Sshs10?

I've been laying low on the SS scene because my sorry ass hasn't gotten my car back on the road BUT....

What has been said about more and better promotion as being the key to keeping things alive (reasonably profitable) are right on target.

In an effort to keep this tradtion (at least it has become one to me and my friends) I am prepared to offer my marketing and promotional services (i.e. we got contacts). After all, the daggum thing is in our "backyard".

Maybe we should create a SSHS subcommittee to take this effort on and start banging some new ideas around.

1. I was thinking while I was watching the parking lot fill up at SSHS9 about a parrallel promotion for "not so heavy" organizations. Run them using some of the run-all-day capacity, a la ECIRS at the track in Englishtown when the track is running GM organizations' acitvities. (PLEASE NOTE: I am not suggesting we recruit ricers.) Less Than Heavy Shootout?

2. There are a lot of active car clubs and some of the finest examples of gearhead work in the world located in the metro area that are into showing and are looking for well organized shows to attend. It was painfully obvious no effort was made whatsoever to recruit any of those groups for the "show". We all know show guys don't like to pay to enter a show unless it is hooked up with some sort of charity. Plus most of them are bored out of their minds by lunch time and what better thing for gearhead show guys/gals to do than to walk over to the stands and cheer on some great drag racing? Find a charity and start work NOW on putting together promotions (i.e. Friday night cruise in, sponsors, goodie bags, dash plates, etc.).

Paul and myself sponsored SSHS (especially Paul, he gave a lot of money many years) a few times, and whether I go or not I always send my $65 registration "donation". I have sponsored race classes etc.

As expected, Don L and the other n00bs above don't know any history of the event. No one bothers to find out what happened before they were there the first 8 years. LOL.

Don't get me wrong...The newbs above have some good ideas but the facts are we know what generally works/doesn't work. Plus the economy is down and people just can't/won't travel very far to make an event unless they are a diehard. Also, GASSIT and the FORD folks won't/don't want to draw another crowd just for the sake of drawing a crowd. We rather enjoy the small group of diehards. I guess none of you have ever been to a PINK ALL OUT but we have and it's a frickin zoo. Too many people, too many cars, too many aholes. And ONE breakdown can ruin everyones day. Don't get me wrong, those days are fun but for this where people travel a long way to race and pay double the average track entrance fee you want the track to yourself. $65 is stiff to race.

The FACTS are: John broke, the Pig broke, Mikey H broke, Paul couldn't get his nitrous to work right, etc etc etc. Lot's of big names just couldn't get the planets to align right this year or it would have been a kickass SSHS as usual.

Geno - one of the reasons we don't invite "others" is because the track has to factor in breakage. We've been lucky most years but if you have others waiting to use the track and there are long delays (Myself and Big John almost hit the wall at SSHS6 or SSHS7 before they cleaned up the slick right lane - long ass delay) it will be a terrible day for all. People come a long way and pay a decent fee to race so they want full use of the track.

Car show - there is always a show, and as expected AT A RACE TRACK the participation is light because it's a RACE. INC was going to "take it ovah" but that never really panned out. If you want to run/organize a show, be more than welcome to step up to the plate but don't be surprised when you get minimal turnout for obvious reasons. Most people are there to see racing, not to kick tires.

These are all things discussed heavily in the past, and the way it is - well thats pretty much the way it is.

All ideas are great but most have been addressed/attempted in the past. If the forum hadn't gone south, we could refer you to those threads where it was discussed ad nauseum.

I do agree the only sure-fire way to make it better is to work at getting more cars to race, more attendees, more sponsors. But that has to be a grass roots kind of thing within the Chevy/Ford/Mopar community. Opening it up to outsiders will make this event something entirely different - which we never ever ever want.

won't/don't want to draw another crowd just for the sake of drawing a crowd.

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OK, then where did all the furds and dodgies come from? I remember the day when all the B-bodies owners hissed when the first group of Fords showed up. Now, they're basically running the show. It's always great to have small crowds from a non-breakage, make more runs stand point. Somehow (yes, Bill, I actually know how), ECIRS has survived for years running on the premise I described. BUT, if enough don't show, not enough money is generated and someone is going to end up paying big timeout of their own pocket and SSHS would die.

I believe the car show is lightly attended because it is not promoted and it needs a different venue. I'll suggest a Friday night cruise-in/show in a high taffic public place with an entry fee that includes a ticket to get the participants into watch the races the next day. How about a hook up of some type with Year One? I'll keep throwing them out there until something sticks to the wall.

To a certain extent, the same holds true (needs better promotion) for the racing, but that activity has a whole different set of dynamics.

the way it is - well thats pretty much the way it is.

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How do you get up in the morning with that kind of attitude, boy?cwm1

Look, granted, sometimes innovation results in unintended results (i.e. very few realized how much money and support a short guy from Arkansas put into supporting a national organization, Ford and Chevy guys actually hangin, racing and drinking together (without fist fights breakin out), etc.). Sometimes, things should be left the way they are. Sometimes it results in wonderful things happening (i.e. the ECIRS, Nationals, the Six Pack-NAISSO-ISSCA-?, a car club with its own magazine, a lil group of Midwesterners organizing some of the most fun packed weekends EVER, etc.).

