Wandell Racing × SIGNAL

Content engine pilot — turning a family Jr Dragster program into the story every local racing fan follows, and every sponsor wants their name on.

Pilot Proposal · For Review

Master Index

Nine sections · read in order · each builds on the last

1Brand Snapshot

Everything below is drawn from the live Facebook page

Wandell Racing is a family-run Jr Dragster program racing out of Western Colorado Dragway. The page's voice is direct and service-minded — schedule updates, race cancellations, next-race dates ("Our next race is July 25th") — with a photo library of the cars, the kids, and the track.

150
Followers
Jr Dragster
Class
WCD
Home Track
Cobalt Blue
Livery

What exists: authentic photos, a real schedule rhythm, a recognizable circular badge logo, and a livery blue we've already carried into the ET Engine app. What's missing: recurring series, video, storytelling around the drivers, and any tie between the racing data and the content.

2The Opportunity

Why a Jr Dragster team out-stories the big teams

Kids growing up at 80 mph is an unbeatable narrative. Jr Dragster is the one motorsport where the driver's story arc is built in: every season the driver gets older, faster, and closer to the big car. Followers don't just watch races — they watch a family grow. That's serialized content by default.

Local racing pages are starving for consistent content. The track posts schedules; teams post trophies. Nobody in the region is doing episode-style content around a Jr program. First mover wins the local feed.

The data angle nobody else has: Wandell Racing runs its own prediction engine. "We called a 8.92 and ran an 8.93" is a shareable, provable flex that doubles as sponsor evidence that this team is professional about its program.

3Audience & Voice

Three circles, one tone
CircleWhoWhat they want
Pit familyOther Jr families, WCD regulars, class rivalsSchedules, results, respect, in-jokes
Local fansGrand Junction–area racing fans, extended familyThe kids' story, race-day drama, wins
SponsorsLocal shops, parts stores, family businessesProof of reach, professionalism, a story worth their logo

Voice: proud parent in the pits — plain-spoken, celebrates effort over trophies, honest when it breaks, always names the track and thanks the crew. Never corporate. The existing page already talks this way; SIGNAL keeps it and adds rhythm.

4Content Pillars

Five repeatable series — every post belongs to one

🏁 Race Dayreels + live

The event spine: staging-lane hype, launch clips, slip reveals, win/lose reactions. Filmed on the phone, cut same-night.

⭐ Driver Seatseries

The kids tell it themselves: walk-through of their car, what the tree feels like, what they're scared of, what they're chasing. The growth arc is the show.

🔧 In the Trailermidweek

Wrench nights, setup changes, teardown after a breakage. Honest process content — the stuff other racing parents actually study.

📅 Next Racecountdown

What the page already does — schedules and cancellations — upgraded into a repeatable countdown format with the logo, date card, and a hook line.

📊 Data CornerET Engine

Predicted vs actual from the ET Engine after every race day. "Called it within .01" posts + what the weather did to the track. Nobody local has this.

5Episode Storyboard

First 4 weeks · 12 episodes · anchored to the July 25 race at Western Colorado Dragway
Week 1 — Introduce the show
S01·E01

Meet Wandell Racing

"Most race teams are sponsored. Ours is homework-checked."
  • Logo sting → garage door opens
  • Each driver says name, class, dial
  • Family crew intro, one line each
  • End card: "New episodes every week"
CTA: Follow to watch the season → 60–90s reel, pinned post
S01·E02

The Car, Explained by the Driver

"It goes 80. I'm 12. Any questions?"
  • Driver walks the car nose-to-tail
  • Names three parts, what they do
  • One thing that scares them (honesty beat)
CTA: Ask the driver a question in comments → 45s reel
S01·E03

Next Race Countdown: July 25

"10 days. One dial-in. Western Colorado Dragway."
  • Date card with badge logo
  • 3 fast clips from past passes
  • Where to watch / pit visit invite
CTA: Share to a friend coming to the track → static + story
Week 2 — The process
S01·E04

In the Trailer: Wrench Night

"Everything we touch tonight decides Saturday."
  • Timelapse of prep
  • One real task explained (plugs, chain, tires)
  • Kid does the torque wrench — parent checks
CTA: What should we cover next wrench night? → 60s reel
S01·E05

Data Corner: How We Pick a Dial

"We don't guess our dial-in. We compute it."
  • Screen-record of ET Engine: weather in → prediction out
  • Explain density altitude in one sentence
  • Tease: "Saturday we test it in public"
CTA: Guess our ET for Saturday in comments → 45s reel
S01·E06

Driver Seat: The Tree

"Three ambers. Then everything goes quiet."
  • POV from the seat, helmet cam or phone mount
  • Driver explains their launch routine
  • Slow-mo of the light run
CTA: Follow for race day → 30s reel
Week 3 — Race week (July 25)
S01·E07

