Latest / The Racer on Demand Show / Episode 27 | There is No Off-Season
Transcript
- Amanda Van Den Elzen: reusing content is not a sin. it is expected. It is very valuable for you. If it's performing Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: well once, wait two months, post it again. Hello and welcome back to the Racer on Demand Show. I'm Amanda Van Den Elzen your host, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Meyer. Hello. Megan Lingner: Hello, hello. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And today We are addressing the off season. Lots of racers, they stop racing and they stop doing everything for their program. And there are so many opportunities this time of year to keep your program going and growing. And Megan and I have put together some ideas and that you can take away today to continue building Value in your race program. So I'm excited to dive into this topic, Megan. I know we haven't talked since our last recording really. before we dive in, do you have any big updates, anything you want to share? Megan Lingner: no, no, like no really big updates Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ha ha ha. Megan Lingner: on our end. yeah, not much has changed in the last two weeks. So racing wise, my dad's team is still going. so they just finished up two weeks in Dallas, and then he's got this weekend off. So he'll come home, restock the trailer, refresh on whatever, and then head out west. So then they do two weeks in Vegas, and between those two is when we go to SEMA show. And then they have their last race of the year is in California before they head home and we kick off the off season. So we're just yeah, I mean three races left, but there's still a lot to do. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, yeah, still a lot to do. And then, man, that off season's gotta be busy too. Cause how early does Megan Lingner: Yes. Amanda Van Den Elzen: that season start again? Yeah. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. March. And so usually like the schedule has changed quite a bit the last few years. So typically it would start like end of February, very beginning of March on the West Coast. So they will go back to California and Pomona. And then sometimes they'll also hit Phoenix. we usually will skip those races just because number one, like Yeah, it's still early in the year. We still need a little bit more time to get ready. it's a long drive to go out there, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: being based out of Kansas. And also the Phoenix race does not run our class. So NHRA doesn't run every class at every race. So for us, it just doesn't make sense to go out there for one race because then the next race we go to. it was Louisiana. Unfortunately, we don't go there anymore because that was really fun. but then the next race for us is Florida. So it doesn't make sense to go from California to Florida. So typically we Amanda Van Den Elzen: my gosh, yeah. Megan Lingner: will miss that race. And with NHRA, we can drop races for points. they only count 10 races for points. So it's like, you know, if we can just drop that one, like it doesn't make sense to go out there unless we have two drivers. that are paying us to go out there. Then we will. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Right. Megan Lingner: but if we only have one, or obviously if we have zero, then we're not gonna go go out west. but the last few years, they changed the schedule. So Florida has been the first race of the year. And so that works out better in our favor because we get more races on the East Coast. so we'll go out and test usually in Georgia or Florida before that. yeah, it just makes sense because then like the this NHRA schedule is weird. So it used to be you start out West Coast, so you would do Pomona and Phoenix, go to East Coast to do Florida, and then then they would go back to West Coast to do Vegas, and then you go back to East Coast to do Charlotte. And it's like this doesn't make Amanda Van Den Elzen: My gosh. Megan Lingner: sense. So they changed it around so it's more of start out in Florida and then go to West Coast to do Pomona, Phoenix, Vegas, and then go back to Charlotte and do more East Coast Midwest. so it's been, yeah, the schedule's changing. but next year it's going back to that. So next year they are gonna start in Pomona and then head to Florida and then go back to Vegas and then come back to Charlotte. So we'll see For us, like we are still up in the air as far as what drivers we're gonna have next year. So that is one of our biggest things for off season prep. because Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: now like NHRA posted the 2027 national schedule, so not the regionals, because we do both, but the national schedule got posted, I believe it was right after a Labor Day. And they said, So there's 20 events. Our class only runs at 13. And so now is the time where we're in talks with drivers of okay, who can commit to full season next year? And we're pretty sure our driver that's driving right now is gonna renew for a full s season next year. So that takes up one car. So the second car, then we just go down our list of who has seniority, and so you know, who's our most recent driver that has done the most races and then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: what can they commit to go from there. And so are for us, like they have to pay to rent the car from us. So they are in charge of finding their own funding, whether that's personal or sponsorship or, you know, however they want to get it. We have had someone try OnlyFans and it did not work. That was not very welcoming and so However, they want to get their funding as long as it is appropriate. but yeah, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ha Megan Lingner: so we're having those discussions now because we want to have our season for twenty twenty seven all wrapped up by the time we get to PRI. So we know who's Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: doing what, what partners we have. Because January, I've got to start putting wraps on. And then February, we load up and the team will head out into February to go start testing. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. That yeah. We're we're a little bit frustrated with the fact that we still don't have a schedule for next year. We don't know how many races Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Amanda Van Den Elzen: we're doing. We've heard a lot of race rumors about tracks coming off of our schedule. I haven't heard as many Megan Lingner: Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: about tracks coming onto our schedule. So like Our partners are asking us to nail down contracts. They have Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: been for the last couple of months. And we don't even know how many events to say that we're racing. So Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah, that's so hard. Amanda Van Den Elzen: it's so difficult. And last year they waited until December to release it. So like we went into PRI. They released it the week of PRI last year. Megan Lingner: Okay. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And so like how are we supposed to have conversations about what next year looks like if we get three weeks Megan Lingner: Exactly. Amanda Van Den Elzen: of twenty twenty six to figure that out? So yeah. Megan Lingner: Seriously. Well, and I feel like this schedule didn't change much from 25 to 26, did it? So I don't understand why it would take, yeah, why it would take that long. But yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: No, it didn't change at all. We had one event that was on a different weekend. No, two events that was on a different weekend, and one of them they changed after they released the schedule. So like the Megan Lingner: Mm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Glen Helen race, they released the schedule and then they moved it back a week, which and they Megan Lingner: they did. Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: moved it to the same week as Off Road Expo. Like so Yeah. Megan Lingner: Okay, yeah. I noticed that. I noticed that. I didn't know if that was like trying 'cause that's not close to where Glen Helen is, right? So people Amanda Van Den Elzen: It's Megan Lingner: have to decide which one or the other. It's not like it's close enough where they could do both, right? Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: They could do both, but it's gonna be a really long day. I was talking to Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: some of the Method Wheels guys 'cause they had a booth at Off Road Expo and Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: they were at Glen Helen. They had a booth there too. So like their marketing team was split between the two events Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: after they had changed the schedule. And yeah, they they did do like off-road expo in the morning and then drive to the track for the evening races. But yeah, they said they I said it was a long day and in the time frame that they had to go from off-road expo to the track is when traffic was just horrendous. So yeah. So it's like, Megan Lingner: man, that sucks. yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: you know, I I think our series doesn't take into account the fact that we do things other than racing for racing. You know, like we right Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: now are working with Nexen on what events can we attend? They want to do off-road ride and drives. Showcasing the Roadian ATX and MTX this year. Well, of course, you know, we would be involved in those potentially with our two-seater truck and everything. So Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: we have to be able to have maybe our semi, definitely our two-seater truck, definitely our team out at a track. But we don't even know what dates we have to plan around. So yeah. Megan Lingner: Yeah, seriously. I wonder do you think with CORR and outlaw, do you think that is having a big impact on the schedule? Amanda Van Den Elzen: I don't think it's gonna impact the schedule, but I think it is going to impact our series. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think for a long time Champ has acted like they're a national series without necessarily acting like a national series, if that makes sense. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Just because they've been the biggest one, they've claimed that they're a premier national series and Now that we're seeing stronger regional series pop up, I think it's really highlighting Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: the fact that Champ is a Midwest series that races at Glen Helen once a year, on top of that. So, Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: in all transparency, we're having conversations right now about does it make sense to go after another championship with Champ, which like really Costs us money. There's no, there's no way to make money through the racing Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: side of that. Or is it more impactful to potentially go after some money in the West because we've got Marc the Shark is putting up money for the CORR racing. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: he's doing it for sure for this firebird race, but there's talks about him potentially doing it beyond that in preparation for his big MLSC race that he wants to put on the Grand Prix. