draw. With what’s going on in the world, bracket
racing is thriving because of having that multiple
chances to race in one weekend. That makes a big
difference and we’ve been very fortunate.
How impressed have you been by the racing
community – whether it’s sponsors or participants
– coming together?
JP: For us, from the racers I talked to, they’ve
really wanted to do this race for quite some time.
It’s our 14th year and it’s been a bucket list race
for footbrake racers. They’ve been cooped up and
wanted to do it, and, really, that’s the approach I
heard the most. I thought it was interesting that
a lot of them had never even done a footbrake
race before.
With sponsors, I reached out to everyone on
our sponsor list in May. I let them know we’re
all in unprecedented times and if they felt it was
necessary to remove their contribution for this
year, it would be accepted by us and we would
not try to replace it with a competitor. But every
one of them said, “absolutely not,” and stated
things are going well.
I really believe the motorsports industry has
continued to do very well. I think the working
man is still busy and companies that are dedicated
to some type of trade are still extremely busy.
For our races, I know we’ve had a great response
with sponsors, and everyone remains committed
for our Labor Day race. That’s a great sign.
KS: Just about every bracket race promoter
doesn’t have spectators to deal with. We haven’t
had to change our business model other than
changing some dates, while others have had to
change their business model immensely to get up
and running. I think that’s a huge selling point.
The honest truth is there was a lot of worry. I
wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to survive.
Most of our racers have expendable income
and I wasn’t sure if that was going to be the case
during this.
SW: Having a double event with a divisional
race Thursday and Friday and national event
Saturday and Sunday, it’s a win-win for everybody.
To have teams there one extra day for one extra
event, but your travel and fuel costs and all that
are the same, it’s big. Racers like that concept
and it’s worked out really well. It’s really been a
big thing and been great for everybody.
Another big part is at a double-divisional or
double event, they’re the stars and they’re the priority.
That just goes over really well. The drivers
know they get to make laps and not get pushed
around a schedule. At the SFG race at U.S. 131,
it was a constant flow of cars all day and that’s
what people want to do. People want to race and
Multi-day, big-money bracket races like the
Spring Fling and Fall Fling races promoted
by Kyle Seipel and Peter Biondo use a racerdriven
business model that appeals to racers
and track operators alike, especially in 2020.
August 2020
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