Is Journalism in Karting Dead?

Well I think part of that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. People believe no one cares, so no one creates any content to see. So therefore no one cares about it.

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Would just creating content get the gears spinning enough to maintain momentum? Karting’s viewer base is not comparable to cars. Having a viewer base that is not interested in that kind of content makes it… Complicated.

But someone could try and see what happens. Perhaps someone who names himself on Facebook after a pizza topping. :wink:

But see, you’re just starting the cycle again though :stuck_out_tongue:

Says viewership isn’t interested so doesn’t make content > Viewership doesn’t show interest because no content > Says viewership isn’t interested so doesn’t make content.

I mean it’s not as simple as that, but part of the reason that people don’t see it, is because they aren’t show it (in a quality way that looks sexy and also is marketed well so that people know it’s there.)

As someone who works in the newspaper business – with major emphasis in both print and digital – I probably have a different perspective. But I’ve also been involved in karting for 25 years, so I’ve seen it all. First I will guarantee that there are some stories that are best told in print and others best told with video etc. You can’t put a digital story on mom’s refrigerator! But the digital world is pretty much killing off the print products because all of the advertising is migrating there – it has nothing to do with readers.

At the same time, the digital world has totally fragmented the media – we’ve also seen this in local radio, cable tv, niche mags, etc. So it’s really hard for any one source to have a large following. Just look, for example, at how many forums we have like this for karting – you can’t keep up with all of them so you pick a few. I like what James is trying to do here and I think ekartingnews does a great job, but at the same time by trying to tell stories in a variety of ways both also contribute to the fragmentation. But I still give them an A for their efforts.

Karting in the US is marked by fragmentation – sanctioning bodies, rules, classes, longtrack/sprint/street/dirt etc.We can’t possibly promote ourself as a sport because we are so disjointed. And worst of all no one is committed to promoting at the local level except the odd local promoter.

Jeff Franz was the brains behind Kartsport and I agree with all that was said about the mag. But the original Go Racing and National Kart News were excellent too (and for a short time Shifter Kart Illustrated), but karting print publications are probably in the past.

One thing the sport is really missing are personalities… and some previous posters threw out some names from the past when we actually had some drivers who were good enough, and stayed in the sport long enough to become known and have things to say that people wanted to listen to. While you may or many not agree with everything he is doing, the only guy these days who really meets that measure of notoriety and is not afraid to put himself out there is Tom Kutscher at SKUSA. I hope he continues to be successful and not be afraid to put his personality out there. If the karting media doesn’t listen, he hires people to interview him and put it out there for him. And give him credit – he has a clear vision of where his portion of the sport should be going.

So the long answer to the short question is No, karting journalism is not dead… it’s just so damn fragmented that no single part of it attracts the following it deserves. At least that’s my 2 cents.

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Other motorsport disciplines are even more fragmented, so it’s hard to place the blame on fragmentation. I agree with the rest of your points, though.

I’ve been thinking… Most of us at least partially agree that the journalism issue is intrinsically tied with the image problems of karting. It is our mission to help the community change the idea of karting as a ladder sport.

But I wonder if it goes deeper then that. Perhaps it is time to admit karts are just tiny, really fast race cars which capitalize in the “simplify, then add lightness” Lotus mantra. Stop the traditional distinction that cars and karts are completely different.

That holds true even when it comes to media. If automotive digital and print media more actively included Karting in it’s publications it would both help our image and cool factor. Just a thought.

Ten percent (perhaps less) of the karters who race at the national level see it as a ladder sports. For the other 90+ percent it’s a sports unto itself. That is the direction the sports needs to go … to try and attract more racers at the local track level where kart racing is more challenging and more economical than stock cars.

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I’ve experienced just the opposite. That, an people that take on karting seeing it as a cheaper alternative (would rather be racing something else, given the opportunity and the means.)

This thread is incredibly long and more detailed than I could’ve possibly imagined! Wonderful to see this. Been catching up on the podcasts as I read and now type as well. Is karting journalism dead? I’d say no, but it’s a helluva struggle to make it happen. I’ve tried working with a small track in the midwest and now trying to do more in the SoCal region with some of the smaller grassroots series and its tough. The amount of time I’m on the road versus time spent with family, work hours during the week, and so on like what was described above by other racers and enthusiasts makes things difficult. I’d like to ask, what will it take for a journalist to be successful in this sport? We can appreciate the free tires, food, and practice time, but in the end, that’s both exhaustive and short lived. I wouldn’t expect to make a living off of it, but I look at guys like Robin Miller and Marshall Pruett who’ve been on the scene for +30 years and (at least from my view) seemed to have really hit their stride as motorsports journalists. Will we have guys like these for karting in time? It’ll take some dedication, and some commitment to do so to get the coverage we want. Are you willing to step out of the driver’s seat to make it happen too?