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: So it's like, okay, that's that's a lot of cost for us to get out west, but there's opportunity for reward. And if there's big money, there's probably gonna be eyes on it too. So that's more impact for Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: us to be able to make a splash for our partners too. So, Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: you know, we met with Nexen last week, just kind of checking in on how the season's going and or went, I guess. We're we're done now. But checking in on how the season went and checking in on, you know, events they've got coming up and how we can continue to partner through the off season, which we'll talk about in this in this episode. But you know, talking to them about our contract for next year. And we're straightforward. You know, we don't know what events we have through champ. We at this point probably intend to race the whole season, but you know, we brought it up to them. Do you guys care if we chase a championship? Like what What do you guys want to see from our team if we were to cherry pick some races from Champ that we think make a big impact and cherry pick some races Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: from CORR or maybe Outlaw series that also make a bigger impact? Would that change how our obligation looks? You know, would would that impact how you view our value? And they said, you know what? Go out there, get some podiums, like make us look good. And we don't care if you're getting a championship or if you're chasing payout. Like just go do the dang thing. So you know, we're Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. That's good. Amanda Van Den Elzen: we're trying to figure out what that looks like for next year. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. That's kind of similar to the situation we had with Gunk, because like years ago, whenever they first stepped up with us, because I like I was transparent with them of like, hey, like I'm not racing full time, like I'm not gonna chase a championship. I'll do some races here and there. and they were just like Yeah, we don't care. Like we just we just want yeah, like the content, like we want you at some races and like we know we can capitalize on that, but they're like you don't need to be at every single race or and trying to do Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Megan Lingner: all this stuff. and so yeah, I feel like that is a sweet spot to be in because then you're not as pressured and it gives you more flexibility and room to get creative with Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: what you can do and yeah, like maybe f have fun to go race somewhere else. And that's like for us it was at first it was just match races that we were putting on ourselves. well, no, sorry. Before that, we did race a different series, which is no longer allows us to race there because they changed the rules. But that Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Megan Lingner: was a lot of fun. It was something completely different in drag racing world than what we've ever done. And it was cool. So it was really a big bummer that they changed rules and we like legally can't race there anymore. so then then that turned into, well, okay, let's just host like our own match races. That was okay. It's not like as competitive. So it was just kind of like meh. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: and then and then that was when IHRA popped up. So it's like, okay, here's something else we can do. And so yeah, so now Amanda Van Den Elzen: Wait, okay. Megan Lingner: we don't know what next year's gonna be other than an HRA. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. So okay, I didn't know that you guys hosted your own match races. Tell me like how did that come about? Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: How did partners treat that? Like I mean, that's that's something to be thinking about when we're talking about providing value, right? Like you can just Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: build your own races. Megan Lingner: Yeah, so it's something I don't know I guess in the off road world, I don't know if that's really a thing, but it is Amanda Van Den Elzen: No Megan Lingner: pretty common in the drag racing world. So for me it's just like, yeah, let's just go match race. so basically what it is, so tracks like the smaller local tracks, usually they don't run a full quarter mile. with the fast cars. And that's usually because there's just a not a long enough shutdown area for the cars to slow down enough. And so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Sure. Megan Lingner: like the fast cars that go like close to 200 miles an hour, they typically can't go a full quarter mile. So they'll just do eighth mile, which is very common in drag racing world. so they usually don't get the really big fast cars to come to those tracks. So usually Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Megan Lingner: they will either invite us out or like my dad has you know, relationships with these tracks because he's been racing with them for almost 50 years. So he'll just call up the track owner and be like, hey, I've got this weekend free. Like, can I come do a match race? For us, like we're just there to test. Like he wants to try a new tune up. He wants to try different parts. So for us, it's like we need to do this to test. But for the track, it's like, well, hey, like, why don't you advertise it and say there's gonna be some big cars there at the tracks you get more fans to come Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: in. So sometimes they'll do it when it's like a bigger race they have. So maybe like a Fourth of July event. like Fourth of July is big. Like a lot of tracks will do big events. They'll call them like nine under Night Under Fire or Night of Fire. Like very that's a very common name. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Sure. Megan Lingner: so basically they'll do they'll have like, you know, fireworks, of course, but they'll also have they'll try and get like some jet cars come out because those are always just an exhibition only Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: deal. And and then yeah, like maybe like two dragsters, two funny cars, and maybe maybe a pro mod or something like that. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And so the track will pay us to make runs. So for us, like it's beneficial because we get a test. And we get some money in return, which you know just covers the cost to get there and everything. So we're just breaking even. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: but you know, it's cool because then we get a lot of fans that come. and it's usually, yeah, like people that are like, This is so cool, like we never get to see nitro cars, like they're just so excited. So it's like a different type of Van than what you usually Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: see at the NHR races, because usually like, like for NHRA, like. The only race in the Midwest now is Brainerd, Minnesota. or Dallas, Texas. So there's really Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: like nothing in the middle. So if we can go somewhere that's in Missouri or Kansas or Nebraska or Iowa, you know, it's the for them, it's like the only time they get to see those types of cars. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Imagine how impactful that is for your partners too, because like how else Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: are they getting in front of that demographic? That's a completely new audience for them Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: and it's such a low barrier of entry for you guys to do. Megan Lingner: Yeah. well, like and it's also because it is something small and local. Like there is no like TV or live stream. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Right. Megan Lingner: so for us it's just like how much content can I get out of this and like make Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: this a big deal, like make it seem a lot bigger than what it could be. And so then that way the tracks are like, Hey, we definitely want you to come back next year, like put on another show, let's do this again. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And so so that's cool. Also another thing we do is for us to be able to get more return out of our investment, what and this is like what every team does at like the match races, is we'll literally like have the back door of our trailer down, lay out all these parts that we don't need, whether they're broken, twisted, don't work anymore, sp you know, used spark plugs, like used clutch discs that like are zero value to another race team or like, you know, used up tires. Like those are like a big money maker. And so people like we'll just fill up the whole back of the trailer. We'll also have, you know, like all our t-shirts and hats and merchandise all hung up. And you can make thousands of dollars selling all these used parts. And merchandise and stuff because like, yeah, like these fans will never be able to get their hands on something like this at any other races. And you know, like it's just so cool. Like you'll see people fill up a whole bed of a pickup truck of all these parts that they can't do anything with other than just, you know, put it on a shelf and look at. Yeah, it's just yeah, that's like Amanda Van Den Elzen: It's just memorabilia, yeah. Megan Lingner: their souvenir. And they're just like, This is so cool. So, like, it's just a different level of. excitement like for us and like it's fun to go do like my dad did it so much when I was a kid. So I remember being the one to like you know slinging parts and t shirts off the back of the Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: trailer and stuff. And what's funny is so one thing we did like my first actual like race back since I had Henry was in let's see that was twenty two and we went to a track in Eddeville, Iowa, which is middle of nowhere by a cornfield, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: you know? And but it's it's like a historic track. It's one that we raced at a bunch as a kid with our junior dragsters. And it was my like my first time back in the car in like two years. And so we kind of made like a big deal out of it. Rachel was pregnant at the time. So she couldn't drive. So we brought in someone else, Matt Sackman, to come and race with us. And so we just Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: do it to where it's like us versus each other. Like we'll and the track even made a trophy for it. And like usually they don't. And so literally like all we did, so like during the day we could practice, you know, make as many test runs as we wanted to. And then at night, it was just two passes that we made. And it was You know, like me and Matt versus each other. And then we'd like come back, swap lanes and run again. And then it was like, okay, whoever won like we didn't do like best two out of three, but it's just whoever won that second race was like the winner. And it's so Amanda Van Den Elzen: yeah. Megan Lingner: it was so funny. But like like Adam's family is from Iowa. A ton of them came out because like they've never seen me race before. my niece and nephew came out and we actually had them like I made a contest for them because like I was too busy then with like driving duty stuff, like talking to fans, so I couldn't be the one to like sell the parts and merch anymore. So Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: I assigned that to my niece and nephew and I told him I'll Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: give you each 10% of what you sell, and whoever sells the most, I'll give you an extra bonus. And my niece sold literally like a thousand dollars worth of t-shirts. And then one of her cousins, someone from Iowa, like was there, and like we have this huge box full of koozies, and it's just, you know, free ones that we get from other people, other teams, like sponsors, just like so many koozies. And my mom's like, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: I'm sick of carrying around all these koozies because like they only need like five, you know, and everyone's got like the same one that they use each time. And so