SEQuads.com

k.hollon#38:

I believe the only solid way to save the series is to limit the amount of tracks we go to.

 

I think this is a great idea. As a matter of fact I believe I suggested this at the beginning of this series. If you look at other successful "quad only" series(TQRA,New England) in the country, you will see that they only run at a hand full of tracks and normally have a 10 race or less series. Every time I suggest this it receives a less than positive reception from the one's in charge. I'm not trying to bust anyone's balls here, but obviously what you are doing now is not working so maybe you should try some of these suggestions.

I Have a few other suggestion to offer as well.

First and foremost this series needs some type of advertisement other than the flyer's. Even though I feel like we all need to do our part and continue handing out the flyer's at local shops, convenience stores or any other high traffic place.

I feel like the track owners have a vested interest in this as well and should help with any advertising efforts. There are only a limited  number of riders that we will be able to bring to the races but there is an unlimited number of spectators that could be brought in to watch the races if they only knew about them. This would help the bottom line for the track owners. I'm not sure what would be the most cost effective way of advertising is, but I think this needs to be looked at by SEquads and the track owners.

Contingencies- To attract more riders I feel like we need more contingencies such as holeshot awards for every class. I'm not talking about a complete set of tires for every class. It could be something as little as a a free entry pass for the next race. They used to do this at Highfalls in Georgia when we raced there. Sometimes the holeshot award would be for a set of gogles or what ever the track "owner" could get from the local bike shop and or parts distributors. This series needs some type of sponsor. I know our numbers are low right now and this makes it hard to negotiate for some of this stuff but I feel like it doesn't hurt to ask anyway.

My final suggestion for now is that maybe we should bring all of our classes in line with the ATVA so we could become sanctioned by them. Doug Morris told me he would love to help promote our series in the ATVA newsletter but he couldn't because our series is considered an "outlaw series" because some of our rules and classes are out of line with the ATVA. He might have just been blowing smoke at me I don't know. But it makes sense.

Outside of these few suggestions that I have listed I'm sure that you could do much more than what you guy's are already doing. I think that ya'll are doing an excellent job in running the series. I don't think any one person or thing is the reason our numbers are low right now. I would bet the bike series numbers are down too.

Sorry about the long post!

BTW, I couldn't care less if Brit was racing a motorcycle or a tricycle. That has nothing to do with his support of this series. Some of the biggest financial supporters(parents) of this series don't race anything.

Bill

 

 

 

 

At the end of last season we went to a lot of trouble to put quite a few polls here on the website asking several questions. One being how many races we had and what tracks everyone wanted to go to. Don't get me wrong, I agree that whatever is being done now isn't working, but we need to all figure out what way is best to judge the overall feeling on several issues. Obviously, polls on the website are not working because you all don't vote. The problem now is that this season's races are laid out the way everyone voted last season. If we're going to change anything for this season, we're going to need a vast majority of people to agree to the changes.

Who would be interested in a "business meeting" prior to the next race? Since the Estes race has been canceled, we have plenty of time to prepare the issues.

Bill, I would like to add some more information to a few of your points:

1. Advertising: we all agree that advertising is a good thing. The problem is, we don't have any way to build an advertising budget. The tracks are not willing to donate to an advertising fund (or were not prior to the season). The money that SEQuads gets from each race is just enough to pay for small things and the series trophies. Advertising can also become a full time job. Since we don't have the assets for an advertising campaign, we do not have anyone staffed for that. If we are able to build a budget we will need another volunteer to handle advertising.
2. Contingencies: we have pursued contingency very aggressively in the past with very little success. We all agree that it would be great to give out tons of swag at each event. I think we can improve on this aspect of the program, and I appreciate you pointing it out. We will task someone internally to pursue this further.
3. Classes: one of the current issues the track owners have with our series is the number of classes compared to the number of participants. A lot of our classes only have a couple of people in them at each event. If we were to add the remainder of the ATVA classes to our lineup that would cause further problems in this area. There are only a few classes that are actually combined. That is done to allow for better on-track racing. It's no fun to race by yourself. Plus, this is only an issue in some mini quad classes. But, we're not going to separate classes into production and non-production for the larger quads. That would cause the same problem previously mentioned. Bill, how would you suggest this problem be resolved? We welcome all input.

.brit 

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When in doubt, more gas!!!

i think that the best turn outs will be at /Warrior /Bremen and i think that we had a good turn out at Double X  and Monster Mtn.

I have to agree. It would be alot easier to make it to one race a month than two. It makes it harder for people to skip one and say oh, I'll make it to the next one when it'll be a whole month till the next one. And when you only have to make one a month you can stay in the points race easier.  Also makes it alot cheaper. And it gives you more time to order parts and get stuff fixed if your bike goes down.  I think less tracks would be better also. It's almost impossible to make it to all those tracks for practice. I would try to keep them as close as possible. A meeting might be a good idea.

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Jason #113

www.myspace.com/speedshifter

http://sequads.com/photos/rockabilly13/default.aspx

You know, I have to say it. One of the best forms of free local advertizing is Myspace.com. I have an account for my band and it works great. With being able to instantly sent out bulitins and event invitations to riders as well as possible spectators it will reach alot of people. And best of all it's free. Sure beats handing out flyers in the midlle of Icon Powersports parking lot.

