HAPPY BIRTHDAY … TO US
back and see just how far you’ve traveled. That’s exactly how I feel looking back on this day ten years ago when myself and a talented web designer named Frank Dill pushed the button to launch CompetitionPlus.com.Sometimes you look back and wonder how you have been so lucky and blessed.
By all business logic, CompetitionPlus.com should have failed.
Competitionplus.com Will Celebrate Ten Years at 8 P.M This Evening …
Sometimes you look back and wonder how you have been so lucky and blessed.
By all business logic, CompetitionPlus.com should have failed.
There was no budget in the early going. In fact, there wasn’t even enough money in our pockets to make a good sampling of lint. Any businessman worth his salt knows that passion can be the great equalizer.
Two weeks into the journey, Roger Richards, a wedding photographer who had never attended a drag race, accompanied me on a journey to Rockingham, N.C., and from that point fell in love with the sport. It was his passion for the sport that would prove to be a huge driving force behind the magazine. I couldn’t imagine a race without his drive and determination to ensure that every aspect of a drag race is chronicled by his photography.
Time truly flies by when you’re having fun and a year into the magazine, Roger, Frank and myself proudly posed for a photo commemorating that first anniversary. Those were the days when 100 unique visitors in a day produced enough excitement to throw a party.
Fast forward to September 2004 and our fifth year anniversary. CompetitionPlus.com had grown nearly 500 percent from where we were a half-decade earlier, which was to serve as a stepping stone to the next level.
On October 18, 2004, with our staff, including Brian Wood, Gary Penn and the IHRA Director of Communications, while dining at arguably one of the finest Italian restaurants, the announcement was made that we had signed a three-year contract with Torco Race Fuels and within the next few months our magazine would grow like never before.
Within two months, our traffic tripled because all of a sudden, we had the resources to advertise and also bring in key team members, the likes of Jon Asher and Susan Wade, two of the best journalists in the sport. We also recruited a platoon of freelancers who ensured CompetitionPlus.com always remained on the cutting edge of breaking news. We still had the passion that drove us towards success and this time the passion expanded beyond Roger and myself to include Wood.
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The first year with Torco as the title sponsor, we produced enough publicity to inspire a contract extension that was to run through 2012.
OUR GROUND ZERO ...
I personally battled with the decision to re-publish our first issue. I was afraid the crude nature of the first issue would reflect poorly on the credibility of CompetitionPlus.com as a leading drag racing news source. However, for one to realize the full magnitude of how far they’ve traveled, one must look back to the start.
Forgive us if the writing isn’t polished. Forgive us if the level of journalistic standards weren't as high.
Look at the launch ten decades ago and look at today’s product and you make the determination.
The Torco chapter generated plenty of positives for us and a few negatives towards the bitter end of their bankruptcy. In the end, we will always believe that God enabled our paths to cross with Evan Knoll for a chance to grow this magazine to the next level.
The day we lost backing from Torco, we lost roughly 60 percent of our operating capital. By all accounts we should have lost every bit of market share that we had gained over the years. We didn’t.
If anything we grew. You can believe what you want, but it was prayer and faith that kept this ship afloat in a sea of turmoil. And passion was the wind that pushed our sails.
We had learned how to exist on peanuts and hard work in the formative years. That experience has come in handy over the last few years.
Roger and I often look at one another and ask, “Do you remember when?”
Personally, I’ve gained lots of friends on this journey – too many to name at this moment. Then there are those friends, Paul Trussell and “Big” Mike Aiello, who lived vicariously through our success and passion. Their unselfish actions ensured our success when we should have failed in those formative years.
My personal promise to them was always, “We will succeed for you.” And, we have so far.
We lost Big Mike a couple of years ago, and there isn’t a day that passes when I don’t miss my dear friend.
I miss my Dad too. He was one of our biggest fans even though he didn’t know how to turn on a computer. We lost him in 2003. Roger lost his dad a couple of years later.
On the same token, I have gained. I met and married my wonderful wife, Christy, and together we have a daughter Emily along with our other children Sabrina, Kelli and Hayden. We also became grandparents.
I’ve always believed that CompetitionPlus.com was my fifth child. That being said, I can’t begin to tell you how unbelievably proud I am of all five.
I look at some of my media associates and I’m happy for them that they’ve got jobs that provide them above and beyond the comforts needed to do the job right. I wonder sometimes if any of them would have stayed with the course as long as we did when the future looked dismal.
I can’t speak for everyone on staff, but I can tell you unequivocally that I am living the dream. I realized that FACT some years ago while lying in a hospital bed on the edge of a heart attack.
I fell in love with my sport again.
Personally I want to thank each and every one of you, the readers, for supporting us in the good and the bad times. For those who have followed us since 1999, I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate you.
For my staff, Roger Richards, Stan Creekmore, Diane Cartee, Jon Asher, Michael Carpenter, Susan Wade, Tracy Renck, Tim Charlet, Sam Martin, Mike Kloeber, Shirley Muldowney, Auto Imagery and Les Welch, I am honored to serve alongside of you.
For my family, thank you for understanding during those times I couldn’t be there.
To my wife, thanks for the love and support.
To my children, please forgive me for missing a lot of your important times in life. Please understand that for all the times I had to be away, I tried to be the very best I could be, to justify that time away. I hope and pray that our success can provide a vivid example that teamwork and a passion to succeed can help you attain your dreams in life.
I look at the gray hair starting to show and I wonder where the years have gone. Yet, I realize I have many more ahead of me. At least that’s my hope.
Should it not be, don’t fret because I have lived my dream. And I look around and realize that I’m not alone. We’re all living the dream.
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