Mark your calendars and plan your trip to New Hampshire now!!!!!
On Friday, August 12th at 5pm there will be a private meet and greet for all Champion members with Helio Castroneves, Will Power, and Ryan Briscoe. Location information to come. Keep an eye out for your Champion e-mails from INDYCAR Nation.
Come for great food, prizes and to meet the men of Penske racing! Hope to see everyone there!
If you have an questions please e-mail indycarnation.indycar.com!
Just wondering how Helio and Ryan are going to be at the meet and greet at 5 p.m. and the Speedway Childrens Charity at 5:30 p.m.?Originally Posted by INDYCAR Nation
If the NHMS site is correct then this is a joke. Supposedly, this is going to be held in downtown Concord which is a half an hour (approx. depending on traffic) from the race track. Meet and greet starts at 5 p.m. and the mods qualify according to the schedule from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the track. Plus, it appears that Helio and Ryan will be back at the track at 6 p.m. for the Speedway Childrens Charities Chowderfest. I mean c'mon now! I'm less and less impressed.
Good morning, Open Wheeler!
The charity event at the track is from 5:30-7:30 and the drivers are asked to stop by for 20-30 min at any point during that time block. The drivers are staying in Concord and will not be at the track that day. So, they are swinging by the Champion event, then Will is off to a Verizon appearance and Ryan/Helio will head to the charity event.
We picked this time to accommodate the drivers' schedules before what becomes a very busy Saturday and Sunday for them. We're lucky to have them and appreciative of their time. We also picked this time in Concord because many members are staying there and will just be arriving into town. Of course, it's impossible to please everyone, but we hope to see you at some point between 5 and 6pm on Friday. Please spread the positive word for us!
Liza
I understand that scheduling is ALWAYS an issue but I'm sure there are quite a few members staying at the track and I've been going to NH since they only ran the Busch series and have been to every IndyCar race there and it is always for the fans (not even mention club members) been activities surrounded around the track. If you are catering to members who aren't even going to be at the track on Friday that is sad. You should be encouraging the members to be there and support the series, track, and support series. Same said for the autograph session. The mods on the mile are awesome and if you are trying to draw new fans/members pitting that against the modified race is just not a good thing. So as far as we are concerned we will continue to support the series and track by being there for three days with garage passes to see some great racing. But, we WILL not be in attendance for the meet and greet or autograph session and I'm sure there will be others. Appears to me that you have been putting more effort into Baltimore than Loudon. I would have thought Loudon would have been a priority.Good luck and I hope your plan is successful if only for the benefit of the series and I'm sure we will bump into one another somewhere this weekend.
As always, thanks for the input. We've received fantastic feedback from members who enjoy the member socials off-site and away from the track. There will always be differing opinions and that's why we try and mix it up from race to race...some at the track (like Mid-Ohio and Infineon) and some off site (like Iowa and Loudon). And Loudon is important to us...we spent a lot of advance time scheduling the Penske drivers for this event, and don't have anyone scheduled for Baltimore just yet.
Friday will be a fun day at the track, but we'd love to see you at the Champion event! We'll be doing some filming and giving away great prizes. Enjoy your weekend!
I appreciate the effort you went through to get the Penske drivers and I appreciate that there are different opinions on how events should happen and that you have to please the majority of fans/members and that is no easy task. However, we are of the fan that when we attend races we spend the entire time at the track and watch as much of the action and participate in as many track activities as possible. And, I don't think we are too off base when you look at some of the NASCAR tracks that have fans camping for days in excess of 50,000. What I wouldn't give as a promoter to have a captive audience of 50,000 for five days.
Anyway, we will have fun, we always do. Just some more than others and remember "Smile, it makes people wonder what you're up to".
I am going to put my 2 cents here, I think its split: Judy Bickel had hobnobs for the last few years, none were at the track but were the same as socials that ICN now has, we had many people attend and what we were told was it was nice to relax after a long day at the track, we had INDYCAR execs show up, drivers & announcers stop by and just wind down and benched raced. 5:00 on a Friday night when nothing is really going on is reasonable. I know I enjoy my time away from the track to get to sit and know people, I have also camped in our RV at tracks and have had a equally good time. I think it depends on the fan and what they want to do. At times we had big crowds and I know I have made friends by doing this its a more relaxed atmosphere and no one is hurried to see the action on the track.
I might add last year a hobnob was held at Foyt Wines and Vitor, Larry and others showed up, Larry paid for everybody at the end of the night.
We had a hobnob at Seneca Lodge and Justin Wilson walked in after winning with the whole Dale Coyne team everybody got in on the act.
You never know what will happen at socials.....
So why not have socials at the track? They are having a chowderfest there with Speedway Childrens Charities after hours and a pile of drivers are showing up. Can't blame them as it is a great cause but, guess we aren't in that league. If you want to have your little parties for a certain few away from the atmosphere of racing fine, especially, if that's what people want. Just don't expect to see us there. I don't know how to raise my pinky, just my mug. I said I would give it one year and I am but, I don't like the direction. Had fun before ICN and will have fun after ICN, just trying to give some input to make things better. You don't want it, doesn't break my heart.
All I am saying is I think it was a split anything done at a racetrack if it is not included in a contract has to be paid for, from what I have seen it seems that Liza and Anne have had a good mix with the garage open in May and other events, they had a car development meeting with folks in Toronto and execs at the track. so i think they have a nice mix for everybody.
See that there is a tweet out now inviting everyone. Nice! So glad these things are exclusive.
The tweet is from New Hampshire Speedway picking 10 lucky winners to join in on the fun. When Helio is around it is always a fun time.
I understand the meet and greet was a hit for INDYCAR Nation members, the Penske boys went table to table taking pictures signing autographs and talking with members, Randy Bernard also came and stopped by all tables. A two seater ride was won by a Champion member who just joined a month ago and a lucky Champion member won the right to give the "POLE Award" to the drivers during prerace ceremonies.
Last edited by gass; 08-13-2011 at 08:52 AM.
There are no doubt to benefits of being a Champion member. I heard the Chowderfest was poorly attended and I talked to a couple of Champion members who went to that. What a wasted opportunity to make some positive press for a good cause. My wife won a pace car ride which she thoroughly enjoyed and we both won pre-race access to the driver introductions and that was ok. Once is enough. But, we also got free paddock passes and access to the hot pits not from ICN. Those were well worth it and can't think of anyone I didn't want to talk to that I didn't and a couple that I wasn't expecting to including Liza. I didn't take advantage of the autograph session because the mods were running (as did a majority of the fans) and what a race it was. So we had a blast that weekend but, it wasn't just because of ICN. So based on what transpired at Loudon why would my wife and I spend another $70.00 next year to re-up our membership? Bus trips? 10 % discount? Meet and greets? Driver autographs? Maybe this is what ICN members want and if it is the case great for ICN and I hope they prosper. Maybe in a year or two after they haved worked the bugs out we may consider joining again but, for now I think we will go back to way we like to do things.
Don't argue with idiots, it only makes you look stupid and infuriates the idiots.
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