Richard Petty Driving Experience shifts gears, plans to market Walt Disney track more

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave...,6972324.story

Steven Cole Smith
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 28, 2009

LAKE BUENA VISTA - Mike Bartelli, chief marketing officer for the Richard Petty Driving Experience, had been in that job for less than a year when he came up with a plan that made him downright nervous.

He was about to tell Richard Petty, the most famous NASCAR driver in history, something he was afraid The King didn't want to hear.

"We were in the board meeting, and he was sitting there with his dark glasses on, and that big trademark hat with the feathers on it, and I told him that I thought it was time that we de-emphasize the biggest asset we have — which is him — in favor of something else."

That "something else" was Walt Disney World, the busiest of the more than 20 locations where the Driving Experience operates its race cars. Bartelli thought that not enough was being made of the fact that the Orlando location was on Disney property — at the Walt Disney World Speedway.

"That's a huge selling point," Bartelli told Petty, "and we need to market that." Bartelli's plan was to take 90 percent of the company's entire marketing budget and spend it on the Orlando location.

"Richard thought it over, and looked at me, and said, ‘Mike, I think you're right,'" Bartelli said. "And I said, ‘Whew!'"

So get ready to see a major marketing campaign — local and national — promoting the local Richard Petty Driving Experience. One prime target: Fathers who might like to ride in, or drive, a NASCAR-style stock car while the rest of the family is taking in the Magic Kingdom or Epcot.

The Driving Experience also has permanent facilities at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., where the company is based, and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada. But the Disney World location is the busiest of the three.

Bartelli didn't have local figures, but he said the Driving Experience, which also has traveling units that move through 18 other speedways, had more than 100,000 customers last year who either chose the "ride along" experience — three laps with an experienced driver for $109 — or one of the driving programs, the most popular of which is the "rookie experience," with eight laps behind the wheel for $399. "That one is the heart of our program," Bartelli said.

The company is also expanding into other areas. It is putting more emphasis on its racing-kart programs, which can be held at the tracks or brought to big parking lots for special events, such as corporate team-building exercises. It is ramping up a safe-driving program that will target teenagers, and developing a program that takes racing instruction to the next level with side-by-side racing experiences using retired NASCAR Sprint Cup cars from the Petty stable.

As with most entertainment-related businesses, the Driving Experience is feeling the effects of the recession. With about a dozen cars in service at the Disney World location, and exclusive use of the speedway, fixed costs don't vary much, Bartelli said, so the key is to get more people to the track.

"Our competition is really the economy," he said. "Our core program here is $400, and two-and-a-half hours, that a lot of guests here didn't plan on. It wasn't on their itinerary when they came to Disney with the family. And the guy drives by this race track, and he says, ‘I'd like to do that,' so he has to convince his wife he needs to spend $400 they didn't budget for, and she gets to keep the kids for a few hours.

"That's our challenge — we have to let more people know we are here, so they can plan on joining us."

Bartelli is also working on repeat business. A customer survey gave the experience high marks, and one-third of the customers said they'd come back for another drive in the next 12 months. But only 11 percent did return, and it took them an average of 32 months. To give repeats a boost, Bartelli is starting the "Experience Rewards" program, which gives customers special deals on future programs.

For example, on Sept. 14, the Disney World location will host its first King's Cup, during which those attending can spend the day driving the 600-horsepower stock cars and competing against each other in the karts. At the end of the day, the winner will receive a big trophy called the King's Cup — presented by Petty himself, since he'll also spend the day at the track. The cost is $899 a person, but Experience Rewards members will pay $599.

"There's so much potential here," said Dave Williams, the Disney location's chief instructor, who has worked there for 12 of the Driving Experience's 14 years at Disney. "The key is getting the word out, and it sounds like that is finally about to happen."

Steven Cole Smith can be reached at scsmith@orlandosentinel.com, at 407-420-5699, or through his blog at Enginehead.com.

[wishdisney]

thats interesting. wish i had 900 bucks LOL

[Sosai X]

[macfinn]

will nascar hold an actuall race at wdw speedway??

[doconeill]

Originally Posted by macfinn

will nascar hold an actuall race at wdw speedway??

The track is on the small side (1 mile), on which only 3 tracks on the current Sprint circuit are smaller, and perhaps a couple of others on the Nationwide series, and the tendency is move to larger tracks. Plus there are no permanent spectator structures. This makes it unlikely the top two tiers would ever race there.

The track actually was built with the Indy Racing League in mind, which ran a few races there, along with a NASCAR Craftsman Truck series race, but nothing has been run since 2000.

DW and I did a 3-lap ridealong back in 1997. It was neat, but it really felt short - and I kind of felt gypped because for the same price you could get 3 laps at Daytona, etc. at the time, which would have been over twice as long...

[mitros]

Interesting. This is one of the things built under Ei$ners watch that did not do what they thought it would, along with the Disney Institute. Well, the Disney Institute was changed, and turned out to be the wildly succesful SSR. {DVC} Let's see if they can do the same thing with the track.