The Speedweek Annual Workshop of the Thirty-Ninth Annual RPM Promoters Workshop Series concluded with promoters expressing optimism for the prospects for the 2012 season. Highlights from the workshop included the revealing of Robert Sargent, the promoter of Macon (IL) Speedway, as 36th Auto Racing Promoter of the Year and the keynote remarks of NASCAR driver and SpeedTV personality Kenny Wallace. Wallace urged promoters to use their passion for the sport to remake it by de-emphasizing racing and making events an all-around entertainment experience.
Honored as Regional Auto Racing Promoters of the Year were Andrew Harpell, Five-Mile Point (NY) Speedway; James “Redd” Griffin, Screven (GA) Motor Speedway; Bob Sargent, Macon (IL) and Paducah (KY) Speedways; Wayne Anderson, Don & Linus Mack, and Darren Evavold, River Cities (ND) Speedway; Roger Hadan, Eagle (NE) Raceway; Steve Beitler, Skagit (WA) Speedway.
National Speedway Directory, presented the National Speedway Directory Award for outstanding annual short track event to Super DIRT Week XL at the New York State Fairgrounds, and Speedway Illustrated Magazine presented the Speedway Illustrated Award for outstanding contribution to short track racing to NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart for his commitment to the sport as owner or partner in multiple short tracks and teams and his enthusiastic promotion of grassroots motorsports.
Matt Greci, Senior Manager of Events, for Charlotte Motor Speedway, presented Promoter of the Year Sargent with honorary membership to the Speedway Club at Charlotte Motor Speedway and announced that the speedway further extended its collaborative recognition of the Promoter of the Year through 2014.
Five hundred forty-two people, representing 151 tracks from the US and three Canadian provinces attended the three-day workshop.
“With mobile communication technologies set to surpass desktop computers as the preferred way to access the web, promoters must rethink how they promote events.” said Stewart Doty, Workshop organizer. “To pull new young fans, short track racing must remake itself into a virtual as well as a real sport, and involve itself more effectively in their online world.”
The Workshops and Racing Promotion Monthly, the idea newsletter of auto racing promoters, are produced with the year-round support of K&K Insurance Group; Inc. and Hoosier Racing Tire. The Thirty-Ninth Workshops Series was produced with additional sponsorship support from: the Eldorado Hotel Casino, INEX, Chevrolet Performance, Lucas Oil Products, Moffett Productions, Simes Graphic Designs, RACEceiver; AMI Graphics, Advertising Edge, Sunoco Race Fuels, and Firethorn Marketing.
The historic Fortieth Anniversary Series will kick off November 29, 2012 at the Eldorado Hotel Casino, Reno, Nevada, and return to Daytona Beach, February 18-20, 2013. More information on the Workshops and the promoters’ newsletter may be found on the web at RacingPromotionMonthly.Com, or RPMPromotersWorkshops.Com, or from RPM editorial offices, P.O. Box 406, Merrill, WI 54426, 715-536-1067, FAX 715-536-3616.
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