So let's put UTVs, Classing, and Rules aside here - those are a matter for the RXB and people directly involved. For the sake of this thread let's assume RX vehicles, classes, and rules stay exactly as they are right now (insert joke here about SCCA never leaving rules alone). But seriously, this thread is to talk about things that could be done to better "market" rallycross and increase turnout without arguing about changes to the program itself. Of course, much of this stuff also applies to other motorsports, but rallycross is more niche than Solo or HPDE or Chumpcar or whatever, so really needs more marketing.
So here are some of my ideas - some apply to SCCA itself and some to rallycross in general. Please do post your ideas (or improvements on mine) in this thread. Maybe I can consolidate it all at some point and see if anyone outside of GRM wants to read them....
(SCCA) National office: focus on the regions. If I notice one thing skimming quickly through Sportscar magazine or SCCA's main/rallycross websites/facebook page it's that almost all rallycross coverage comes down to a few things:
It's almost all national. Stories about rallycross generally reference nationals. Stories about setup generally reference car(s) or driver(s) that were at nationals. But let's face it, only a small percentage of rallycrosser go to (or really care about) nationals. Like politics, almost all racing is local. Hyping nationals in Iowa does virtually nothing for local turnout or interest. Most locals just want to have a good time, not follow Brianne's or Warren's or Evan's personal racing careers ;) So a few things SCCA itself could do on that end:
- Publish season-end lists of each region's class champions and what they drive. This could be as easy as 1-2 pages of the mag with a bunch of lists, or could add a short paragraph or photo from each region. IDK how many regions there are, but I can't imagine it would take more than a few pages. Sportscar devotes more than that to stories about Solo2 kart builds now. For many locals, getting a one-line shoutout in a national magazine or website is pretty cool and something to shoot for. It's incentive.
- Highlight local drivers. We all know the top national drivers are some of the best. But we also all know that there are a lot of extremely good drivers all over the country that can't/won't tow 20 hours to get to Iowa. Each regional RX chair could put together a couple paragraphs and a photo w/car of their top drivers, perhaps. Or some kind of advice from each of these drivers about car setup, driving, tires, or whatever.
- Do a spotlight on one SCCA rallycross region each issue. Even if it's just one column with a couple paragraphs. Some history, some talk about venues, whatever. Ask the regions to provide them. Most people (even SCCA solo/track people) probably have no idea there is a rallycross region running near them. We run at Summit Point, and when we go over to the main paddock to grab lunch, everyone there seems amazed that there is rallycross going on just across the treeline - they have no idea.
TECH:
- Highlight local builds. Part of the fun of rallycross is seeing a Comanche win an SR class, or watching stage rally cars or chumpcar builds compete, or watching some of the really unique builds. Sportscar periodically has multi-page articles talking about XX 17-year old girl who dumped $30k into a Mustang and runs HPDE with it, complete with pictures of shiny parts (not that any of that is bad, and that's just a random example, not anything specific). There are plenty of cool rallycross builds out there - many of which get highlighted here on GRM (Nick Drymalski's M3, for instance or Leon's Porsche 914) - but aren't every mentioned by SCCA unless they happen to go to Iowa. Building a car to survive competitive rallycross is every bit as hard (and requires as much creativity) as buildling a Miata to go fast on the track. And lots of opportunity to feature both funky things (Baja bugs, Saabs, whatever) and everyday cars (Civics, Golfs, Subarus).
- Focus on "cheap cars having fun." Want to be competitive on the track or at Solo? Better have THE right car and THE right tires. Want to be competitive in rallycross - well, you have a much wider selection of random cheap cars you found on craigslist. We've all been beaten at an event by some random car that looks like it can hardly drive. I know I have. Racing is expensive, but rallycross can be marketed as racing for people who don't have a ton of money to spend. You don't need an Evo or Sti. You can do it in that old 325i or Volvo or Hyundai Accent and be competitive (true story on all of those, even the Accent - Andy Thomas).
Right now SCCA frequently give extensive coverage to track cars, solo cars, whatever. But it's pretty uncommon to see any rallycross builds.
- Likewise, lots of articles on "picking the right tire for Solo" or things like that. Meanwhile, the recent article about rallycross tires didn't provide any real information at all. It basically just said "picking the right tire is KEY, so pick the tire for the conditions!" DUH. How about a bit more talk about what MAKES the right tire for each type of condition. Those of us who have done this a long time already know, but most newbies have no idea the difference betwen a gravel tire, a grasstrack tire, an all-terrain, etc.
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Marketing (national SCCA, local SCCA, rallycrossers in general): USE THE WEB. ACTIVELY.
One way we expanded the program in DC over the years was by targeting non-racing forums. From my own end, of course we posted a lot of various BMW forums and facebook groups. On Miata forums. On Honda-tech. On NASIOC. And so on. If you post about rallycross (local events or just general knowledge) on 20 forums, chances area you'll get one person or more from each forum who will come out and see what it's all about. For some clubs, that could double their usual turnout. And yes, it works. Obviously most of the Subaru guys already know about rallycross. But, as an example - a decade ago I could probably look through rallycross standings and find a 10 or 20 e30/e36 BMWs running around the country at most But several of us "BMW people" marketed rallycross hard to the BMW forums and pages. If I was guessing right now, I'd say there must be more than 60 BMWs rallycrossing nationally at this point (our local region usually has 10-15 by itself, and we have ). This can be done with ANY marque/model if you have someone willing to go tell people and be enthusiastic. Most people don't know they can take a stock Civic on cheap snow tires and go rallycross - they assume they have to have a modded Evo or something, with special tires
There are a ton of ways to promote rallycross. Few people look at SCCA's facebook page or website actively, from what I can tell. So just posting stuff there only caters to those who already do it. Be active in social media and forums, both from a national level and from a local level. Even local SCCA pubs can do it. In DC we have the "Straightpipe" online mag that is published by WDCR SCCA every month or two. All the articles are written by locals and it's all pretty ad hoc. But we've made sure to write a rallycross article for EVERY issue for several years now (with photos!) - and while it's hard to tell, we definitely have had some people from the track/HPDE/Solo world show up at our events to either participate or at least check out what it's all about.
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So, those are a few of my own ideas - I know the rest of you also have some good ideas of how you do things or how you've promoted rallycross to grow your own clubs (I know some clubs make event trophies on-the-spot, for instance), so have at it!