Love the forum! Hope to stay in tune with what you and Kart Pulse has to say!
You can check out some of the stuff I post up at facebook.com/DGFILMS15 or on instagram.com/DGFILMS15

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When it comes to journalism, things are changing across the board. I still subscribe to print magazines, but will most likely let my subscriptions lapse and continue with more online sources.

“Journalism” in modern times does include websites and podcasts. While I don’t consider myself a journalist per se, I am due to my podcast, The Rags to Races Podcast. I do cover all forms of motorsports and specialize in helping people get involved regardless of their budget.

I also recently started writing for RacersHQ.com. My articles are going to follow me as I start racing my new-to-me LO206. While I don’t follow big-time races and major news, I am sharing my passion for karting and racing karts. I’m hoping to make karting “the cool thing” to do again (not that it ever wasn’t).

Long story short, there is still karting journalism out there. It just follows more local/regional individuals over events and race results. You don’t have to look much farther than the KartPulse Podcast.

If you’re interested, here’s the link to my article:

http://www.racershq.com/the-lo206-im-done-with-cars-i-found-something-better/

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IMHO we don’t do this for the free stuff and some of us don’t do it for money either. It’s a passion and a hobby to add to our love of motorsports or karting.

I’d love to get to the point where I can turn this into a career, but I’ll continue to do what I do out of love for the sport, whether I get paid or not. Matt Farah said on his podcast that you’ll do this kind of thing for 3-5 years before seeing any kind of rerun on investment. I’m almost 1 year in, and doors are starting to open for me. Nothing paid just yet, but great opportunities and meeting people in the industry and getting to pick their brains is amazing to me.

Completely agree with ya Jake. I don’t ask for anything in regards to amateur photography or videos I do either and I wholeheartedly do this as a hobby enjoying every step of the way.

But going back to the question I pose, what will it take for a journalist to be successful in this sport? Is a journalist’s success considered making the sport “the cool thing” like you mentioned? If so, what will it take?

Journalism surely isn’t dead, but I also agree that its more modern and more regional which poses unique challenges in creating a larger, nation-wide interest in our sport. United we stand or divided we fall? Another question I put out there. Have regional journal-hobbyist considered providing articles highlighting their club to say a national site like eKartingNews Grassroots section? Would you consider eKartingNews a national forum/outlet for karting?

Takes a pad and a pen with a big imagination…
Yes I just quoted Saliva.

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Oh man! TKart irritates me up the wall. maybe kartpulse keeps developing some great content and articles. I’d love to contribute some and would love to learn more in article format, not just via forum threads.

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That’s the direction KartPulse is headed. :thumbsup:

We’re working on a redesign (Well re-build from scratch) of the main KartPulse.com site. While that’s happening, we decided to launch and use the forums as a place for the community to hang out.

The “Old” site is still there and it gets organic traffic, but we’re not sending any traffic there because, frankly it’s not up to par and this forum platform is doing a better job of getting people engaged when we post articles here.

Our intent is to publish “summary” articles that stem from forum discussions on the new site. The forum software does some things to automatically summarize long topics, but that’s not the same as a real human, kart racer objectively looking at a thread to come up with someone concise and actionable.

On TKart

I will say I have to give credit to TKart’s design, imagery and aesthetic. It’s very very good. But the information is a little lost in translation to folks in the US and their “marketing” strategy through a network of questionable facebook pages that rely on freebooting without any regard puts me off big time, not to mention it’s hugely ironic given all of TKart’s (actionable) content is behind a paywall.

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It’s a great question. Success is a very individual thing right?

The internet is built on the delivery of free value, upfront and TONS of it. So a lot of the challenges that folks talk about for karting media, are not necessarily Karting media challenges, but challenges that every content creator on the internet faces.

Scale of course accounts for things too, karting is small, so that makes it harder.

So one has to decide for themselves what the value going to be for them (Outside of $ compensation) when they create content, or “make a thing”.

I started KartPulse in 2013, right after EKN updated their site. I kicked things off with a FaceBook page, a survey and meandered from there to where we are today. @DavinRS climbed aboard as my right hand man in 2015 and we’ve just kept at it since.

The value for me, and the main reason I continue to work on KartPulse (Aside from the fact that karting is a passion of mine) is the amount I have learned by building it, the connections I’ve made in the sport and the impact it’s had on folks. I’ve been able to leverage these skills in other areas of life and work

Not to be a d11k, but when I see someone talk about monetization when it comes to ANY content on the internet, before they have written anything (or committed at least 2 years to working on and promoting something consistently) I have to laugh.

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Actually, I agree. TKart design and aesthetic is really attractive. Even offering one or two complete articles for free that might be of interest.

Incidentally, I’d be happy to contribute some articles via the forums on topics if that is of interest.

Sounds great, DM myself and @DavinRS with drafts or just to kick ideas around for topics.

