Daytona newspaper claims Turkey Run car show had record turnout, but its photos show otherwise

Crowds were moderate at Daytona International Speedway for Turkey Run car show / Headline Surfer®Daytona Beach News-Journal claims record crod for car show without numbers / Headline Surfer®Photo for Headline Surfer® /
The display photo of the green hot rod demonstrates a moderate turnout for the Turkey Run car show over the Thanksgiving weekend. It's far from the record-breaking attendance claims in a Daytona Beach News-Journal story of the event as shown in this inset snapshot of the print newspaper's coverage showing the owner of a muscle car standing alone.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- Yet again, the Daytona Beach News-Journal has taken the liberty of claiming a tourism event has drawn record crowds -- this time the Daytona Turkey Run.

But the newspaper's own photos of the event don't back up the claim, which is attributed to the event's PR flak. Here is what was written in part the story headlined, Car show draws record turnout:"Sunday marked the conclusion of the 42nd Annual Daytona Turkey Run, which drew the biggest turnout the classic car show and swap meet has seen."

Crowds were moderate at Daytona International Speedway for Turkey Run car show / Headline Surfer®Daytona Beach News-Journal claims record crod for car show without numbers / Headline Surfer®Photo for Headline Surfer® /
The display photo of the green hot rod demonstrates a moderate turnout for the Turkey Run car show over the Thanksgiving weekend. It's far from the record-breaking attendance claims in a Daytona Beach News-Journal story of the event as shown in this inset snapshot of the print newspaper's coverage showing the owner of a muscle car standing alone.
 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- Yet again, the Daytona Beach News-Journal has taken the liberty of claiming a tourism event has drawn record crowds -- this time the Daytona Turkey Run.

But the newspaper's own photos of the event don't back up the claim, which is attributed to the event's PR flak. Here is what was written in part the story headlined, Car show draws record turnout:"Sunday marked the conclusion of the 42nd Annual Daytona Turkey Run, which drew the biggest turnout the classic car show and swap meet has seen."

And what are the sources to demonstrate such a record turnout? It's actually a singular source cited by News-Journal reporter Austin Dillon: And that's Jennifer LaBonte, the director of marketing and public relations for the car show held at Daytona International Speedway, the newspaper's key marketing partner.

And what are the sources to demonstrate such a record turnout? It's actually a singular source cited by News-Journal reporter Austin Dillon: And that's Jennifer LaBonte, the director of marketing and public relations for the car show held at Daytona International Speedway, the newspaper's key marketing partner.

And of course, in keeping with News-Journal-style tourism coverage, no actual figures were referenced to back up the claim made in the headline, except to say attendance was up from the 150,000 LaBonte claimed showed up last year, a figure not supported with facts such as gate revenues and yet LaBonte was allowed to opine in the story, “I would say in the end of this we’re definitely going to have our largest show ever."

And why not give her the benefit of the doubt when advertising dollars are in play as has been the case with other tourism events marketed and masqueraded as stories like the NewSmyrna Beach BalloonFest, the Volusia County Fair, Bike Week and Biketoberfest?

Then again, the litmus test for illustrating true record-breaking crowds at events is in the photos and videos.

To put in perspective attendance claims, consider February's Daytona 500 drew half the 150,000 attendees claimed at last year's car show. So imagine the claim of even more attendees at this year's car show, And then there's the issue of hotel rooms. There are abour 20,000 hotel/lodging rooms throughout greater Volusia County.