I was up at this event all weekend at MIR and what a great weekend it was.

The # of fans and # of cars trying to qualify were amazing. ADRL definately has a killer thing going and other series need to take notes quickly.

I spoke with numerous people attending the race throughout the weekend, taking informal polls almost as to how/why they are there and the #1 answer by far was free tickets. Many of the people I spoke with hadn't been to the race track in years but when they obtained the free tickets they felt like it was an opportunity they couldn't pass up. When I asked them about paying the parking fee, they had no problem at all doing that ($5 and $10 parking options were available) and they continued to add about gladly paying for refreshments and food once there.

A couple of people i even asked if the tickets were $10 would they still be there and all the answers to that question were no. So as you can see the FREE word has a lot of meaning to people nowadays, the Free tickets got them to the track and once at the track all the other things they gladly paid for.

I was up there with the Titan team so it was very interesting to see the spectators response to the "Import" at the race track. The car amazed a lot of people when information was given to them about the car, they couldn't believe that so much was being done with such a small engine. It was a lot of fun speaking with the spectators and giving them some insight into the Sport Compact realm of things. They were all very receptive and very excited to learn about it. I think any and every sport compact car that can fall into an ADRL class needs to get to all the events they can and race...it would be a great opportunity for the sport compacts to get noticed.

The car counts were amazing...I was not so sure on the 1/8th mile format before attending the event but honestly once you are there watching the cars run you really don't even notice it that much...great side by side racing and very few delays in the program to clean the track up, etc.

And Cindy White's Shrimp and Potatoes are an attraction all in itself


Modified by Innes at 11:21 PM 7/27/2008

 

adrl is doing a great job and should be a model for other organizations.
Couple other things they are doing besides the free tickets are:
Not too many classes
No slow or bracket classes
Internet TV show about the races
Pro attitude and appearance
No BS

 

I just thought of another benefit to free tickets.

I don't have to stand in line to buy a ticket, just walk in. Last big show I went to, we must have been in line 20 minutes. Yea, that was fun...

 

It was good event and there was tons of fans. The free word got all of the people there that I talked with at the event and friends I talked to after.
With all the high of the event I still think there was down falls.
1/8 mile not for me.
All the time in each class being so close made it hard to tell the classes apart.
most people there just watched cars going down the track and had no clue what
was going on.
The down time before the finals proved to be a problem with all the fights.
The band showed have played for a while longer. needs something to fill the
45 min plus wait.

 

car counts ! friday night qualifing seemed to never end. the amount of cars/teams at this event was just amazing. it was a race to be at, for sure ! ADRL gets a from me !

20 cars in pro extreme

33 cars in pro nitrous

22 cars in outlaw 10.5

22 bikes in pro extreme motorcycle

14 cars in extreme pro stock.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DaveF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">car counts ! friday night qualifing seemed to never end. the amount of cars/teams at this event was just amazing. it was a race to be at, for sure ! ADRL gets a from me !

20 cars in pro extreme

33 cars in pro nitrous

22 cars in outlaw 10.5

22 bikes in pro extreme motorcycle

14 cars in extreme pro stock. </TD></TR></TABLE>


Just think if PRO EXTREME and PRO NITROUS were all one class. That would be 53 PRO MODS at a regular event.

I was there Friday and I ran into so many people that would never have come out to a drag race. Let alone drive 2hrs just to get there. So it seems like FREE is the way to go to get people in the stands.

 

another car i forgot about was that beautiful camaro that took some nasty rolls in friday practice session, i belive it was either a pro nitrous or a pro stock car. so thats another car that was there, but didnt make it to qualifing.


here is the video link http://www.promodifieds.us/for...n.wmv




Modified by DaveF at 8:47 AM 7/28/2008

 

did anybody catch the crowds response when the announcer asked how many people there was it their first time at the drag strip. it had to have been a thousand people.


i agree with richie about the class's being too close...it took a couple rounds to really be able to tell the difference. some of the cars were obvious but some were not.

the bulk of all of the class's seemed to run around 4.20. fastest of all the class's had a few 3.8's.


look at the list of ADRL's sponsors.... the numbers speak for themselves. also....the national guard and flowmaster paid for the tickets.....so they wernt exactly "free"


oh yea....... ADRL set the record for biggest attendance on a friday night, and on saturday they set the record for largest attendance ever. thats an accomplishment at MIR

 

