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A Personal Thanks...

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  • A Personal Thanks...

    Hello all,

    Nellis has come and gone and today is the first day that I have had time to sit back and reflect. We have put in a tremendous amount of time and energy between Reno and the Nellis program. I was the point of contact that WOW assigned to manage all air racing operations in Vegas, as well as managing the Rolls-Royce events in Reno.

    Any type of event or marketing program is a team effort and I have to say that I am very honored to have had the opportunity to work with, and meet so many good people. I know this list may look like an awards show acceptance speech, but I want every race fan to know that these events would not have been possible without the support and dedication of the following people:

    Team Dago Red - Terry Bland, Dede Wilson, Skip Holm, Bill Kerchenfaut, Dan Stout and the entire crew.

    Team Voodoo - Bob Button, Chrissy Button, JC Calkins, Frankie, Bill, Matt Jackson, Curt Brown and the rest of the crew.

    Team Rare Bear - Lyle Shelton, John Penney, Sharon Coates, Stacey Thomas, and the entire crew. (you guys all did a great job and your merchandise looks fantastic!)

    Team Riff Raff - Mike Keenum, Kathleen Keenum, Ray Studnarz, Jim Kippen (look forward to seeing the mobile cocktail lounge in your pit and Dago Red's!)

    Hughes H-1 Racer - Jim and Betty Wright

    Precious Metal - Ron Buccarelli (thanks for making such an effort to try to make the show!)

    Firecat L-39 - Rich Perkins, Marilyn Bedford

    Sandy Sanders
    Gordon Bowman Jones
    "Captain Eddie"
    Wayne Sagar (thanks for hanging with me in the trenches!)
    Simon Brown
    Marilyn McPoland
    Bill "Tiger" Destefani
    Jan and David Peters
    The Planes of Fame Air Museum
    Ken Perich
    Caroline Sheen
    Jeff and Brian Lee
    David Wilhoyte
    Del"Sparky" Sparks
    Nellis AFB - all personnel and aircraft ground operations (Claw, Ramey, and Animal!)
    My lovely wife Nicole!

    Thanks again for the friendship and support!

    SEE YA!

    Jim Pera
    http:www.championmarketingteam.com

  • #2
    Good Job at Nellis

    Jim

    You did a great job at Nellis. I think it was a worthwhile endeavor. 300-400,000 people got to see Unlimited Air Racing for the first time. On any given year at Reno maybe there are only a few thousand new people in the crowd. You guys succeeded in bringing it not only to a whole new crowd, but also to a bunch of new sponsors.

    Who knows, maybe Boyd Gaming, Outback Steakhouse and other sponsors will come on board for future sponsorship.

    The race teams that were there appeared happy as well. Got to play around for the weekend and get a bit of spending money to gamble with in the Casino's.

    For those on the mesage boards who have complained about "only 4 planes racing". It wasn't a race - it was a huge commercial publicizing Unlimited Air Racing. It was entertainment! That being the case it was very successful. On a personal note - those of us who were there had a blast.

    For the last few years at Oshkosh they have run the same style Demo Racing. 800K to 1 million people see it back there. They love it. If only a few percent of the people who see these Demo Races come out to Reno then maybe... more sponsors, bigger purses, owners will have an incentive to put a bigger budget into their race programs - i.e. spare engines etc... more racers will show up - look at the number of participants this year vs. 10 years ago. Maybe air racing will never be as big as NASCAR but with the right publicity and sponsors - maybe it could become big enough where the prize money atleast equals the cost of a new engine.

    Whether or not the Vegas Demo Race leads leads into a full blown Las Vegas Unlimited Race - only time will tell. Either way it was a much needed boost to the sport of Unlimited Air Racing.

    Justification aside - it was really cool to see and hear the Racers. Dago and the Bear - haven't seen them flying together for way too many years.

    Blue skies,

    Simon

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