by Kristin Swartzlander | Jan 15, 2015 | Thoughts and Rants
If you’re on any form of social media these days, you’ve probably seen a post or photo talking about the ‘good old days’ of racing, when ‘real’ race cars came to the track on open trailers and you could bring your whole family to the track for today’s price of popcorn. Although I can’t disagree – racing was pretty great when I was growing up – I have to say that I’m much more positive about the future than I am sad about the way things were. Call me crazy, but I’d like to take a moment to be grateful for the opportunities we have and shine a hopeful light on our sport: We can watch a race from almost anywhere. In fact, even if you’re on Antarctica right now you could probably catch a race from a short track somewhere in the world. (And pneumonia. But whatever.) The power of live streaming and high-quality video broadcasting has never been, well, more powerful. My list of race-tracks-to-visit is much longer than my allotted number of vacation days each year (even if I am mostly my own boss), so I’m more than happy to pay the price of admission – usually more than the price of a grandstand seat – to see a race from my living room. (Side Note: If you or your local track promoter believe that live streaming a race, or posting results to social media, will take fans out of the stands, I’m thrilled to factually tell you that you’re wrong. Future post to come.) And while we’re watching races from all over the world, we’re...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Jan 12, 2015 | Racing Social Media
If you’re a sprint car racing fan, there’s no doubt that you’re tuning in to the Chili Bowl Nationals this week. Here is a list of Twitter handles for the 2015 Chili Bowl Nationals drivers based on the pre-entry list. They are arranged by car number, and bolded entries are updates or additions from the 2014 list. GO – Kip Hughes – none 0 – Johnny Murdock – none 00 – Cole Custer – @colecuster00 0B – Billy Melton – none 0G – Glenn Styres – @GlennStyres 0K – Don O’Keefe Jr – @DOK_LOKENT 0T – Tyler Brehm – @TylerBrehm 05 – Brad Loyet – @LoyetMotorsport 05H – Justin Hendricks – none 05T – Gary Taylor – @garytaylorGT 05W – Kenny Wallace – @Kenny_Wallace 1 – Sammy Swindell – @1SAM91 1B Bobby Brewer – None 1JR – Stevie Sussex III –@Sussex45 1OU – AJ Burns – none 1P – Terry Nichols – none 1PW – Paul White – none 1ST – J.J. Yeley – @jjyeley1 1T – Tony Roney – none 1W – Mike Wheeler – none 2 Ryan Hall – none 2$ – Stuart (Stu) Snyder – @bbodfield 2A – C.J. Leary – @CJ_Leary_30 2B – Ryan Bernal – @bernal_ryan 2D – Steve Davis – none 2H – Robert Harr – none 2HH – Nathan Benson – none 2J – Ryan Leavitt – @RyanLeavitt22 2K – Kyle Jones – none 2M – Seth Motsinger – @sethmotsinger44 2ND – Jeb Sessums – none 2X – Charlie McDonald – none 3 – Shane Cottle – @shanecottle2e 3A – Chris Andrews – @chrisandrews16c 3C – Raven Culp – @CulpRacing3 3FF – Jake Blackhurst – @j_blackhurst25 3M – Mike Fulper – none 3N – Jake Neuman – none 3T – Tim Barber – none 4 –...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Jan 8, 2015 | Media and Public Relations, Racing Social Media
I came across a post the other day from the ultra-brilliant Seth Godin on mob justice and it got my gears turning – especially in light of the recent controversy in the sprint car world between two series’ and comments that were allegedly made to a reporter. In this post from 2005, Godin lays out one of the side effects of media in which the readers can also comment back publicly: 1. Controversy is fun to write 2. Controversy is fun to read 3. Piling on is safe and fun 4. Undoing 1, 2 and 3 is no fun, hard work and easy to avoid. Fueling controversy, he argues, is like ‘mob justice’ – when someone decides to “spread a rumor, a posse would appear, ask no questions, beat the crap out of you and move on.” He continues: “A friend of mine is now in a similar situation (and, as Arlo Guthrie famously said, “you may find yourself in a similar situation…”). And the question is, what should he do. If he takes the time to point out to those bloggers that they’re wrong, that they’ve taken one data point and blown it out of proportion while ignoring the facts (and there are many facts that they’ve ignored) he’s just adding fuel to the fire. “Of course you’ll deny it,” they’ve said to him on the phone, “that just proves we’re right”.” If you’re reading this and thinking, ‘Well that sucks!’ Then I’d have to agree with you and Seth. Because whether or not you said the thing or did the deed, you’ll be called a liar. There’s...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Jan 1, 2015 | Mindset, Thoughts and Rants
I have to say, I’m pretty excited to roll into 2015. In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten busy on goal-setting for the new year. I’ve got a few projects up my sleeve for both racers and promoters, and I’m pumped to share those with you over the next few months. But before that all happens, I want to take a moment to avoid one of the biggest mistakes that I make each year: not celebrating the goals I met from the previous year. If you don’t recognize your past successes, you’re subconsciously telling yourself that you won’t celebrate future ones, either. How motivated do you think you’ll be, then, to achieve those goals if there’s nothing in it for you in the end? You must celebrate your accomplishments to know what success looks (and feels) like. Here are a few highlights from my 2014 – the good and the bad – and the lessons I learned: Growing the community. DirtyMouth became a real, live thing in 2014 and the response was amazing. There are so many people, from clients to friends, which I’m proud to be associated with – and a lot of those people came to me through this blog. From page views and social media statistics to subscribers, the numbers far exceeded my expectations. But there is still tons of room for growth. Actually, that’s my main focus for 2015: continuing to grow and serve this community, to make a real impact on this sport. (So, if you find this or any other piece of content from DirtyMouth helpful, I encourage you to share it. Let’s make...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Dec 19, 2014 | Mindset
Few of us look forward to the offseason. Ask anyone in racing in the middle of June if they’d like to stand in the middle of an empty race track or stay home on a Friday night, and they’ll certainly tell you politely what they think of that. But once it’s here, it’s nice to take a break. For about a week. Until you start going a little stir crazy. What you do in the offseason can set the tone for what you do the rest of the year. It’s the foundation of your season. Here are a few ways to beat the funk and get your offseason on-track: Start with winter maintenance. You’ve probably already gotten to work on your winter maintenance, so this one is a given. If you’re a racer, that might mean stripping your car down to the chassis, doing regular upkeep or building a new one from the ground up. If you’re a promoter, that might mean assessing your facilities and starting winter projects like reinforcing and painting grandstands and improving bathrooms. Go deeper. Now is probably the only time of the year for in-depth assessment and building instead of maintaining. You can go much deeper than usual with components that change over the season, like setups, tires, shocks and engines. Have your shocks dyno’d. Check your electrical and fluid systems. Have your engine tuned. Make sure you know what you have before you move forward. Gather data. Everything you’ve measured this season – from fan attendance to setup information – take the time to catalog it. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities...
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