Damn thats alot of people.
I remeber the ADRL race in cecil, GA last year.
There was alot of people there also.
Free does seem a good way to go, if it would work.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo-charged &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did anybody catch the crowds response when the announcer asked how many people there was it their first time at the drag strip. it had to have been a thousand people.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

there were so many people i spoke with that this was their first time at a drag race...so many families and kids in particular that this was their first time at a drag racing event and now they are hooked...now is the time to get the next generation interested in the sport and the Free tickets deal is an incredible way of doing so -- that is just going to feed the sport for years to come

i would love to be racing this series...it is such a night and day difference from sport compact for everyone involved from the sanctioning bodies, to sponsors, to racers, etc, etc -- it seems like it really works out well for all involved.

time to go find a car, a small block ford, some spray and some M/T 10.5BG's

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DaveF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">another car i forgot about was that beautiful camaro that took some nasty rolls in friday practice session, i belive it was either a pro nitrous or a pro stock car. so thats another car that was there, but didnt make it to qualifing.


here is the video link http://www.promodifieds.us/for...n.wmv



that was horrible.

ADRL is doing it up


Modified by DaveF at 8:47 AM 7/28/2008</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Innes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


time to go find a car, a small block ford, some spray and some M/T 10.5BG's </TD></TR></TABLE>

384 cubes will do

 

Sounds badass! NHRA SC really did not like the idea of giving tickets away, and I think they tried giving a couple thousand away at the gate one time. What is the logic in that??? Give free tickets away to people that were already going to be there??

They need to give tickets away at grocery stores, churches, schools, shops, etc. And you have to give away 200,000 tickets so that 25,000 people show up...not a couple thousand. Make each ticket a family pass so you don't print 5 tickets for a family of 5.

 

It would be nice to see something worked out to do free tickets If Im not mistaking doesnt ADRL get sponsors to pay for the tickets to be printed?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sportfwddc2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It would be nice to see something worked out to do free tickets If Im not mistaking doesnt ADRL get sponsors to pay for the tickets to be printed?</TD></TR></TABLE>

i am sure they do, or sponsors at least help a good bit, it is probably all taken care on the backend, not sure if anyone knows specific details but that seems to be the way to go

 

whoever the president guy of ADRL is, during his speaking on saturday evening, he announced "who likes the free tickets of adrl" .... "well if it wasnt for sponsors, such as Flowmaster, ETC, ETC... you wouldnt be reciving these free tickets"...

their marketing plan seems to sell the tickets to the sponsors, hand them out religiously anywhere and everywhere... as you can clearly see, his plan is working out.

 

Parks explained it on here awhile back
ADRL's title/event sponsors ultimately pay for the tickets.. but to do an event in this style(free tics), the sanctioning body puts up money and guarentees a certain draw against the track's expenses, concession revenues, etc...
NHRASC partnered with the member track and split costs/profits(so to speak), Nopi would rent the track out for a set fee and considerations(same idea for BOTI)... so to do it the way ADRL holds events is a night and day difference to the way sport compact sanctioning bodies currently operate, there is a grip of up front cash required to do an event in this style that without major sponsors no current sport compact sanction could accompany(but would be hella nice if they could)

Anyway, ADRL is pretty awesome... i love ProMods, and ADRL draws some seriously clean and mean ProMods... its great to see the likes of Titan, Osofast, GR, and CSI out there mixing it up... pretty excited to see what Gardella's 4-cylinder RWD will do next year
And any excuse to go to Hardee's to pick up an awesome burger(or those kickazz gravy biscuits) and free race tickets gets a in my book

 

ADRL did a great job of putting on a good show.

They a have good business model going with the "free" tickets. It definitely got people in the stands that probably would have never come out. The response from the crowd was pretty crazy when they asked if this was the first drag event they had attended. The track had to pretty happy as the concession and vendors were busy all day day long.

The racing was close between the classes and it could confuse individuals who weren't familar with the cars. It was easy to confuse the times between Prostock vs 10.5", and Pro Nitrous vs Pro Extreme.

I also like the fact that they ran part of the event at night when the track condition were better and the spectators didn't have to sit in heat of the day

 

Sponsors want to see big crowds what better way for them to know how many people are showing up if they have tickets to give away

 

again don't let them hear you say free, they were complimentary from flowmaster and the natinal gaurd.those guys get pretty bummed when they hear people say they got free tickets. on a diff. note that race was sick attendence was right up there with a top fuel event

 

There was more people there than there were at the PRESIDENTS CUP!!! And That is normally a big race.

 

I've gotta check one of these events out sometime!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by supragrl93 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've gotta check one of these events out sometime!</TD></TR></TABLE>x2

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DaveF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
22 cars in outlaw 10.5
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That has agruably gotta be the most BRUTAL class in ADRL! What they do to those cars and how fast they run on a 10.5" tire is just simply amazing!

This is one of my favorite Outlaw 10.5 vids of all time. Non-ADRL, thoh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gch4NMmhJ_0

 

did he say Tupac vs. Biggie? haha