GUEST POST: Tales from the other side - race promotion

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Tyler Hooks

0 May 15, 2017, 10:25 a.m.

By Tyler Hooks
LiveRC.com

This weekend was my own personal attempt at putting on a racing event. Texas majorly lacks a regional 1/10-scale presence, and I hate to see it as there are multiple tracks trying to grow the classes. I figured instead of complaining that there was no events to race at near me, I might as well do something about it. I started the Southern Summer Payout Series, which pays back to the racers in each class based on the amount of entries in each class. 

Our only real issue came as the series was originally intended to be only in Texas, but as tracks struggled to stay open, we lost two of our venues. I had to open up the series to Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Honestly, I am glad that I did. The first round of the series was this weekend in Louisiana at T&T Hobbies. It was a major success and I would like to outline the reasons why, and how to help other aspiring promoters to find success on their first attempt.

1. Surround yourself with people you trust and be open to suggestions. My dad, and his girlfriend were kind enough to take care of stock class tech, t-shirt sales, and marshaling duties. If you want to race in your own series, you have to have people around that you trust or it will be impossible.
2. If you aren't worried about making money (I'm not), then be willing to pay the track more of each entry fee, so that they will provide a race director and run that side of things. This will help with the local following as they are already comfortable with the way things are ran and conducted. If you do want to direct, then don't expect to race, as it is an insane amount of work. A shoutout to the guys at JBRL and Top Notch for doing what they do!
3. Plan for everything and be prepared. The last thing you want to do is not have an answer for a question. If you are caught without an answer, then be sure to find one as soon as possible. Confusion creates frustration, and you absolutely don't want that.
4. If you set a rule, stick with it. People appreciate consistency, and the more consistent you can be the less stressful it will be. 
5. Be thankful and have fun. These are toys, and we are all on our vacations, so lets act like it!

Overall I'm sure there will be unforseen issues at future events that I haven't encountered yet, but the first race went pretty well in my opinion with 61 entries and $550 given out in payouts. No comparison to some of the more established series, but still impressive for our region. A big thank you to the racers, and everyone for their help and support!

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