Do you speak #hashtag?

Well sponsors do. And so do the fans. And so does just about anyone on the south side of 40.

Yet, with the entire world at the fingertips of the technology generation, an entire segment of the population that well-paid, extremely bright marketing minds are trying to reach, there remains a disconnect. A very real reluctance to speak the language of the young person.

Marketing professionals, team owners, even the drivers themselves, all agree that social media marketing is the “wave of the future.” It is where we are heading. It is the platform of tomorrow.

But it is with a heavy heart to have to inform those who think this way that they couldn’t be more wrong.

Social media is not the “wave of the future.” It is the here and now.

Social media is the voice of this generation. It is where young people get their news, interact with friends, become fans. It is their world.

Those who embrace this fact flourish. There are many examples of athletes, racers – even entire sports and organizations – who use social media to talk to and connect - on a personal level - with their biggest supporters. There are also examples of those who aren’t fully on board this information freight train. They are the ones about to get run over.

One shining example of social media done right is that of multi-class NHRA racer Alex Laughlin.

Laughlin uses this powerful tool to reach fans and sponsors in ways never thought possible just 20 years ago. And he is not alone. Clay Millican, Brittany and Courtney Force, Leah Pritchett, Matt Hagan, all excel at the social media game.

Through this unique online world, their support is not limited just to articles in magazines or spots on television. Through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, they can create their own narrative. They can tell their own story.

“Is social media as important as your race car tune-up? Absolutely. This is the new era of advertising. More people these days are looking at their phones than ever. So it really helps whenever you have a big following and have real numbers on social media,” said Laughlin, who represents Gas Monkey in the Pro Stock and Top Alcohol Dragster categories, among other classes. “When talking with these big brands, that is one of the first questions they ask now, ‘what is your following.’ So for me, having the power of Gas Monkey and their several million followers on all of these different platforms, it puts me in front of millions and millions more people than I would normally be able to reach.”

Social media not only gives fans a glimpse into the lives of those they follow, it gives them unprecedented access that they wouldn’t receive otherwise. At one of Laughlin’s recent events, he strapped a camera onto his helmet and the response surprised even himself, giving followers a chance to see the behind-the-scenes of a run.

“That’s the little stuff that people like, especially in a Pro Stock car,” said Laughlin, who has two career wins in Pro Stock including a victory at Bristol earlier this year. “They don’t always understand what it takes to go down the race track. It is ‘oh I didn’t know you did this’ or ‘I didn’t know you did that.’ For a lot of fans, they see a Pro Stock car go down the track and it’s not extremely fast like Top Fuel, it’s not that loud, it doesn’t blow fire, it doesn’t blow up, and we have to do what we can to make Pro Stock itself, as well as drag racing, cool again.”

And because of that hybrid mix of marketing and racing acumen now needed in the sport, it creates a whole new breed of racer needed to put it all together and make a successful career out of racing.

“That is the way the world is now. Not only do you have to be the gearhead and have the passion to do it, love it, but you have to know the social media and marketing side as well,” Laughlin said. “So it’s not, for a lot of us, just enough to have the talent to drive a race car. I have to be a business person also. Away from the track, I have to work with Gas Monkey Energy and Advance Auto Parts and Hot Wheel Car Care Products doing things for them.

“So my life isn’t just showing up to the race track and getting to go fast. There’s a whole lot more to it, and you have to have everything come together to make it work.”

Unfortunately, the battle to win over the digital hearts and minds of NHRA nation is not as easy as it sounds.

First, there is the NHRA.

Laughlin has found a bit of a pushback, not just from some of the older racers who have yet to accept this crucial marketing tool, but from the NHRA itself. And that, he says, is one of the biggest reasons NHRA’s growth has grown stale.

“I wish that the NHRA would do a little bit more for the drivers social media wise,” Laughlin said. “After every race, they (NHRA) send out information on how many people tuned in and watched it on television, but how many social media hits did they have? How many hits did they get?

“Look at a series like Formula Drift. It’s not really on TV, they don’t reach a ton of people, but their social media following is absolutely insane. It walks all over every single NHRA driver’s personal following. And at each event, they would have maybe 5,000 people in the stands, but on the jumbotron they have a picture of the driver and their car, along with all of their social media handles. At these events everyone already has their phones out and so they can get on Instagram and say, ‘oh, he looks cool’ and now they are following them.

“When I asked NHRA about it, they said that ‘it’s a really cool idea and they completely agree with it and it is something that they would implement in 2017.’ Well, it is 2017 and it still hasn’t happened. I just feel like much of the NHRA media-wise is too far behind.

“Look at Supercross and Monster Jam and all of these other things that are cool and people are really into. They all have a lot bigger following online. At the end of the day, we have to do everything we can to make this sport cool because, 50 years ago, drag racing was the main kind of racing. It was who had the fastest car and who could get to the finish line first. Nowadays, besides NASCAR, we’ve got monster trucks, motorcycles jumping through the air, and all of these sports have a bigger cool factor.

“In my opinion, I think there needs to be more done social media-wise for the drivers and allow us to make the sport cool again.”

And then there are the racers who have yet to embrace the technology, another struggle in making drag racing great again. While racers such as Don Prudhomme, Shirley Muldowney and Tommy Ivo would have undoubtedly been even bigger in the social media age, there still exists those who push back.

“I don’t’ know why, but the older generations just don’t see it and don’t understand it,” Laughlin said. “And, to be completely honest with you, it’s not like all of this stuff was introduced to the younger generations first. When this stuff first came out, it was accessible to everybody. So you do have some in the older generations that understand it. But I think a lot of the older generations fought it because they either didn’t think it was going to stick or they just believed in their old ways. That has proven not to be the case now.”

So just how important has social media become?

To a driver like Laughlin, he recognizes that having a strong following online can be as big from a marketing standpoint as winning a race – maybe even more so.

“For someone like me, I want to come out here to the track, run good, win races, and go home with trophies. But, unfortunately, that’s not the way it works anymore. You have to do a lot more to make all of that happen,” Laughlin said. “Take somebody that has a huge following and they can post something like, ‘I like Diet Coke’ and, because the people who follow him value what he says, they are going to do the same. They are going to like Diet Coke.

“That dude never had to win anything and as long as people think he is cool and look up to him, that is all it takes. It’s not all about championships anymore.”

#truth