If you thought last year’s
Dragstock event brought forth a packed house, then 2007 would have blown you
away. An unofficial tally put over 30,000 spectators in attendance (even the
Mayor of Rockingham) for Saturday’s show. By the time 2 PM rolled in, there
wasn’t a seat to be found on the left-side concrete barriers or the pit-side
reserved seating. Once again, ADRL President Kenny Nowling and Rockingham Dragway's Steve Earwood hit an upper deck shot.
Nowling
doesn’t deny a plethora of tickets (rumored to be 200,000) were free giveaways
in the local market. The major sanctioning bodies hacve criticized this practice.
“I get the crowd and it
doesn’t matter how I get them here,” Nowling said.
Nowling’s marketing
concept has reportedly caught the eye of at least two major Fortune 500
companies who are looking to become major partners with the three year old
sanctioning body in 2007.
“These companies would
have never given us the time of day if we were only putting 5,000 people in the
stands,” Nowling said. “I knew after Memphis
when we only had 112 spectators that we needed to do something. There are so
many things out there fighting for their entertainment dollar. The fact they
were having the world’s largest free BBQ only 15 minutes away didn’t help our
cause.