What makes a good local Hot Wheels club?

CONTACT JEREMY AT LJLRC- LINCOLN JOHNNY LIGHTNING RACE CLUB - PM. ME IF YOU NEED E-MAIL OR PHONE

I have no Idea. I tried to find a Hot Wheels club locally but there doesn't seem to be any. The collectors I met at the Kmart Sale only seemed to want to hoard there cars. When I told them I raced some of my cars I thought they were gonna faint.
Oh well. Wish I could help you but I have had no luck here......

We started 1 1/2 years ago with this race at our church, and then we began to advertise, put up posters, mass mailings in the community, I've even gone to a local car show that meets every Saturday night and setup the track to generate interest. So far the mailings have gotten us more people coming to our race event. We have it on the last Sunday of the month, in a public place, where people feel safe, and comfortable. I try and have the track looking like we really mean business, and a nice back drop to give the "Wow" factor when they come. We give away trophies at the end of the race, (but they have to bring them back the next month) its a bragging rights sort of thing, plus it keeps the cost down. I put the pictures of the race, and video on our FB page for all to see...and I personally think people like seeing themselves on the Web with a trophy in hand. We also do a grab bag race, where we have six bags containing 6 cars total. And you randomly choose a bag and whatever is in that bag you race, and if you win...you take all the cars home. The kids really like this race. I'm normally running the camera, and try to do all the announcements and keep the race atmosphere pumped up. We only have 2 hours to do the race, and its short and sweet and everyone leaves happy. I also want to make the event as fair as possible, so, if we race for 1-3 place positions. I have a "Trophy" bag that contains numbers 1-3 and I allow someone to randomly reach into the bag are pull out a number...that determines who the trophy winner will be. Now if your car is in the top three and you have previously won a trophy by default the trophy will go to the person who hasn't won a race...this way it give everyone a fighting chance to win. I hope this helps Lastly...three words to remember, "Fast, Fun & Fair"...and you will have a good race event.

Preacher

It's been on my todo list to do some sort of live club/event for a long, long time but time/effort is always the hurdle. Plus you have expenses and show on...although I think sponsorships are a way to offset that, but again, that's time/effort to wrangle all those together.

For me, I'd love to see an event that is more than just a track and a sign-up sheet for racing. As we all know around here, a lot of the racing action is custom so I would want to turn a monthly meetup into an experience that promotes that. Sure, you'll have a track on hand for racing and tournaments but I would want areas with tables that have tools and parts allowing people to play with modding right there on the spot...and then they can test it on a track right there.

Have some "experts" on hand to keep an eye on things and help introduce people to the hobby world of race modding. Even just something simple like painting your car a different color would be fun and "educational", I think. I know a lot of the events put on with kids in mind and that's great, so why not allow a parent to share the art of tinkering with their kid? Sometimes the tools and environment are what people don't have (for me that's even true) so if a monthly event can be the one time they get to use "pro" tools to learn skills, have fun and make some neat cars, then all the better.

I guess I'm saying a diecast racing workshop would be an awesome part of any event. Hell, invite a local teacher to show people the physics of racing.

Otherwise, I think things that Preacher said ring true. You gotta look like you have your shit together or people won't return. If you're doing an on-site tournament, don't just leave out a piece of notebook paper on a table as a sign-up sheet - use your laptop or tablet, or have someone take "registrations" or something. I know technology can be scary and difficult but even if it doesn't work perfectly, the fact that you have "equipment" at your event I think will speak volumes.

Another thing that will have the legitimacy is having a local sponsor(s). Find a hobby store, hardware store, school or library or something join in and help promote the event. Even if they don't give you money or services, names mean a lot to people and will just help people take you seriously. Would you rather be "Bob and his Hot Wheels" or "Bob and the Public Library present The Anytown Spring Diecast Meetup"? Think NASCAR. If you're not your own brand yet, piggyback on someone that has one.

I also think it's important that events focus on more than just the kids. Sure, kids will be the reason adults come but why not have a "21 and over" entry class for your tournaments? Adults won't expect something like that but might be more inclined to participate if they know they won't be beating a kids. Hooking a kid with cars is a lot easier than hooking mom/dad...plus you'll show that your event is safe for fun. And have a trophy for the adults too. I can tell you the parent and child that both go home with a trophy will be back next time.

...whew...

So do you need all of that to be "good" local club? No, absolutely not. But I think some of that will help take an even to the next level and really turn it into an event. Yet keep in mind I have no idea what it's like to travel with a car full of crap and setup at a location or anything. I have zero experience in live events but I know what I'd like to see. I went to the Hot Wheels convention in Nashville a few years ago and if you ask me it fell short in a lot of places where I believe it would have been easy to dress up.

Maybe all of what I said has been tried and failed...that's no reason to not try it again but maybe I'm just thinking too big.

Hey thanks for taking the time to respond, guys. There's some neat ideas there, and I'll take them into account. Right now I'm just trying to find out where I'm headed with this.

See, I have a number of connections in the oval racing and the hot rodding community around here AND I have a background in kid's entertainment too. I'm envisioning a semi regular event that is part race meet, part collector meet, with vendor tables etc, and part 1:1 car show n shine. (I'm sure I can get one or two of the roundy-round guys to bring their stock cars out for display too.) I might even be able to work out a thing with our speedway to make the track part of their display at our annual Motorsport Expo in the spring.

Anyway, I'm just a rolling around some ideas in my head. Quite frankly, I was planning on putting together a small slot car club...but I think HW actually has more mass appeal. I'm thinking of directing my efforts that way.