The Gold Standard

The Gold Standard
by Randy Simpson

My first drag race was the 1991 NHRA U.S. Nationals. I caught my first glimpse of world class drag racing at the young and impressionable age of three. Fast forward 18-years and I still haven’t missed a U.S. Nationals. Needless to say, big crowds at a drag race are a familiar sight to me…just not at an NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series points meet.

It was about 10:00 PM Saturday night and I thought I’d take a stroll up to the grandstands. Fresh out of college with a degree in business, I decided to do some freelance marketing research. You see, large multinational corporations spend a fortune just to learn what their customers’ needs are. Sports franchises spend countless dollars in marketing research to quantify their demographics. This way they can sell the value of their audience of being this age group with this amount of spending power, living in this region, while spending this much on groceries each week. No, my marketing research wasn’t near as scientific. But it wasn’t rocket science that sold out the B’Laster Cavalcade of Stars Presented by Budweiser at Summit Motorsports Park.

Outside of the race track, I have a close knit group of friends. Of my friends, I am the only one who drag races. In fact, only one of my friends actually attends a drag race every couple of years. Instead, they spend their time and money going to rock concerts. I too, tag along on occasion. Just this last weekend, eight of my friends bought tickets that cost in excess of $150 for a two-day rock concert. So before we argue that entry prices are out of line, consider the cost of other forms of entertainment.

But let’s stay focused on my rock concert analogy. As I approached the crowded concession area below the grandstands at Summit Motorsports Park, you could just sense a special aura. The environment was almost electric. Like a distorted guitar amplifier with reverberating feedback, you could hear the sound of a jet engine spooling. The high pitched whine was like a dinner bell, as people fled from their spot in line waiting for their $1 pound of ice cream to stand along the fence and watch the jet cars blast down the track.

The time spent preparing the track between cars was like the next act setting up their instruments for their set time on stage. The fans talked excitedly about what they just witnessed while others were anticipating what was next. This was Bill Bader Jr’s time to work the crowd. He patriotically rallied the capacity crowd by reminding them how fortunate we are as a nation to have the freedom to enjoy some all-American drag racing while he occasionally burst out the classic, “buy American!” phrase from time to time. Bill knows his audience. Working class, blue collar Americans who chose to spend their Saturday evening at his home. He entertained his guests and fed them what they like for dinner.

Then, the lights went out. The music blasted over the concert quality P.A. system. Fire erupted from the stacks of a Kenworth truck. It was Norwalk’s fan favorite, Bob Motz. You see, there are lots of bands who put on concerts. Then there are the Rolling Stones or The Who and they REALLY put on concerts. The same goes for drag racing. There are all kinds of drag racers, cars and promoters. Then there is Bob Motz, the jet Kenworth and Bill Bader Jr. While other lesser known acts perform well and make a good living, there are always the elite who are in a class of their own.

The overfull grand stands were filled to the brim with eager fans that stood the entire time Bob Motz fired his engine and staged. After the smoke cleared and Motz was half a mile away, we all slowly filed out of bleachers. Then Bader said something that resonated well with me. He said, “folks, you just witnessed the Woodstock of drag racing!” He was telling the truth. There are thousands of concerts every year. But the 1969 Woodstock is still the gold standard of rock and roll and music festivals. It was different, unique and never forgotten.

Bader found a way to package the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and make a marquee worthy show out of it. Stock, Super Street, Super Gas, Super Comp and Super Stock were the opening acts while Top Sportsman, Competition Eliminator and the Top Alcohol categories were the lead in to the headlining wheel standing school bus and jet dragsters, funny cars and Kenworth. Yes, jet cars are a novelty exhibition show. They are not a fierce competitive class and they don’t claim to be. They are like AC/DC. Their music isn’t in-depth with life altering lyrics. But they’re loud, flashy, get your attention and draw a crowd.

The next time you go to a big drag racing event, such as this was, I ask you to take note of what people are wearing. Yes, there was the sporadic John Force or NHRA t-shirt but they were few and far between. This wasn’t the typical NHRA national event crowd who pours over the ESPN2 Television coverage and reads the National Dragster from front to back. These were average people who likely (obviously I can’t say for sure or prove this opinion) knew as much about drag racing as my friends at home. Bader tapped into another audience. An audience my friends belong to. They don’t know how Tony Schumacher did last weekend nor do they care. They only care about whose on the track now and whether they’re being entertained.

Drag racing is a numbers game, so let’s do the math real quickly. I was at Norwalk two weeks ago. Eight of my friends were at a concert last weekend. I’m the drag racing enthusiast. They are the average ordinary people who don’t follow drag racing. Again, that’s one of me and eight of them. Who should Bader’s target audience be?

Like I said before, this wasn’t rocket science. It was a well packaged event that met the fan’s needs.