Use history to prevent repeating mistakes.
Use innovation to make progress.

Any more suggestions? contributions?

96lsxss said:

As said earlier there are many car clubs in GA and surrounding states, it just needs to be put out there more... I LOVED THE EVENT!!! But i would also love to see it grow

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Putting it out there more is a good idea but it just aint that easy. For the record, I started to hit LS1GTO.com SE Region months before the event the last 2 years. SSHS8 conflicted with GTO Nationals so I don't think anyone from the forum showed. For SSHS9, I went so far as calling the GOATS out. Even having a buddie with GTO (blue one that got runner up Class C) that is very active in SE Region on that forum resulted in just one GTO participating. I even mentioned a car show if they didn't want to race.

Not saying don't try, but there are a lot of pussies out there that would rather keyboard race and getting it out there didn't do much. I do have some ideas though:

1. A few responses on the forum asked about prize money. Maybe a token amount to cover the trip or entrance fees or some kind of donated prizes.

2. Invite pres of local active clubs (free pass) to help promote the following year. I am willing to bet that there will be a few more GTOs in the mix next year because Allen in Blue GTO came out and confirmed that he can make weight. Not to mention he had fun and was proud of his 2nd place trophy. On a side note, he went to Darlington for the GTO Nationals the following weekend and he did not qualify. Hopefully he convinces some folks to blow it off and run SSHS instead. At least they will get to race.

3. Guys that run Fast Fridays at local tracks need to have promotional flyers a few months before hand to distribute to the heavy cars. I found telling people about a website is easily forgotten.

my .02 from a non-drag racer

Boilermaker said:

OK, then where did all the furds and dodgies come from?

How do you get up in the morning with that kind of attitude, boy?cwm1

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I presumed you were mature enough to read my post and understand it better.

A. the Fords were there pretty much from the beginning with their LSC's and Crown Vics...before you even had an Imp. Disney Lincoln was an SSHS legend. And Mopar didn't have a car to compete with until recently. Now with all the Mopar heavy cars and the Marauders we finally had someone to beat up on.

What's your point?

Ford took it over because GASSIT is like the rest of the country - been there, done that, let someone else run it now.

B. I get up in the morning with the attitude that has got me through life. If you get lemons, make lemonade but BE REALISTIC in your goals and your understanding of what the situation is. We've tried everything under the sun for 9 years for SSHS and again: IT IS WHAT IT IS.

The diehard guys - the ones who run it and promote it - would all like a better turnout but not at the expense of changing the theme. Which is why the B-Body community voted down ISSCA wanting to bring in newer Impala's, which is why the community doesn't cater to newer Impala's on this forum, and which is why we go it alone a lot. The B-Body community has spoken (many times) and they don't want outsiders.

Gene this doesn't mean I don't agree with you - it just means those are the facts. I don't have a particularly strong feeling either way. On the one hand, how many stock black Impala's can I look at, right? Lets mix it up! But on the other hand, do I really give a rats ass about a 2004 GTO or Marauder?

For whatever reason, B-Body owners like going it alone, and it would appear the Marauder/Ford guys are that way too. They like their "members only" event. Everything else caters to Camaro's/Mustangs/Vettes/Firebirds etc. And there are so many new Mopars they have their own thing.

Lot's of other orgs have come along and failed - look up NOPI - because it tried to be everything to everyone.

The car show part of SSHS will always be just that - a small car show in the middle of a DRAG RACING EVENT. The two just don't mix. Even here at ETown they get a very small turnout for car shows when there is a race going on. That's just the way it is. The groups don't, in general, attract each other to the other groups events.

Bottom line is right now our cars are at their lowpoint for many reasons: Age (they will start coming back up in value in 5 years or so), Economy, Been-there-done-that attitude, and newer youngsters who would rather bling an Impala than race it, etc etc. Again, I don't have a problem with it, it is what it is.

It doesn't mean I don't think we can make it better - but like I said it has to be grass roots. We need B-Body members to encourage other B-Body members to show up and get involved. That's the only way the event will get bigger.

We used to get 300+ Impala SS's alone at StLoo in 2000 and 2002 and now if we get 150 cars including Caddy's, RM's, 9C1's, wagons, etc we are lucky.

B-Body owners (and it would appear Marauder guys) LIKE having our own little exclusive club. So we need to make it bigger, stronger, better from within. Inviting outside orgs will only weaken it and dilute it and pretty soon it will no longer be about heavy sleds being insanely pushed to their limits on the track.

I think you need to figure out what SSHS really 'is' and why people show up year after year. Why not ask the attendees? I think you’ll get a wide variety of answers, but somewhere there is a common thread. When you can describe the SSHS, then you can figure out if it can be promoted.

On the surface it is a drag race for 4000 pound cars. But I don’t think that’s enough to bring people back year after year.

It’s an annual get together for ISSF members.
It’s a chance to beat on the Marauders.
It’s a chance to race another 12 sec. Impala SS.
It’s a reunion of old friends.
It’s a parking lot party.
…

What does a G8, GTO, Camaro, Challenger guy see in that list that would interest him? The chance to have their new car embarrassed by a thirteen year old four door.

Personally, I think it has more to do with social experience and less to do with the actual race. We caravan down, share meals, drinks and laugh. You can’t sell tickets to that kind of experience.