Race Morning

"4:55 AM. The alarm nobody complains about."
  • Loading the trailer in the dark
  • Weather check on ET Engine — today's prediction on screen
  • Rolling into Western Colorado Dragway
CTA: We're in the pits — come say hi → story series + reel
S01·E08

The Pass

"Predicted 8.92. Watch the board."
  • Staging-lane tension, launch, finish line
  • Time slip reveal next to the app prediction
  • Reaction — win or lose, keep it honest
CTA: How close did we call it? → same-night reel (hero post)
S01·E09

Results & Thank-Yous

"Here's what the slips say — and who got us here."
  • Every driver's best slip, on camera
  • Thank the track, crew, and any sponsors by name
  • Next race date card
CTA: Tag someone who was there → carousel + static
Week 4 — The story compounds
S01·E10

Data Corner: The Receipts

"We predicted every pass Saturday. Here's the scorecard."
  • ET Engine accuracy tile on screen
  • Predicted vs actual, run by run
  • What the air did from morning to final round
CTA: Racers: want this tool? Comment ET → 60s reel
S01·E11

In the Trailer: What Broke

"Racing is fixing things in a gravel lot. Episode 11 proves it."
  • Teardown of whatever race day surfaced
  • Parts list on screen — natural sponsor slot
  • Kid explains what they learned
CTA: Local shops: this is your slot → 60s reel
S01·E12

Season Arc: Where This Is Going

"Every kid in a Jr Dragster is 5 years from a big car. The clock is running."
  • Then-vs-now: earliest photos → today
  • Each driver states one season goal
  • Invite: follow the climb
CTA: Follow + share the season → 90s reel, pinned

6Race-Day Shot List

One phone, one hour of capture, a month of content
Dark-o'clock trailer loading (10s, horizontal + vertical)
ET Engine screen: morning weather fetch + predicted ET (screen record)
Rolling through the WCD gate — sign visible
Driver suiting up, helmet on (close-ups, hands + eyes)
Staging lanes: burnout/stage from front 3/4 angle
The launch — trackside, low, steady 10s clip per car
Scoreboard / time-slip pickup — the reveal moment
Slip photo → scanned straight into ET Engine (content + data in one move)
Reaction interviews: 2 questions max, win or lose
Pack-up golden hour wide shot for the outro

7Cadence & Captions

Sustainable for a racing family — nothing daily, everything repeatable
SlotPillarFormat
Tue eveningIn the Trailer / Data Corner (alternate)45–60s reel
Thu eveningNext Race countdown or Driver SeatReel or date card
Race SatRace Day live stories + same-night hero reelStories + 60s reel
Sun/MonResults, thank-yous, Data Corner receiptsCarousel + reel
Sample — race morning
"5 AM. 48°. Density altitude says the track owes us a tenth. ET Engine says 8.92. Board decides at noon. 🏁 #JrDragster #WesternColoradoDragway"
Sample — the receipt post
"Predicted 8.92. Ran 8.93. That's not luck — that's the homework. Full scorecard from Saturday in the comments. 📊"
Sample — wrench night
"Tuesday night church: torque specs and pizza. Everything we touch tonight decides Saturday. 🔧"

8ET Engine Tie-In

The pilot app is also the content differentiator

The ET Engine (live at wandel-et-engine.pages.dev) gives Wandell Racing a story no local team can copy: a family Jr program that predicts its passes with weather physics and proves it with slips.

Data Corner series is powered directly by the app — the prediction screen, accuracy scorecard, and slip-scan feature are all screen-recordable content.
Sponsor asset: the app header and Data Corner end-cards are natural, tasteful placements for a "Powered by [sponsor]" line — data-driven racing is exactly the association local performance shops want.
Community hook: "comment your ET and we'll tell you what the air cost you" posts turn the tool into engagement.

Open the ET Engine →

9Measurement & Next Steps

What success looks like in 90 days
MetricToday90-day target
Followers150500+ (local-first growth)
Posting rhythmAd-hoc schedule posts3 slots/week, every week
VideoNone observed2 reels/week, 1 hero reel per race
Sponsor conversations2 local prospects with the kit in hand

To greenlight the pilot, we need from the family:

1Driver roster — names/ages we're cleared to show, and any faces to keep off camera
2The season schedule at Western Colorado Dragway (July 25 confirmed; what's after?)
330 minutes of phone footage from the next wrench night — we'll cut E01 from it
4Sponsor wish-list — three local businesses they'd love on the car

SIGNAL runs the calendar, cuts the episodes, and reports monthly. The family races and films 10 shots on a checklist. That's the whole ask.