AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CEO MICHAEL LOCK: PART 2
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INTERVIEW
tertainment seriously, because
they're so focused on the core
product. We have to do bet-
ter than that. So the show will
improve, it will tighten up. The
marketing will be better, we're
making increasing use of digital,
not only in a general sense, but
specific to races, of targeting in
geographic areas, getting into
people's social media feeds with
eye-catching calls-to-action-
related advertising. So that
there's a big emphasis on that,
we've tweaked the schedule a
little bit, we've dropped a couple
of tracks and we've brought
another couple of tracks in.
Still 18 races though?
Eighteen races for next year at
present, although there might be
a very interesting 19th.
On a little island in Europe?
No that would be a 20th! But
generally speaking, the formula
worked in 2017, I don't want to
mess with it. But there's one
particular race we're trying to
tie down for next season that
might be in conjuncture with a
large manufacturer's significant
birthday. If we can get that one
tied up, we will add that to the
schedule.
Final question. Are you
satisfied with the way your
baby's growing up? You must
be pleased with the way
things went in 2017.
Mostly. I mean, we added
over 1000 percent to our audi-
ence by going on TV. We now
get more people tuned in for a
one hour-long TV show than buy
tickets during the entire season,
so that's the scale of things. I
want to tie up the international
broadcast distribution, I want to
bring in a headline series spon-
sor who is non-motorcycle, and
I want to get more OEM's on
the grid. If I can do those three
things for 2018, I'll know that
AFT has arrived—and we should
indeed be able to do all of them.
Watch this space. CN
The sport will be even better when
Harley gets things sorted out and
can run with the Indians. Six all-
Indian podiums were fine this year
but could lose some interest if it
happens again in 2018.
