LouieLouie
Team Owner
I threw a Daytona 500 Party with a few friends and I was the only one that followed the sport. They of course had the "oh boy, here we go with left turns only and driving in circles" already burned into them by the media, but I threw the party anyway and made sure I had plenty of beer and food. I sported Coors Light because it's the official beer of Nascar, and allowed my guests to bring any kind of wine or other beer that they wanted. Everyone brought over their own craft brew or bottle of wine. One or two decided to go with the Coors Light.
I also put together Pita Pit Road where guests basically made their own chicken pita sandwiches with assorted toppings. They were a huge hit, along with my wife's oreo cookie "There goes a tire!" chocolates. Food was a big hit!
We started out watching the race sporadically. I had the volume on the lower side so people could socialize. They asked a lot of questions and asked about the segments. I explained that there were 3 segments now kind of like hockey, and that there were points awarded for each segment but I didn't go into the whole playoff points vs regular season points, etc. Most questions revolved around how fast they were going, which one is Earnhardt, do they really change 4 tires in 12 seconds, etc. Some had just general comments about recognizing the sponsors on the cars, i.e. Target car was mentioned several times. The girls in the party were nervous about all the wrecks and wanted to make sure all the drivers were ok. One gal actually said, they look like they are going really slow because the camera is so zoomed in.
So we watched the end of the first segment, about half of the second segment and about the last 20 laps of the race. All the cautions made people get up and want to do something else. At the end of the day, they weren't impressed and stuck to their pre-conceived notions, but they at least asked a lot of questions. There was one engineer in the crowd and he seemed a little more interested as the race went on, but other than that I don't think we made any new fans. I'm still trying to get them to a race in November in Phoenix so we will see what happens. I might have to try that fantasy sports idea just so they get to know the drivers a little more.
For me, I actually didn't mind throwing a Daytona 500 party because the race revolves around so much luck and the restrictor plate races/wrecks seem to really draw new fans in. I missed a lot of the race, but I really don't feel like I missed a whole lot. I'm looking forward to the real season starting at Atlanta. Congrats to the 41 team.
I also put together Pita Pit Road where guests basically made their own chicken pita sandwiches with assorted toppings. They were a huge hit, along with my wife's oreo cookie "There goes a tire!" chocolates. Food was a big hit!
We started out watching the race sporadically. I had the volume on the lower side so people could socialize. They asked a lot of questions and asked about the segments. I explained that there were 3 segments now kind of like hockey, and that there were points awarded for each segment but I didn't go into the whole playoff points vs regular season points, etc. Most questions revolved around how fast they were going, which one is Earnhardt, do they really change 4 tires in 12 seconds, etc. Some had just general comments about recognizing the sponsors on the cars, i.e. Target car was mentioned several times. The girls in the party were nervous about all the wrecks and wanted to make sure all the drivers were ok. One gal actually said, they look like they are going really slow because the camera is so zoomed in.
So we watched the end of the first segment, about half of the second segment and about the last 20 laps of the race. All the cautions made people get up and want to do something else. At the end of the day, they weren't impressed and stuck to their pre-conceived notions, but they at least asked a lot of questions. There was one engineer in the crowd and he seemed a little more interested as the race went on, but other than that I don't think we made any new fans. I'm still trying to get them to a race in November in Phoenix so we will see what happens. I might have to try that fantasy sports idea just so they get to know the drivers a little more.
For me, I actually didn't mind throwing a Daytona 500 party because the race revolves around so much luck and the restrictor plate races/wrecks seem to really draw new fans in. I missed a lot of the race, but I really don't feel like I missed a whole lot. I'm looking forward to the real season starting at Atlanta. Congrats to the 41 team.
