OT: Brit driver joins NASCAR

[JDPower]

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/10/03/dfranchitti.ganassi/index.html

Now all we need is a British NASCAR round :D

[racing59]

At Rockingham of course

Rob.

[JDPower]

At Rockingham of course
Well he has raced, and won, here before. And he is Scottish and Corby is nicknamed little Scotland. Done deal surely??? :D

[racing59]

Well he has raced, and won, here before. And he is Scottish and Corby is nicknamed little Scotland. Done deal surely??? :D

Little Scotland? Och nae!. Everyone know's its the most southerly town IN Scotland. Haven't you seen the band of thistles that surround the place (ancient defence system!). I hear that there is a network of tunnels heading north, which exit in Glasgow.

What it does show is that there is much more interest in Stock Cars from the guys in the major formulae.

Dear Mr Buller, please talk to Mr France and organise for Rockingham to become NASCAR Sanctioned (I'm sure that Corby council/Northants County Council will help with the cost!). Please also take the Stock Cars and the Pickups "in house" so that they can be promoted properly and turned into the show that the can be. British club racing organisations have zero idea of how to operate this sort of racing, and should not be trusted with it. Unless they can prove to me otherwise.

Rob.

[deadsquirrel]

Dear Mr Buller, please talk to Mr France and organise for Rockingham to become NASCAR Sanctioned (I'm sure that Corby council/Northants County Council will help with the cost!). Please also take the Stock Cars and the Pickups "in house" so that they can be promoted properly and turned into the show that the can be. British club racing organisations have zero idea of how to operate this sort of racing, and should not be trusted with it. Unless they can prove to me otherwise.

Rob.
There is no structure "in house" at Rockingham to drive this forward (IMO). Surely what the series' have started, with your own promotional efforts etc should be expanded to the nth degree - let BRSCC be 'in the background' as the officialdom, which is now stable, and (IMO) working well, but you do all the front of house stuff.

[PitMarshal]

Can I just point out that if the media stick to their usual line, Dario is only British if he wins. If he makes an ar$e out if himself, then he will revert to just being Scottish.

[racing59]

There is no structure "in house" at Rockingham to drive this forward (IMO). Surely what the series' have started, with your own promotional efforts etc should be expanded to the nth degree - let BRSCC be 'in the background' as the officialdom, which is now stable, and (IMO) working well, but you do all the front of house stuff.

AFAIK, the BTCC last year was the result of the circuit doing the deal with TOCA, and had nothing to do with the BRSCC.

Having (ok, it may cost) NASCAR sanctioning is a start, and adds far more credibility to what we do than anything the BRSCC will ever achieve.

You have to remember that the BRSCC is a motorsport "club", and predominantly organises "club" events, where the competitors pick up the tab, and spectators are not really wants.

Conversely, what we do NEEDS the spectators, we are an entertainment first and foremost, and that requires marketing which is something that the BRSCC have never really done before. You only have to look at the last two years, where the only marketing done for the meetings, has, in reality, be that done by the teams that raced there.

The BRSCC's marketing budget for the whole club, for the year, is circa £250K. To market Rockingham properly, and put it on the map will cost about ten times that - without TV adverts!

Having NASCAR there would certainly do it. They would manage the media, and the "circus" would be in town big time! British Motorsport wouldn't know what hit it!

I hope Dario does well, though his success in Champcar & IRL hasn't featured in the mainstream UK press so far, simply because they are not interested unless it's inflatable, and kicked by a bunch of overpaid fairies on a grass pitch.

Rob.

[deadsquirrel]

AFAIK, the BTCC last year was the result of the circuit doing the deal with TOCA, and had nothing to do with the BRSCC.

Correct - but BTCC doesn't need much promotion...



Having (ok, it may cost) NASCAR sanctioning is a start, and adds far more credibility to what we do than anything the BRSCC will ever achieve.

Yes - but NASCAR probably want to see a lot more going on first, and probably would want quite a large sanctioning type fee...



You have to remember that the BRSCC is a motorsport "club", and predominantly organises "club" events, where the competitors pick up the tab, and spectators are not really wants.

But that's the case for most British Motorsport - where as long as the circuit hire and associated costs are covered, the job is 'done'.



Conversely, what we do NEEDS the spectators, we are an entertainment first and foremost, and that requires marketing which is something that the BRSCC have never really done before. You only have to look at the last two years, where the only marketing done for the meetings, has, in reality, be that done by the teams that raced there.

But that's my point - you as teams will need to drive this forward; maybe doing a deal where you take a %age of gate receipts, based on the fact that you're generating the specator attendances, but keeping BRSCC financially viable for the circuit cost.



The BRSCC's marketing budget for the whole club, for the year, is circa £250K. To market Rockingham properly, and put it on the map will cost about ten times that - without TV adverts!

Think back to the Motors TV coverage and regular TV slots - that money was spent and I think unfortunately we're not likely to see that again!



Having NASCAR there would certainly do it. They would manage the media, and the "circus" would be in town big time! British Motorsport wouldn't know what hit it!

NASCARs stated position was that they weren't going to fund the expansion into Europe, but instead put their name to existing organisation. IMO we'd be premature to approach them unless we had 30+ cars.



I hope Dario does well, though his success in Champcar & IRL hasn't featured in the mainstream UK press so far, simply because they are not interested unless it's inflatable, and kicked by a bunch of overpaid fairies on a grass pitch.

Dario will do well I'm sure. we'll never beat the fairies though :(

[LessThanSte]

Has noone thought about contacting the relevant people and perhaps adding sponsorship to Dario's car?

[racing59]

If we paid to put Rockingham on Dario's car, they'd think it was for Rockingham North Carolina. And NASCAR don't go there anymore!!!!

DS - my thought is that to get 30+ car, we'd need NASCAR behind us to give it the status to help it grow to 30+. A spot of chicken & egg.

The percentage of gate idea is one of the things that, in effect, some of us had this year. If I'd got my "Team Air Ambulance" off of the ground (!) before the start of the year, I could have got the air ambulance charities properly behind me. Sadly, it's been an uphill struggle, and as such we didn't sell hardly any tickets, so the charities, didn't benefit much, and neither did the teams (we got a smaller cut than the charity, but enough to make the idea worthwhile).

Wherever we race next year, I think a similar deal has to be done with the event organiser/gatemoney holder. Not all of our rounds will be at Rockingham.

Rob..

[Abo]

DS - my thought is that to get 30+ car, we'd need NASCAR behind us to give it the status to help it grow to 30+

Use the Pickups! Let them become NASCAR sanctioned and the V8's can feed of that? Not ideal for the V8's initially but, ways and means...

[LessThanSte]

According to a story on NASCAR.com, Michael Waltrip Racing has itself new backing, which comes from an American businessman who works/lives in London.

Would it be a sensible idea, therefore, to get him along to Rockingham for his thoughts and to see if he has any ideas?

The upshot is that with him backing a cup team, the message could always be filtered along the relevant lines to the people that really matter!

[Sticker Rub]

Not all of our rounds will be at Rockingham.

Is that a wish or done deal?

[Haulin'AssAndTurnin Left]

Can I just point out that if the media stick to their usual line, Dario is only British if he wins. If he makes an ar$e out if himself, then he will revert to just being Scottish.


Much the same way the Scots are only British when they want our money.