Latest / The Racer on Demand Show / Episode 17 | Own the Show

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Episode 17 | Own the Show · The Racer on Demand Show

• Megan: Alrighty, welcome back to another episode of the Racer on Demand show. I am Megan with my co-host Amanda. And yeah, we're we're back. So last episode was when we were at Wheatland and we had the Impulse guys on. And that was such a cool race. ⁓ and it was cool to kind of hear like Jeffree's story and behind the scenes because yeah, I I don't really know much about the impulse stories since I'm still kind of new to the short course. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Hi. Megan: world. ⁓ but I guess let's dive in and let's chat about Wheatland and how that ended up going for Chris. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, Wheatland was interesting. finishing wise, we didn't finish great on Saturday. Sunday we took second, but ⁓ realistically it was about like testing out the new truck, and the new truck is on rails. And what was, you know, really interesting about that is Wheatland was not just Wheatland for us. Like that trip was long. You know, we were out there. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: what two weeks prior with you, we were out there testing, found some bugs that we were had to come home and try and and work out. At Wheatland, we found more bugs. It was kind of like underpowered. It just didn't quite seem right. And ⁓ we went straight from Wheatland out to Mansfield, Ohio for an exhibition event at the new Mansfield Speedway. and so that Megan: Mm-hmm. That's right. Amanda Van Den Elzen: revealed a bigger issue. We we kind of had issues the first day was in the rain and we were trying to figure out did something get wet that wasn't supposed to or what. But this underpowered issue from Wheatland turned into popping and sputtering and barely running when it was up at like high RPMs or under load. And Chris was like, Well I don't want to blow anything up so I'm gonna pull off during the race on Friday. And we spent literally Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: All night and all the next day trying to figure out what was going on. ⁓ we even we had partners there too, which really was a blessing and a curse. They didn't get to see us perform, but we did get kind of some elbows deep help from them in the pits, trying to help get the truck going. ⁓ we were joking, we were trauma bonding with them, but what ⁓ what we ultimate Megan: Yeah. Well and that's a lot of pressure like when you have your partners there and like you wanna impress them and put on a good show and then like it's ⁓ most frustrating thing when you can't. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. And like this was from Nexon and we had like our marketing person that we know really well. She was up in the club suite with her family and ⁓ you know she was just there to have fun and and hang out and she completely understood. But we also had Nexon's OE partnerships person there because I mean it's no no secret that, you know, we would love to partner with an OE brand. So we were like, okay, let's meet with this guy. He's got great connections at the OE's because he handles Nexon's OE connections. And ⁓ we had never met him before. And he and his buddy, ⁓ his buddy's a GM engineer, which was very helpful. ⁓ they showed up and they showed up before gates opened. We had no idea like Megan: ⁓ okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: how to get them in or what we were supposed to do or anything. So I like run up and the gate is like open for the VIP area and they they had VIP access. And I I run up and we just kind of look at each other and the gate's open and they just walk through. I was like, come back. Like nobody was watching the pit gate either. So like just just come with me. We'll figure this out. Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And you know, as we're walking back, I was like, I'm just gonna warn you in advance. I'm like, we are a muddy mess right now, first off. There's mud everywhere, but also the truck's not running right. So like I'm just giving you that context so that you understand, like, if things are not exactly as you expected, you know, this is why. And their eyes, instead of like going like, ⁓ you know, their eyes lit up and they're like, We can help. So it was like, ⁓ thank God there are people. Megan: Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's good. Cause yeah, if they were more yeah, more corporate and not as hands on, then yeah, I could see it going the other way. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes, one hundred percent. And at that point we probably just would have gotten their VIP credentials together, put them in the suite, called it a day, you know? But ⁓ they were in the back, like they were doing parts runs for us, they were helping us try and diagnose what was going on. Ultimately we couldn't figure it out at Mansfield and ⁓ we still don't know exactly what's wrong with it. ⁓ 'cause even coming into Anago, we thought we had it fixed. We thought there was an issue with the high pressure fuel pump, but we changed Megan: Mm-hmm. Wow. Amanda Van Den Elzen: that out, which was an adventure in itself because it's a sealed motor and the high pressure fuel pump is under the intake. So we had to get clearance to pull the intake to swap the motor. We had to videotape the or not the motor, the ⁓ fuel pump. We had to videotape the whole thing so that they could then double check it at the track and reseal it. But we f put that in, we thought it was fixed. And then it was like two days later because Chris had drove it. It seemed okay. Two days later he went to go start it. And this was like Monday before Anago. ⁓ he went to go start it. It wouldn't start, and all of a sudden went pow! And just like this big backfire from all this fuel running through. And we're like, ⁓ no, what do we do? Like that didn't fix the problem. So and at that point, we had literally changed everything we possibly could, like without getting into this sealed motor. Megan: Yeah. Wow. Amanda Van Den Elzen: So we pulled the motor out of the two-seater, pulled the motor out of our competition car and swapped them. The motor out of our two-seater is from year one of Pro Spec. So it's our very first ever Pro Spec motor. And that fixed the problem. So we know it's something in the motor. We suspect maybe. Yeah, suspect that maybe like ⁓ because the the fuel pump is driven by the cam. Megan: Okay. Yeah. Okay, somewhere in the motor. Amanda Van Den Elzen: So we're thinking maybe the cam lobe is disfigured or worn down or something. ⁓ because it was just like overloading this motor with fuel. And So ⁓ motor went back to GM ⁓ ⁓ waiting right now to figure out if we need to buy a new motor or if they're just going to send us one that works. So ⁓ Megan: Mm. Okay. Mm-hmm. Interesting at seats. Yeah, yeah. Like warranty that one. Man. Cause that was a brand new motor, right? Wow. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yes. Yep. Brand new for Wheatland. Yeah. It's wild. Megan: Man, that's crazy. That sucks. Like, yeah, when you think everything is like brand new and fresh, like shouldn't have any problems, and then then you're chasing it and you can't figure it out. Like, yeah, I can't. Like that'd be so frustrating. Man. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, I knew it was bad when ⁓ so Monday we figured that out. We worked just trying to figure out like I mean we already had the motor unsealed, right? So we're taking videos of swapping in a different fuel pump. Like, are the injectors the issue? You know, and so like Monday was a long night of just trying to figure out what the heck was going on. And by and that was Memorial Day. So thank God we came home early from the cottage to discover that. But you know, we're supposed to leave on Thursday morning. And on Monday, we're still trying to figure out why the truck's not running. So by Tuesday morning, the decision was made, we're gonna swap the motors. Well, I was I was at home editing the podcast and I get a text from Chris that says, Can you come over? Like I need your help. I'm like, ⁓ my God, I am not a crew person. Like, I am not technical. I have no place being in the garage helping with this motor swap, right? Megan: Yeah. Wow. Yeah, same. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And I get there and ⁓ so mind you, this motor has been in the two-seater since we built it. It's just the one that we've put in there. We're working on, we have another prospec motor that we unsealed. We're building it for the two-seater specifically. ⁓ so that way we can use our sealed motors for competition. ⁓ but that one's not done yet. So, you know, we have this competition motor in our two seater, but all it's been used for is basically pulling it in and out of trailers and idling from place to place for shows. And ⁓ I get there and Chris has all the oil drained out of the sear one motor. And he's like, Does this look right to you? Cause it does not look right to me. And I look at it and it's all cloudy and murky. And he's like, I think I have a coolant issue. Like, I think I have a blown head gasket or something because like this looks like Megan: Hmm. Yeah. ⁓ no. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Coolant in the oil, he's like, but I need you to help me figure out if it's coolant or if it's fuel. And I'm like, ⁓ okay. So I'm on Chat GPT or Gemini or whatever. And I'm like, how can I tell at home without like an oil test what is in this oil? And so me and Patty are like mad scientisting this. And I've got like this drained off oil in a pot. on the grill and I'm boiling it with a thermometer in it to see what's boiling out of it at what temperatures. Megan: ⁓ wow. ⁓ my gosh, that's that's so much. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And you know, I was like Yes. And and we didn't even know if there was anything in it or if it was just like if we mixed two oils in there, if like the additives weren't compatible or something, you know. So yeah, I it I have video of this too. We're absolutely just ridiculous. But but I'm sitting here like, okay. Megan: Yeah. I remember seeing I was just gonna say I remember seeing Chris's story and he posted like, yeah, like the car looks like it was like yeah, motor out like totally bare and you could see like you're like in the you know, from up underneath in there and Chris is like, ⁓ supposed to be loading up. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes, that was after the oil whole thing too, because I was like, Okay, can I go home now? Or like, do you still need my help? And yeah, he was like, So I still haven't scrubbed down my bear chassis like under where the motor was, 'cause from Mansfield everything got wet, which means everything got rusted. So I was in there with a can of PB blaster and a scouring pad and I had to go over. Megan: ⁓ yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: All of the bare metal that couldn't have been reached with the motor in there. So yeah, that was my second job. But long story short, we did determine it was fuel, it was fuel in the oil, and it was just because it it wasn't running at operating temperature while we were moving it and stuff. So the motor was fine. It performed really well at Anago and ⁓ Megan: Yeah. The fun stuff. Okay. Hmm. Okay, good. