The Unprofessionals: Feeling for the Race Promoters

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Tyler Hooks

0 Updated June 2, 2020, 11:21 a.m.

By Tyler Hooks
LiveRC.com

The Unprofessionals is sporadic column where we lend our interns, editors or otherwise opinionated people a platform for their voice on RC matters or racing events. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of LiveRC. Got an opinion? Submit your story to fanmail@liverc.com and we might publish it!

This time period is tough on everyone, including your race promoters, they could use some support too.

I think that in a lot of cases promoters get a bad reputation, and in alot of other sports or hobbies it could be rightfully so. The whole idea that they are just in it to get rich and move along. In activities with spectators I could understand the sentiment. They have the opportunity to make money off of both the participants and spectators but rc doesn't have one side of that.

Sure if you look at the entry fee and multiply it by the amount of entries at some of these larger events it looks like a lot of money at first. These events are almost exclusively held in arenas or on sites that don't have tracks built on the property. The facility must be rented, in most case dirt purchased or rented, equipment purchased or rented, the driver stand and pit lane purchased or rented, the sound system, race director, tables, chairs etc etc etc the list goes on and on.

Contrary to popular belief these guys aren't getting rich, if they have everything together and are good at cost cutting they can maybe in specific cases make a living, but that is super rare. I personally promote a series but there is next to zero chance I am hosting anywhere other than an established track. It requires a lot of extra capital and planning and courage to pull off something like that.

Now think about this during a pandemic, events were planned, arena's and equipment were reserved, sometimes with a down payment. Some events had to be totally canceled or postponed, and now on the other side of the pandemic promoters are having to take a very serious look on the next step forward. Here in Texas things are moving forward quickly but owners and promoters still have to be extremely careful of events with over 100 entries. All it takes is one unhappy sheriff, community member, or racer and the whole thing can get shut down. At a club race that isn't a huge deal everyone just goes home, but for larger events the stakes are much larger.

For an event such as AMS which was the most recent to have been post-poned, lets say it does go on as scheduled. We all get hotel rooms and drive or fly to the venue, spend all the extra money getting tires and equipment, then on the first day of practice, someone who doesn't agree with the event being held in the first place and the entire thing gets shut down. Now not only is everyone out a bunch of money without even being able to race, the promotion team is scrutinized for whatever decisions they made in the past or make in the future.

Moral of the story is just take this into consideration no matter what your views are. Everyone is trying their best to make events happen in due time, but it will be different, we have to make concessions, and modify things for the time being or we can all just stay home. Those are the choices.