she's Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yes. Megan Lingner: like, I'm sick of all these koozies. Like she just set it on the merch table and she's like, just give these away for free. My niece and one of her cousins took them up to the stands and they sold them for a dollar a piece. They sold the a whole box of koozies and like made so much money off of it. And it was like, you guys are geniuses. And so it's just so funny. Like, so that it's just it's just cool. Like it's fun. Match Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: races are cool. But but there's also the downside of like, okay, you're not an actual competition. Like this is an actual race. Like you're just here to make runs. So it's cool, but like you're missing out on that like competitive part. so that's yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. You're putting on the show but you're not actually competing. Yeah. Megan Lingner: Yeah, exactly. So it's cool. but then Yeah, you know, it kind of, you know, wears off. And then so yeah, so that was something that we were doing because yeah, like Gunk and NGK, like our sponsors, they're like, Well, like we like we still need you to race. Like I signed this contract. It wasn't like I have to do six races a year or something like that. It was just Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: like I would still be it behind the wheel, be in the car. And because we were relying on this other series and kind of like this year, we were like mid contract when it went away. And so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: it's like, okay, shoot, like we need to come up with something so we can still fulfill. And so that's how we're able to fulfill on that is to do match races. So yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I love that. talk, we talk a lot, Chris and I do, about like how do we become series proof? You know, how do we make our program Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: happen and our racing happen, regardless of who's running the series, how they're running it, where they're running it, when they're running it, you know? Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Like, yeah, we've we've got ideas Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: on that, but Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah, that's hard. Cause yeah, I mean, we're kind of in that situation again now. And it's like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: Yeah, like what do we do? Like I guess we'll go book some match races for next year. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Probably. Which sounds like fun, honestly. I think that's my kind of racing. I'm not that competitive, so Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. It it is fun and it's something cool because like you can yeah, like you can get creative. Like there's no limit. Like the series, you know, like I don't think champ does this, but like in HRA at NHRA, like we can't sell merch. And so like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: we have that limit. So when we have the freedom to be like, you can sell anything and everything you want, like, well we'll empty out that entire trailer. Like so yeah, so it's Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: cool because you can be you can get creative and the only thing is like because the tracks will advertise it to get more s people there. And I feel Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: like that's where like with off road, like there's not much advertising from Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: either the tracks or the series. So Yeah, like you could come to a regional race but then there's not any spectators there. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: so it's like, well then you're not gonna get this return out of it and you're not gonna be able to get that exposure for your sponsors, like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: yeah, I guess like what a drag racing like match race could so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Which is wild to me because think about how simple it is that like these little tracks in the middle of nowhere, they basically have their little community around them and that's it. And they're pulling Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: in spectators that are willing to spend money on merch Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: and koozies and parts that do nothing, you know? And the gate fees and the f yes. And they're paying gate fees Megan Lingner: Yeah, just paperweights. Amanda Van Den Elzen: and they're buying beer and food, right? Like Those tracks, Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: like that, those are the tracks that are gonna stay around. And I feel like Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: you see the tracks that like especially in our sport, they run one event a year and that's it. And they don't even advertise that to the people around them in their communities very well. And you don't see people show up and it's like, man, there is a miss there. There is a huge miss there. And yeah, I mean, we as racers, Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. That's frustrating. Amanda Van Den Elzen: we as racers, we own part of that. you know, we we own part of that, but we can't do it by ourselves either. Yeah. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Well, it is for me it's the off season. For you, maybe. Maybe it's the off season. I don't know. Last episode. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: We Megan Lingner: I don't know. Yeah, we c we keep going back and forth of like, okay, should we do the last race of the year? Should we not? Like the the next one is next weekend. And I think we're for sure not gonna do it because then I also have to leave to go out to Vegas. So Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: it's just like it's just a lot to do in one weekend. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: and it's like primetime hunting weekend, so Adam's out. And so the Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: last race of the year, he's he's like, if I can get a deer before then, then we'll go do it. And for me, like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Okay. Megan Lingner: it's at Wheatland. And so I'm like, like I've been watching back like my footage and I want to like like we really want to get a sim because I know some the tracks are on there and like Wheatland Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: is one of those. And so just like, imagine like I could get good At you know, driving and practicing in the off season to do that. But I've just been thinking about like, okay, what you and Chris have told me, and like watch watching back like my GoPro footage is like, okay, I see like I messed up there, or like, yeah, like I should have taken the turn better this way. So I want at Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: least like one more shot at the track to be like, okay, I have improved. Like I'm getting better as a driver. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: so I'm really gonna try to push him to try to do that last race. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think you should. I think you should. Yeah. All right. So Megan Lingner: Yeah. We should. But but yeah, has anything hap is anything new for you guys in your off season? Amanda Van Den Elzen: honestly, we've taken the last couple of weeks to just decompress a little bit. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: last night we sat down and recorded a bunch of content for social media stuff. Megan Lingner: Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: So that's my job today is to go through a lot of that, get some of it edited and scheduled out. And we've got one for AMSOIL too, which okay, Sarah gave us the coolest like Prompt that she wants us to create is an ASMR oil change video And I'm Megan Lingner: Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: like, this is gonna be fun. So tonight we're recording and Megan Lingner: Yeah, those two r well. Amanda Van Den Elzen: yes, we're gonna record an ASMR oil change VDE. But I think I'm gonna double record it. So we've got ASMR and also like talking to the camera. So like as he's going through, Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think I'm gonna pull the ASMR stuff. as he's doing it and have him talk as he's doing it. So I'll have two separate content pieces I'm recording, but yeah. Megan Lingner: Yeah, that'll be good. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think so. I think so. But honestly, not a whole lot. Chris has been doing a lot of mountain biking. He got Megan Lingner: Mm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: back on his bike. He's doing a a race on November 1st now. So he is Megan Lingner: Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: prepping for that because, you know, why not just go from racing to racing? Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Why just sit at home? Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, we've got that. We've got the surprise that is on the back burner and I'm working on I can't say much Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: about that, but there is some work involved on the on the back end of that. yeah. So I wish I could talk about it. I do wish I could talk about it because there's Megan Lingner: Good. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: a lot of cool things that that are involved with that, but Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: But yeah, you know, our our off season is off to a slow start. We're we're definitely talking about like strategy. Like I said, we're talking about what does our schedule even look like next year? There's a lot of planning in motion right now, but there's also a lot of tactical work right now, too. So, you know, I think that that kind of segues into what we want to talk about today is what are those things that racers could and should be doing in the off season. To keep their programs on track and growing and and continuing to add value through the off season. So I know we both kind of came up with some points. I'm curious if we thought of any of the same ones. Megan Lingner: Yeah. I know. That's what I'm thinking too. I bet we did, but we'll see. Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I I tried really hard to think of like some off the wall ones, so that hopefully not, but they're not that off the wall. Do you wanna Megan Lingner: Okay. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: go first or do you want me to throw mine out? Megan Lingner: yeah, I can go first. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Okay. Megan Lingner: Okay. So first one for me. Well, since you had talked about recording content and all that, so for me in the off season, because I yeah, record a lot of our own content or I'm getting it from John or whoever media we have. So for me, I d like will dedicate my off season time to organizing and backing up. all the files because like I do have so like during the season I have a Google Drive folder that I share with just our partners and then I will add a folder inside each race that has and it's just photos that we're getting from the track photographers, the NHRA photographers. And so so I will send them those. So like every Monday morning after a race I write up a quick email of just like, here's our results, here's a press release, here's the TV time, here's our next race, and here's the content from this weekend. