PHOTO: This might be a good crowd at any other track, but it’s pretty thin for Thunder Road. Is weather to blame? Not entirely. (Leif Tillotson photo)

-by Justin St. Louis
VMM Editor

Race tracks that are suffering through low spectator counts have nobody to blame but themselves.

It’s fashionable to blame the economy for every shortcoming in the stock car racing industry (and at the highest levels of NASCAR, say, the Sprint Cup, Nationwide, or Camping World Truck Series it is acceptable and probably correct to do so, simply because it takes millions of private dollars to operate teams at those levels), but the economy — Vermont’s in particular — is on the rebound and is stronger now than it was in 2009 or 2010.

Look around at the local short tracks that are on the upswing on both sides of the pit gate — Airborne Speedway in suburban Plattsburgh, New York; Canaan Fair Speedway’s dirt and asphalt tracks in rural New Hampshire, and Vermont’s Bear Ridge Speedway in sleepy Bradford are good examples — then look at the tracks that, despite the forty, fifty, or sixty years of history behind them, are noticeably on the decline.

The difference, folks, is in the promotion.

When tracks take the required step of reaching out weekly to local media — newspapers, radio stations, television, and internet news sites — to promote an upcoming event, they’ll notice a return on that effort in steady ticket sales and revenue. When they go the extra step and offer special promotions like kids’ race car rides, autograph sessions, fireworks, outside touring divisions, etc., and then flood the marketplace with promotional items like press releases, radio spots, fliers, car shows, or what have you, they’ll notice a significant increase in attendance.

I get that the weather has been horrendous this year, and rain and unfavorable forecasts have absolutely taken a toll on a sport that only functions when the weather is nice. There’s no getting around that.

But when race tracks don’t do anything at all to promote their shows, they can not be allowed to sulk or point fingers.

At the risk of getting my media credentials pulled here, I’m going to use Thunder Road as an example: There was not a single press release put out by Thunder Road’s home office in Waterbury dedicated to the originally scheduled Thursday date of the CARQUEST Vermont Governor’s Cup event last week.

None.

There were, in fact, two press releases that mentioned the race. The first was the post-race results release from the Harvest Equipment event on Sunday, June 19, that mentioned in the final sentences that the Governor’s Cup race was coming up on Thursday, June 23. The second release was on the original date of the race, Thursday, mentioning that the event was being postponed to Sunday due to weather.

But that was it. Nothing else.

There were no stories on the history of the race or about the key players of the event. There was no mention of the fact that Peter Shumlin would be at the track for the first time as sitting Governor, or that the Lieutenant Governor, Phil Scott, would be competing in the race.

Those are stories that would have been picked up by every newspaper in the area, and nationally by publications like Area Auto Racing News, National Speed Sport News, and Late Model Digest. When I was working in the Thunder Road media department less than five years ago, missing the boat on that would have been something that could have gotten me fired. I have no idea what makes it acceptable now.

There are many things that the group that runs Thunder Road does very, very well, and those same people spend countless hours running the roads of New England and Quebec operating the American-Canadian Tour and the ACT Castrol Series, which are both successful, but there are no more events now than there were a year ago or two years ago or four years ago that should keep that staff from promoting the events that are its only source of income. Think back to 2009’s year-long celebration of the 50th season of racing at Thunder Road. The very same staff of people that are in the Waterbury office right now did an amazing job promoting the special events that year, and the grandstands were packed every week. Two years later, it’s hard to hide the empty seats at Thunder Road.

Remember how much press there was leading up to the night that Tony Stewart raced in 2009? That just so happened to be the Governor’s Cup, and it just so happened to be one of the largest crowds in the track’s history. That’s because Thunder Road media director Nick Bigelow and the rest of the staff nailed the promotion of the event. Just two years removed from that, I understand that the draw for the Governor’s Cup may not be as widespread if a superstar like Stewart isn’t going to be there, but there’s still no excuse for not promoting the race at all.

Thunder Road is not the only group with problems. Devil’s Bowl Speedway — which, like Thunder Road, is a place I am very fond of — is suffering the same fate, in part, for the same reason. Devil’s Bowl held what it called a “fan fest” two weeks back, offering an on-track meet-and-greet with every driver in every division, and kids’ race car rides around the speedway. It was a fantastic idea that went over extremely well with everyone… but literally nobody knew it was coming. I’ve been told by Devil’s Bowl management that the first fan fest was a test run and that next one will be promoted properly; if it is, there crowd is guaranteed to be much larger. Devil’s Bowl is 15 minutes outside of Rutland, the second largest city in the state. Get it done. Bring in the people.

There are many other tracks in the same boat. You haven’t heard much about the TD Bank 250 this year at Oxford Plains Speedway, have you? That’s one of the biggest races in the country, and it’s less than a month away. Hey, did you know Kyle Busch is coming?

Press releases, phone calls to radio and TV stations, and social media like Facebook and Twitter are all free. They cost nothing and provide positive results. I get two or three press releases in my inbox every week from Airborne Speedway, not including results stories. Go ahead and look at their crowds. Full.

Relying on the name “Thunder Road” or “Oxford 250” is no longer enough. There are so many options for entertainment these days that race promoters need to work harder to actually promote their shows.

Otherwise, what’s the point?