That all-important 18-25 demographic?

[skypigeon]

Says quite a bit that has been posted here, and then some...

[NIMBUS]

These are the people who get drunk on Saturday nights, and don’t get up until 1 or 2PM on Sunday with a hangover. This is the market.

Great!

Despite the absolute radical change to what has been Champ Car racing for the past 20+ years, this format would create incredible interest from all over the motor sports community and would bring an entirely different interest to the sport which would have never been interested previously. More importantly, the new interest will draw new sponsors to the sport, which will drive up the advertising dollars spent in Champ Car, which will increase the TV ratings.

And all of this will happen because………..

[mnkywrch]

You want to get the under-25 demo?

First, stay on the street circuits. Ovals and road courses ain't gonna work.

Ditch the open wheel car entirely. Switch to folks running Civics, Neons, and other such cars with wings bolted on the back and nitro.

Implement some basic safety rules, some type of claimer rule to try to keep costs down, a big purse for winning, and go from there.

Now, on the other side, bundle in the skateboarders and bike guys. They've got their own setup right next door.

It would be huge.

I'm not being sarcastic. I'm in my late 20's, I think I know how to draw people my age.

[NIMBUS]

Originally posted by mnkywrch
Ditch the open wheel car entirely. Switch to folks running Civics, Neons, and other such cars with wings bolted on the back and nitro.

Don’t forget the mega watt sound system, cranked up to 11.

[sabin_24]

Originally posted by mnkywrch
You want to get the under-25 demo?

First, stay on the street circuits. Ovals and road courses ain't gonna work.

Ditch the open wheel car entirely. Switch to folks running Civics, Neons, and other such cars with wings bolted on the back and nitro.

Implement some basic safety rules, some type of claimer rule to try to keep costs down, a big purse for winning, and go from there.

Now, on the other side, bundle in the skateboarders and bike guys. They've got their own setup right next door.

It would be huge.

I'm not being sarcastic. I'm in my late 20's, I think I know how to draw people my age.

Holy crap, I didn't know you were only in your 20's, wrench.

I think you're on to something with your ideas, especially combining skateboarding with racing. The souped up Neons and such won't get it done by itself, the NHRA is finding this out with their struggling import series.

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by sabin_24
Holy crap, I didn't know you were only in your 20's, wrench.

I think you're on to something with your ideas, especially combining skateboarding with racing. The souped up Neons and such won't get it done by itself, the NHRA is finding this out with their struggling import series.

Part of the deal is that kids don't want to haul out to a dragstrip to watch the racing.

Gotta bring it to them.

May as well throw in the other extreme sports to fill out the weekend.

What I don't know enough about is how to basically make the racing end of it available to all comers.

Maybe mandate the use of certain cars - Civic, Neon, etc?

Gotta keep costs low. I would want the thing to appeal to not just folks who want to run the series, but also Joe Local who puts his car together and comes out to compete.

[NIMBUS]

Originally posted by mnkywrch
I'm not being sarcastic. I'm in my late 20's, I think I know how to draw people my age.

Granted, there is a place for the form of motorsports but, is that what you want Champ Car racing to become?

[JBaiza]

Niche of a niche Champweb telling niche Cart how not to be a niche.

[dreamracer]

A series that runs "fast and the furious" events, downtown, would draw that crowd.

Have shorter heat races and heat drags and an import show and you'd draw... but that's likely the ONLY demo you'd draw.

If you mix it up so that you INCLUDE that demo in what's left of the previous and current fan base, then you are aiming right.

If you only target the FF crowd, you won't succeed unless costs are drasically lower. DRASTICALLY.

Like so much so that the economics would not work for an all weekend, stand alone street circuit race event.

[dreamracer]

Originally posted by mnkywrch
Part of the deal is that kids don't want to haul out to a dragstrip to watch the racing.

Gotta bring it to them.

May as well throw in the other extreme sports to fill out the weekend.

What I don't know enough about is how to basically make the racing end of it available to all comers.

Maybe mandate the use of certain cars - Civic, Neon, etc?

Gotta keep costs low. I would want the thing to appeal to not just folks who want to run the series, but also Joe Local who puts his car together and comes out to compete.

But can you get 50,000 20 year olds to come out and pay 80 bucks a ticket for the weekend? I didn't start paying for race tickets until I was in my 20's. they were too danged expensive for a fella with burger king earnings.

[Cygni]

I think what you described is what Trans-Am should do, mnky... as that would certainly be similar to what Trans-Am had when it was actually... you know... popular.

As for CART, I dont think you have to change the entire format of the racing to get the 18-25. I think the problem is just marketing, plain and simple. If you had a huge import car show on Sunday after the race, and the import car Trans-Am racing on Saturday and market it all to that generation of kids, they WILL show up. Laguna did something like what im talking about this year, and while Laguna's hills were as bare as 2002, there were still a good 300+ import kids in the infield watching the race, and it was a tiny car show with no advertisement.

It just comes down to the same problem that CART and the IRL have had for the last 5 years... neither series, or its partners, can market their way out of a wet paper bag.

[hfoto]

Another silly idea. This demographic has little disposable income, though they will spend every nickel chasing a good time. They may come out to see a Jap car demolition derby on a street circuit, but they probably don't have the attention span to follow a series over the course of an entire season.

I may be naive but, like Kevin K, I think that if you had a stable champ car series that doesn't bleed cash or stumble from one blunder to the next, and marketed it smartly to international audiences that are turned off (or priced out) by the high costs and high tech of F1, you could rebuild in a few years.

There may be a place for a series such as the one proposed in the link, but it certainly wouldn't be champ car racing. It has not been that many years since real champ car racing had a large following; it's hard to believe that following has either evaporated or been converted into oval track fanatics.

[Cygni]

There are more than a few people who dont want to see CART become Formula 3000. International audiences are all well and good, but im of the mindset that CART shouldnt start catering directly for them.

And 18-25 is one of the primary spending groups in this country, and THE NUMBER ONE spending group in Entertainment.

[happyscrappy]

I said two years ago that they needed to adopt a stockblock 2.0 inline four, with a bunch of boost, engine formula. It would get the kids interested. Don't know how to do it cheap or make them realiable, but I really believe the guys my age, 22, would go for it if they could get the word out.

Throw in some freestyle motorcross, and they'll really go nuts.

I'd also do temporary drag strips for the import series. I've really come to understand that if you take the racing to the people they'll show up, regardless of the on track quality of the racing.

Personally I think the whole tuner crap is stupid, same for the freestyle crap, but I have friends that are really into the rice.

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by NIMBUS
Granted, there is a place for the form of motorsports but, is that what you want Champ Car racing to become?

Never said anything about replacing CART. It's just an idea for a series that would likely have manufacturer interest, among other things. It's Red Bull's demo, for sure.

It's kinda like Raceworks with a better demo focus.

Would kids spend $80 for a weekend ticket? Probably, if it included this:

- Some import racing on a street circuit, $100,000 purse to win
- Drifting on the street circuit
- Bikes & boards on the half-pipe & obstacle course type thing all three days
- Concert Friday night, bigger concert on Saturday night

Make it your basic three day party.