Yeah but most of the good driver's down and struggling with money building their cars for bigger and better things. The problem we are having down here is that there are no events that will get you noticed to run a Pro series because nobody really cares about the East Coast. 95% of events take place on the West Coast so in order to make events to get noticed people are saving money to go to events in an attempt to get noticed. Cash prizes may work but it would have to be a big enough prize to cover driving to the event and covering tires and no venue is going to be able to come up with a lump sum to cover that.
EDIT: For instance Megan threw an event in Cali and the majority of the Pro Am guys went because first place won 5k. That is enough money to cover running a few events over there. No Florida venue can cover that price because we don't have enough driver's to register and pay a cover fee for that.
2nd EDIT: As much as I don't like to say it Moe you should have a non refundable cover fee to slide Homestead. I think at this point the track speaks for itself and maybe after a few events you could have a nice cash prize of like 1,000 dollars or so. That for sure will get people to attend that event and make for the best Demo ever.
I'm going to implement an idea. Ask each driver that wants to slide FARA a $100.00 deposit that will be refunded after the event is over.
Thats all fine and dandy but at the end of the Pro Am series you still need to attend Irwindale to place.
Thats the wrong mentality we need to worry about what the West Coast is doing because obviously they are doing something right to have 95% FD series over there.
This is true.. We shouldn't have to worry about what the West Coast or other states are doing. We got to deal with our own and improve.
Improvement and dedication are the key for the Florida drifters to succeed and be noticed
take into account weather and tracks . Florida maybe called the sunshine state but we do get a hell of alot of rain. As far as competitive tracks go all we really have is pbir, homestead, and osw.
Weather doesn't stop drifters form attending events. Track regulations stop them before they go out for safety and regulation purposes
More track support and payouts. More drivers will make the effort to drive if they are compensated someway, maybe even just trophies. In turn they will be able to buy more parts and improve. Practices are boring. Obviously everyone needs it but that's what countyline events are, just practice. Even that mini comp was exciting because it was something different.
Yes.. Thank you Eliot
Where have you been moe, drifting has and always will be a fad. The sooner you come to terms with that the better.
Just like pogs remember pogs those were cool.
The day I give up on the idea and believe in your mentality.. I'll swap a VH45 into a foxbody!!!
You guys roll together all the fucking time. Maybe its not a team name but you guys roll together. Its the same basic principle.
Compare SIDE-RUN to Team Orange.. Compare Chris Jackson and his helpers is not a TEAM.. SIDE-RUN is a group of guys that role together to event and slide all kinds of tracks. I follow them all the time.. It never fails to see how much dedication Bert and Finkelstein show every time they go to Homestead.
You are completely right about the look the car should have. I have said so myself, but if you think that FARA is too small of an event and we should wait for someone to bring a big event then you are completely wrong. When the big event organizers want to do something they look at demographics, they look to see what type of following there is so that they can make money. FARA might not be the dream stage, but it is a stage nonetheless. You put a good enough performance then all those bullshit cell phone pictures and youtube videos get people interested and the following grows. We have good photographers and videographers they should be out there capturing and editing the bejesus out of these events.
All you said equals to how much money they can make out of each event.
We have good photographers. Not saying its the media guys fault because it isn't. The pictures don't do an event justice. Yeah it looks cool to have you tearing shit up as your background on your computer. But people want to see video of the driver's anyone can look good in a photo doesn't show your skill level at all. Video's make the exposure. I for one get bored quickly looking at photo's and I think it would be safe to say that there are a lot more people that get bored looking at them too. Roly and Guy are trying to do the video thing but FARA doesn't seem very media friendly so it will be hard to capture anything good at that venue.
A Local news channel will help a lot.. And by the way GUY and Roly know my number and with enough time can request a media pass.. I haven't seen Roly at Homestead since the first event I held... Jose San Luis is also a good photographer
What level is needed to have your car looks nice. I just went over the fact it is inexcusable for 240 owners to have a flat black piece of shit looking car when its so cheap and easy to make them look nice.
It would be nice but again it comes to this. Even if Roly and Guy get to do something at Fara there are cars that look like shit and nobody wants to see a shitty car in a video. Drifting is the only sport that your style reflects you. Its not like you build a bad ass circuit car and win a race and your driving ability separates you from the rest of the driver's. Your driving ability is only part of what people look at in drifting.
