Hosting A Race

[HO RacePro]

I have hosted races for HOCOC and IHSR. A few observations...

Scale doesn't matter. 'Cept maybe when it comes to pit space.

Pit space matters. Also pit amenities, such as...
- Enough tables and chairs. Not easy to do if the attendance is high.
- Adequate lighting. You need good light to work on them teeny little cars. Some racers bring their own lights. Even lights with built-in magnifiers.
- Electrical outlets. Some racers have pit tools that need AC power. I try to provide at least one power strip for every pair of pit stations.
- Paper towels, wet wipes and trash baskets. Pit work can be dirty.

Then there is the grub. Provide food and drink. Both for snacks and, typically, lunch. Favorites include...
- Chilled bottled water
- Sodas (AKA pop, soft drinks) in single-serving cans or bottles. Recycle the empties.
- Donuts and/or donut holes
- Cookies
...and lunch fare...
- Pizza!

Pizza is the perennial favorite, but of late some IHSR events have branched out into...
- Sausages, including bratwurst, kielbasa and Italian sausages (that's me!)
- Chili (with black olives!)
...and there have been rumblings of some new victuals, yet to be revealed. Swedish meatballs? Egg rolls? Chicken wings? Oh drool!

Hosting a race is great fun! I truly enjoy it. It doesn't matter that all the prep distracts from getting my own cars ready. My hospitality gets reciprocated when other club members host their own events, and all I have to do is show up ready to race!

[dungeonracer]

Next time you host, do a simple (dumb) test.

Have both Coke and Pepsi sodas available. When the race is over and everyone has left, see how many 1/2 empty Coke cans are left behind vs Pepsi.

When I used to host, I'd always find a bunch of 1/2 empty Coke cans left behind, and an occasional Pepsi. It got to the point the I started poking fun at the guys who drank Coke.
I'd asked them if Coke taste better than Pepsi, why don't you drink it all? The Pepsi guys do

There weren't as many Coke cans after that.....

But yeah, if you host, provide the goodies. And when you go to other races, enjoy the goodies
And to add, if you race, but aren't able to host, ask the host if you can bring anything to help feed the hungry...

[Pappy]

Dickie, the thing I've noticed about soda drinkers is people who are addicted to soda always drink Pepsi. They'll have one in their hand all day.

I always take something to snack on to a race unless there is a race fee to cover it. My entry fee most of the time is "just bring a snack to share with everyone". I supply the drinks.

Some of my pet peeves are:

When someone takes 1/2 empty drinks and throws them into the garbage can. When you take the plastic bag out of the can to throw it away it drips all over the floor and then you have to mop it up.

People who never bring anything to share. We know who you are.

People who don't clean up after themselves in the bathroom. I'm pretty sure you all know what I mean.

Cigarette butt's thrown on the ground.

[HO RacePro]

I provide Pepsi at my races, not Coke. Y'see, I own stock in Pepsi, so I may as well promote my own cola.

I acquired that Pepsi stock in a strange way. Quite a few years ago I took a contract job at a Quaker Oats plant, as a Project Manager. But they took me on as a temporary employee rather than a traditional contractor. Their policy. I was good with that. I worked there for about a year.

A couple of months after I finished at Quaker Oats I got a letter in the mail telling me I had acquired about $13,000 in Quaker Oats stock through profit sharing. I hadn't realized Quaker Oats did profit sharing. Apparently even temporary employees got profit sharing, and it wasn't a piddling amount!

Quaker Oats got bought by Pepsi, so my Quaker Oats stock became Pepsi stock. I've held onto that stock and now it is worth close to $100,000! A nice addition to my retirement fund.

Nobody told me about the profit-sharing angle to my contract job. It was one of the nicest surprises of my life!

So I serve Pepsi. Drink up!

[Bal r 14]

That's a cool story. I have a racing/stock related story, too. Way back in the old days, I used to play the stock options. I had been playing them for about 2 years and accomplished nothing worthwhile... in that time I lost about $10k. I was ready to call it quits, I had about $500 left in my trading account. My broker asked me what I wanted to do with it and I said to put in on Universal Oil Products (UOP) $15 options. The option was due to expire in about 2 weeks and was basically worthless (1/32 or about 30 for a dollar) because the stock was currently selling for under $11. I didn't care, just wanted it to end and I liked the UOP Shadow race car... the black 6 wheeler Elf. So, what the hell!

About a week before the option expired, Honeywell tendered an offer of $17 a share for UOP. My 1/32 options were now worth $2 each and I had 15k of them. Thank you, UOP Shadow!

Anyway, I found that beer and water were far more popular than soda when hosting a race. But, nothing beats pizza.