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I've just recently relocated to Sebring (home of the 12 Hours of Sebring races) and I noticed a huge number of custom cars, bikes and hot rods cruising around the general area. After some networking, I was able to locate the only guy in town who was actively running car shows in the area. His current shows are monthly and have a good turn out considering his near lack of advertising. I met him tonight at one of them and there were over 40 classic hot rods and a dozen or so choppers at a local diner that serves as one of the monthly venues.
Now to the "up-and-coming" part. I spoke to him at length about a project that I've been working on and it looks like we have a solid foundation to begin a very large annual car show series. I've been negotiating with the Sebring airport, which is located on the same property as the racetrack, about securing it as a venue for a large show next year. They're very interested in the idea, as is the county commissioner and the Sebring CoC.
Basically, there is an ideal setup here for any kind of show. A huge tarmac that could easily display a few hundred cars, several air conditioned walk through buildings for vendors, ample parking, and extremely convenient access to numerous race mechanic shops that operate next door. The Skip Barber racing school is also located right in the next building, as is a pretty decent little restaurant. Because of the races, the town is basically designed to support a large annual crowd of out-of-town visitors.
I'm currently in the stage of securing more sponsors (something else that the current guy hasn't been too active with) and establishing connections with the race car owners/techs, etc. etc. Of course, I'm still gathering the numbers on what the airport is expecting us to pay for the site.
The current plan includes: contests in various categories including classic, import, truck, and motorcycle. We already have prizes and trophies fairly well covered with our current sponsors. Guaranteed 100+ car turn out just with locals. Vendors (we've already got some speed shops, audio shops, an airbrush shop, and others to buy in), dealerships (we have quite a few interested including Harley and most of the car dealerships), probably going to get some start-ups to show off their custom work/mods, some of the race car owners will be putting their F1s and such on display.
This is all slated to take place around this time next year (since the races are starting soon.)
I have a whole year to work on this. I'm pretty much the driving force behind the whole thing, so if you have any suggestions, please tell me! My background is in marketing and promotion and my new friend is the experienced car show guy so I'm not very familiar with the intimate workings of this type of show. (I'm just skilled at bringing together the right people and making it happen =P )
I'm just throwing this idea out for any of you guys who might be local/semi-local. Tell me what you think. I'm curious about how many of you would be interested in participating or even just showing up. How far would you be willing to drive, etc. Please mention this to any of your car buddies...if I have a good idea how many people would be showing up for this it would help in my negotiations with the airport authority and it would also help with securing sponsors.
I'll be posting more about this soon...thanks for reading!
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Thats great to hear... I'm originally from Sebring and am desperately trying to move back... (Ohio SUX)... I'm actually going to be down there next week and hopefully I can find a job down there... anyway... It's always great to hear that someone is actually trying to do something to make Sebring a little more interesting.
I've just recently relocated to Sebring (home of the 12 Hours of Sebring races) and I noticed a huge number of custom cars, bikes and hot rods cruising around the general area. After some networking, I was able to locate the only guy in town who was actively running car shows in the area. His current shows are monthly and have a good turn out considering his near lack of advertising. I met him tonight at one of them and there were over 40 classic hot rods and a dozen or so choppers at a local diner that serves as one of the monthly venues.
Now to the "up-and-coming" part. I spoke to him at length about a project that I've been working on and it looks like we have a solid foundation to begin a very large annual car show series. I've been negotiating with the Sebring airport, which is located on the same property as the racetrack, about securing it as a venue for a large show next year. They're very interested in the idea, as is the county commissioner and the Sebring CoC.
Basically, there is an ideal setup here for any kind of show. A huge tarmac that could easily display a few hundred cars, several air conditioned walk through buildings for vendors, ample parking, and extremely convenient access to numerous race mechanic shops that operate next door. The Skip Barber racing school is also located right in the next building, as is a pretty decent little restaurant. Because of the races, the town is basically designed to support a large annual crowd of out-of-town visitors.
I'm currently in the stage of securing more sponsors (something else that the current guy hasn't been too active with) and establishing connections with the race car owners/techs, etc. etc. Of course, I'm still gathering the numbers on what the airport is expecting us to pay for the site.
The current plan includes: contests in various categories including classic, import, truck, and motorcycle. We already have prizes and trophies fairly well covered with our current sponsors. Guaranteed 100+ car turn out just with locals. Vendors (we've already got some speed shops, audio shops, an airbrush shop, and others to buy in), dealerships (we have quite a few interested including Harley and most of the car dealerships), probably going to get some start-ups to show off their custom work/mods, some of the race car owners will be putting their F1s and such on display.
This is all slated to take place around this time next year (since the races are starting soon.)