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. So that was a long, long adventure of like weeks of trying to chase this problem down and Yeah. Megan: Yeah. Wow. That is so stressful. Man. Well and then but then you dig up 'cause he was n number one qualifier, right? At Anigo? Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. How? Yeah, we jokingly we won practice. So we didn't test at all in Anago. ⁓ and we didn't test at all between Wheatland and Anago, and especially because the truck wasn't running right. So like we really had to put the truck through the paces at practice to make sure that everything was good. It was the first time we had it up to speed after swapping in the motor. And ⁓ so we won practice. We won practice by a long shot, like over a second. ⁓ Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Well good. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Not that that matters, but then in qualifying as well, we put down not just one lap that was faster than everybody else, but two. ⁓ and again by a decent margin. ⁓ that was an adventure though, because there was an issue with the timing loop for champ. And they had said if Megan: Awesome. ⁓ yeah you are. Amanda Van Den Elzen: If anybody's transponder doesn't register for any laps, then we're going to just line you up based off of points. No points for qualifying, no invert, no nothing. We're just lining you up based off of points. And ⁓ so we qualified first. We had the fastest lap time. We ran eight laps. Two of them were like low speed because there was a caution. ⁓ but the last lap was back at speed and Out of those eight laps, there were 13 trucks. 12 of them logged eight laps, and one of them logged six laps. And the last lap at high speed, they did not log. And because of that, one person for one lap, they said, Well, we're lining you guys up off of points. You don't get any points for qualifying. So we pushed back and we did at least get an invert on our points lineup. But it really put a damper on the weekend because we we would have had five points more if they would have taken our qualifying lap. So that was that was a kind of big blow when we had worked really hard to get that truck ready and out there for Friday. So it is it is what it is. Megan: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Man. Yeah. Yeah. Man. Okay. Can I ask? Because this is something that Adam and I have been wondering. What why do you do an invert? Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yeah. Okay. So the thing with qualifying is the invert makes it, frankly, it makes it spicier racing, right? The faster people don't just start out front and run away and you just end up with a gap because people are lined up off of how fast they are, right? So when you qualify, like if I qualified fastest lap, then I have the first qualifying, but that almost never means that I start in first. Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: in short course. So what happens is I pull a pill and in our sport it's the top half can be inverted. So like we have 13 cars in our class. Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: think we can only six invert in our class ⁓ because you can pull a zero, a two, four, or a six invert pill. And so what that means is that ⁓ so if I pull I qualify first and I pull a four, let's say, then I start in fourth place. The person who qualified second starts in third place, the person who qualified third starts in second place. Megan: Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And the person who qualified fourth starts on the poll. Now that is obviously a disadvantage to the highest qualifier. So that's why they award points based off of how you qualify. So if I qualify first, I get five extra points. If I qualify second, I get two points. And if I qualify third, I get one. Now that happens on Fridays for us. Megan: Yeah. Hm. Okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: But we race two days in one weekend. So on Saturday, while we're racing, they qualify us based off of lap times in that race. And that's how we then pull a pill and line up for Sunday. Megan: Mm. Okay. Got it. Cause yeah, we never understood that. Like when we've been watching the the live races and stuff. And it's like, well yeah, like they're they're number one qualified. Like, why aren't they starting first? And then we're like, Yeah, like it it cause then you're like, ⁓ well then I like if I'm not gonna start first, then I shouldn't try to be the number one qualifier, right? So then try to kind of maybe then get that first spot. But that makes sense. So then they Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yep. Megan: award points to incentivize you to still try to be number one. So interesting. Cause yeah, it's complete opposite of in drag racing world. But we don't get points. Yeah, we don't get points. ⁓ which sucks because I wish they would, because that would, yeah, that would help like excite things. but yeah, it's just if Amanda Van Den Elzen: Exactly. Yeah, I was wondering like how does that compare? Yeah. Megan: If you're number one qualifier, then you race the slowest. So in like the national events, it's a 16-car field. So number one races number 16 for first round, two has 15, 3 has 14, and so on. ⁓ if there is like an odd number of cars, so say there's only 15, then number one gets a single, so they all get an automatic first round win if there's not a 16th car there. and so But yeah, that's the only like, yeah. You just want bragging rights. Amanda Van Den Elzen: That's so interesting though. I guess it's not just bragging rights though, because like if you're up against the person who qualified last, then you have a huge advantage. There's like so much more likelihood you'll move on, right? Megan: Ha ha Yeah. Yeah, yeah. As long as, you know, kind of there's some cars that typically do qualify in the first half and some that are typically slower. So you kind of know, ⁓ hey, this car has not, you know, their personal best may be a tenth slower than how you qualified. So you kind of do have more of an advantage there. but you never know. Like it like anything could happen in drag racing where maybe Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan: ⁓ you know, there's always upsets where maybe the number one qualifier then smokes the tires first round and loses the round. ⁓ so you're not guaranteed that win. You do just have like, yeah, a higher chance to win. ⁓ but yeah, it was like we were always so confused, like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: Why why like why is it mixed up? Like we and we can never figure out like is there a formula of how you do it? 'Cause it wouldn't be like, yeah, the same pattern or or whatever. So yeah, we didn't quite realize that ⁓ you draw a pill to do an invert for how you start. So interesting. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yep. Yep. And it's always the fastest qualifier who pulls it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It I think that that confuses a lot of people. I actually literally yesterday I was talking to Chris about ⁓ like social media. And I was talking to him about how like we do a lot of social media that's focused towards the people who are already following us. So they're giving we're giving them updates as if they already know who we are, what we do and and everything about our sport. And I was like Megan: I see. Amanda Van Den Elzen: You know what, we would pull in a lot more audience if we talked to the people that don't already follow us or don't already know a lot about our sport. And the example that I gave him was I like to use a formula that's like the hook that gets a question going in somebody's head, the context, and then the value payoff, and then a call to action. And ⁓ the example that I gave him, because I was like, ⁓ I think this would be like a great example. Is about how our qualifying works. And the hook could be something like, I had the fastest lap in qualifying, but I started fourth in the race, and here's why. And then the context would be something like, I'm Chris Vandenelsen, I'm the number 66 pro spec in the champ off-road series, and I'm fighting for a championship this year in a brand new truck. on Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Friday I put down the fastest lap time, but on Saturday I started in fourth place because, and then explain a little bit about how the point system works. And then the call to action could be like, do you agree with an invert for qualifying? Tell me in the comments, you know? And like, I think that that is something that a lot of people don't understand about our sport and racers don't think about, like, ⁓ this is something that people don't know, you know? Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I I yeah, I just assumed that you would go in the order that you qualify, 'cause that's what I'm used to. So okay, so then at Anigo, how did they so if you didn't did they still give give Chris like the number one qualifier to pick the pill then? Or how did they do the invert? Amanda Van Den Elzen: No, no, they didn't. they posted on Facebook that he was the fastest qualifier and then ⁓ for actual qualifying it meant nothing. completely threw that out the window. It didn't exist. ⁓ so what they did was the rainy day like policy. So like if it had rained on Friday and we still raced on Saturday, the policy is that we line up by points but with an invert and the points leader pulls the invert. Now the points leader wasn't actually at the driver's meeting. So the rest of the prospect class like stood there and pointed at each other and then go, no you pull, no you pull, no you pull. And I think Nick Visser ended up pulling just so that somebody would do it. But that's what happened. Megan: ⁓ okay. Got it. Huh, okay. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Now we know. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. It was an interesting adventure. I know. I know. Okay, so in everything that we've had go on between now and the last time you and I solo recorded, first off, it's been a long while. Like it was before we talked to Teresa. so I feel like we have so much to catch up on. Like Megan: Mm-hmm. It has. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Have you done any racing since then? I know you I saw one was rained out, right? Megan: Yes. So I originally was supposed to have two races with one this weekend. ⁓ all three of those did not happen. And so I have not been on the track since that first race at Wheatland back in April. and it's already June. And so my next race is not till middle of June. So I still have about two weeks before I will be at the track. And I'm doing a drag race first, and then the following weekend I'll be back at Wheatland for side by side. And yeah, so we Memorial Day weekend we had a race ⁓ scheduled, and it was the first race of the IHRA's new ⁓ like mini series, and so they were calling it the Triple Crown. So it's three races. and it was just for a bigger payout. There was no points involved in these three races. And it was at some of the nicer tracks that they go to. Not that the other tracks aren't nice, but we just have a longer we have a longer shutdown area. So we could do the full quarter mile, ⁓ which that is what I meant by nicer. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Backpedal, backpedal. Mm-hmm. Megan: ⁓ but there are bigger facilities, bigger facilities ⁓ where more of the national events had been held. So the first one was in Reading, Pennsylvania, which up until at PRI show, IHRA announced that they purchased the track. So before that, it was still an NHRA national event track. It's one that I've raced at for a few years, but I've never had any luck there. I've always messed up somehow. And ⁓ so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: Not saying that, you know, I I wasn't quite looking forward to returning to this track where I feel like I have some bad luck. ⁓ but then at PRI show, IHRA announced like completely out of the blue. Nobody saw this coming that they purchased that track. So then it got removed from the NHRA schedule. ⁓ so now it's an IHRA race. So this is one where yeah, we have a much longer shutdown. We can go the full quarter mile. ⁓ so it's just nice to be able to have that. Whereas the regular IHRA races, they're only doing eighth mile because they are at some of the smaller tracks. anyways, that was Memorial Day weekend, supposed to be my first drag race of the year. And they had a ton of rain in the forecast. It had been raining for like a week straight. So thankfully on it was like a Monday or Tuesday, they canceled it ⁓ because of the rain. So that really, you know, that's nice. That they did that, that we didn't drive all the way to Pennsylvania just to have to sit in a motorhome for two days and and cause that's that's the worst. I hate when that happens. ⁓ because yeah, we can't rain or we can't race if there's rain or any type of moisture on the track. We have to wait until it's completely dry. ⁓ and at like a certain temperature too. So that got canceled. ⁓ we did have a sponsor display scheduled in Indianapolis for Wednesday. So we still did that. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yes. Right. Megan: ⁓ but then and thankfully we could just leave the truck and trailer at their facility because then ⁓ my dad's next race was ⁓ he was leaving Chicago heading east. So he went from Chicago to Indy and the next ⁓ then they had a weekend off because yeah, and then the next one after that was in Maryland. So it was just nice that we could leave it up there. ⁓ but anyways, that same weekend was a triple crown Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Hm. Megan: short course race down in Texas. And so that that is one that does count for the Outlaw series that I'm doing in the Central Region. And it was their triple crown because it was Central Region combined with West Region, combined with their Texas ⁓ series. So all three of those separate series could race together ⁓ to get points. So we could have gone and done that. ⁓ because I, you know, do need the points for this the series. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: But ⁓ the car's not put together yet. And ⁓ honestly, like we have been so bad about maintenance. Like we've we have not really touched it since Wheatland. Like we we took it to the farm once ⁓ because we're we're starting to make a figure eight track down at the farm. So we took it there to practice. And ⁓ I don't know if you saw, but Adam forgot to turn the radiator. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: fan on and so then it's just all this smoke and anti freeze coming out. It's it's like, okay, we just need to not push this to the limit and overheat it again. So so it has just been sitting in the shop since then because we have been so busy with ⁓ like trying to finish this farmhouse that we're doing, which I now Amanda Van Den Elzen: Did see that. Megan: hate new construction. I don't ever want to be a part of building a house, which Adam wants to. He really wants us to build a shop house. Cause we've been house hunting for a year now. and about once a week we go and look at a new house and there's, you know, and so he's like, I'd rather just build a house. We can, you know, have all our stuff in one place. Cause right now it's like we have some stuff at the farm. We've got some stuff at my dad's shop. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ha ha ha. Yeah. Megan: We've got some stuff at our house. We've got some stuff at a friend's house. And so it's like we just need to have everything in one place. But you know, we need a big shop and some land to do that. So I don't know. That's just been frustrating because this farmhouse was supposed to be done in April and ⁓ it is now June and we're just now got paint finished. and so we're gonna put flooring in this weekend, but then like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Oof. Megan: We're still waiting on like the bathroom stuff probably won't be done till another month or so. So it's just taking forever. So I'm just like, this is so stressful. I don't ever want to do this again. ⁓ so that's taken up a lot of our time. So we really haven't really had much time to commit to working on the short course carb, ⁓ which it really doesn't need much work. ⁓ we know we need to replace the front axle because the boots torn. And then we did get because of Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: Carson Hill ⁓ told us to get the, because right now we have the two to one Hess steering, and you know, the power steering ⁓ kept going out at Wheatland and they said to switch to the one and a half. So we have that ordered. It's been in a box for about three weeks here. So I think this weekend we'll put that on the car. ⁓ but that's about it. And then we just need to yeah, like check fluids and everything. But Adam has got a Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Megan: second ultra four car. And so he has been spending all of his free time working on that because the well, okay, so I think we're gonna convert the ultra four car that he built now into which is an Articat into a short course car so it can just be like an exact copy of what we have. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Wait, I thought he got a short course car. ⁓ okay. Megan: ⁓ so then we have two, so then we don't have to share because he bought a Polaris to do the Ultra Four with. ⁓ and the biggest the the biggest reason why yeah, yeah, because like the the Articat like and I told him I was like, you only have like three races left, like just finish out your season because it was so stressful, just get ready for that first race. ⁓ but he just there's just Amanda Van Den Elzen: Okay. And then you have spares that'll work on everything. Yeah. Megan: The biggest thing is the issue with Articat is just the availability of the parts. And the biggest thing is his long travel because his long travel kit that he bought is just like a one-off deal and there's no extra parts. So he would have to like if he broke an axle, he would have to buy the axle from speed, which is like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: I don't know, fifteen hundred bucks for an axle and then buy this other part because and I don't exactly know the correct terminology, but something where where the axle, you know, you hook it in at the one w that comes on speed isn't the right connection or whatever. So he'd have to buy another part from Articat to change that out. So so then that way he could hook I don't know. But it's like he'd have to spend like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Like the splines aren't right or something. Megan: Yeah, yeah, something like that. So it'd be like two thousand dollars for an axle and s where it's like it just financially doesn't make sense. Just but I mean it's a it's a BA machine. It's it looks like a freaking monster truck, like and it's it's fast, it h handles really well. I mean, he started dead last, so he I think he was twenty-four. He got lost like two or three times on the track, still finished in tenth place. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. He told us about that. Like he was going backwards. Megan: Without a navigator. Yeah. No navigator, no map. Yeah. And he's just like, you know, he's the type to where it's like, you know, he thought he could just like iron man it do it all by himself. He doesn't need help. And then he realized, like, ⁓ this is like harder than I think it is. Like, I do need a navigator. so I was like, like, yeah. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: I loved listening to him talk about like being on the wrong side of a fence and he's like, I know I need to be over there Megan: ⁓ it's so it's so funny because you like I can't tell you how many times I've heard him tell people that story. And it's funny because each time he tells that story, the distance gets longer and longer. So yeah, yeah. Like I think it was like Amanda Van Den Elzen: He was driving for four hours in the wrong direction. Megan: A quarter mile, like yeah, when he first told us. And then I swear like the next person it was like a half mile that he had to drive. And then the next person's like a mile along this fence line that he had to drive and then turn around. It's just it's funny, like he's like changing distance. ⁓ But yeah, I I feel like he had a really good setup. He didn't need to change anything. It's just kind of to have those backup parts and you know, there's just certain stuff that Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: With Articat, like it's really good, but there's certain stuff where like yeah, you need spares of that it's just not easily available. ⁓ so which you know, with the short course car, I can order everything directly from Articat. And so we don't really have that issue there. It's just kind of more of that custom stuff that he needed to be more for Ultra 4. So he got a Polaris. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan: He is now starting completely over again. He bought one that had been wrecked. ⁓ so he got it really cheap. But ⁓ yeah, has to start all over, take everything off of it, build that car up. So he's got another month before his next Ultra Four race. So he's hi his mind is focused on that. He's like, I don't care about the short horse car. And I'm like, but can we please just like look at it? Make sure it's it'll be ready to go for the next race. So cause yeah, he's like he you know, last year he d he raced the car also and like he's a good driver. ⁓ but this year, like he's a woods guy, he's an endurance racer. That's what he did on dirt bikes. So he's like, I love Ultra Four. And so he's like, I might race a short course race this year, I might not. ⁓ which is funny because when we like first picked that up from Jake, I had made a comment. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: when we were driving home that like, ⁓ this is my car. And like he got really mad and he's like, No, this is our car. Like we're sharing this. And now a year later he's like, ⁓ I don't care about that car. It's your car now. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So I think in the once this season is over, the Articat that he has will ⁓ yeah, convert that to be a short course car. So then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ha ha ha. And you're like, yes. ⁓ Megan: ⁓ we'll do both i if he still wants to do that next year, which I think he do I think once he actually gets back in the car, makes a couple laps, then he'll be like, ⁓ yeah, this is really fun, I wanna do it. So yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes. Okay. I I know where your stance is on this, but I just have to tell you the number of people who have asked me, both at Wheatland and at Anago, if you're racing with Champ anytime this year. Yes. They're like, is she gonna race at Crandon? Megan: really? ⁓ man. Okay, so we Is Ultra Four back at Crandon? I think I saw that. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I okay, I think I saw that too from what I've heard and what I've heard Marty say, like behind the scenes and stuff, is they're doing something with Ultra Four. I saw something specifically for like the 4800 class. So from what I understand, I think they're inviting like very select classes. Megan: Mm, okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I'm not sure like in what capacity. And I also saw some drama about the class not necessarily wanting to be there. So I I am not in that world enough to know, but I know they're invited. Some people are invited. I don't know who or for what, but I don't know what that's actually gonna look like. Megan: Interesting. Okay. Cause that would kinda be a determining factor if we were to race. So we do have a camp spot. We'll definitely be there. ⁓ but kind of Adam was like, I o like only if we could race both, like that will make the trip worth it. You know Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: I mean, we're still gonna be there to watch, but he was like, if I'm driving all the way up there, I wanna race, right? So he's either all in or just wanna be a spectator. ⁓ so I would love to, but again, like yeah, we just would need to convert it from pro stock to sportsman or pro am, ⁓ according to the rule book. And then but like I've never done any laughs Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan: at Crandon so I wouldn't definitely need like to practice before that if we were. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yeah. Well in Crandon, like it's a flowy track. Honestly, I think you'd catch on pretty quick. You're used to Wheatland, which is like similar enough. It's got the infield, like the side by sides, they they don't run the long track. So like I think I think you'd be fine. Megan: Yeah. Yeah, I think so too. I wonder if that's on iRacing. Ca I can maybe practice that. I need it I need a sim though. Mmm. Okay. Yeah. Cause there's a sim place here. Amanda Van Den Elzen: It is. Yeah, I don't know if they have the mid track on iRacing, but Hmm. Yeah. I I mean if it's worth anything. Yeah. Megan: Yeah. But they don't have the dirt stuff. But I could I know the owner, so maybe I could get him to put it on there. We'll see. We'll see. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ he might be able to program it in. Yeah. Yeah. I will spend money here only if you have grandon. ⁓ man. ⁓ man. All right. Megan: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well man. I don't know. I mean okay, so I think kind of okay, so to wrap that up, I think like one thing that Adam had been saying w like when you guys were there at that outlaw race, if I can podium, then I will be qualified in our eyes to race champ. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Uh-huh. Okay. Megan: So I need to I need a podium first this year. Which means yeah, we have to get the car together. Yeah. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Which means you have to get your car together. ⁓ okay. I'm rooting for you. If you race, I'll spot for you. A as long as it's not back to back with with Beatles for any reason, which I can't imagine it would be, so Megan: No. Yeah. ⁓ man, I I loved that. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Because yeah, it's usually well, yeah, sportsman's like the first one and then Pro Am Pro Am's the last sportsman race, right? So then if Beatles were part of that opening ceremony or no, Beatles were at the very end last year. Yeah. Did you like okay yeah, so ⁓ okay, I know I like we just briefly texted about it, but do you like the switch up with the schedule at Anago? Amanda Van Den Elzen: I don't know. The s the schedules are all yeah. The schedule's all jacked up. Yes and no. So I think that there were like really good things about it and I think that there were really weird things about it. So so okay. I think what it all really comes down to, and you know, what you and I had talked about, even talking about for this episode, is that Champ was trying really hard to put on a show for the fans, not just cater to racers, but really make the show good for the people who are coming to watch it, which Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think that kind of mindset is exactly what our sport needs and what motorsports in general need is to just bring bring fans in, bring new eyes in, make it exciting to watch, engaging to be there. I don't know if a schedule change is like the fix for that, per se. I feel a little bit like it's like putting a band-aid on a broken leg, but Megan: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: It's a start, right? They're trying new things. And I absolutely commend them for for just trying and seeing what sticks. So one of the things that I absolutely loved was on Saturday we had a pit party. And the pit party happened ⁓ like with enough time before the opening ceremonies. We had an hour where there was nothing happening on track and they they sent the fans out into the pits to get autographs and Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: you know, see the activations and meet the drivers and all that stuff. And that was so cool. We had so many people come through our booth and get swag and autographs and temporary tattoos and stuff. And and you know, we were able to put a lot of FaceTime with our fans. And it wasn't like sometimes that's hard because, you know, Chris will be in the middle of fixing something or like he'll just need a recharge break or something, you know. Megan: Yeah, that's awesome. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And if it's like fans non-stop and really unpredictable, it's like, hey, Chris, hey, Chris, hey, Chris. And it's really tiring, right? To just task switch from running a race team, fixing a truck, being a driver, to being a public figure and fan facing. And it's a hard thing to switch back and forth between those two. And it's necessary, it's completely necessary to have to do that. But the pit party. Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Gave him a whole hour where he didn't have to switch. We scheduled for him not to be doing anything other than being fan facing. So he was really able to put his best foot forward in that moment. And that was really cool. I loved that. the actual schedule changed. So they changed the order of the classes that raced. So typically they had like Pro Two, Pro Four as the last races of the day. Megan: Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Amanda Van Den Elzen: to kind of just be like the big show at the end of the day. And on Saturday, they did ⁓ what was it? Pro two was the first show. And then it was like pro buggy and then it was pro four. ⁓ and pro spec wasn't until the end of the day. It was the last race of the day. And I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about that. But what was really cool, not only did they change up the order, they also did like Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: a really cool like ⁓ class highlight. So all of the pro buggy drivers were out on track at the beginning of the opening ceremonies and they did like a gentleman start your engines and a parade lap. And then as soon as yeah, as soon as they had pro buggies off, they had pro twos out and ready to start their race. So there was like no break between the start of the show and the start of racing. ⁓ Megan: ⁓ yeah, yeah. ⁓ good. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And and for the first show to be pro two, which is of always a fun race to watch, I thought it really did bring energy to the crowd. Like people were super engaged. I didn't see a lot of people like leaving in between races ⁓ to like go get drinks or you know whatnot. Like people were there for the racing, ⁓ which was a big improvement. That's not something we've always seen. So I actually really liked that piece of it. Megan: Good. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think ⁓ the track was a little bit strange like by pro spec ⁓ and even after pro two, like the the big power like destroys the track. And so Pro Buggies went out right after Pro Two, and I was spotting for our friend Ryan who bought Dave's buggy. ⁓ it was his first time racing a champ race in that buggy, and the track was destroyed from the Pro 2s. And there was so much blue groove because that's just, I mean, we're on a souk circle track, right? And the poor guy he spun out like three times in the same corner and he just was so dejected by it. But the next day he did really well and and was renewed faith in himself, you know? But ⁓ but that being said, like I think Megan: Okay, good. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Track conditions are not something that we should be like catering to racers on. Like it made for really exciting racing for the fans. So, you know, I obviously come from the racer's side, and of course we want to race on well-prepped or well-prepped, like good even tracks with no holes, no ruts, no blue groove. But realistically, for the fans, it's way more exciting when the track falls apart. As long as it's not so bad that people can't race, right? And ⁓ for that reason, and then prospec was honestly like the star of the whole weekend. I had multiple people come to us after the fact saying, like, prospec was the most exciting race both days. ⁓ and I think that it honestly it earned its spot as the last race of the day. Like it it was kind of that nightcap. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: like cherry on top. It was it was weird for us, just outside of our norm, but I thought it put on a really good show. So Saturday was great. Sunday things felt rushed. We only had a half an hour pit party. It was fifteen minutes after our driver's meeting and it was right before opening ceremonies. Megan: Mm. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ opening ceremonies, they had Pro 2s come out for like the parade lap and the gentleman start your engines thing. So all the pro two drivers had to be out there early, which meant they missed the pit party. And then ⁓ pro spec and pro four, ⁓ I think it was pro four, I don't remember exactly what the order was, but like basically the whole pro pits were like in their race suits and not prepared for this pit party because they had to go through tech and like Megan: Mm. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: It just it lost its oomph on Sunday. It felt a lot more rushed. ⁓ I don't know that the the changing of the actual order made that big of a difference. And there just weren't as many fans there on Sunday in general. So maybe that's just part of the energy or lack of energy I was feeling. So I don't know. I think I think champ tried some new things. I think some things worked, I think some things didn't. ⁓ Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: But overall, I just loved to see the shift of focusing on what works for racers to what works for fans. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, because I feel like, ⁓ I mean, I've just only had been at Wheatland. yeah, I I mean, well, first off, there wasn't that many spectators at Wheatland, which that's a bummer. ⁓ because it's such an awesome track and there's, you know, amazing seats there, the covered grandstands. ⁓ but yeah, I feel like, yeah, having like a pit party, that would be really cool. Cause then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Yeah. Megan: For us, like we, you know, we were just there as spectators, but like we hung out at your pits. We didn't really have time to like go and say hi to like everybody else that I've met over the year. just a few people I was able to run into because they were either, you know, busy working on their stuff and I don't want to interrupt. Or ⁓ yeah, we were just like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan: in the stands most of the time. So that would have been really cool to have a pit party just to be able to, yeah, like go say hi, good luck, ⁓ to the other drivers. ⁓ 'cause yeah, I feel I feel like yeah, we kind of missed out on that. ⁓ but also Wheatland, it was like really spread out too. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. And you have to like miss racing. Yeah, like you have to you have to miss racing to go out and walk the pits if there's not designated time to do that. And and that kinda stinks if you're there to watch racing, then you're gonna miss the connection with the drivers. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And yeah, we didn't wanna like cause now like I wanna watch every side by side class and like we wanna watch the trucks. Usually the ones that we do miss to be able to go out into the pits is the youth classes. ⁓ just because we which I feel like I feel mad, but we don't really know like that many youth racers and Henry hasn't shown like any interest in it yet. So like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Hehehehehe Megan: It's not like he wants to watch the other kids race. He just doesn't like comprehend it yet. so that's usually the time that we spend to go walk around the pits, but it's not like a whole lot of time. So ⁓ Yeah, we're usually in the stands watching as much racing as we can. So ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So okay, I I've never I know Chris and Dave went out to go see you race at like one of the drag racing events, but I've never been to like a professional level drag racing event. How do you see them engaging their fans and like putting on a show for the fans? Or is it is it good? Is it not good? Megan: Yeah. Good question. ⁓ I feel like it's not as good as it used to be. ⁓ I think they've cut back and it could have been because of COVID, ⁓ but they've cut back on a lot of like fan engagement stuff that I feel like they didn't bring back. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: That they should. So at the NHRA races, ⁓ the national events, so they will usually run the pros, which is the top fuel funny car dragsters, and then there's pro stock cars and pro stock motorcycles. Those are like the four pro classes, and then ours top alcohol dragster is like the one right below that. So we're not a pro level class. We are sportsman level. But we can still, you know, draw some fans. ⁓ and I feel like we we do a pretty good job of like being an exciting class to watch. ⁓ and so, but usually by the time so they will typically r run like every sportsman class will get one round in in the morning. And there is Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ yeah. Megan: like 10 sportsman classes. So that's a lot of cars. So that takes up a few hours. They'll all get one round. And it usually is like from slower to faster. So we'll we'll be at the end of that. And then ⁓ so we'll probably run around like 10 30, 11 o'clock would be like our first run of the day. And then they will usually do like an opening ceremonies with the pro drivers. So they will get a stage to, you know, and the doors open and there's smoke Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: And confetti and all that stuff. So they'll get a stage that they can walk out on, do their intros, you know, throw some t-shirts or hats. ⁓ but also that is not as big as it used to be. I, you know, I so I haven't been to a national event this year, but from my memory, you know, there used to be a huge crowd of fans that could come up to the stage. I think they just allow media only or maybe ⁓ if you have any like VIP guests, then they can only be there at the stage. So yeah, that's like a fan interaction thing that I've they've cut back from. Again, I haven't been to a big national event this year yet. ⁓ so just from what I've seen like being posted, what I hear at the track that that's kind of been restricted. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ Yeah. Megan: So the drivers will do their intros and then go that but that'll be like right at the starting line. So then their cars will already be there in the staging lane. So then they can just walk back, get their s ⁓ helmet on, get into the car, and then ⁓ they'll do their races and then basically they'll just kind of start like repeat that pattern all over again. So then they'll start with the slower class and then work their way up to the faster class, and then the pros will go out again. ⁓ and Between I would say like every other class, they do track prep with like the tractors will go out on the track and try to like even out the rubber, put some sticky stuff down on the track. So when that happens, that's usually like yeah, the downtime that fans are leaving the stands, they're walking around in the pits, they can go watch all the top fuel cars do their warm ups and when they're you know. changing parts because we've got to change parts every run. ⁓ that's when we'll get, yeah, like the most fan interaction is usually when it's that downtime on the track. ⁓ but I mean there there have been some like sponsor activation stuff that they would do. Like ⁓ like ⁓ they would let people ⁓ do some kind of more like one off exhibition stuff. Okay, so like when Camping World Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ Megan: became the title sponsor of NHRA. They actually did a drag race between two motorhomes. And I was like, ⁓ that like that's so cool. Like that's genius. But then they only did it like two or three times. And then they quit doing it. So I don't know why. but like they yeah, that would be like something cool to go and watch for fans. ⁓ and then there's just like stuff like that that like they used to kind of have like more show stuff that I feel like they don't really do as much anymore. ⁓ like for sportsmen stuff. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, I said. Yes. Megan: We used to have our own scheduled autograph signing where we'd, you know, all the drivers would just sit at a table and the fans could just walk by and pick up all the cards. They don't do that anymore for us, ⁓ which that sucks. So I don't there's just like a lot of it's not there anymore. And I mean, that's another thing that where it's like I'm not being drawn to go back because like it's not as cool as it used to be. Like, so Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan: I don't know. And then like the and then, you know, for like at the end of the race, winner circle stuff, that's right where so usually they'll have our winner circle pictures ⁓ in the staging lanes, but they give fans access because it's usually at the end of the day. So there's maybe just a couple cars left that have to race. And usually if it is the slower cars, then they'll let fans come. they don't Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: you know, they can't go onto the the starting lane, but they could come into the staging lanes and so they can be a part of the winner circle celebrations. So like that used to be a big thing too. but now like yeah, they kind of shut that off. Or they they do it like I don't know why they don't like follow the same schedule every race, but they'll have like ours going on at the same time as like Tot Fuel is running their final round. So there's like nobody there 'cause everyone's up in the stands watching. so Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ yeah. Hmm. Yes. Megan: Yeah. And then like, ⁓ and also another thing, ⁓ we used to get to do interviews like after every round at the top end. Like if you won the rounds, you would you knew like you were gonna get an interview and like they cut back on that also. ⁓ and then sometimes they would do ⁓ if you were like the r the race winner, they'd kind of do like a parade of all the cars Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. ⁓ Megan: would go drive like in front of the grandstands and you know you could wave to the fans and then we would stop there and then each person would get an interview so then that way you could still like you would interact with the fans and they'd want to get selfies with the trophies and like that was a lot of fun. And don't do that anymore. So I don't know. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. I feel like a lot of that like fan facing stuff, you know, I think we talk a lot about like what the series isn't doing, but I think a lot of it also comes down to like what racers aren't doing too. Like if it wasn't working because racers weren't engaged. I think of you mentioned that there used to be like autograph sessions. We used to have autograph sessions too. And I remember Chris was in Pro Buggy when they still did them. And Chris would bring his hero cards up. He'd go to s these autograph sessions and they'd have tables set up with places for pro racers to sit down and interact with their fans. They actually they didn't even limit it to pro racers. Any racers were invited to come up and sign autographs. And I think the most I've ever seen there was four racers at one time. And we have like four. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ really? Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: 400 racers and the fact that only four racers thought that was valuable enough to like go up there. And most of the time it was more like three. ⁓ and like I just think about well, no wonder they canceled it, like people weren't showing up. Or even last weekend, I have out of the 50 racers that I have on our racer on demand platform right now. Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ like we don't just do online merch sales, we also give the racers opportunities to connect with fans in other ways. One of those ways is we have our racer on demand booth at the Champ Races. And out of those 50 racers that sell with us, I think like 46 of them are champ racers. They all get an email inviting them to sign up for a booth time. I had one person sign up and they didn't even show up. So I had zero people. Megan: Mm. ⁓ man. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: show up for autograph sessions at our booth and it's just wild to me that like racers are not taking advantage of these things. No wonder they get canceled. You know, like I don't know. Do you see like racers not putting priority on that fan experience or like I don't know. Why do you think that happens? Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like in my world, ⁓ a lot of drag racers are self funded, so they don't need to be trying to, you know, get leads or get any, you know, any data or whatever from fans and stuff. So they don't prioritize it. ⁓ and I feel like, yeah, they're just kind of like, Well, it's not gonna Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan: Help me, so I don't need to do that. Or I'm too busy. Yeah, or yeah, it's like I'm too busy. I just I have to work on my car. Like that's my focus. I'm I'm not here to impress fans or impress sponsors. I'm just here to race. I don't care about that stuff. I feel like there's a a lot of them that are at the tracker like that, which like I've like I totally get. ⁓ but if you are someone that doesn't want to be self-funded and Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan: You wanna have partners on board, you're gonna have to go the extra mile and and do stuff maybe you don't wanna do, ⁓ to get your name out there and get the more fan recognition. and I don't Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. I think too, like, it's not just about funding, right? Like it's also about the longevity of your sport. You know, if you if you're not engaging fans, if nobody around you is engaging fans, if your series isn't engaging then your tracks are gonna close because they're not getting admission prices, right? You're not gonna have anywhere to race. Sponsors aren't gonna be funding your series because you're not reaching any ⁓ if you're not engaging fans, if nobody around you is engaging fans, if your series isn't engaging fans, then your tracks are gonna close because they're not getting admission prices, Sponsors aren't gonna be funding your series because you're not any ⁓ Megan: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: demographics, right? you need to be the change that that catalyst that brings in more people. I think when we were at Anago, demographics, right? I mean, I realize this is like a huge snowball that I'm describing, but it's true that like you need to be the change that that catalyst that brings in more people. I think about when we were at Anago, ⁓ so Chris had an issue. He had an electrical issue. We think it was internal on his battery that caused him to lose power while he was racing on Saturday. He was Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: leading the race, came around a corner, lost power in the corner, and because he didn't have go, it went up on the bike and then just like literally paused on the bike and then came down. And they had to tow him off the track, get him jump started to get it going again. And he finally got it going. He was five laps down when he came back out. And I knew that he came back out because people started clapping for him. Megan: ⁓ wow. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Right. And I just I thought it was such a really like meaningful moment because we put so much emphasis on our fan engagement that people were excited to see him, even if it was five laps down. Like it really meant something that he came back out. It didn't mean anything for points. It didn't mean anything for finishing order. He still got last place. ⁓ so like it really didn't help us at all. But it really cemented the fact that like Megan: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: What we're doing in the pits makes a difference on the track. It makes a difference in our sport. It makes a difference in the lives of our fans. And I think you're right that a lot of racers get so I I guess like single track thought about like, I'm too busy for this. I'm just here to race. This doesn't impact me, but it does. It does impact you. Megan: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well I guess kind of like a prime example would be when we were at Wheatland for the outlaw race and they had that yeah, like happy hour pit party. And I know there wasn't like any spectators there, but just a chance to go hang out with the other racers because we still don't really know that many ⁓ other families and racers that we're racing with in the outlaw series and like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: like just the contrast between like me and Adam and I was like, no, like we need to go. Like I've got these gunk samples. Like I wanna hand them out to the racers. And Adam was like, I do not want to do that. He's like, I don't care at all about that. And ⁓ like I was I was bummed that we missed it. But ⁓ yeah, I mean I feel like yeah like for me and like like you and Chris, yeah, like I think we are we kinda yeah like like we'll prioritize that and Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: But we've also just kind of, I don't know, maybe because we have like maybe a marketing background and we understand, yeah, like how important it is to engage with the fans to keep them coming back. ⁓ but yeah, not all not all racers are like that. ⁓ and so well, I guess another similar experience when we to Talladega. And so ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: Adam and I had the chance to hang out with Dave and ⁓ another ⁓ creator, content creator that they sponsor ⁓ through Gunk because they were sponsoring a NASCAR car and we got like VIP access and that was so cool. But there was the driver engagement that we got was like 10 minutes max. And like I understand like they've got a Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. ⁓ I love it. Megan: a busy schedule because right after that he had to leave to go to their driver's meeting. ⁓ but I mean, as far as like fans go, because this is a driver I I had never met before. I didn't know anything about him. ⁓ and I don't really follow NASCAR. So like I don't really know other than some of the like older guys that are still doing, I don't really know any of these, ⁓ like the younger kids that are racing now. ⁓ Yeah, it's so it's like I don't like it would just you never really got the time to like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah, you and I both. Megan: mm like, you know, he just answered a couple of questions and that's it. But like you didn't really get to know him or like his personality. and like nothing against him, but like it was just only such like a short window that we got. And w there was like eight people in our group. ⁓ and I don't want to be the person to ask like a stupid question 'cause I know I know like on the receiving end of like, you know, sometimes a a spectator might ask a stupid question. And it's like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yeah. Megan: I don't so like we were just like stayed quiet, like we don't want to bother you, like do your job, whatever. ⁓ but on the flip side of that, we got to interact with a lot of the crew guys because you know, we got to kind of hang out where the car was. ⁓ we got to be in their like pit box. And so ⁓ Adam was asking them a ton of questions. So like we got to know the crew guys and they were really cool. ⁓ and it's cool to hear like their stories because a lot of them are, you know, former professional athletes and stuff. So it's really cool. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yeah. Megan: ⁓ so that was like w we would rather hang out with the crew guys than go hang out with the driver. But jay just 'cause we got to like know them. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I think Think too, like, you know, maybe the series didn't really give the drivers a lot of time to interact with the fans and stuff, but like racers can make that happen. Like, if that's a priority, racers can absolutely make time, make space to interact with the fans. And I don't know. I think about like all the ways that Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: We've made points to do that. Like our pits are one of the only pits where you walk in and you can interact with the team and see the people working on the truck. And, you know, you can walk in and say, Hey, Chris, like how is it going? Cause Chris is sitting there, maybe at the merch booth or like by his truck, you know? And and like racers don't have to rely on the series to do that. Like, you know, that NASCAR driver could have made time to hang out with you guys in the pit box, you know. Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: before it was 10 minutes to the meeting, you know? Or like I I don't know. I I just want to make sure that, you know, we've talked a lot about like how the series maybe has opportunities, but like racers have opportunities too to just like do this themselves. Like find what matters, like engage your fans. Think about if you were attending this event, what would make you really excited to be there? You know, and just do it. Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Well, and I loved that you guys had brought the two seater Tweetland and you were letting people like check it out. They could sit in the car, ⁓ get their pictures taken with it. Like, yeah, it's something interactive like that. Like that's really cool. 