The Man Behind The Marketing Plan

The 2011 Dillon Motor Speedway racing season was so intense that car count and attendance records were broken. The speedway also had the closest finishes since it reopened in 2007. However, there is one individual that put the spark back into local racing, that electric atmosphere that kept the fans wound up and the drivers determined to win. That individual is Fred Bowker, the general manager at John Newsome GM Parts of Hartsville.

Bowker isn’t new to the local motorsports world. In the past, he has assisted Florence Motor Speedway in their efforts to attract more fans. Heading into the 2011 Dillon Motor Speedway season Bowker had a few new tricks up his sleeve and that never became clearer than on Labor Day.

He along with John Newsome Parts of Hartsville bought every single fan’s ticket as they walked through the gate on Labor Day at Dillon Motor Speedway. Fans were tightly packed from turn four all of the way to turn one, and there were so many race cars, that a good portion of the drivers had to setup shop in the parking lot. The speedway advertised the race for months in efforts to potentially attract new fans who have never visited the track before. As a result of free admission, several thousand race fans attended the race to see over a hundred race cars hit the track for door-to-door bragging rights.

“I was trying to look at the idea from a promoter’s standpoint,” Bowker said. “What comes first, the drivers or the fans? You have to have the drivers to put on a show for the fans, but if you don’t have the fans, then you don’t have the drivers. I said let’s see if we can fill the stands up and at the same time, if someone showed up for the first time, they would want to come back again.”

Every driver who entered the track that night knew that it was going to be a special event. There was so much energy in the air and the racing was probably some of the best the track hosted all year. Add those elements to a free show on Labor Day, and you have a very successful promotion.

“That event made a big difference for the drivers to be able to race in front of a packed house,” Bowker said. “You could tell that made a huge difference because all of the stands were full.”

Bowker along with John Newsome GM Parts of Hartsville also gave away numerous crate motors throughout the season. The promotion gave drivers who were a little more underfunded a chance to win a free motor. Drivers flocked from all over the East Coast for a chance to win a crate motor and to race in front of a packed house.

Now, John Newsome GM Parts of Hartsville is sponsoring the side of a Late Model that is owned by Dillon Motor Speedway. It has already traveled to Florence Motor Speedway and will hit the track for Myrtle Beach Speedway’s end of the year race this upcoming weekend. With the off-season underway, both Bowker and the staff at Dillon Motor Speedway have time to think of ways to surpass the cutting edge of entertainment. The 2012 season will be bigger and better than ever as the two look to do the impossible. Bowker will also be back in action at Florence Motor Speedway in 2012.