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: So that way they can have that. So that's like pretty organized. But when it comes to all of the social media videos and all these Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: random clips that I'll get all throughout the year, and I'll be like, my gosh, this is like, this is a great one. And I'll post it like to stories or I'll just like completely forget. And like there's so much content I have on my phone that like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: I never even post. So for me, it's like, okay, I need to sort through everything and I'll organize it by like was it in the shop or was it at the track? Is it a like specific like sponsor promotion? Or is it kind of more just like the team working on the car, like B roll style? Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: so I'll kind of organize it into different categories. And then like I actually started on it this weekend because I know my phone's almost out of storage and I'm going into I like I'm gonna go to Vegas for the race in SEMA and all that. And it's like I need to clear up all this storage off of my phone so I don't run out Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: while I'm out there. So it's like, okay, I need to work on that now. So I'm I categorize it, so I s Dropbox is my backup because I pay for the two terabyte storage for that. And then I also have hard drives too that I'll download Amanda Van Den Elzen: yeah. Megan Lingner: onto too. So that's my backup. so I get everything off of my computer, off my phone, I put it onto Dropbox into these categories. And then also that helps me too because I've already got a ton of content planned of what I can use for off season based on Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Megan Lingner: Yeah, this could be an ASMR video This can be a like the team working in the pits, montage, or this is you know, we just like we've been able to I've been able to categorize the types of posts we do based on what Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: has performed well and then just repeat that cycle. Like it's the five types of posts and I repeat it every single week. So it's like Okay, I've got this huge library of content, whether I have posted it or it's something I've never posted before, and I can use that during the off season. So I'm not going into these so like half of November, December, January, and then like half of February. So like three to four months of not having like racing content. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: And I don't want to have to go to the race shop every day, which I know that's like some people Obviously you go to the race shop every day to work on the cars. but for me, like I don't work on the cars that much. So to me it's like I need to get a lot of content when I do go to the race shop to kind of be like, okay, like what now what am I gonna post today? So Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: I for me it's like having this library that I can use to pull from so I'm not going dormant on our social media for the next four months. And I'm still constantly like delivering for our sponsors. So even though it is off Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: season, I can still post videos of us doing oil changes or using spark plugs or cleaning the cars from during the track. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: I think people s like for me, I used to get caught up in the mindset of like, well this isn't, what am I trying to say? Yeah. Yeah, it's not Amanda Van Den Elzen: New or current. Yeah. Megan Lingner: current. Like Like, you know, I used we used to think when social media used to be like chronological of like, well this happened two months ago. Like it's not Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: gonna be relevant today. Like people are gonna know that we didn't just do this. And so then people aren't gonna like it and engage with it. And now it's just like yeah, it's the complete opposite. Like, even Amanda Van Den Elzen: That's just not true. Megan Lingner: with on Facebook and Instagram, like I'm s it's feeding me posts in my algorithm that are two months old. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Uh-huh. Megan Lingner: because they're still getting traction. So like it doesn't need to be current and in the moment. Like it can be from six months ago. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: No, it just needs to be engaging. Yeah. Yes. Okay, I we we did kind of repeat on this one a little bit. Megan Lingner: Okay. What's yours? Amanda Van Den Elzen: So I I said you need to lean into, not out of social media. So okay, you were talking about organizing your social media. library basically, like your content library. And I wanna bring up, I use Claude a lot in just about everything that I do. So I pay for Megan Lingner: Mm, okay. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: like the lowest tier. It's like $20 a month for Claude. And I think I think it was even less because I paid for the year up front. But with Megan Lingner: Okay, yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: that, you get Claude Co work. And Claude Cowork like links into different connectors across the different programs and like services and stuff that you use. And one of them is Dropbox. So you can actually connect Claude Co work to Dropbox. And I had it look at because we do the same thing as you. We have a 2026 folder and we share that folder with our partners and like their social media agencies and stuff like that. And then in that folder we have different folders for each of our races. And then in each of those race folders, We put subfolders. So we've got our photos, we've got our videos from J-Will We've got my Metaglasses videos, we've got our fireside Megan Lingner: Mm, mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: chats after the fact. And like we kind of break down the different kinds of content in those folders. what I had Claude do was I had it look at my race folder. And build me a spreadsheet of what's the name of every single file that's in this folder. What is the subject of it? Like what are we doing? Who's in it? and it doesn't know people's names. Megan Lingner: So like it can it can see like the visual of what is in the VDE. Okay. I didn't know it could do that. Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. I had to like point it at a couple different connectors, but it walked me through how to set it up. Like I didn't have to know how Megan Lingner: Okay, yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: to do that. And so not only could it see the visual, but then it had me like connect it to a a service that would allow it to pull the transcript. So it could tell me Megan Lingner: Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: what people were saying in the videos. And then I had it rank it as like, is this be real or is this like subject matter that we should be using as like a topic? and how engaging would it be as a social media post on a scale from one to 10 based on my target audience and like the things that we post about our content pillars. So then I had a fully ranked content library and it told me exactly what was happening in every single clip. So now I just have a spreadsheet for that. That entire folder. So I will Megan Lingner: Yeah. Wow. Amanda Van Den Elzen: say, like the work that you're doing manually, I had Claude do and it took about 35 minutes. Megan Lingner: I don't know. I'm just so used to like doing it manually, but it's like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: that makes so much sense. Like to have Claude do that for you. my gosh. Yeah. You need to teach me how to use AI. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. So I am not spending I will, I will. I am not spending time organizing, but I will say in our off season, the time that maybe I would have been spending organizing our content, I am purposefully going out and I'm finding, and I want to be very clear on this, I'm finding creators, not other racers on Instagram. Megan Lingner: Mm, yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: To figure out how to get better at creating hooks, creating engaging content. Why do people watch the things they watch? How can we purposefully get content that is fan-facing? Who is my target audience? What do they want to see? Why do they interact with content? So, like, I am learning so much and just saving real after reel after reel Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: about like Super hooks and like using effort authority hooks and like how do we build authority for maybe an audience that doesn't even know what short course off-road is, but would be interested Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: in it because they like extreme sports and circle track racing, you know? Like, Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: so I I think that It's so important to lean into social media in the off season because that is the only fan facing interaction that a lot of racers Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: have this time of year. Megan Lingner: Yeah, yeah, exactly. my gosh. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: That is like mind blowing how you're able to use Claude to do that for you. And that's cool. Well, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Yes. Megan Lingner: and okay, I do wanna add a little shameless plug here, but Erica, I haven't really done much with it, but Erica is working on a companion app. with auto influencer. And so you I need to have you guys have a conversation because she's making something that will do like that research part and to see okay, this is what is working well. This is what people are interacting with. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And then I don't know how I don't know the technicalities of how this works. But Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: then it will it will spit out a shot list for you and give you a checklist. Amanda Van Den Elzen: yeah. Megan Lingner: And so like with AutoFluencer now, something you can do is put your race schedule in there or like what events you're going to. So like SEMA and PRI. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: so it's a companion app with it. Like it's not actually part of AutoFluencer, but it's links to AutoFluencer. So it knows, okay, So you've got SEMA show coming up. Here's a shot list of some videos that you could get and like. And and it tells you description of so one of we did like it's just all still in like beta mode right now. So we just Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: gave it this like sample this sample racer and they have an energy drink sponsor. So it's like do a video of where like different placements throughout the SEMA show of holding the energy drink or something like but anyway, I don't I don't know if I'm supposed to be saying this or anything because sh it's still like a big work in progress. okay, okay, cool. Okay, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Get people excited. I saw it on LinkedIn, so she did she did talk about it on LinkedIn. Megan Lingner: cool. So yeah, so I don't know. But anyways, that could just be something, yeah, to kind of go with the the research part of it. And then I think it's cool Amanda Van Den Elzen: Uh-huh. Megan Lingner: to then just spit out a shot list of like, okay, and then it'll have like send your reminder of like, okay, every morning here's two videos that you need to get for this day. And so and then you can just check them off. And so it's just cool. But Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: yeah, so that could go in hand with what you're saying, but Amanda Van Den Elzen: I don't know if you've had a chance to play around with Muse. That's Meta's AI tool. So Megan Lingner: No, I haven't. Amanda Van Den Elzen: remember back when they had Manus and you told me like, hey, I had it look at my like best performing posts and Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: stuff, right? so they got rid of Manis, but they now have Muse and it's an AI agent, meaning that it can go out and do things for you versus just tell you