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I think mutual respect and common decency. Less elitism. Less “my karting is more valid than your karting”. “oh you dont race my thing so your thing is stupid” That kind of divisive $hit that’s ugly for the sport internally and makes karting look like it’s a bunch of feuding egomanicas to folks that are passing by looking to get into the sport :smiley:

The culture aspect is something we’ve been trying to redirect. Or at least attract people with the same attitude and values

KartPulse is basically “You like karting? We like karting! ***k yeah Karting!”
The end

That doesn’t mean you can’t be as competitive AF. It just means don’t be a dick. Simple right? Crude, but simple.[quote=“chrisortenburger, post:21, topic:810”]
There isn’t an impartial news source in the sport, and I am just as guilty as any. I’m obviously paid by SKUSA, Evinco, IAME, etc. So naturally the content I create is biased to spotlight the guys who sign my checks.
[/quote]

Kudos for that transparency because I’m not sure how many folks know that about you.

I hope we’re not lumped in with that :smiley: We do memes but wouldn’t dare call them news.

Surely there is a balance that could be struck? It would depend verymuch on the attitude of the business that’s being critiqued of course. Ideally you are looking for business that 1) Is looking for constructive criticism as a way to improve their “thing”. 2) They get that their “thing” isn’t going to be for everybody. 3) Doing #1 in public can be a very positive (but not by any means easy thing).

I think SKUSA, for all the negative attention thrown their way regards their expansion of revenue sources beyond merely events (Tires, engines etc), has done a good job of communicating how they iterate and improve in public and take feedback into account. It’s a two way thing though, the folks on the other side of that conversation (The customer) needs to understand how to think objectively… Rather than just complaining/ranting.

I guess we’re talking about what some of us seem to be craving… more in-depth creative endeavors. Something beyond “Oh we won a kart race” press releases and race reports. Although I think I have a bigger aversion to race reports than most. I’d rather consume something I can use to take action, or learn something from.

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Even if we do use memes, it’s ok to just have fun sometimes with karting. :wink:

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^^^ This. @m0nk3y I’m always down to help edit an article or help flush out an idea.

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Circling back… Another one bites the Dust :confused:
Chase’n Racin (Predominantly Dirt Karting) are shutting down.

Text below becuase the site is being shut down.

http://www.chasenracenillustrated.com/wp/2017/09/13/exit-ramp/

I apologize in advance if this gets long winded, lol. There’s a large number of you reading this that have been around for much, if not the whole ride we’ve enjoyed in karting. Who knew nearly 20 years ago what an insistent invitation to shoot for what then was the largest State series (divisional) in the World Karting Association, the SC Dirt Series, would turn into. One thing led to another, and we began seeing our work published in several publications as we took on more and more karting events. From being the official photographers for the SC and NC series’ to being sought out to cover most major events in the industry, our popularity grew quite rapidly, although not as quick as can happen these days, thanks to social media.

After close to seven years of freelancing our material to other rags, the opportunity presented itself, and Chase’n Race’n Illustrated was born in December 2004. The intent from the start was to be a magazine for the “little guy”. We struggled mightily to make that happen, but did to a degree. But it wasn’t until we went “national” that the advertisers and the industry as a whole began paying attention.

It wasn’t long before we were truly a national publication, traveling across this beautiful country 40+ weekends a year to bring the best of karting to the masses. Our standards for submitted material was high, maybe too high, and that limited our “help” tremendously. The workload began wearing on us a few years ago, and I began devising an exit strategy, all the while, not willing to simply “let go”.

But, with the proliferation of social media, the age of instant gratification, and the next generation of racers, the writing appeared clearly on the wall, it was time to change gears and head down another path. When we laid the printed magazine to rest in October 2014, and pushed everything we had online, it simply wasn’t enough to sustain, and continue the ride.

Several factors within the industry led to a conscious decision to step back and leave the sport to the next generation. However, the speed junkie in me still craves to be fed from time to time, and we’ve been fortunate to be welcomed and supported by some old friends. But again, times have changed, and it simply isn’t feasible to continue.
It’s been one helluva ride people! Many of you, I thank from the bottom of my heart. There’s too many of you to name, for the fear of surely leaving someone out. One of my all time favorite sayings can sum it up…”Those who matter, knows. Those who don’t know, don’t matter”.

We are scheduled to be in Lincoln NE for the Nebraska Kart ShootOut over the New Year’s weekend, and I have assured the promoters that we will continue making that trip as long as we’re welcome and supported. From there, we simply don’t foresee many more races in our future.
Unless I die soon, this is not a good-bye, but a “so long for now”, as I intend to enjoy some weekends off where I can be a spectator at select events, if for no other reason than to “hang” with some of the remaining old timers.
I could probably write a book but I won’t bore you with the details today, lol. Who knows, I may heed the suggestion to start a blog and simply “sound off” from time to time, reminiscent of the old “Start n Grid” in the magazine. What ya’ll think?? Lol.

Until we meet again…

As of October 1, 2017, this website will be suspended. We encourage our followers to keep in touch with us via Facebook on the P&R Photos Image Solutions page and on the web at www.p-rphotos.com.

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