SCM: Just curious, of your ASCS national followers, how many of those people have full-time jobs elsewhere? I‘m referring to drivers, team owners and crew members.
Mattox: I‘d guess it‘s 50/50. And that‘s why some of our Thursday and mid-week races are spread out. Guys can put in time to get off work and it‘s not an every-week ordeal.
SCM: You‘ve leased Jackson Motor Speedway in Byron, Miss., for your April weekend of racing. Will you become more active in leasing and promoting your own events in the future?
Mattox: That‘s something I‘ve always wanted to do more of. That‘s where I started, with micro sprints and the OCRS sprint car series that I co-own. When I moved to the Sooner region races, I began doing more national shows. I‘d like to do more of this to get us more races.
SCM: What‘s the biggest challenge to boosting payout to racers? Where does the money come from?
Mattox: That‘s part of the challenge we‘re facing. We‘ve got to rebuild a lot of fan bases around the country. If we can give them more of a show and build events, we can rebuild that base. But that‘s going to take more time, figuring out how to put more people in the seats. It‘s hard to get people out, that‘s the challenge.
SCM: I‘ll be the Devil‘s Advocate. With steaming services today, I can watch hundreds of races every year and not leave my house. Why would I want to pay for a ticket and sit out in the heat or cold?
Mattox: That‘s some of the challenge. We‘ve got to get people out of the house. The streaming services are really nice for those people who can‘t get to the races. But you also try to figure how many people will stay home when the race is 30 minutes away. We want people to still come to the track. Definitely.
SCM: You pointed out earlier that we often see teams fall off a traveling schedule as the season progresses. How can a series address that?
Mattox: That‘s one of those big questions. When people think of being on the road for six, eight weeks, away from home, that puts a toll on the pocketbook. And the idea of being away from home that long, it‘s big. That‘s why we want to see if staying closer to home helps people make it through the year. We‘ll see how it goes.
SCM: Let‘s go back a few years. When you began working as a racing official, what‘s the first thing you learned? What still stays with you from those first years?
Mattox: I learned that you‘ve got to hold your ground, and you need to treat the racers as customers. You‘ve got to listen. Without the racers, I don‘t
have a job.
SCM: As you considered buying ASCS, what was going through your mind? Did purchasing the series feel a little intimidating?
Mattox: It is definitely intimidating. But I had to remind myself that it was the same type of work I‘ve been doing the past few years. Now things are out of my pocket, and that makes it different … more serious. Then you put everything down on paper, look at what comes in and what goes out. It made sense that we could do it and make it work.
SCM: When you‘re in charge of any element of a racing series there is no shortage of people bending your ear, complaining and lobbying. How do you distill all the noise down to a manageable level?
Mattox: That is something you have to learn. These past nine years has helped me with that. Most of the time people really do want to make things better. I just listen and take it in, and think on it. Most of the time people are good with you just listening. Sometimes we go with what they suggest, but other ideas we just can‘t implement.
Many times people just need to get something off their chest and then move on.
SCM: Do you have any mentors in this process? Anybody you‘re bouncing ideas off of?
Mattox: Emmett has been big. And Bryan (Hulbert) he listens to my ideas. I‘ve learned a lot from Emmett and Matt Ward about the things ASCS has done through the years. I just ask, “What can we do to make this grow, make it bigger?” Most of the time they have great ideas and it really helps me. They guide me to the right path; I‘ll put it that way.
SCM: Emmett has done just about everything in racing … driving, promoting a track, running a series. That‘s a deep well of experience you‘re drawing from.
Mattox: Yes. He took me in right out of high school and taught me what I needed. Without them, him and Matt Ward, I couldn‘t possibly do what I‘m doing.