The Internet Is Full Of Meanies!

Christine and I just returned from a fabulous trip to Amsterdam and then a seven day cruise of the Rhine River through the Netherlands, Germany, France and finally Switzerland along with twenty-four other friends and family. We had a blast and a big thank you to David "Pokey" Schlise who shared tips with us after he made the same trip last summer as we knew where to go, and even where not to go! 

Unfortunately a malfunctioning sensor light for the water system left us sitting at the gate for three full hours at Heathrow and with the missed connection we ended up getting home a full day later than planned and that wiped out my trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa last night. It was good to see the car counts up in the four classes that race weekly as the Super Late Models came to town with Joe Kosiski's SLMR series and the non-wing Sprint Car class had the night off, so I'm sure that the show was run off at a nice pace.

While I did glance at some race results while using the boat's low powered wi-fi, I waited to catch up on details until last night and, wow, everybody is sharing a Facebook post about how the idiots on the internet are killing off the sport. Really? Did we just now get fed up with it all and decided to share these well presented thoughts from a highly respected driver in hope that it will make people stop posting stupid $#!%  on the internet?

That's never going to happen my friends, we opened Pandora's Box over twenty-five years ago and the difference between now and then is that the idiots are more than happy to be identifiable by posting comments directly from their Facebook page. Go back to 2009 and read here why we started Positively Racing in the first place. Did we think that we were going to eliminate the "AWP's" of the time? Of course not, but we wanted to provide real race fans with an alternative and I am happy to say that we have been doing that for more than fifteen years now.

Back in 2009, Hawkeye Racing News was still in existence, so promoters had to work with their advertising budget to determine how it would be best spent between the racing papers, local papers and local radio and television. So how has advertising/promoting races evolved over the past two decades? That's right, most of it is now done on Facebook, Instagram, etc. and I do hope that promoters still invest a few dollars here and there with their local radio or TV station, but if you are going to advertise for free on social media, I hate to say it but you are going to have to put up with the idiots as well.

You know, the people who make comments such as.....

"It's going to rain" even though your race is still four days out because apparently this individual has now found the one meteorologist in the world who is 99.9% accurate.

"What time does it start?" despite the fact that you have stated the start times in two different places on your original post

"How many cars will be there?"

"Wish you were racing on Saturday, I have to work on Friday"

"Your track sucks, I was covered in dust and will never come back" failing to recognize that there was 25 mph wind blowing directly into the stands on that particular night

For the Fair race at a wide, fast half-mile, "Sucks that they don't run Mod Lites". Really? Does it? I don't think so.

I could go on and on, and in fact I might just come back and add more here as I see them, but don't fear I will not provide the identity in an effort to protect the stupid.

So what is my point point here? I believe that race promoters need to use social media to promote their events and provide any necessary updates in regard to weather, etc., but then just "step away" from it. 

DON'T READ THE COMMENTS! And by all means do not respond to them. Put more trust in your true fans to be able to filter out the bullshit and usually it will be someone with common sense who might refute it anyway. Smart race fans knew that it rained too much east of St. Louis on Tuesday night for there to be a race on Wednesday. Know that you made the right decision for you and your business and ignore the idiots, because most everybody else does as well.

There is no doubt that race promoting is a tough job and I have the utmost respect for each and every one of you who are out there doing it. I give my advice above in hope that it removes some of your stress and allows you to have more enjoyment in what you do. Because without you, the many of us who have nothing but appreciation for your efforts would have nowhere to go.

Hope to see you at a track again soon!