about them. And what's really cool about Muse is that it can see everything on Instagram, everything on Facebook, because it's meta versus like Claude can't get past that like login wall, I guess, that firewall. So I'm able to like find these reels and stuff about like okay, a super hook, right? Like, okay, I found this really cool reel about a super hook and I understand it, but I'm having difficulty trying to apply it to what we do as racers. So Muse already knows who I am and what we do because I've talked to it about VDE racing and Chris's stuff and where we're going and what we're doing, right? So I can say, hey, can you like link this reel? Like I just grabbed the copy link from the reel. in this reel, he talks about super hooks. Can you help me apply that to the race team and help me write some super hooks for this topic that I want to post about? And bam, like it might not be perfect copy and paste, but it at least helps me kind of bridge from the idea that the creator is putting out there. Cause let's face it, a lot of the creator posts are about like online coaching and like selling products and things, you know, like Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: There's very little, if any, about like being a racer or or an athlete of any kind and and you know, marketing Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: your brand that way, which is really different. It is a different way of thinking about it. But this tool does a really good job of helping to kind of bridge that too. So yeah, I think there's a lot of opportunity in the off season to explore how Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: to be better at social media. thing Megan Lingner: Yeah. That's interesting. Amanda Van Den Elzen: One thing that you said too that I really want to repeat because I wrote it down as well is reusing content is not a sin. Megan Lingner: Yes. Yes. Yeah. We Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ha ha. Megan Lingner: need to put that on like a quote card and post it on social media. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, reusing content is not a sin. It is it is expected. It is very valuable for you. If it's performing Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: well once, wait two months, post it again. if Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: if it's a cool clip, you can put a different message behind it and use it again. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Exactly. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah. I'll even like, yeah, if it's like a sponsor promo one, I'll reuse the clips over and just do a different voiceover. And like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: it's yeah, it's a brand new piece piece of content by just reusing an old one. And I know something that a Amanda Van Den Elzen: Exactly. Megan Lingner: lot of teams do, and even like the pro guys do this too, is they'll usually kick off like January 1st and do like here's my top 10 posts from the year before. And like, I mean, it's cool, like I get it, but I mean, I don't know. I like it, but I also don't like it because it's like to me, it's like, okay, well, you just don't have anything else to post. And so that's that's why you're Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: doing this. Whereas I don't know, I feel I feel like for me, I'd rather just like sprinkle them in and not make Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: it like Here's a series of my top Den posts from last year. You know, what Amanda Van Den Elzen: Well, Megan Lingner: do you think? Amanda Van Den Elzen: and when you think about it from the audience perspective, which we talked about like what's in it for me, right? When when we're posting, here's my top 10 posts from last year, there's no reason for the audience to audience to want anything from that. There's no curiosity. You're already telling them that they've seen it already. Like there's no reason that Megan Lingner: Yeah, that's true. Amanda Van Den Elzen: somebody would want to watch it. But if you have really engaging content that you post a second time. And you don't advertise this as a repeat. If it was engaging the first time, it's probably engaging enough the second time that A, people Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: might not even remember that they've seen it before. Or B, like if they have seen it before, it was engaging the first time. It's probably going to be interesting to them the second time too, right? it it acts as like a little nudge, a little reminder versus redundant. And I think I think what Megan Lingner: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: We post, we think about things so much more than our audience does. And we think about it from our point of view instead of from their point of view. But like think about it as you going through content on your own phone, right? The things that pop up on your feed, sometimes the algorithms will show you the same thing twice, not because the creator posted it twice, but because you spent enough time on it that it thinks that you're probably going to look at it again. And Think to yourself, Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: how many times do you look at it again? yeah, that's right. I really liked this quote. Or, yeah, I wanted to try that recipe and I hadn't done it yet. I'm gonna screenshot it now and maybe this week I'll make it, right? Like Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: it's the same thing. I think we we need to get out of our own heads. The the I'm posting the top 10 things from last year is about me. We need to think about it from our from our audience standpoint. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Yes. Good point. Okay. Do you want me to go to number two? Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan Lingner: So my number two is the proof of performance report and also the resume to update. And so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ooh, okay. Megan Lingner: so twofer. So for me, we do quarterly reports and so coming off of Q three now, that's Like just got those all wrapped up. And there's been a lot of different variations that I've done over the years with them. Like they have been 50-page presentations, like super complex. Like I used to do way too much. And then I realized, okay, I need to cut back because they're probably not even looking at every page here. So and this was something that I had learned from Alex Striler and in his book. And so drumroll because book number two is in first phase of publishing and should be out by PRI. So that's exciting. Amanda Van Den Elzen: that's so exciting. Megan Lingner: Yeah. And it's really good. So I read through the first version, like didn't really have any changes to make. So it's a really good book. So I'm excited for everyone to to get that. But that's where like I had first learned of Amanda Van Den Elzen: That's awesome. Megan Lingner: what is a proof of performance report, like the importance of sending them because sometimes sponsors aren't watching your every move at the track or on social media or whatever else you're doing. So it's just a a friendly reminder of like, here's what we did for you and a recap of how we measured it and so that can look different for each brand. But for me, I like to Amanda Van Den Elzen: Uh-huh. Megan Lingner: Do, I mean, like I said, I I am in touch with them after every race to give them the photos and to give them the results. But then I also like to do a quarterly review, which is basically, I mean, yeah, here's basically everything we did on like our Monday recaps, just a recap of that of the last three months. And I use auto influencer to insert the like earned media value. How many posts we did for them. So like I've got like my maxima one here pulled up. So I'm gonna like spit off some stats here. But basically Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: for like just for maxima, for Q3, we did, and this is for Randy Meyer Racing, Megan Meyer, Rachel, which Rachel really doesn't do much because she like I'll post for her maybe once a week on Amanda Van Den Elzen: Hehehehehe Megan Lingner: our page but she'll like you know she's an adult she can post on her own page and then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yep. Megan Lingner: that's basically it I don't really track any of our other drivers because number Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: one none of them are on social media and so if they do post anything at all it's not Amanda Van Den Elzen: That is wild. Megan Lingner: it's not gonna get good numbers. Yeah it is wild and Amanda Van Den Elzen: It's wild. Megan Lingner: number two They're not technically sponsored by these brands, you know, like this Amanda Van Den Elzen: Right. Megan Lingner: like Maxima is a sponsor of Rainy Might Racing, not Mitch Coletta. And so they're Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: not required at all to do any promotion for our sponsors other than just drive the car, right? so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Right, yes. Megan Lingner: for Q3, just for Maxima, 67 posts, 2.3 million views, 31,000 engagements, and That equal to just under 70,000 in earned media value. And so combined, we have a total of 310,000 followers, and that's a 4.04 engagement rate, which is pretty good. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: so that's just it's so easy to use AutoFluencer to be like, tell me those numbers. And then I just have like call out boxes in my spreadsheet, or not my spreadsheet, in my presentation. I don't use spreadsheets anymore, thankfully. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And so just those call-out boxes of like, okay, I'm gonna update this number, this number, this number, this number. And then I do another slide of like, here's our top three posts, the earned media value for each one. I also break down the performance like by page. So and I also have like a year-to-date summary as well. So year to date for Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm, mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: maxima, a hundred and eighty thousand, a hundred and fifty-four posts. For Maxima, we're on Rainy My Racing. 50 posts were on my page. Six were on Rachel's page. and then I'll get into okay, here's our year to date racing results. And then I have just one page of okay, Q3 race results. I have it like boxes, and like here's a picture, the driver, driver's number one stats, driver number two stats, box, picture, stat, stat. box pictures. So I we only had five races. So it's easy to fit that in Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: one page. I also have just screenshots of any media coverage that we got. And then I have, okay, here's our race schedule for Q four. I also have just a page about side by side stuff. And then that's it. So that's Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: our our Q three proof of performance, like quarterly review report. But then basically what I'll do is When it comes time to end of the year, because I've already built up this information for each quarter, I just throw that all together into one year-end proof of performance and just send that off. And it's just it's a lot easier doing it quarterly instead of for me because Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: I didn't used to. So it used to wait till the very end of the year and trying to add up all these numbers and trying to find all these screenshots and trying to see what were our top Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: three posts and all this stuff. So For me, it's just easier to do it by quarter. It only takes a few hours to put it together and send it off. And then yeah, it makes it easier at the end of the year as well. And then also the other thing I said your resume. So I know like we talk about you shouldn't always try to go for like the applications, but there's some that we do that like NGK, for example, they still do an application process. And so we just have like a one page, like our racing resume document basically looks just like a job resume with just some pictures added into it. