By Dean Reller
It’s common for a race
track to have a promotion to get fans to fill the stands. However, it’s not common for Drivers to
become the promoters of such an event.
That’s exactly what’s happening at Raceway Park in Shakopee. August 4th will be Pack the
Stands Night and it’s rapidly becoming the talk of the town. It all started when track announcer
Kevin Busse suggested if sometime this year the all-time attendance record of
approximately 3200 could be broken. That number dates back to June of 1971. Driver Matt Stanley and members of his
family made a few posts on facebook about it and then things began to take off
from there.
“Once I saw the
posting, I felt like I would get the thing rolling,” said Mark Bronstad, a
driver, about how he got involved.
Bronstad (#61) and Adam Radiske, another driver, talked about what they could
do. Radiske created a flyer for the
event, which Raceway Park helped out by printing 1,000 copies and he and
Bronstad began distributing them.
The use of social media helped make word of the event to grow even
more. “I created a facebook event,
so it pops up on everybody’s calendars,” said Radiske. “As a racing group a lot of our friends
seem to be racing people. So it
keeps branching out, getting bigger and better.” At last count there have been over 3000
people invited, nearly the amount needed to break the attendance record. “It’s shared by many people on a daily
basis,” said Radiske. “It’s very
cool to see the racers and fans just as much involved.”
Beside facebook,
Bronstad has made postings on Craig’s List and City Pages hoping to get the word
out about the Pack the Stands Night.
Despite the noise of the cars and the action on the track, drivers do
notice when the stands are packed and making noise of their own on a race
night. “It’s huge,” said Bronstad
with enthusiasm. “That’s awesome to
hear the crowd when you are in the car.”
Bronstad has arranged for the band Singers on Barstools to perform
following the races. This was by no
means an easy task as the band regularly performs at McKracken’s on Sunday
nights. Not only did McKracken's
allow the band to perform, they rented the Party Deck at the race track for the
evening.
The buzz of getting
fans to come out isn’t just limited to Pack the Stands on August
4th. “I’m seeing
everyone posting on facebook to come to the races, not just for this event, but
to any event. That’s nice to see,”
said Bronstad. What started out as
an idea to break a record, has quickly turned into something that isn’t normally
seen in the racing business, racers reaching out to the fans directly. With so many entertainment options for
people to choose from, the concept and support of events like Pack the Stands is
a lesson for others to learn from.
A Dukes Jump has been added to the regular race program along with a on-track and through the pits bus ride for kids, racing begins at 6pm Sunday night. Get more information at www.goracewaypark.com and listen for complete coverage of this event on Speed Talk on 1360 radio, Saturday morning 10-11am on KRWC radio and www.krwc1360.com
*Top photo by Dean Reller
*Bottom photos from Scott Searcy (Cricket prints)
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