News-Record.com

The gal who used to cut my hair is a BIG racing fan and I asked her the same question: What about racing hooks you?

She replied that I'd never get it unless I "took a driver as my own" and learned about him and then I would be hooked. So you ought to feature drivers in photography, audio, and video. Closeups. Faces. Families. Good luck charms and stories. Legacies.

That's what she told me and she was great at cutting hair.

how about what NOT to do:

40 inch stories

a Flash "multimedia" audio slideshow (boring)

other variations of slideshows

the closest you could ever hope to replicate it is by showing video of it all.. crowd video, too. maybe some quicktime 360s

but, even that wont touch it...

here's a question: why is it your job to do something like this? I mean, why do you need to convince people that NASCAR is a great thing?

isnt that the job of marketing people at nascar?

your job is conveying the news of nascar.. not becoming the commercial for it... certainly, you can do some slideshows and some video...

but, what other event/endeavor would you take on where it is your goal to "get people to participate in it"? (other than maybe non profit events or ... voting -- for democrats, of course)

Sue, Jim

Thanks for your comments. Let me address them.

Jim: No, I'm not trying to be NASCAR's mouthpiece. They have enough p.r. people for that. My job is to report on the sport -- whether that is someone winning the championship or TV ratings falling. My question to John and his to the public is that when we report these stories what might be interesting and innovative ways to do so online. I'm trying to get a better grasp of what can be done online. The blog (on hiatus until January) is one outlet, but I'm sure there's more. That's why I asked. I'm trying to find better outlets to report my stories whatever the subject.

Sue: Thanks for the comments. We've done some stuff like that in the past. Maybe not enough. It's something we'll keep in mind as we go through next season.

The smells? I think the world's first scratch-and-sniff blog would be pretty compelling.

Jim: What do you have against 40-inch racin' stories?

Two suggestions:

(1) Sponsor a car on one of the local dirt tracks. Each week, a new N&R staff member gets to drive it and report first-hand on his/her experience.

(2) Buy one of those NASCAR simulators and give free rides in the N&R parking lot. Those things are cool.

Better yet, the N & R oughta lease a penthouse/box seating arrangements at Charlotte & Atlanta, maybe Martinsville, then select at random N & R subscribers, who enjoy NASCAR, to be guests of your newspaper providing unlimited eats and drinks to boot.

While I'm not sure what the rest of the staff thinks, I can say for certain that'd I'd gladly participate in Brian444's first suggestion.

Dirt track racing here I come... wooohooo!

How about regular reports on Local drivers. Features on Brian Vickers, Bobby Labonte and Bill Davis drivers who live here in the local area?

How about in-depth features on Bill Davis preparing for the first season of Toyota competition? Maybe a report from every track.

What about focusing on an in-state guy like Carl Long with week-by-week stories focusing on his struggles to make the big show?

In short, some weekly reports that would make it easy for me to see how my local drivers fared over the weekend and how they're preparing for the next week.

Oh, I'd also like to read some "where are the now" stories about guys who once raced in the show, but have settled down here in the Piedmont.

You should also do a story where you follow a local fan's trip to Daytona or somewhere, complete with tailgating recipes and such.

"your job is conveying the news of nascar.. not becoming the commercial for it... "

I would say the same thing except I would substitute Guilford County, Greensboro, the City Council, etc. in the place of NASCAR.

Not to mention Terry Grier, Allen Duncan, Kris Cooke and all of those trolls.

Read David Poole and follow his example.