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And so basically it's just like one pager what we did for this year. And whenever we're doing those online applications to include that. And it doesn't need to be a full-on deck like 50 page presentation. It can just be a one pager. Which is what I call your resume. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes. so honestly, like we don't really send our resume to anybody, but we do keep one updated for Chris. And part of that is so that we can keep track of all of his achievements Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: and things. Because I mean, something simple like when we sent over our proposal for our twenty seven, twenty eight, however long. contract we're going to do with Nexen again. When we sent over the proposal for that, like we wanted to showcase some stats. And like the guy who oversees the marketing team, as well as a couple of other functions of the business. He kind of makes the end decisions before things go over to South Korea for final approvals. And Kirk really cares about flashy things and optics and he wants to see podiums, lots and lots of podiums, right? Megan Lingner: Hm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And so, you know, we we do say like, you know, sponsors don't care about wins. Well, sometimes they do. Like that's important, you know, especially for things that are in the performance space, like tires. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: so like I was like, man, I should put stats in here on how many podiums, how many wins Chris has had over his career, especially with Nexen, because Our entire pro, you know, program, the pro spec program at least, has been with Nexen. So all of these things have happened as part of this program partnership. And so, you know, like we keep a resume updated with that stuff just so that we can grab onto it. And, you know, proof Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: of performance looks a little bit different for everybody, right? We don't put together a Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: deck. quarterly, you know, but when we do put together, you know, conversations, whether it's informal in a meeting or formally like our proposal for next year, I have a whole page in there about the work that we've done together and the collaborative things Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: that Nexen and VDE Racing have done and what the impact has been of those things. So, you know, a lot of the things that you're talking about having really structured for your partners, like we do a little bit less structured But the information and the showing the value is still there. So yeah, Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I I think this is important. I don't think it looks the same for every racer and every partnership. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: but it is so important. And it's definitely Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: something that, especially in the off season, like if you're not collecting this data already, take the time right now to map out what you do wanna collect, how you're gonna collect Megan Lingner: yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: it, how you're gonna measure it, and how you're gonna present that for. Maybe next year when you have that information. now now is the time. Now is the time. Megan Lingner: Mm. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You don't wanna wait till it's December and you're busy with Christmas Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: and everything else and it's like, shit, like I still need to do that. Like for me, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: yeah, it just works if I just am you know, I if I have a regimen of like, okay, you know when it comes to the last week of the quarter, like I have a reminder on my schedule of like, hey, like start looking into getting these numbers updated. And then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: that way I'm not scrambling and be like, my gosh, like I don't even know. But thankfully like autofluencer makes it so easy to do that. And then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: I also yeah, I cut back on some things that I also was reporting on, like T V views because Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: I realized like that just wasn't important for certain sponsors. So I Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: was doing a lot of work that didn't quite matter. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: it would just take time to get that data from NHRA because then they have to pull it from Fox or whoever. And it was just kind of a hassle. And then I mean it could take like maybe a whole month just to get what was our viewership. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And then it's like, well, I kind of missed my window here for my like my quarterly review. So that's like one of the things Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: also also something that I used to do is anytime whether I had an interview or one of our drivers had an interview, I would reach out to the podcaster or newspaper, TV station, whoever did the interview, and I'd ask them for their rate card and what is their like average viewership as well. So I could just add Amanda Van Den Elzen: yeah. Megan Lingner: that onto the number of like, hey, you know, we did this much media and we're getting this many views or this many eyeballs on it or whatever. And it's just another thing that like I would either never hear from them or the numbers would Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: obviously be really inflated or they'd be like, we don't even track that. Like, why are you asking for that? So it's like, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: okay. So like I learned like there was a lot of stuff that I've just learned over the years of like, This is like base level what we need to know. If they do ask for something else, then yeah, I'll go try to find that. But typically Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: they don't want to spend more than two minutes looking at something. So it's like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: if I can keep it in within just a couple of like slides on a presentation and then that's easy for both parties. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Well, and think about like when we had Sarah Oettinger on from AMSOIL and she said, like, wow, you did a really good job of selling your series, but what about you? Right? Like, Megan Lingner: Yes, yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: do TV metrics really represent the viewership that you are getting as a racer? Or does it really just show like what your series is putting out there and and getting? So, you know, I think it's one hundred percent appropriate to take metrics off the table that you don't have a direct impact on. Like I can't change Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: how many people are logging in and looking at flow racing. I can't change that. So regardless Megan Lingner: Right. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: of what effort I put out, that number will not change. So it's not really a good metric Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: for me to track for my own performance. But you know, it does drastically change when I put a ton of effort into social media and you know, I can see direct Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: impact of my effort and Chris's effort and our team's effort in social media. So like those are the numbers we should really be putting out there are the things that we have control over. Because imagine if our partners are putting huge value on these numbers that we can't control. Let's say TV metrics, right? So Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: let's say like flow racing in our in our sport, it's flow racing for champ. Let's say flow racing tanks and they go down to like 25% the viewership that they have right now. There's nothing that I can do to control that, but I've built that value for my partner to be the thing that I am delivering. So now I'm delivering 25% of what I used to deliver, even though I'm putting in the exact same effort. But now they have reason Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: to pay me 25% of what they paid me previously. Right. So Megan Lingner: Yes. That's such a good point. Yeah. That is definitely Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: something to consider. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Only deliver what you can control. Megan Lingner: Yeah, yeah. Well speaking of flow, NHRA is getting rid of their live stream and they're going to flow next year. Amanda Van Den Elzen: how do you feel about that? Megan Lingner: Okay. I'm I don't know because like pro, yes, we can essentially reach new viewers, people who have subscription to flow that might not be watching drag racing. So I understand that. For me, it's also pro because now instead of paying for two subscriptions, I just have to pay for one, which Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: I'm already paying for. So it's it's I'm saving money there, which is nice. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: con is They're they have said that they're not doing sportsmen. So that Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Megan Lingner: so we're gone. So we're losing TV time. So that's Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: well what you just said. So that's gonna impact us. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And because on the NHRA live stream, yeah, they would do the entire race and then they break it up. into if this was pro or sportsman and then they would also have they just had a ton of history, like a huge library of races you could go back to. So I think I'm assuming all that is disappearing. so I don't know. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Was it Megan Lingner: I'm just like kind of mm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Was it behind a paywall before or is this new? It was. Okay. But Megan Lingner: Yeah. It was a pay ball. And I think it was maybe ninety nine bucks a year. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And it was just NHRA stuff for that? Okay. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. NHRA is just their own live stream. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Okay. Then yeah, I could see how flow could be an improvement from that. C if it was already paywall gated but Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: not discoverable, now it'll be paywall gated but also discoverable. That that is Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: a bonus, yeah. Stinks you won't be on there anymore, but again, you can't control that. Yeah. Megan Lingner: Yeah, but yeah. Yeah, so I'm not I'm not gonna be watching it. So yeah. So yeah, so that's something, yeah, that we have to take in consideration next year because like gunk and like Hedinger's, who's one of our main sponsors this year, they really like the TV time Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan Lingner: and they like like they just like getting more eyeballs on the car, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: you know. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: And so that's gonna really impact us that way. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. I wonder if there's something that you could supplement, you know, that with I don't know. I don't know what that would look like. Maybe like can you guys star stream from in the cars or anything like that? Or are there exclusivity rights? Yeah, that stinks. Megan Lingner: No, NHR wouldn't let you. Yeah. Like they are very like even strict with allowing you to have a GoPro on the car. Like they don't want like yeah, Amanda Van Den Elzen: wow. yeah, J-Will said that. Megan Lingner: they're very, very strict and like with everyone having or yeah, any type of camera on the car. So yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Hmm. I wonder if that would still hold true now that you don't have live stream, though. Because if they're not because I mean, the reason they're strict about it, Flow Racing pays the series to have their content. So they actually purchase that content, which is why, you know, the series becomes so protective over like live stream rights, is because they're they're selling those rights. So if they happen for free somewhere else, they're losing value. But I wonder Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: if because you don't have a live stream of your class, if they would be more forgiving. I'm not sure. Megan Lingner: I don't know. I don't know. It just depends. It depends. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I don't know either. Yeah. Megan Lingner: So we'll see. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. All right. That point that you made was not a repeat of mine. Yeah. Megan Lingner: Yeah, okay. What's your number two? Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: So my number two is to get active on LinkedIn. And yes, during the off season. Megan Lingner: Good one. Yes. Okay, that can lead into my number three. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ooh, ooh okay, all right. During the off season, is not is not gonna be the time that you're probably going to be solidifying partnerships, right? If you haven't had this relationship throughout the year, you're probably not gonna just hop on in November and be like, guess what? I need some money, and they're gonna be like, Yeah, here it all is. that's not gonna happen. Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: But right now is the perfect time to get onto LinkedIn. start thinking about like what are the companies that really align with you, the things that you do both on and off the track, your brand, the values you stand for, maybe some of the products that you have used for years and years and years without ever even thinking, like, hey, I could be a really good advocate for this. Write down a list of those companies. Then go to LinkedIn and search for those companies. Follow every single one of those companies. Connect with their marketing people, connect with their sales people, connect with their operational folks. The more people that you can know at this company, the better. connections on LinkedIn are not the same thing as relationships in real life. So just sending a connection, getting a request accepted. And and moving on doesn't do anything. But once you start to build your feed of those people, maybe keep even a notebook or or a side note or Claude schedule or something that has who you actually want to get, in the with. Who do you actually want to start knowing as a human? And go to their page once a week, once every couple of weeks, however often they're posting. Comment on their posts, learn about what they're working on, you know, start to really get ingrained in what that business looks like behind the scenes. Because LinkedIn will tell you a lot of the things you won't see on their public-facing social media page, because they're professionals talking to each other instead of trying to advertise a product to a buyer, right? make those connections, but then actually build the relationships. by showing up all the time in their comments. Comment on the company posts, but more importantly, comment on the individual's posts and provide value. Don't just thumbs up because you're never gonna make a connection off of an emoji. but, you know, really Megan Lingner: Yes. Amanda Van Den Elzen: start to integrate yourself into why why is this marketing person posting about this campaign win that they had or something, you know? And And think about it. How does that affect their target audience? How would motorsports marketing come into play and start providing your own insights on LinkedIn? You're gonna learn a lot. You're gonna start to build connections. And if you start early enough and actually start having conversations based off of these insights you're providing, that opens up the door to schedule meetings at places like SEMA and PRI, which are upcoming. So, make a point to be a human and build a real relationship on LinkedIn. and when you Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: do make those meetings, whether it's SEMA, PRI, or a random Zoom call in February, don't go into it with the, yeah, here comes the sponsorship. Go into it with, Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: yeah, I'm building this relationship and I really want to learn more about why these people are doing the things that they do. So that maybe I could figure out if there's a gap that I can help fill. so I think that that's a really big opportunity in the off season. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. I agree. That okay, so that leads perfectly into my number three. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, what's that? Megan Lingner: so my number three, like, yeah, goes right along with that. So because we are coming into SEMA in PRI, so mine is to make a list of people. And I just like to aim for like five people. Like five that I don't know, I don't have a connection with, but I really want to get to know them and establish that relationship and make a first impression. So then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Megan Lingner: yes, down the road we can work together. But I mean, like you said, like it it does take time. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: I mean, I think like we've talked about this before. Like, yeah, you can't just go up to someone at a a booth or Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: send him an email and like the first thing out of your mouth is, hey, I'm looking for sponsors. Like will you sponsor me or whatever? And so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: I like for me, so I'll look at what brands do I like? Try to see if they've posted anything that like, hey, they're attending the show. whether it's on LinkedIn or if they have a booth, then they might be posting something right now, like on their Facebook and Instagram about where their booth is, or just look at the like the list on like the SEMA's website or their app to see what vendors Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: are there. And so yeah, I will use LinkedIn to kind of figure out, okay, who is like that higher up or that like decision maker and try to figure out. you know, see their pictures so I know what they look like, like know their Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: name. And then also have like a list of backups too, like, okay, in case that person's not there, or if that's person busy, like who's a backup person that Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Megan Lingner: I should go and try to meet with. So I just I like to have a game plan. So I'm not just going like showing up to the shows, just wandering through the halls and just hoping that I just stumble into someone's booth and just immediately connect with them and they're just gonna be like, yes, let's work together. So I Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: like to have a game plan and I don't I don't want to overwhelm myself and be like, I need to talk to 20 different people and establish these relationships and get meetings booked. Like I just want to aim for five. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: so yeah, so I'll I'll aim for five, try to like connect with them at the show and then like you said, like then continue to try to follow up with them. So then yeah, it could be a conversation in February over Zoom, like what you said. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: but I love what you had said, like use something like Claude, 'cause I'll just use honestly, I'll just use a spreadsheet and be like, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: okay, like this is the company name, the person's name, their title. If I got their business card, I'll put like their email address. And then like I'll try to also write down as soon as I leave that booth. What was like three things we talked about? Like, did they Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: have kids? Did they have pets? Like where do they live? Like just something that I can then remember when I am sending them a follow up message of like, I don't know, something about the weather or Christmas time with their family, you know, whatever whatever it is we talk Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, yes. Megan Lingner: about. but then yeah, like then like have this system in place to continue to follow up with them. And yeah, I love what you said. Like then like following them on LinkedIn and connecting with them and interacting with their content and leaving thoughtful comments on their posts and just like the whole point is to yes, build a relationship. Like just you're still in that like discovery phase. You're not into the sales and pitching part yet. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes. 100%. Yes. I think too, you talked a little bit about like how you pick out which people to connect with based off of the brands that you want to get involved with and things like that. I think another thing that LinkedIn makes really easy is being able to see who knows those people that you also know because Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: it'll show your mutual connections, right? And that is so, so powerful. I think about Last year at PRI, I had been talking with David Cardey from Eibach on LinkedIn. And it was, you know, good conversation. It wasn't anything crazy. It said, you know, stop by the booth. We're gonna be at PRI. And every single time we stopped by the booth, he was very busy and looked Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: very tired, right? And it we just didn't get a chance to stop by and meet him in person. And that was fine. it stunk. We followed up after and things went quiet for a bit. but at Glen Helen, Alex Striler came out to the race and Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: he said, Hey, I want to introduce you to David Cardey from Eibach. And I said, he and I, you know, we'd been talking on LinkedIn. we tried to meet up at PRI, it just didn't happen, which was fine. But that personal introduction when, you know, he walked me over to David and said, Hey, here's Amanda. And also I already figured out that you guys are both interested in AI. so that would be a really good conversation for you guys to start with, you know? And Megan Lingner: Yeah. Uh-huh. Amanda Van Den Elzen: and like that that is so much more powerful than trying to build a relationship from scratch. So Megan Lingner: Yes. Amanda Van Den Elzen: being able to see on LinkedIn, this person is already connected with Megan. Megan knows this person. Maybe she can make an introduction for me. Or if she doesn't know them that well, maybe she knows something about them that I don't. So that I can start to bridge that gap a little bit more before I even get started. So always be thinking Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: about who do I know that knows this person already? That's going to get you a lot further. Megan Lingner: Yes. Yeah, that is a good point. Yeah. And having Alex in your back pocket is such a big help because he knows everybody. Amanda Van Den Elzen: It doesn't hurt. He does. He absolutely does. But you know, even at the event, Alex didn't know the method race wheels, folks. It's cool to like make that introduction for him, you know? Megan Lingner: Hmm. