where should BMX racing invest time/money?

[greg]

While I firmly believe that the single most significant thing holding BMX racing back is its lack of promotion, I also notice a lack of technology to help with the “ease of use” of attending a race. I notice that there is quite allot of banter going back and forth concerning the promotion of BMX racing, but rarely if ever read or hear anybody talking about introducing some very simple solutions to the track to help with organization and information on race day.

So, my question is, what kind of suggestions are out there to help make a BMX race run more smoothly?

Here are some of my thoughts.

1.Some kind of “score board” that displays the current moto on the track. This could range from a simple flip-card to fully electronic readout with moto number, age, class, rider info, total points finishes, etc.

2.Some kind of moto-board for staging info. Again, this could be a simple flip-card to a more advanced electronic board displaying what motos are being staged, rider and gate info, etc.

3.Get rid of the paper moto posting. Utilize video displays to show real time moto info as riders register. A series of monitors placed around the sign up area could easily show motos as they are formed. This would probably mean modification of the moto-maker programs, but it would be a worth-while endeavor in my mind. You could even utilize on-line registration with motos being displayed as they form.

Yes, I realize that these things cost money. I also think that it gives the business community something to invest in that is tangible. I believe that most companies are more likely to use advertising money or community involvement money to finance the score board if their name will be on it. It is something they are familiar with, and can relate to because of sports such as little league baseball, basketball, football, etc. utilizing the same concept.

I do have a line on some advertising money that just may be available for just this type of thing. Is it a waste of time? Would it be better to go after corporate sponsorship for other things (a much harder sell in my opinion)?

What are some thoughts on where Rad Canyon (or any other track) should look at for improvement?

Anybody?

[Curtis Newkirk]

Greg,

Being a computer geek, I like your thinking; however, I don't think the monitor-moto sheet part is practical. There are several issues with using monitors instead of paper. Maybe I am misunderstanding the concept, but here are the hurdles as I see them:

1) Monitors like being indoors. They could be placed outdoors with ruggedized ones at about $1300 (15") to $2500 (21") each. $$$$

2) Monitors do not like being far from the PC to which they are connected. I think a nine foot maximum IIRC. Further, having multiple monitors (say 5+) connected to one video card could get very spendy.

3) How many monitors would we need? There are quite a few moto sheets, but some days there are 15 motos and others there are 45. We could adapt, but...at a cost.

4) Altering the Moto-Maker software will almost certainly be a BIG no-no that is likely outlined in the license agreement with huge penalties and lawyer threats. We might be able to export the motos into a different format other than printer, but I would imagine that even that option is limited. Still, it might be possible...at a cost.

To get the job done we would be looking at a bare bones minimum $20K - $50K to create the environment, buy the hardware, and do the back-end technical work. The number could go MUCH higher based on the hurdles we might need to clear. In the end it makes printing moto sheets seem quick and cheap.

Races at Rad run as smooth as I have ever seen at any type of race. My only suggestion would be that we have an online signup so that we can pre-sign races. Maybe even a way of purchasing race credits in advance. This would help out registration in a huge way by allowing the voluteers to focus on the new people rather than the regulars that are clogging up registration.

I would suggest that if we can get that much money to use for promotion it should be put into things like an even bigger 'RAD' sign on Old Bingham, printing of four color flyers for bike shops, fairs, farmers markets, etc., and maybe even the production of an inexpensive TV commercial to be played on some cheapo cable channels that appeal to kids. All of these could be co-marketed with corporate sponsors to help fund the setup and ongoing costs.

my .02

[J Gallo]

Races at Rad run as smooth as I have ever seen at any type of race. My only suggestion would be that we have an online signup so that we can pre-sign races. Maybe even a way of purchasing race credits in advance. This would help out registration in a huge way by allowing the voluteers to focus on the new people rather than the regulars that are clogging up registration

Being a wannabe computer geek, I like this suggestion, but I have a couple concerns.

Having an online signup sheet is easy. Would take me about 10 minutes to put it together. But that would just be to sign up. Would it need to include online payment? Cause that is where it gets ALOT more tricky.

So let's say it's just online signup. You'd still need to "check-in" with registration to let them know you've arrived, so I'm not sure if it saves alot of time and work for the volunteers. And if you don't check in, and online signups are automatically entered into moto-maker, who pays if you don't show up? Collecting could become a sore subject.

And how many people would really use online pre-registration? Show of hands?

