Emerald Downs racetrack is the epicenter of Thoroughbred horse racing in the Northwest. Yet late last month, there was not a trace of the horses or eager betters that usually fill the place. Instead, there was the pungent smell of hot brakes and the squeal of rubber on asphalt.

In a vast empty parking lot just north of the barns, was another kind of racehorse. A set of 30 high-performance luxury cars were precisely lined up like rental cars at the airport. The keys were in the ignition. The engines were on.

The gathering was a new car ‘product launch’ aka ‘roll out’ for the new $50,000 2015 Acura TLX. These events allow car salesmen at local dealerships to learn about the features and feel of a new vehicle. Salesmen drive the featured car and cars similar to it in order to understand and explain the differences to potential buyers.

These rollouts take place at stadiums and tracks across the country.

“We began the tour on Aug. 11 in Atlanta, two weeks rehearsing, buying set props, training my staff and wrapping our head around the new program,” explained Islander Owen Blauman, who works as road producer for these events. “We then went live at the Atlanta Motor speedway for three days. Packed it up and headed to Fed Ex Field outside Washington, D.C., then Gillette Stadium in Boston, Arlington Heights outside Chicago, Giants Stadium near NYC, Miami, Denver, Dallas, Houston, LA, San Francisco, and finally Seattle.”

Hired by the auto manufacturer, Blauman heads up a team of auto and event professionals to manage and set up these events. Using six to eight large semi-trucks, the group hauls the vehicles and gear from place to place.

On this day, 18 2015 Acura TLX cars were to be compared with a dozen cars of Acura’s competitors, Lexus, Audi and BMW. They are also priced at $50,000.

Such an event is simple in concept, but highly complex in execution. There are a thousand and one details to attend to. It requires a wide set of skills, ingenuity and patience. Blauman has been doing these events since 1999. The crew of 21 that he directs are old hands in the performance auto marketing business. The team includes professional race car drivers, long-haul semi-truck drivers and marketing professionals, riggers and roustabouts. Everyone has a role, a set of chores to do, details to look after.

The team must set up the event, offload gear, set up circus-sized tents and canopies, chairs, map out the test course and fill out paperwork – lots of paperwork. Blauman must ensure that the crew gets the rental equipment on site and on time such as a fork lift, water truck, fuel truck, and extra tires. There are catering staffs, a fire marshal or two, local building departments, city electrical inspectors and more that must be dealt with. Ahead of time, leases for land and gear and other permits must be arranged.

Linked by walkie talkie across the huge lot, workers coordinate every step to ensure that every piece is in place.

“I do everything that needs to be done or that is left undone,” he continued. “It might be that there is not enough food or that someone is out of their heart medicine.”

Blauman says each show, every day, every place is different. Something always happens. He has learned to think on his feet. He knows how to improvise.

“It involves skills that are similar to party planning, babysitting and crisis management all rolled together,” he said of his job. “The situation is always fluid.”

On this cool and damp day, there was not enough water pressure in a nearby tap to fill the water truck. The water truck plays a key role in the road course set for drivers to test the cars. Water is sprayed on the track to allow drivers to test how a car handles skids. It might also be handy for firefighting. Blauman grabbed some Acura hats and assorted swag and headed over the horse barns to talk his way into filling the big truck there.

There isn’t much room for error. Such an event is expensive, Blauman said. He has done campaigns with more stops that have cost up to $20 million.

Supplies are all bought in bulk. At the beginning of this tour, Bauman bought eight white leather couches from Ikea to place in the giant double-wide show trailers, that double as movie theaters and chow stations.

Instead of chalk, crew buys dozens of commercial-sized bags of flour to mark the pavement for the ‘hot lap’ road course that allows drivers to put the cars through their paces.

Visitors learn that a different kind of language is spoken at the event.

A marketing representative from Acura schooled the local sales people how to describe the look and feel of the car and highlight differences between competitors’ vehicles. He advised the group on how to manage the customers experience. “Have your customers stand directly in front of the car to look at it,” he said.

He reeled off a set of phrases and words that would memorialize the features.

The terminology was technical. The adjectives were masculine: features were “chiseled,” the stance, “athletic.” The sleek look of the auto body is magnified by flares and spoilers. The machine is enhanced by “character lines,” a “muscled look,”with “diamond-cut” wheels.

The language lessons showed. David Ajibade of Hinshaw’s Acura in Fife said driving the cars confirmed his position that the Acura was best of the three models.

“It solidified my position,” he said. “The fit and finish of the car is superior. You can feel the fusion between man and machine.”

There are surprising new features. The jutting exhaust pipes in the rear of the car have been eliminated. There is a back-up camera and radar concealed in the bumper.

The visiting sales people were rapt but anxious, ready to jump into the humming cars.

It was time to drive the ‘hot lap’ to compare the handling of the cars. The course was laid out with hundreds of orange cones that zig-zagged and curled at impossible angles. There were a couple of 90-degree turns and at least one 180. The lap was meant to be driven as fast as possible to test the limits of steering, braking and control.

The group of mostly young men stood in a cluster in the drizzle, bouncing on their toes waiting their turn. They did not bother to stand within the tented waiting area. They laughed, critiqued each other’s driving and talked about cornering, braking, suspensions. They never took their eyes off the cars flying around the track in front of them.

They were enthusiastic. There is nowhere better than to drive a couple of cars to find out about a vehicle, one salesman said. “No question. It helps us sell. It helps us point out the unique features and ‘show off a car.’”

As the afternoon wound down, the next phase of the event was set in motion with nary a word. The crew begins to inspect, process and move the cars to be lined up by the big trucks. The big screens and those white leather couches have to be boxed up and packed. The big barrels full of water that secure the tie-downs for the tents need to be drained and dried for shipping.

To the unschooled, it appears seamless. And that is how it is supposed to be.