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Jason #113

www.myspace.com/speedshifter

http://sequads.com/photos/rockabilly13/default.aspx

I posted on 2 other websites to let folks know about trying to attend the last 6 races. I think we all know that there HAS to be a big turnout at Mill Creek,Monster,and Big Cedar. Those tracks are under the same management. And anybody who has talked with them about quads knows why the turnout at those may make or break it.

Billy LT-R450 #441

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Youth and talent are no match for age and treachery

NED441SUZ:

And anybody who has talked with them about quads knows why the turnout at those may make or break it.

I completely agree. I have spoken to the McWilliams family several times about the upcoming races. They are openly optimistic and are honestly looking forward to it. I think those races will turn things around for us. The tracks alone are enough reason for people to show up. Couple that with the newfound sense of urgency the recent times have created and I think we'll see a change in our numbers.

 

.brit 

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When in doubt, more gas!!!

Go to www.lt-r450central.com under lt-rcentral lounge and view my post. Copy and post to any other websites any of you may know of that will help get the word out. I also posted on z400central.com and tried yfzcentral but cant post yet on that one.

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Youth and talent are no match for age and treachery

My above post talked about limiting the tracks, I think we shouldn't have them too close together. I was thnking something like: estes, cloverdale, bremen mill creek, warrior, double x or crossbones.

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violence shouldn't be the answer, but it better be an option

Maybe keep the distances a little closer together. I have heard Estes is a great track, just a long ways for alot of folks.Monster and Big Cedar are the closest to me and 2 of the other guys who were at CrissCross.Then there are the guys who live closer to Warrior.I think the distances are an issue to some as well as the number of races.Some of them i just cant swing because of the distance/time issue.(i have to work Saturdays,and can only get finished as early as 7-7:30 Eastern time)

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Youth and talent are no match for age and treachery

Maybe we could get in on the Answer and Msr contingencies like the dirt bikes have.

One thing about the distance topic; the locations are always gonna be a long way for somebody.  I don't see any way they can please everybody as far as this goes.  Warrior and Chandler Mt. are the closest two tracks to me and they are both an hour away.  I hear they just opened one that is about 10 minutes from my house but they don't allow quads.  Estes is 3-4 hours for me and Monster is a long way too.   

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'04 YFZ
WR motor, gussetted and pro pegged frame, 6 point subframe, Walsh G-33s, Walsh stem, Fox DSC shocks, HiPers, Holeshots, Flexx bars, IMS Intimidator bumper, AC big peg nerfs, K&K tribal graphics and some other stuff.

Josh#80:

Maybe we could get in on the Answer and Msr contingencies like the dirt bikes have.

We asked at the first of the season. They said, "no".

 

.brit 

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When in doubt, more gas!!!

gtilley45:

One thing about the distance topic; the locations are always gonna be a long way for somebody.  I don't see any way they can please everybody as far as this goes.  Warrior and Chandler Mt. are the closest two tracks to me and they are both an hour away.  I hear they just opened one that is about 10 minutes from my house but they don't allow quads.  Estes is 3-4 hours for me and Monster is a long way too.   

yea trying living in north georgia. its far everywhere. but i dont have a problem goin to far off ones. like i was going to estes. but i agree with the keepin the same tracks. not just 1 time to each, and then scatter them allover the place. but it still dont mattter to me. im goin racin anyways.  

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kOdY

http://www.myspace.com/thekodyingram

I spoke to Donny at LL's and he seemed willing to do a race for us at Echeconnee.  I'll call him tomorrow and see if he was just scared to tell me no to my face.  Brit, I want to help in any way I can, I'm all for the business meeting. 

 I read an earlier post about watering/staffing being an issue.  IMO, we're new so if I have to flag or water between my 1 moto, then fine.  I don't want any $$, just a guarantee that if I do that (and obviously if others do too) then it buys us '1 more race' at that track.  I'm really bummed about losing Chandler Mtn, that place was really fun.

I think advertising is key.  ATVs outsell bikes every year, but we have the attendance problem!  I think a lot of people fall into the category of 2 friends of mine; Scott loves being a daredevil and thinks he's the fastest thing on 4 wheels, but he went to 2 races a couple of years ago and he found out quick that drag racing someone on a dirt road and running 4 laps are 2 very different things and his ego didn't like that.  Jeffrey is very interested in racing and loves to hear me talk about it, but didn't have a killswitch(until recently) and is married w/ a child, so his wife slows him down from spending the time and $$ to race. 

 I have this problem w/ the sports I play in;seems like being completely PW and letting your wife/girlfriend tell you what to do with your time and $$ is the 'cool' thing to do.  I have at least 2 players a week on my soccer team miss a game because of their chick finding something else for them to do.  I never had these problems growing up in Ohio, those women know who runs the show and they actually have interests and hobbies outside of micromanaging their man's life.  My old friends from up there play paintball every weekend and have stayed married and started families and they're in their 30s!!  Must be regional, anyway, point is, tell your friends to borrrow their sacks back for 1 Saturday a month and help out!!

 Lastly, news flash, everyone works, everyone has other things to do, you're not the only one.  Working is the weakest reason not to go.  I work weekends, but am off during the week, so guess what, if it's a race weekend I WORK EXTRA DURING THE FRIGGIN WEEK.  It's not hard, it just takes effort, like was stated earlier, if you're passionate about this, you'll find a way to make it.  There's never been a tombstone printed that says 'I wish I would've worked more'.

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06' LTR 450 BONE STOCK

06'-GNC Stock Class-6th overall
17th in inaugaural WPSA C-Class race @ DB

#064 265C GNC
05' T-17th overall