*Turn 2 Blog is a regular feature on InsideDirtRacing.com. Here, site operators Michael Moats and Richard Allen take turns offering their thoughts on the dirt racing topics of the day from east Tennessee and beyond.
Richard: The current operators of North Georgia Speedway posted on Facebook this past Thursday that the track would be up for lease at the end of the 2018 season. The disclosure, according to the post, was brought about by the actions of some on social media and elsewhere. Apparently there had been a great deal of negativity regarding the operation of the facility by a select group and those who run the track had grown tired enough of the negativity to put the track up for lease and let someone else have a try at it.
I don’t think anyone wants to see tracks close or people leaving the business in any fashion. At the same time, no one needs all that negativity either.
So, that brings up what in my mind is a sort of chicken and egg type question. Those who run tracks are often quick to point to social media as an evil force that leaves broken and abandoned racing facilities in its wake. Others argue that social media only serves to point out the faults of an already poorly run business.
I don’t know of the particulars of the North Georgia situation and can’t really say whether the track was being run well and those causing the trouble were simply acting out because they weren’t getting their way or if the track was poorly run and those who criticized were simply pointing out the legitimate flaws. While my background in dirt racing isn’t as extensive as many others, I have been around the sport enough and observed enough that I can say either of those options mentioned above is possible with any track and any group of fans and/or competitors, not just North Georgia.
My question to you is, which comes first, the poor management of a race track or the bad mouthing on social media/message boards/talk?
Michael: Wow. That is a hard question to answer. While working at Atomic Speedway for 5 years under three different owners, we received plenty of negative comments. Back then, it was message boards where people did most of the complaining. Some of the complaints had merit, while others were just comments from people trying to be a pain in the back side.
I have always been the believer if you manage your track properly and meet any negative comments by responding with factual and respectful information it will basically put those negative comments to rest. If someone wants to continue to complain, then it’s time to ignore that person. It becomes obvious they have an agenda. I call these people the chronic complainers.
There is also the situation, where two or more tracks are in a close area to each other, people that work at a nearby track will anonymously post negative comments about a competitor to hurt what they are doing. It is a bad situation when that happens.
To summarize, there is no simple answer because there are so many causes to this problem.
Richard: There are some who are always going to be negative. It’s just their nature. A track could hold a race charging only $10 for grandstand seating with the top drivers in the country racing side-by-side all night for a monster purse and the only comment on social media or elsewhere these folks would make is that the drink they bought at the concession stand wasn’t cold enough.
That said, however, there quite honestly are some who deserve to be criticized. Granted, those who make it personal or take a lone instance and act like it is something that happens all the time are in the wrong. At the same time, tracks who still operate under the old 1970’s type model where you get fans in, hold them hostage until the last hot dog gets sold, and then offer a mediocre show on a poorly prepared track should expect negativity.
Again, I don’t know the specifics of the North Georgia situation. It could very well be a small group of what you labelled as chronic complainers, it could be poor management, or it could be some combination of those options.
All that said, social media is not going away. And like you said, the best option is to respond to the criticism in a factual and respectful way when possible. Acting as if social media doesn’t exist or simply sitting back and blaming Twitter and Facebook rather than looking into the possibility that the criticism might be justified is not the right approach.
This sport is one steeped in tradition. Sometimes that can be beneficial and sometimes it can be a detriment. Either way, dirt racing, like every other business in the world, has to adjust with the times or it will suffer the consequences, right?
Michael: That is right. Myself, I have complained to a few companies on Twitter about bad customer service or a bad experience and they have been quick to respond to make it right. Race promoters should learn the same, figure out who has legitimate concerns and who is a chronic complainer that can’t be made happy no matter what.
As you said, tracks that do a poor job in whatever area it is should expect to get some criticism. Good promoters will listen, evaluate, and make any need adjustments. As we have seen, there are a lot of thick-headed promoters that think their way is the only way and don’t see where anything can or should be improved. Those are the ones that eventually get out.
Richard: To go in a completely different direction, I noticed something interesting this weekend regarding chassis. In the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race at Boyd’s there were four different brands of cars to win the heat races(Barry Wright, Longhorn by Weaver, Club 29, and Sweet-Bloomquist). Then, a Black Diamond won the feature.
After his win in the Southern Nationals Bonus Series race at Tri-County Race Track, Shane Clanton said in a story posted on this site that Capital Race Cars had done its homework over the winter and produced a faster car. Just when it looked like Rocket and Longhorn were going to win everything in sight, the others asserted themselves.
But then again, Brandon Sheppard completely dominated the LOLMDS feature at East Alabama to put Rocket back on top. It can be really tough to spot the trends in this ever changing sport, can’t it?
Michael: It’s always good for the sport when there seems to be some sort of balance where it’s not the same chassis brand winning very week. It just makes things more interesting.
One thing I noticed at Boyd’s was how some of the teams struggled that have not done so since the start of the season, or even going back to the end of the last season. I don’t know if it was just an off weekend for them or the others have caught up that much since the end of Speedweeks. We shall see over the next few weeks.
