As a fan, crew member, and soon to be competitor in stage rally, I must say that I am a bit nervous about what this all means for the sport that I love. Like most of us, I'm not 100% thrilled with the way the sport is run, and would be happy to see some changes made that benefit smaller teams like ours. The constant catering by Rally America to the big names (cough, Subaru, cough) while almost entirely ignoring the small budget regional teams has left a bad taste in my mouth. Especially considering that in the past year, nearly all of the major competition and excitement has come from non factory backed teams, most of them competing at the regional level. Here in America, rally doesn't have the following that it does in the rest of the world. But it DOES have a following. And a loyal one at that. With the growth of rallycross, and the soon to be returning SCCA rally sprints, I think we will see a new wave of interest in the very near future as well. Rally isn't dead. Far from it. But it is getting increasingly more difficult to be a competitor and even a fan. So how can we fix that? What can we do to make the sport we love more available?
The most obvious answer is to make entry fees cheaper. But is that possible? Rallies aren't free to run, and while I don't know the ins and outs of where the finances go, I don't think anyone is getting rich off of entry fees. (Although Anders at NASA Rally Sport DOES seem to have quite a nice hat collection... maybe we need to look into that.) But... what is the money going towards? Could it be used better? Or could some of that money be made in more creative ways? For example, at STPR in Pennsylvania, there is the super special event at the end of the rally, and spectators are charged a small fee to watch the teams compete in a rallycross type race. In my experience, that seems to get a pretty good draw. Would something like that be possible at all events? Or go even a step further, and for a larger fee, allow fans to enter their own cars, and compete against the drivers they admire. (An idea I saw suggested by a fan recently, that I think is rather brilliant.) Short ride alongs are another option. Anything that allows the fans to get closer and more involved is always going to help boost the sport. Let's start thinking outside the box. Maybe some of the bigger teams could hold raffles, and the winner could be an honorary crew member for the day. What about getting the local communities, who are hosting the races, more involved? A short parade ending at Parc Expose? Local businesses could pay to be in it, or teams could charge a small fee to drape banners or decorate their cars with the names of local shops, restaurants, etc. More often than not, the towns hosting these events have little to no knowledge of the sport, which leads to frustration and negative actions. (Holding up stages, complaints, etc.) If we made more of an effort to get them involved, who knows what kind of a difference it could make.
Another issue I think needs to be addressed is media. Let's face it, we live in a media based world. It's never going to be easy to convince people to drive out into the woods, hike a few miles in the rain or snow, to watch a very small section of road, while one car every minute or two drives by. Even typing it is boring me. So how do we get them to watch? The obvious answer is through TV and videos. Rally America had an awesome opportunity with NBC Sports this past year, and they blew it. Aside from the fact that the episodes were essentially infomercials for Ford and Subaru, they also did a piss poor marketing job. No advertising, no internet availability, they even aired one event DURING another event. Seriously, guys? Get your heads out of your asses. I could go on forever about how disappointing that whole deal was, but I won't. Instead, I'll say this:
If FY Racing can get 20,000+ views on a YouTube video, there is most definitely a market for it. Maybe shooting for NBC Sports was too big of a jump. So let's start smaller. Nearly every team has a YouTube channel. Within hours of a race, there is countless fan and competitor footage floating around. Why not follow the likes of something like TheSmokingTire or /DRIVE and create small episodes for YouTube? Allow teams, fans, and photographers to submit their footage from each event. Or what about Netflix or HULU, or any internet based streaming company? Would it be possible to team up with them? Somehow we have to be able to get coverage to more people. I can't tell you how many non rally folks I have made watch 'Easier Said Than Done' who became instant fans. Those same people would never, ever take a weekend off to go sit in the woods and stare at 50 feet of gravel for an hour. Hell, I don't even want to spectate, and I AM a rally fan. But I'll be damned if I miss the latest FY, BRAKIM, or Subaru Launch Control video. Why? Because I can watch it without pants on, in my living room, and I can get a much better idea of the sport. If NASCAR only allowed fans to watch one turn, how many people do you think would show up to watch? The only way for fans to really see what goes on in a rally is through video. But guess what? Once they've seen the videos, they'll want more. So they'll come to events, they'll want to meet the drivers, they'll want to build cars and BECOME drivers. That is how a sport grows. Media is the gateway drug for the future addicts of rally.
We also need to start acknowledging that there are more than 3 teams in the sport. NASA Rally Sport does a great job of this, and Rally America should take a cue from them. Every single team paid to be there, and they deserve some recognition. It shouldn't be any harder to find times for small, regional teams than it is to find them for the big, national teams. If the only drivers people ever hear about and see are Travis, Ken, and David, then what happens when they quit showing up to races? Encourage fans to get to know their local drivers, interview the guy that worked two jobs to build his own car, share the stories of the other teams that aren't getting paid to be there. Let the fans know that rally is accessible to everyone, not just a few.
These are just a few of the things that I personally hope to see changed for the better in the new year. I love rally, and I'm excited to be a part of it, and I want everyone to know what an incredible sport it is. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed, as I know many others are as well, to see what happens with the announcements tomorrow.
Here's to keeping it dirty, my friends.
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| (Thank you to Images by Achilyse for the original action shot used to make this.) |
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