Speedway Motorsports Inc. this year is rolling out a rewards program at its eight speedways in a fresh bid to enhance the fan experience and create a sense of promotional synergy between its facilities.
Working with Austin, Texas-based Lodestone Social Media — which is a vendor to a range of sports properties including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Los Angeles Dodgers and Circuit of the Americas — SMI tracks this year will each have their own rendition of what SMI is dubbing the FanZone Rewards Program.
The program — which will be individualized for each track so that, for example, you’ll earn “chips” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but “clams” at New Hampshire Motor Speedway — will reward points to app users who are most open to engaging with SMI promos. For example, you’ll earn points just for downloading the app, as well as for things like partaking in trivia contests, filling out surveys and sharing activities on social networks.
Prizes will range from smaller rewards like diecast cars and other memorabilia, to more exclusive experiences like getting to be in victory lane for the winning celebration or getting a track tour.
The rewards program, which will kick off during Atlanta Motor Speedway’s NASCAR weekend Feb. 26-28 and be unveiled this week, initially will only work exclusively at each track. However, it eventually will be integrated together so that points can be accrued and used across SMI’s suite of speedways, according to Mike Burch, SMI’s senior vice president of national sales and marketing.
“We’re going to reward our most engaged fans and give them the flexibility to decide what’s important to them,” Burch said. “Do they want to save up for something like being in victory lane for the Cup race, which could be 1 million points, or do you want to take 100 points for something like a ring tone [that has] the actual sound of a dragster doing a four-second run?”
SMI tested the program at an NHRA event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s dragstrip last year, and that test was a success, Burch said.
“We really saw that it drove people to share more socially, people used the app a lot more ... ” he said. “We’re just always looking at, ‘How do we make having that device in your hand the key to making sure you have the best possible time that you can?’”
Along with Atlanta, Las Vegas and New Hampshire, SMI owns Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway on the NASCAR circuit.