I have a whole year to work on this. I'm pretty much the driving force behind the whole thing, so if you have any suggestions, please tell me! My background is in marketing and promotion and my new friend is the experienced car show guy so I'm not very familiar with the intimate workings of this type of show. (I'm just skilled at bringing together the right people and making it happen =P )
I'm just throwing this idea out for any of you guys who might be local/semi-local. Tell me what you think. I'm curious about how many of you would be interested in participating or even just showing up. How far would you be willing to drive, etc. Please mention this to any of your car buddies...if I have a good idea how many people would be showing up for this it would help in my negotiations with the airport authority and it would also help with securing sponsors.
I'll be posting more about this soon...thanks for reading!
Last edited by rush-nash3; 07-07-2009 at 09:38 AM.
I am glad to read this and would love to speak with you about your event. I to live in Sebring and work in the Sales and Marketing Industry. I moved here from Columbus, Ohio in 2007 and this town definitely needs some thing to do. I have been working with Bud Whitlock at the circle trying to get something going here at the Quality Inn on a monthly basis over the weekend. I would love to speak with you. We might be able to help each other. Please call me at (863) 385-4500 ask for Rush
I live in neighboring Hardee County and have 2 sons ages 18 and 21 that have a lot of friends over here who own Civics... my 21 year old previously owned a 1990 CRX and currently owns a 1995 Civic... we can get these boys over here to attend your car show.. they will love it...
I own the Sno-Ball Factory which is a mobile Shaved Ice, Fruit Smoothie, Gourmet Coffee business. I attend many events at the Racetrack and downtown on the Circle in Sebring... I would love to help out by bringing my trailer to your show and donating a percentage of sales to your club as a sponsorship if you would like... I am well known in your area due to the events I attend, so if you are interested, email me at snoballfactory@hughes.net and I will send you my phone number.
Thanks
Hope
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuckyBoy
So here's the scoop:
I've just recently relocated to Sebring (home of the 12 Hours of Sebring races) and I noticed a huge number of custom cars, bikes and hot rods cruising around the general area. After some networking, I was able to locate the only guy in town who was actively running car shows in the area. His current shows are monthly and have a good turn out considering his near lack of advertising. I met him tonight at one of them and there were over 40 classic hot rods and a dozen or so choppers at a local diner that serves as one of the monthly venues.
Now to the "up-and-coming" part. I spoke to him at length about a project that I've been working on and it looks like we have a solid foundation to begin a very large annual car show series. I've been negotiating with the Sebring airport, which is located on the same property as the racetrack, about securing it as a venue for a large show next year. They're very interested in the idea, as is the county commissioner and the Sebring CoC.
Basically, there is an ideal setup here for any kind of show. A huge tarmac that could easily display a few hundred cars, several air conditioned walk through buildings for vendors, ample parking, and extremely convenient access to numerous race mechanic shops that operate next door. The Skip Barber racing school is also located right in the next building, as is a pretty decent little restaurant. Because of the races, the town is basically designed to support a large annual crowd of out-of-town visitors.
I'm currently in the stage of securing more sponsors (something else that the current guy hasn't been too active with) and establishing connections with the race car owners/techs, etc. etc. Of course, I'm still gathering the numbers on what the airport is expecting us to pay for the site.
The current plan includes: contests in various categories including classic, import, truck, and motorcycle. We already have prizes and trophies fairly well covered with our current sponsors. Guaranteed 100+ car turn out just with locals. Vendors (we've already got some speed shops, audio shops, an airbrush shop, and others to buy in), dealerships (we have quite a few interested including Harley and most of the car dealerships), probably going to get some start-ups to show off their custom work/mods, some of the race car owners will be putting their F1s and such on display.
This is all slated to take place around this time next year (since the races are starting soon.)
I have a whole year to work on this. I'm pretty much the driving force behind the whole thing, so if you have any suggestions, please tell me! My background is in marketing and promotion and my new friend is the experienced car show guy so I'm not very familiar with the intimate workings of this type of show. (I'm just skilled at bringing together the right people and making it happen =P )
I'm just throwing this idea out for any of you guys who might be local/semi-local. Tell me what you think. I'm curious about how many of you would be interested in participating or even just showing up. How far would you be willing to drive, etc. Please mention this to any of your car buddies...if I have a good idea how many people would be showing up for this it would help in my negotiations with the airport authority and it would also help with securing sponsors.
I'll be posting more about this soon...thanks for reading!
well thats an awesome thing cause im a honda fanatik. plus planing on opening up a Car Club up in sebring cause im moving there in the next couple of months. if there is anyhelp needed to set up race events or even car shows let me know.
Well, this thread blew up! I stopped checking into it a few months ago due to lack of replies, but I stumbled back on it and it looks like this might be worth checking back into.
As it stands, I just picked up a tech apprenticeship at a race shop at the track itself so I'm getting in good with the locals. This is good since the airport officials told me I'd probably have to cohort with Panoz racing school for the show rather than the airport.
The other (and only that I'm aware of) car show promoter in town fell off the face of the earth a couple of weeks after I made the original post so if we do anything it will probably be without help. I've been pretty busy lately so please contact me via email if you'd like to talk about this further! I'm definitely still interested in pulling this off.
Up-and-coming Car Show series in Sebring, FL 
