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. So let's drop the notion that lack of safety is what's holding back ATV drag racing…….

Fack. I hated to quote that long post but it's all true.

 

 

FACT: at a decent sized race at Leerjak (still Planet Sand then I think) they had hundreds if not a 1000+ of people at that park that weekend Riding the 2000 acres of trails, camping in the nearly 100 campsites, etc. They have several bleachers on the spectator side of the track. I don't recall more than a handful (if any) that cared to be there at bleachers. The Stamper guy ran 3.06@106 (yes, he was wearing full leather suit, etc) and I'm not sure anyone was even spectating or cared (besides racers) when he ran that. That park is always full, and folks would rather play in the mud or on the trails than watch us race. Now if it was recorded that may be a different story, but as mentioned there is SO much down time due to track prep. Way more time watching the water truck, tractor, box blade, etc., than racing. This is the reason no one watches (and no media) I believe. Not the above mentioned safety issues, as windy mentioned.

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Gotta kinda suck to drop coin on a 1134cc Scimitar, spend time tuning that beast and finding the sweet spot in your set-up only to find it can't draw a crowd. The Sportsman classes at an NHRA event have more butts in the stands……..

 

People will watch one of a 1/2 dozen top chef type cooking shows…..but nobody wants to see any racin' with roost. Sad. 

 

 

Sand drag racing……..drawing in spelling bee viewership numbers.  :unsure:

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I've talked to Red Bull, Monster and AMP so far.

There are tons of other cut rate energy drinks out there that would love to come put their banners all over and do some vending. Have you tried Booty Sweat?

 

Man, on a serious note. It sucks trying to get spectators/competitors to come out to for almost any form of racing as the cost to play is climbing all the time.

It pisses me off knowing that golf and bowling, or even curling are major sponsored events with media and Motorsports are slowing down

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Gotta kinda suck to drop coin on a 1134cc Scimitar, spend time tuning that beast and finding the sweet spot in your set-up only to find it can't draw a crowd. The Sportsman classes at an NHRA event have more butts in the stands……..

 

People will watch one of a 1/2 dozen top chef type cooking shows…..but nobody wants to see any racin' with roost. Sad.

 

 

 

Sand drag racing……..drawing in spelling bee viewership numbers. :unsure:

Bull shit, those fucking nerds are on ESPN!
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Bull shit, those fucking nerds are on ESPN!

Sorry.......LOCAL spelling bee fans.

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