The people who run our government are broken. Karting in Colorado is simply a secret.
To me, growing anything requires the creation of a mutually beneficial environment that creates value, manages cost, and results in a lot of fun. There are many steps required to create a sustainable racing “ecosystem” that will result in new participants and more retention. However, instead of trying to eat the whole whale, lets take it one bite at a time.
Simple things that could be done over the winter to generate 10-30 new participants by April’s racing series include:
Create Awareness Among Like Minded Individuals: Has anyone ever called the PCA, SCCA, NASA, BMW club, vintage racing clubs, etc. to see if they would be interested in having someone from the kart racing world “present” at one of their meetings? Most “car people” want to get their hands on anything racing related that is fun. If someone from Unser or TTAC presented at one of these groups or offered their facilities for one of their monthly meetings, you would generate awareness. That will get the adults. Tie in closer with the CJKC and kids renting at Unser for growing the youth population (have you seen a birthday party at Unser? Those kids are excited). Could we collectively generate 500 people who simply become aware that racing exists at a well organized level in Colorado? Yep…
Which could then be followed by:
Marketing and Promotion: Tracks that offer rentals should be marketing the racing series. It will create more business for them (more rentals, more parts, more entry fees, etc.). You see nothing at Unser, TTAC, Action Karting, IMI, etc. regarding racing series. Nobody is more thankful for guys like Scott at Unser, Stacy at GJMS, and Jim at TTAC than me. Trust me, I’m not bitching here… But how can someone participate in a racing series if they don’t know it exists. Website advertising isn’t the answer. Websites are for providing information to people who already know it is out there (i.e. I want to race at Centennial in the Racing the Rockies series and need to know when the races are or where the registration form is). Put up a flippin’ poster or two… Of all the people who show up at TTAC, Unser, IMI, Action Karting, etc. could we find 50 who would become interested in racing? 50 people from every 500 who become aware? 10%? Yep… I think Stacy and the GJMS guys do a pretty good job at this with a limited population in GJ. We should be picking their brains! Call the guys at Miller in Utah… they have a bunch of people racing in their series and a smaller population to draw from.
Those 50 are going to be interested, but they won’t know how to get started. So then it becomes a matter of:
Education: Offer “getting started in racing” seminars. I used to sit at Shockwave and take pictures and videos of Greg, Jeff, and Doug doing seminars thinking “I would pay for this information…”. Without education and the willing help of all the people in this community, I’d be lost (or at least significantly dumber than I am already). Take it back a step. Gather the names of the 50 people who express interest and invite them to a “how to get started” seminar. Cover the basics. How do I get a kart? What safety gear do I need? What do I do next? Hand out some discounted rental kart passes and racing simulator passes so they have a reason to show. Then invite a bunch of us existing racers to come in and share stories and SELL OUR USED STUFF! I’ve been able to sell virtually every piece of karting equipment I’ve ever purchased (that my kids haven’t broken or worn out…) and if I hadn’t been able to, I sure wouldn’t be buying so much new stuff… Then invite them to the track. Make them our “guest” at a race. Hell, some of them would even bring beer… Some of them would become customers!
Of those 50 people, could we get 15-20 to at least try racing in some form (buy a kart, rent an “arrive and drive”, etc). That would be a really good hit rate. Would we be happy if we had a 20% hit rate (10 new people)? Yes!!
To me, that is something that could be achieved and guys like me would volunteer to help. The total cost (aside from time) would be minimal (print some materials, make it look cool, etc.).
I’ve got a lot of other ideas around building this ecosystem and leveraging the great work already done by the CJKC, the track owners both here as well as in Co Springs and GJ, and guys like Scott Falcone (racers who have stepped up and made things happen). Those ideas are for another day but all are based on the theory that the days of “I’m pissed at him and he’s pissed at me” seem to be over.
Greg, guys like you and Scott F. can lead the charge. Business owners like Scott, Brad, JIm, JB, and Stacy will support you if what you do supports their businesses and makes them more money. It’s not complicated to at least raise awareness, promote the sport, and educate new people over the winter.
Don’t try to solve it all at once. Think big, start small, and be ready to scale up rapidly.
We all win.
Annie says I have to go now…