Lateral-g Forums - Danny Popp Wins 2011 Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational

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The more people watching, the more people buying parts. Makes sense to me.

:bow: :bow: :theresa: :theresa: :clap: :clap:

Great insight Bret....

I think there has been too much focus on "the winner" -- yet I think the way to look at the "event(s)" is a "winner" against "X".... Your summation was just excellent.

Sure, as a driver or athlete or competitor of any event, you want more spectators, and I get that. Hell, it was a great time with the hundreds of spectators watching us all do the peanut autoX at GG Pleasanton this weekend.

But as a spectator who would at some point like to be a competitor, you start getting over a thousand spectators and at some point they don't have access to the pits, the cars, the drivers. That's a big part of what makes this an event so great from a spectator's point of view.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flash68 (Post 378662)

Possibly...but NHRA and other sanctioning bodies seem to [successfully?] manage spectators in the thousands...and I'm figuring it will take us a few years to get to that point.

The other point was that if this is to continue to be a TV event [and I hope it will] a crowd always makes things look more energetic. A good crowd can make even a golf game look kinda exciting. Well, ok...up to a point:)

Quoted as this is a great post, Bret.

I agree with everything you're saying here, and I definitely agree with the facility not exactly being conducive to spectators. As you noted, spectators bring a level of energy to the event, as well as create the (pre and post) buzz about the event.
:thumbsup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bret (Post 378631)

Wow 16 pages on OUSCI!!
Not surprisingly, an impressive response
RideTech has been a sponsor of the OUSCI since its inception in 2008. I’ve been a hotrodder since around 1976. My opinions here are both professional and personal [and some are the same!]
Professionally:
RideTech builds suspension systems and components for street cars whose owners want to drive in an aggressive manner and feel as comfortable as if they were driving a new corvette. I consider the C5 and C6 Corvette to be a feasible benchmark to shoot for when evaluating the success of our suspension components. The OUSCI [as well as the RTT events and the Goodguys event is where we get to publicly and tangibly demonstrate our wares.
I think we’ve succeeded.
We’ve ALWAYS brought cars that were built with off the shelf parts, in a manner that MOST of our customers could subscribe to. The Warpig 66 Chevelle, The Velocity 68 Camaro, and now the 48 Hour Camaro had all run well and represented our company and our suspension systems well. I LOVE being able to directly compare our cars to the state of the art vehicles in any genre…tuner, exotic, late model, racecar or not. I can go down that list and mentally compare each car and it’s build level to our stuff and decide if we have succeeded or not. I believe that MOST customers are doing the same thing. They understand that a 67 Camaro with an OEM subframe and a 550 hp motor with an amateur driver of medium talent probably will not be able to beat a nicely prepped Z06 with a VERY talented driver on a road course. They get it. AND they respond by buying enough of our products to allow us to do this all over again next year. THAT is why RideTech continues to sponsor, promote, and participate in OUSCI, and all the rest of the dynamic driving events throughout the year.

Personally:
As a hotrodder…man I want to WIN this thing someday! I went 5 seconds faster this year than last year on the road course and dropped from 9th to 22nd! So, what am I going to do?
Build a faster car, of course!
Beyond that…re-read my professional comments above. I can’t think of a better overall event than OUSCI. The fact that there are 16 pages of commentary on this event shows that is has rung a bell with everybody regardless of position or opinion. There wasn’t one car there that I thought was out of place. I LOVE seeing how my junk stacks up against the various “exotica” and crave the opportunity to do so again next year.

Some people don’t think much of the “design” portion of the event…they think a “car show” element doesn’t belong in a “race”. Two things to remember about that: Beyond the fact that this is not a real race, If it weren’t for the design portion of the event it would have become overrun with racecars immediately. The second thing is that recalculating the scores without the design element didn’t change a whole lot. I guess my definition of “a whole lot” might be different from someone who might have moved up in the standings more than I would have, but since this is my rant I have not bothered to consider anyone else’s definition

One element I would like to add for next year: The fastest road course driver gets to take the design judge’s car around the track for 3 laps.

Here is one serious thing I would like to see for 2012: Spectators. Can you imagine playing the superbowl in an empty stadium? Spring Mountain is NOT very conducive to spectators, but there are a lot of venues that are. I’d sure like to explore that avenue. If a NASCAR race can bring in 150,000 people to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, couldn’t OUSCI bring in 10% of that?
OK...on to next year!

I hate to be "opining" here, yet again -- but I will... just this once more... :unibrow:

The track management (SMMS) gave me the "what for" about crowd management - explaining "the kill zone" etc to me. It was really helpful and once he understood that I CARED about what he was telling me -- we got on page 1 and I did my job <highly paid by the way!>.

I will say that I hardly had to do anything except to ASK the crowd to back up two or three steps -- and they IMMEDIATELY responded and did what I asked. WHAT A GREAT CROWD. Not one person mouthed off... I was polite to them - they were polite to me.

What happens - as you all know - is one person leans in for a better look or camera angle - the next person takes a step out and so on - next thing you know -- the whole line has moved. At the lunch break I added one cone in line with me and where the track manager asked me to keep them.... EVERYONE knew what that cone was for - and I didn't have to ask a single person to step back after that. WHAT A GREAT CROWD. You'd see someone step out to take a photo - you'd see them notice the cone and the line - and they made sure to step back. As long as that was happening - I let them self manage. It's busy out there - You're watching the start line - your fellow track workers - the crowd.... it could have easily gotten "out of hand" but it didn't... because that was an "experienced" crowd. They got it. They wanted to be there - and they want the event to work. It was great to see people be so "into it".

If the crowd becomes more "random" -- i.e., friends bringing friends etc and it gets to be more "non" car people.... Then I'd just ask that the corner workers or flag wavers etc have at least one extra set of eyes and ears. A couple of times I enlisted friends in the crowd to help me... but since they didn't have the official shirt on - they didn't get the same "reaction" that I got (maybe it's my booming voice? LOL).

My point is - everyone out there was on their most spectacular behavior! Double that size -- we'd just need some "crime scene tape" or something in order to cordon areas off - or to create a "keep clear" area back from the track.

Well,I will say this.Seeing MR.Weld w/his Yellow shirt on, had me always on my best behavior.Mr.Weld as did all of the other event Staff did an awesome job.They kept the autograph seeker's at bay,pretty much.And Kevin was able to get some qualtiy time w/ AJ.:lol: :lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolwelder62 (Post 378706)

Ya know - I did playground duty 3 days a week at the CatLick School the kids went to.... There were always boys that you KNEW were going to be pushing the boundaries...

The minute I saw you - I knew you were one of "those kids"..... :rofl: :woot:

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregWeld (Post 378715)

Greg,You must have got the low down on me from Gordon Mcgillton or Rodger Lee, ahead of time.:lol:

Rest assured that we are continuing to monitor this discussion and a couple of others with regards to the OUSCI and other street car events throughout the country. There are a lot very well thought out observations, suggestions and feedback. For sure, this event has evolved and grown, and while most of it has been planned, there's been some great organic growth as well.

We continue to see more and more interest in the event from participants, spectators, sponsors, manufacturers etc. We will listen to all the feedback and please understand, try everything in our power to make this a safe, fun and relevant event for the industry and hobby.