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. That's awesome. Amanda Van Den Elzen: It was cool. so you went through your three And this one is that the off season is not a time to stop providing value for your partners. And even though we all just want to like finish our last race, rip our cars down to the frame and put them back together a week before our first race, there's a lot Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: of opportunity to have our cars and you as a driver. facing the audiences that our partners still want to get in front of even in the off season. Now you're not traveling for racing. You could be traveling for events, trade shows. you could be doing activations, like I'm thinking about Nexen goes out to King of the Hammers at the end of January, early February for Like they have an activation booth at King of the Hammers. And we've gone out before during our off season to have the Beatles sitting at their booth Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: in the middle of the desert. You know? there could be things like if you have local partners, what about like holiday displays where you could have your race car Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: instead of sitting in your garage or your race hauler? It could be sitting Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: in a retail setting, you know, dressed up for the holidays or something. Right? Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: There are so many creative ways, whether it's autograph sessions, data collection. I know here in Wisconsin it's already getting colder and whatnot, but just because it's cold and dark doesn't mean we don't have opportunities. Although it feels like it, right? Megan Lingner: Yeah. Yeah. man. Well, okay, can I add something to that? Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: Like, so for us, like and so I think like when people hear that, they're probably thinking of like, but like I can't do that 'cause my car isn't a million pieces and like I'm waiting on the engine to come back or I'm waiting on the safety stuff to come back. It's like you can Like the car, if you're gonna do display, it doesn't have to be a hundred percent put together. Like you can Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan Lingner: put the body on and not have an engine in it and like nobody's gonna know, right? Like you Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: like you can just piece it together, like make it look like it is the full-on, you know, like race car. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: that's something that I mean we'll do if we have like a display, like we do have a third car that's like just our backup now. And so if we do like have to have a display, but say like we left the truck and trailer up in Ohio because we're racing up there, then thankfully like we do have that one at home. But we'll just piece it together to where it looks like it can run, but it's not Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: actually like it doesn't have the cylinders in it. There's no spark plugs. There's no oil in it. Like It's just a block with some valve covers and like the manifold on top. Like and it's like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: not even tightened down. Like it's just it's just good enough to where it looks like a race car. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Legitimately. And I think too, like there are opportunities for drivers to appear without their race vehicles too. Like if your Megan Lingner: Yes. Amanda Van Den Elzen: car is definitely not show worthy, but like I'm thinking about Megan, you at PRI last year, you were in a booth signing autographs for what I think it was one of the like girls foundations, right? Megan Lingner: Yes, yeah. So with Shift Up Now, it was the Polaris management group, which is one of the board members for Shift Up Now. So yeah, that was our first time having a booth there. So yeah, they they Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, but like Megan Lingner: invited all the Shift Up Now girls to do autograph signings. Amanda Van Den Elzen: You know, it it sounds like in your own head, you probably downplay how others see you, you know, as a racer. So just because you don't have a race car with you doesn't mean that you don't have experience and opportunity to share with other people. I'm even thinking, like Chris went out to off road or no overland expo this year, and there there was some snafuos. Apparently, the Overland people don't really like race cars very much. So his truck was not allowed to be displayed on the grounds, which was an adventure. Megan Lingner: Okay. okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: But he said that he had so much fun and he was so surprised at how many people valued his expertise in the booth. Like he just hung out there and he was with one of the tire engineers. And between him with his on track experience and the tire engineer with the behind the scenes RD experience, they had so many people that were asking incredibly technical questions about the tires that he was able to answer. And, you know, like Megan Lingner: Awesome. Amanda Van Den Elzen: you have that value, even if you don't maybe Megan Lingner: Yes. Amanda Van Den Elzen: recognize it. So think about how you can continue to provide value, even without your race car, without a racetrack and during the off season for your partners, that there are a lot of opportunities. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Amanda Van Den Elzen: All right. So we made it through our well, I would say six. I think realistically we kinda had like four. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Megan Lingner: Like f like five and a half. Yeah, I mean yeah, th it's cool that like we didn't exactly say the same thing, but it did I mean have the same theme and Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: yeah, different ways to to go about it and to show that yeah, just 'cause the race season o is over doesn't mean the work stops. Right. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Exactly. Yes, the race season is over, but I wouldn't call it an off season. Megan Lingner: Yeah. I know. I always think of like, you know, like looking at our schedule and it'll be like summertime and be like, okay, cool, you know, we'll be done mid-November and then things will slow down in December. So, you know, I can do this stuff around the house or whatever. And then it comes like December, January time. It's like, why like I know I know I'm just as busy, if not busier, because then that's more work for me to have to do. Like the Like my dad, all he needs to do in the off season is tear down the car, send off things that need recertified, rebuild the engines and you know, like just get everything refreshed. And for Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: me it's like then now I've got this whole checklist of sponsor things. I need to get I Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ha ha ha. Megan Lingner: need to get uniforms designed. I need to get those ordered. I need to get wraps designed, those approved, those ordered. Like I need to get the old wraps off the cars. I needed like there's just a lot that's then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, Megan Lingner: more on my plate that I have to do. And so like it works out well that we're able to, you know, divide and conquer these things. And Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: but I mean again, kinda like for us, like we're still just a small team. Like we don't have the crew guys at home or at the shop. Like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: it's just my dad. And like I'm just the one who does all the bookkeeping, all the marketing, like the content. Like I do all the other stuff too. So Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: we're still we're still just a family operated grassroots team. but thankfully we've been able to do it for so long that we've got our systems and we've got like, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: okay, I'm gonna do this, you do this. And then it's like, okay, if we get if we get Rachel comes up into town, it's like, okay, Rachel, you're gonna go work on this for this weekend. Like you thought it Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan Lingner: was gonna be a family vacation. Like Christmas, we're gonna go do all this Christmas stuff. It's like, no, like we work. Like they're Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan Lingner: like we don't celebrate the holidays, we just work. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. You know, I think a lot of racers probably identify with that a lot. I yeah, we're all small teams, Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: right? When it comes down to it, there are very few motorsports athletes out there that are not doing the work themselves. Even at the highest Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ranks, you know, there's a lot more work behind the scenes than I think most people as fans recognize. So, you know, that that Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: doesn't go away. It It the work changes, but it doesn't go away. one of the things that you mentioned really made me think too. I'm gonna just shameless plug for Racer on Demand, those people who are selling on our website or who want to sell merch on our website. We've got our on-demand racer merch marketplace. Now is the time to get those designs made up for next year's merch. Now is the time to go over your bios and your photos and get everything updated. The sooner you can get a new wrap on your vehicle, get some pictures taken if you want your vehicle on your merch. Like the sooner you can do that, the better. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Because two weeks before race season starts is not the time. you are first off, your fans are not going to have the merch in their hands by that point in time. You won't be able to stock the merch for your race season in time. also like on the back end, I am a one man show, a one woman show. and Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I get a lot of requests two weeks before race season. I can tell you that they go a lot slower Megan Lingner: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: than than they would now. So get all that stuff compiled. Megan Lingner: Mm. Yeah, exactly. Amanda Van Den Elzen: If you want to get on our racer merch marketplace Now is the time. The application is on our website. It's really easy to fill out. let's let's get that going before twenty twenty seven hits. Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well and now is the time to do the Christmas sweaters too. And you guys have been doing that too. So yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes. Yeah, I gotta think of what we're gonna do this year for ours. I don't know. We might, I don't know, maybe we'll reprise the two-seater one. I'm I'm not sure. We'll figure it out. Maybe we'll have like a Megan Lingner: Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Beetle Battle one or something. I don't know. Yeah, I Megan Lingner: That's exciting. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: haven't even thought about that. That's a great idea though. That is something I should get out there and get selling now. Megan Lingner: Yes. Yep. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Awesome. All right. Well, thanks everybody for listening in. I hope you walked away with a to-do list for this offseason. There Megan Lingner: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: is much to be done. we will see you again in two weeks. Every other Thursday, we put out a new episode. But until then, we love you. Bye. Megan Lingner: Bye, thanks for listening.