'Cause I mean, I'm assuming you didn't have to br well, okay, because Chris had to go somewhere else after the race. But if you didn't have to, then like you didn't have to bring the two seater, but like and like how you bring your Beatle, like you kind of use that as a a tool to interact with the fans and have something that they can be more immersed into. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm. Yeah, we were actually just talking yesterday about like what are we bringing to the next race because the two seater doesn't have a motor in it right now. So that's why it wasn't at Anago. And my car ⁓ is still very sad from Crandon. It's broken and ugly. So we haven't been pulling that around either. We're like, well, maybe we can get one of Dave's Beatles together to bring that out for some fan interaction. Like at Crandon, we have so much space that it Megan: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: it would be weird not to have somewhere for our fans to just interact with our race vehicles in a more meaningful way. But we gotta figure out w what we're bringing 'cause whatever it is is gonna require some work. I don't know, maybe I have to pull the transmission out of the Beetle and have ⁓ our local guy here take a look at it 'cause after Crandon, when I rolled it, it hit really hard on the right rear, left rear. I don't remember. Whichever tire came off the Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: The whole brake drum broke out. It hit so hard, but ⁓ it hit so hard that it messed something up in the transmission. Like it still shifts okay, but all of the transmission fluid leaked out. And I am concerned. So I have to pull the transmission before I continue driving it around. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like I've said before, you could always have a bouncy house. Yeah. Yeah. Because they had they did have one there at Wheatland under under the stance. And I don't know who it was because it wasn't with like a specific vendor. And it was just like it was just a mom because she had ⁓ like two or three kids. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, I broke that. We could we could always have a bouncy house. You're right. Saw that. Megan: with her that were, you know, going through it. ⁓ but she was the only one that was like manning it. And so I don't know if it's just like was kind of a personal thing. ⁓ but we spent probably at least two hours ⁓ each day at that bouncy house. So I mean it if I if we do come and do a a professional race like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Ha ha. Yeah, S. Megan: We'll probably bring a bouncy house and just to have that as an interaction for the fans to do and to keep Henry occupied. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. I love that. Just like buy like a branded bouncy house. Okay, we are going to have an inflatable, I think at Crandon. I I thought it was gonna be here already, ⁓ but it's not here yet. So when we did the ride and drive with Nexon out in Chicago area, ⁓ they had this big inflatable Nexon tire that went around the entryway to the building, and Chris has been like Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ever since we did that, that was early October, he keeps telling me, He's like, I'm gonna get that. I am gonna get this blow-up tire and we're putting it on top of the semi. I was like, They there's no reason that Nexon is gonna send you this tire. So he was talking to one of our marketing people when he was out at Overland Expo a couple of weeks ago. And ⁓ he's like, Well, we'll ship you the tire. It's just sitting in our storage room. He's like, and if we need it for an event, you just ship it back. So Megan: Ooh, yes. Yeah, they're not using it. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: So I'm pretty sure that at Crandon w on top of our semi, we're gonna have this big Nexon blow up tire. Megan: Awesome. Dude, that's that's awesome. Heck yeah. Well I saw no, but I mean everyone will know where you're at. Cause yeah, I saw that at ⁓ King of the Hammers. Some of them did have like inflatables on top of their trailer because I think one was a dinosaur and like Henry had pointed it out. ⁓ yeah, that'd be awesome so that everyone knows where you are. Amanda Van Den Elzen: It's not a bouncy house, but ⁓ yeah. Yes. Yes. We ⁓ we had one year ⁓ we were partnering with a like whip light company and so we had them like on all the race cars. Mine still has them on it because I I just love them. But ⁓ but we also had Megan: Sweet. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Me too. Amanda Van Den Elzen: them on our tent and we had them like lined up instead of flags, we had those and at night it was so cool, just like this row of whip lights on the top of our tent. It was very hard to miss our tent. Megan: Hello. Yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah. That'd be awesome. I love that. So yeah. I mean that stinks you don't have that partner anymore. But that I mean, that seems like a no brainer. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I know. Yes. And it was such a good mix too. Like we had those and then we partnered with Go Lithium for batteries and the lithium batteries could run those whip lights like well into the night without any kind of like plug. So we didn't have to like plug ⁓ into anything, you know. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, it was. It was. Well, okay, so going back to like engaging fans and like you know, what are what are some ways that you've seen either racers or series do a really good job of keeping fans like front focus? Like it's here for the fans, not for the racers necessarily. Megan: Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Well do you mean like in the pits or more like on track stuff? Amanda Van Den Elzen: think in general, like what are some ways that you've just seen fans be really brought into the motor sports world? Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I feel like I like I really like driver intros. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan: Just because it g it gives you a chance to see or meet everybody. ⁓ because usually, you know, whether you're watching on TV or just from the stands, like you never see the person behind the helmet, right? So like you kind of tie it more to the vehicle of like the personality, but you know, it's really about the you know, the the human that's driving the car. So I like that just to be able to kind of Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan: 'Cause sometimes like I know the name and I know the vehicle, but like I've never seen their face. So like I don't know what they look like. So just to be able to tie that together. and then even like on Instagram too, or like any social media, like if you're not posting your face and like people don't quite know what you look like. And like I've actually have like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Megan: been looking for someone in the pits and it's like I physically don't know what they look like. So yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. when I doing racer reviews on Instagram, ⁓ I ran that so often. I was like, your profile picture should not be a picture of your car. Like people don't know what you look like. ⁓ Megan: Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, seriously. Yeah. Yeah. Seriously. So, ⁓ I like that. I I like it to where, you know, if it is something that fans can be interactive with, you know, throw throw ⁓ a T shirt or a hat, like 'cause then they're gonna be hooked. ⁓ if they have a chance to like get something and get it for free. ⁓ I like that. I like ⁓ I I like like at Crandon, ⁓ when we went last year, they had Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yeah. Megan: interactive stuff even outside of the pits that you could do. So like the Ram ride along that they had. ⁓ I know there's like a ride along at King of the Hammers. So stuff that you could do, you know before you get through the gate. I think that's really cool too for fans just to be able to, yeah, like make some more memories doing that. Whether it's like the ride along, ⁓ there's also like that RC track that they had. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan: You know, stuff for for all ages too. And then as soon as you walk into the gate, ⁓ there's a lot of vendor stuff there. ⁓ I like that. Whereas like at Wheatland, it there's really not much vendor stuff at all. ⁓ there is nothing I mean, I think I saw like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: two vendors there at Wheeland. Everything else was like just food trucks. So ⁓ there wasn't anything like interactive for the fans to do. but then also there's not like a real gate. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan: that you go through like you you enter all the way over here then you gotta drive all the way around the track and then ⁓ yeah so that was like kind of weird at Wheatland. ⁓ but I liked how Crandon how they had that set up and ⁓ everything was still like just very short within walking distance there at Crandon. So I really like that. ⁓ having camping on site yes yeah I think so too. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. I think Crandon does a really good job. Megan: Yeah, and having yeah, the camping on site there ⁓ definitely helps for fans. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I love that they also like when we're thinking about like how are we making this a show for fans, like Crandon, it's not just racing either, right? Like you're talking about there's interactive things, there's activations and stuff, but like they do concerts and they have fireworks or like that drone show that they did last year was really cool. And, you know, these are all things that their sponsors are getting value from. So like it's not like they're paying extra for these things. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: You know, and racers could be thinking about that that way too. You know, what are things that would be providing value or activation to your partners or their products that would also be valuable to a fan or like exciting for a fan? We've talked about, and we're just trying to find the right partner. ⁓ we've talked about doing like a 360 video booth in our pits. And because then you could brand the video with the sponsor's logo or whatever. Megan: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: You're collecting their email because you're sending them the video file. So like that automatically could be like a promotional email sign up, you know. So you could get some like data and some promo and like get that brand out in front of people and still engage fans in a really fun way. And and then you're getting on social media with it too, because that's a shareable moment. They're gonna post and, you know, like Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think if we start thinking of this a little bit more holistically than just like I go, I race, I post an update about where I started and where I finished, you know, like even social media. Yes, yes, ⁓ also guilty. I don't think we've posted about Sunday's race yet, but but ⁓ I think social media is also an opportunity to be thinking more about like w Megan: Three days later. ⁓ okay. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Is this for me or is this for my fans or for potential fans that I could be bringing in too, you know? Megan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, okay, so I got one more idea. So when we were at the NASCAR race, one thing I thought was really cool, the parking lot where all the spectators parked, they had all the merch trailers out there, not once you walk through the gate. So I thought that was really interesting. ⁓ 'cause then people are already buying stuff as soon as they get there. So I thought that was cool. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ Yeah, or on their way out even. Megan: Yeah, or on their way out, which we we got lucky because so we were in the infield the whole time. There was no merch trailers there. And so that could be an that's a missed opportunity, I think. ⁓ but because we were like, we want to get a souvenir and you know, we want to get something for Henry too. So we had to leave and get on like a shuttle bus to go all the way to the outside where the spectator parking was. And we got there. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: like I would say forty five minutes before the race was over and they were already all packing up, getting ready to leave. ⁓ so we got lucky that we were able to find because a lot of stuff was sold out too. So we were able to get some stuff. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. that makes me think ⁓ ⁓ we were leaving Anago, like I mean, not when we were like leaving the track, but when we were leaving after the last race, Champ had sent out a text message that said, please wait to pull down your canopies and stuff if you're in the pro area until after four o'clock. Well, four o'clock was the start of the last race. But as we were walking ⁓ ⁓ of the fans were funneling down this walkway and all of the pro pits were tearing down around them. And I was like, Megan: Okay. ⁓ yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: This is a missed opportunity for racers to interact with fans too. Like this was the first time, the first weekend that like Pro Two and Pro Four drivers could be back in their pits and waiting for fans to walk through as they came out. And like we make a point to leave our tent up and not tear everything down before everybody leaves, but most people don't. And I I just like Megan: Yes. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Most of the time the pro twos and pro fours are still set up because they race last. So it just kind of happens that way. So this race was really eye opening of what a terrible experience that was for a fan. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Hmm, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Cause yeah, I feel like especially if you have, you know, merch or anything to give away, ⁓ yeah, like get try to get rid of that stuff as much as you can, like at the end of the especially if it is, yeah, like the walkway that that fans are gonna be going to. ⁓ okay, so I know a couple teams, you know, the of course like the bigger trucks, like they'll give away the panels and stuff that break off. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Megan: ⁓ yeah, like that could be totally a great opportunity once the race is over. Like yeah, have the fans come straight to your pit and I mean I don't know what if you guys are trying to get rid of that stuff. ⁓ but yeah, that that could be something too. Yeah, yeah, seriously Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Yeah, sometimes it depends on how bad ours are, but we ⁓ we'll stash ⁓ We'll stash ⁓ and so we'll wait for kids to come up and ask for like, do you have any broken bat body panels? And it might be from the race before, like, you know, we might bring some from Anago to Crandon and just have them ready to go. We'll have ⁓ cut up and stuff so we have more than one to hand out and everything. Yeah. Yes. One thing too. Megan: Mm, yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. 'Cause yeah, we that's always like fans are always like w they always want a part of the car. Like a t shirt is cool, but like yeah, if you can take a part with you, like they want that. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Right. It's like a race worn jersey or something. Or a race worn listen to me, a game worn jersey. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Okay, so one more thing that I absolutely loved. ⁓ when we were out at Mansfield, it was incredibly fan-centric. And that's what really got my brain like thinking about this. And then with Champ making those changes too, right? But ⁓ one of the things we were required as drivers to have our vehicle and our driver in their race suit at the front gates when gates opened. So the first thing fans saw when they came in. Megan: Hmm. Good. Yeah. ⁓ okay. Amanda Van Den Elzen: was a line of trucks and drivers waiting to sign autographs and like give away their stuff. ⁓ that was so cool. It was so well planned. Megan: Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Well, yeah, that reminds me. We've been to a Monster Truck race last year. And it wasn't Monster Jam. It was like a smaller series. I don't remember what it was called. ⁓ but yeah, that was like a thing they did. But they did it too early though, because then it was like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: Which I understand, you know, you wanna make sure people have plenty of time to get through the gate. ⁓ but we got there early so we could have like a good parking spot. But then it was like three hours, like we've gotta kill. And there wasn't there was only like four trucks. I think that were doing like autograph signings. ⁓ and then there was like a ride along that you could do. So like we did all that stuff and it's like, Okay, now what? And so it actually we timed it poorly because then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan: the our boys ⁓ then they got tired and then they got cranky and they wanted to leave like right after the race started. So we actually had to miss pretty much the whole mantra truck race. ⁓ but yeah, that was that was something cool to have. ⁓ yeah, as soon as you walk in to have the like the trucks on display insight and autographs, that's cool. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ no. Yes. But man, we gotta think about that fan experience from like start to finish. Like, okay, if we kick off with a bang like this, but then there's three hours of downtime, we're doing something wrong. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or yeah, like yeah, if there could have just been more stuff to do, but I don't know. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's where I think there's an opportunity, probably with drag racing too, right? You have the sportsmen and the pros. So if the pros are there when gates gates open, and I'm gonna put that in quotes, but sportsman racing is already happening, like you have something to watch, you know, while people are coming in and filtering past maybe pros set up or, you know, something like that. I think there's really an opportunity to fill time and and get people watching the sportsman racers. Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: But give them the option to do that or walk the pits or do whatever, you know. Megan: Mm-hmm. know. I it has become more focused, like what you were saying. And we do need to ⁓ I don't know, I guess incentivize the series ⁓ ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: kinda be have more fan focused events, but then but I mean it's also on the racers too, like what you were saying. Like if if no one's gonna participate then they're not gonna offer it. So Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. And at what point, like, can you even imagine a series saying, like, if a racer has an idea, like, okay, I brought to Carl, I said, Hey, this happened at Mansfield and it was really cool, right? And he was like, Wow, you're right. That sounds really cool. Like, can you imagine a a race series if you said, I have this idea to do something that's free, it doesn't take any extra resources and it's gonna engage fans really well. Can you imagine a race series being like, you know, fuck that? No. Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: They might not put it into place immediately. They might not put it into place exactly, but I bet they start thinking about it if you've got this idea, right? Like come to them with solutions, not just critiques. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, seriously. Yeah. You said that very well. Because yeah, if you're just, yeah, complaining or trying to critique them, then I could see where then they might not wanna do it. But yeah, if you pitch it as a solution, then yeah. Especially if it's not gonna cost them anything. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Right, yeah. And obviously there are things that will cost money and will take time, resources, or whatever, right? Like it still pitch those ideas, but maybe with the caveat of like, I understand if this isn't feasible, but like maybe there's something we can take from it, you know? Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. We'll see. I know IHRA is trying to do more stuff. I haven't been to one of those races where they have a lot more interaction stuff, but last year like they would bring a Ferris wheel. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Cool. Yeah. Megan: And they'd have it like right next to the starting line. ⁓ so that could be cool. They had also had done some like bull riding stuff. So I know they were experimenting with trying to do stuff outside the box, but ⁓ I haven't been to one of those races this year yet. So I've only been to one race or two races this year, and it feels weird. It's already June, and I've only been to two races this year. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Megan: I think my dad's already done like twelve races. He's almost halfway th through his ⁓ schedule. So Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ my god. That's wild. I know I feel like we've been doing nonstop. And then I thought about it this morning and I was like, we're only through four rounds and we have like fifteen rounds. So ⁓ man, we got a long ways to go. Cool. Well, I think you have to go, right? You have a vet thing? Okay. Okay. Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I've got a vet thing. Yep. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Well, why don't we wrap up then? ⁓ just as a reminder to our listeners, we put out a new episode every two weeks, every other Thursday, you can hear from us. We are going to work on lining up another guest for our next episode. So ⁓ I'm excited to bring that guest to you, but until then, we you. Bye. Megan: Everybody