HTML Comment Box is loading comments...



	by Randy Simpson My first drag race was the 1991 NHRA U.S. Nationals. I caught my first glimpse of world class drag racing at the young and impressionable age of three. Fast forward 18-years and I still haven’t missed a U.S. Nationals. Needless to say, big crowds at a drag race are a familiar sight to me…just not at an NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series points meet. It was about 10:00 PM Saturday night and I thought I’d take a stroll up to the grandstands. Fresh out of college with a degree in business, I decided to do some freelance marketing research. You see, large multinational corporations spend a fortune just to learn what their customers’ needs are. Sports franchises spend countless dollars in marketing research to quantify their demographics. This way they can sell the value of their audience of being this age group with this amount of spending power, living in this region, while spending this much on groceries each week. No, my marketing research wasn’t near as scientific. But it wasn’t rocket science that sold out the B’Laster Cavalcade of Stars Presented by Budweiser at Summit Motorsports Park. Outside of the race track, I have a close knit group of friends. Of my friends, I am the only one who drag races. In fact, only one of my friends actually attends a drag race every couple of years. Instead, they spend their time and money going to rock concerts. I too, tag along on occasion. Just this last weekend, eight of my friends bought tickets that cost in excess of $150 for a two-day rock concert. So before we argue that entry prices are out of line, consider the cost of other forms of entertainment. But let’s stay focused on my rock concert analogy. As I approached the crowded concession area below the grandstands at Summit Motorsports Park, you could just sense a special aura. The environment was almost electric. Like a distorted guitar amplifier with reverberating feedback, you could hear the sound of a jet engine spooling. The high pitched whine was like a dinner bell, as people fled from their spot in line waiting for their $1 pound of ice cream to stand along the fence and watch the jet cars blast down the track. The time spent preparing the track between cars was like the next act setting up their instruments for their set time on stage. The fans talked excitedly about what they just witnessed while others were anticipating what was next. This was Bill Bader Jr’s time to work the crowd. He patriotically rallied the capacity crowd by reminding them how fortunate we are as a nation to have the freedom to enjoy some all-American drag racing while he occasionally burst out the classic, “buy American!” phrase from time to time. Bill knows his audience. Working class, blue collar Americans who chose to spend their Saturday evening at his home. He entertained his guests and fed them what they like for dinner. Then, the lights went out. The music blasted over the concert quality P.A. system. Fire erupted from the stacks of a Kenworth truck. It was Norwalk’s fan favorite, Bob Motz. You see, there are lots of bands who put on concerts. Then there are the Rolling Stones or The Who and they REALLY put on concerts. The same goes for drag racing. There are all kinds of drag racers, cars and promoters. Then there is Bob Motz, the jet Kenworth and Bill Bader Jr. While other lesser known acts perform well and make a good living, there are always the elite who are in a class of their own. The overfull grand stands were filled to the brim with eager fans that stood the entire time Bob Motz fired his engine and staged. After the smoke cleared and Motz was half a mile away, we all slowly filed out of bleachers. Then Bader said something that resonated well with me. He said, “folks, you just witnessed the Woodstock of drag racing!” He was telling the truth. There are thousands of concerts every year. But the 1969 Woodstock is still the gold standard of rock and roll and music festivals. It was different, unique and never forgotten. Bader found a way to package the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and make a marquee worthy show out of it. Stock, Super Street, Super Gas, Super Comp and Super Stock were the opening acts while Top Sportsman, Competition Eliminator and the Top Alcohol categories were the lead in to the headlining wheel standing school bus and jet dragsters, funny cars and Kenworth. Yes, jet cars are a novelty exhibition show. They are not a fierce competitive class and they don’t claim to be. They are like AC/DC. Their music isn’t in-depth with life altering lyrics. But they’re loud, flashy, get your attention and draw a crowd. The next time you go to a big drag racing event, such as this was, I ask you to take note of what people are wearing. Yes, there was the sporadic John Force or NHRA t-shirt but they were few and far between. This wasn’t the typical NHRA national event crowd who pours over the ESPN2 Television coverage and reads the National Dragster from front to back. These were average people who likely (obviously I can’t say for sure or prove this opinion) knew as much about drag racing as my friends at home. Bader tapped into another audience. An audience my friends belong to. They don’t know how Tony Schumacher did last weekend nor do they care. They only care about whose on the track now and whether they’re being entertained. Drag racing is a numbers game, so let’s do the math real quickly. I was at Norwalk two weeks ago. Eight of my friends were at a concert last weekend. I’m the drag racing enthusiast. They are the average ordinary people who don’t follow drag racing. Again, that’s one of me and eight of them. Who should Bader’s target audience be? Like I said before, this wasn’t rocket science. It was a well packaged event that met the fan’s needs. HTML Comment Box is loading comments...