He's a amateur and no PRO-AM status that's all he's saying. As time progresses his skill will get better and so will the car.
To get FL drifting back into the RIGHT focus we need a few things.
#1 The tracks/organizers need to work together to stop having 3 events the same weekend. Share the drifting community around the state and give areas a break in between. Its no wonder we see 30 people at events when next weekend there is a totally different 30, and a 2nd track has another 30. If we stopped running 4 events a month, and consolidated them into 2 max in the STATE, we would see many more attend and full driver list = happy track owners.
This is very true.. I'm going to start getting in contact with Jen, Tim and others to look at the schedule so we don't have a schedule conflicts. That way we don't slide Desoto when we have Homestead the following weekendd
#2 make crowds happy. TANDEM makes crowds skeet, we need more tandem. Means you guys need to sacrifice and get bolt in cages! from event side it helps if you allow rides-a-longs. raffle ride-a-longs to the crowd with 'demo' drivers. or sell them straight up? Make sure the drivers providing the opportunity get a cut of the money, because without them, crowd gets no rides and they dont get that 'extra draw in'.
Can't do that in Homestead because even If I wanted to a have a person next to you as a co-pilot I have to have that person in the same requirement as the driver.
#3 PRE-REGISTER ONLY. if you want to drive, pay up before game day. this allows for people to actually commit and not puss out day of. and helps the venue see potential disaster before its too late. if you dont pre-reg, you dont drive. you show up past the meeting, you dont drive. Learn to not be a damn high schooler if you want to be treated like a 'driver'. Tracks are professional environments that have spent lots of money to build the facilities. This isnt a skate park yo, take time out of your busy morning to actually show up on time. its a matter of RESPECT to the event and other drivers. events need to have a drivers meeting, a real one. TIGHTEN up our amatuers professionalism. TELL them how the day will run, what the course is, what is NOT ALLOWED, and what they need to do to be ready. Make it short but informative.
Will Apply this Rule for the DEMO's a $100.00 deposit for the driver(s) that wants to slide Homestead and meet all requirements and after the event will receive their deposit back
#4 stop fkking waiting until the DAY OF or BEFORE an event to FIX YOUR CARS! I don't know why drifters are so damn LAZY. Get tires a week before, get your new stud in the damn hub (it takes 30 min?) Stop showing up to an event and having to open a damn car garage just to make it to the track and then missing runs/wanting to jump in other run groups. Simple shit like EMPTY YOUR BACKSEAT. I swear we are the most pathetic group of drivers. No other state have I ever seen people leave a helmet/jack/mcDonalds flying around the car.
I see this happen all the time and you can't imagine what little stupid problems come up on the track.
so in summary....
1/stop wasting money on shit that you dont have to have, then complain about no money.
2/make crowds happy from an event organizer pov. and stop conflicting the schedule so much.
3/tighten up the respect and professionalism in FL.
4/fix you DAMN CAR before the event gets here.
5/stop trying to be mr.2cool4skool
We hope people are reading every single post to see if I'm blowing things out of proportion to make people see how much is needed to be done before FLORIDA starts to get noticed
Don't get me wrong, FL has a lot of positives, but as a whole, the community is the ones responsible for the scene. If I was an organizer and saw the lack of professionalism at events, I'd never have another drift event. You can show up on time, with a working car, with the ability to listen to rules AND HAVE FUN... trust me.
lol at this...I felt like this sometimes
Moe- as for your direct question... competition would work but you need more time I think to really do a competition. If you are just doing a mini-comp then its ok but with real comp style... practice/qual/tandem... its a LOT of time needed. at the demos do you guys announce anything to interest the crowd? introduce drivers BEFORE the demo/ allow them to do burnouts/donuts/windmills to get the crowd pumped? word of mouth is the cheapest and easiest advertising, just gotta get people telling their friends. See if you can work it to give spectators rides/raffle them/sell them, insurance issues i know, but see about it with proper gear- maybe fara has a firesuit they can 'lend' for use and a helmet? Just a thought.
GL ya'll, we need to fix this up.[/QUOTE]
Mini comp is not what I want to work with. A full day of drifting with RC drifting and entertainment. Kinda like D1 but without their style of tech inspection (You guys know what I mean by that).
When I think of Drifting announcers in Florida one name comes to mind ROB FLEMING!!!