I hate to play devil's advocate, because I LOVE the idea, but these questions popped up. I would think online pre-registration could really help the tracks.

[Curtis Newkirk]

Good questions and I have the same concerns.

As far as the 'sign and pay' route: I think the people to ask would be the ABA since they do it now. The biggest concern would be no-shows, but I think if we ask the ABA how they handle it then I am sure we would get some good answers. I do know that if you do not show, they just credit your next national. What they do with lane assignments and the like I am not sure. Setting up online payment would not be too tough as PayPal could be used for a small fee.

I think the 'sign and pay at the track' would be a better route to start with. If I can import the racer info into Moto-Maker this would reduce a lot of time spent filling out forms and entering data. People would just show up and we could have a short check-in procedure to pay and check the names off.

There is no guarantee that it would work or be any better, but if the powers that be will let me play with Moto-Maker for a while I can probably write a script to import data from a page and table that Gallo could build on this page. We could end up with a more efficient system. Or...I could look into it and it is just not workable.

Either way it is probably worth a shot.

[J Gallo]

I think for this step, let me run a poll to see just how many people would be interested in (and use on a regular basis) an online pre-registration program. If we get a good majority, maybe we'll spend some time looking into it. If there are only a few, then it's pretty much dead right there.

As far as using Paypal, I don't see that happening. Even if PayPal fee's are fairly minimal, it's 100% more than a track is paying now using the current system, so I don't see them absorbing those fee's anytime soon.

On another topic, if you're really willing to get into the moto-maker program, maybe you can figure out a way to use that info to post nightly race results on RAD's website??

[Curtis Newkirk]

I just got a copy of MotoMaker and I will look into it. At first blush I know that I CAN export 'last race' results and put them up on a web site. That part should be pretty easy if we can get T.O. support.

Regarding pre-signing, there is no automated way to do this, but the DB structure is fairly common so if I can build a script do do the import it is should be fairly easy.

One of the guys on my staff loves to work with this stuff. I will have him look at it off-hours and see if he can write a script to move data from an external table into MotoMaker. Regardless of any curent interest, I think it would be cool if we could prove we could do it. At worst, we lose an hour of our lives we will never get back. At best, we could make a free import application that could really help out other tracks..especially at larger events.

I will let you know what we uncover later this week...

[bnd]

2.Some kind of moto-board for staging info. Again, this could be a simple flip-card to a more advanced electronic board displaying what motos are being staged, rider and gate info, etc.

They have been doing this at the Grands for the last few years.
All good ideas Greg.


b.

[JasonStout]

Have you seen the bikes they have come out with lately- gears, shocks, pegs, disk brakes, amazing geometry and technology. As for BMX we still ride the stiffy frames, single speed gear, on tracks made of groomed dirt. Now you guys come and speak of progression, computer stuff, convienience, and a bunch of bull butter I ain't e're heard of.

Crazy talk! All of you! Shame on ya'll for trying to advance the sport!





JS

Economics lesson 101: Two things make ya rich, Provide a service or a product that makes life easier, or make life more convienient! Sounds like you guys are on this track! Anything that provides a service to the riders, the workers, the county, the TO's and the BMX constituants would greatly be welcomed. A few adversaries would oppose the changes, but let's advance the sport! Money is always available. You know the county is sitting on a $6 million surplus this year. FYI!

Carpe Diem

[greg]

alrighty then.......at least we are talking.

Most all points mentioned I agree with....well except for the computer geeks price range for monitors and hook-up limitations. Come on Curtis, think outside the computer world for one second. I can hook up 10 21" TVs in my house coming from a single video source and probably not spend more then $2500. Anyway, this idea was a stretch idea just to get people thinking.

So, back to my main subject.....Lets say hypathetically I know a company that wants to market a product using a very forward thinking advertising campain. The logo is maybe a grafiti type looking image that they want to plaster all over any and all avenues that the younger crowd may be in contact with. Examples are grafiti'd skateparks, grafiti'd snowboard halfpipes, local basketball courts, etc. It's kind of hard to describe this without visuals, but just suffice it to say they dont want to rent the typical billboard.

Can you guys think of another place that may fit into this kind of marketing scheme? The thing is, this is not something that lends itself to just money being donated for a TV commercial or flyers for the schools. It has to be something visual at the track. I was thinking like the "XXX moto-board", or the "XXX pro-section", or whatever.

Lets keep throwing out ideas and see where it leads us, huh.