2012 NHRA in the black (1 Viewer)

[mick]

On the road to recovery? NHRA gets back in the black for first time since 2008 - SportsBusiness Daily | SportsBusiness Journal | SportsBusiness Daily Global

interesting article published just before the winters.

 

[Nunz]

I thought they've been profitable right along, although I've read that revenues have been down the past few years.

 

[Dave]

Interesting --- Revenue - down, advertising expense - down, prize money awarded - down, salaries - UP. Priorities - screwed up.

 

[sammi]

Ask the guys over on classracer.com where the extra revenue came from.

 

[cephus]

and tha suits pockets are full, just like wall street

 

[Raconteur]

and tha suits pockets are full, just like wall street

 

[JB3]

and tha suits pockets are full, just like wall street

I know where most of the Maters stand on this. What I do not understand is why it just can't be accepted that this is not your Father's NHRA anymore. It is not a casual hobby and it does not use a business model where more $$ in should automatically mean more $$ out. At least not if you want to survive. I don't think anybody would disagree that costs of any product or service has disproportionately grown apart from income levels. Same would apply here, I beleive. It is what it is.

Look at the article again, and see the hard decisions that had to be made to help the bottom line. Do layoffs, cost cutting, and lower staffing levels sound familiar to anyone who works for someone else and still has a job these days? I know folks directly affected by this, think they enjoyed it? NO. Think they complained? NO.

I want the opinions of other Maters who work in Corporate America. All the above sounds familiar right? Does anyone besides me think that on face value the salaries of those NHRA Execs who make between $200k and $400k as Directors or VP's by title isn't actually low when compared to comparable positions in the "real world"? Is $750k as EVP and GM of a company considered to be excessive? Really? Not in my experiences. There are people with the same title in equal or smaller corporations making 2x or 3x that salary.

I could care less what another man / woman makes quite honestly. It just seems that the Mater wants the sport of NHRA Drag Racing to grow and prosper but people should still have fun doing that instead of making a living at it and the money shared with all. Its 2013, not 1963. Its all about money in all walks of life. I don't want to hear the blah, blah, blah about "I would do that job for free" crap. What ever your chosen profession is, I assume you want to make as much money as you possibly can in order to support your existance. Has anyone here ever refused a raise or wage increase? Didn't think so. It's just business, don't take it personally. You can't change it. Complaining certainly won't change it. NHRA's ultimate fate won't lie directly in the hands of those running it but it will be a product of a faltering economy and the evolution of upcoming generations. The bigger probelm lies with once the baby boomer generation is no longer racing cars (Stock, SS, E.T., etc) or attending races (for the obvious reasons), where is the replacement demographic group? It sure isn't our kids and their friends and that group is exponentially larger than the baby boomers.

Just sayin'

 

[mick]

notice the amounts do not add to the totals; revenues closer
than expenses......interesting article though, gives an idea what kind
of revenues the nhra survives with.
here's some comparisons
sports-recreation-leisure-market-research - Industry Statistics

 

[Draw 3D]

I know where most of the Maters stand on this. What I do not understand is why it just can't be accepted that this is not your Father's NHRA anymore. It is not a casual hobby and it does not use a business model where more $$ in should automatically mean more $$ out. At least not if you want to survive. I don't think anybody would disagree that costs of any product or service has disproportionately grown apart from income levels. Same would apply here, I beleive. It is what it is.

Look at the article again, and see the hard decisions that had to be made to help the bottom line. Do layoffs, cost cutting, and lower staffing levels sound familiar to anyone who works for someone else and still has a job these days? I know folks directly affected by this, think they enjoyed it? NO. Think they complained? NO.

I want the opinions of other Maters who work in Corporate America. All the above sounds familiar right? Does anyone besides me think that on face value the salaries of those NHRA Execs who make between $200k and $400k as Directors or VP's by title isn't actually low when compared to comparable positions in the "real world"? Is $750k as EVP and GM of a company considered to be excessive? Really? Not in my experiences. There are people with the same title in equal or smaller corporations making 2x or 3x that salary.

I could care less what another man / woman makes quite honestly. It just seems that the Mater wants the sport of NHRA Drag Racing to grow and prosper but people should still have fun doing that instead of making a living at it and the money shared with all. Its 2013, not 1963. Its all about money in all walks of life. I don't want to hear the blah, blah, blah about "I would do that job for free" crap. What ever your chosen profession is, I assume you want to make as much money as you possibly can in order to support your existance. Has anyone here ever refused a raise or wage increase? Didn't think so. It's just business, don't take it personally. You can't change it. Complaining certainly won't change it. NHRA's ultimate fate won't lie directly in the hands of those running it but it will be a product of a faltering economy and the evolution of upcoming generations. The bigger probelm lies with once the baby boomer generation is no longer racing cars (Stock, SS, E.T., etc) or attending races (for the obvious reasons), where is the replacement demographic group? It sure isn't our kids and their friends and that group is exponentially larger than the baby boomers.

Just sayin'

This is the best post I've seen on this site in years!

 

[PJ]

I know where most of the Maters stand on this. What I do not understand is why it just can't be accepted that this is not your Father's NHRA anymore. It is not a casual hobby and it does not use a business model where more $$ in should automatically mean more $$ out. At least not if you want to survive. I don't think anybody would disagree that costs of any product or service has disproportionately grown apart from income levels. Same would apply here, I beleive. It is what it is.

Look at the article again, and see the hard decisions that had to be made to help the bottom line. Do layoffs, cost cutting, and lower staffing levels sound familiar to anyone who works for someone else and still has a job these days? I know folks directly affected by this, think they enjoyed it? NO. Think they complained? NO.

I want the opinions of other Maters who work in Corporate America. All the above sounds familiar right? Does anyone besides me think that on face value the salaries of those NHRA Execs who make between $200k and $400k as Directors or VP's by title isn't actually low when compared to comparable positions in the "real world"? Is $750k as EVP and GM of a company considered to be excessive? Really? Not in my experiences. There are people with the same title in equal or smaller corporations making 2x or 3x that salary.

I could care less what another man / woman makes quite honestly. It just seems that the Mater wants the sport of NHRA Drag Racing to grow and prosper but people should still have fun doing that instead of making a living at it and the money shared with all. Its 2013, not 1963. Its all about money in all walks of life. I don't want to hear the blah, blah, blah about "I would do that job for free" crap. What ever your chosen profession is, I assume you want to make as much money as you possibly can in order to support your existance. Has anyone here ever refused a raise or wage increase? Didn't think so. It's just business, don't take it personally. You can't change it. Complaining certainly won't change it. NHRA's ultimate fate won't lie directly in the hands of those running it but it will be a product of a faltering economy and the evolution of upcoming generations. The bigger probelm lies with once the baby boomer generation is no longer racing cars (Stock, SS, E.T., etc) or attending races (for the obvious reasons), where is the replacement demographic group? It sure isn't our kids and their friends and that group is exponentially larger than the baby boomers.

Just sayin'

Fair points, I think if people were ok with a majority of the decisions being made then they would not have issues with the salary. Each industry is a bit different so its hard to compare but having that many high salaries seems odd, at least based on my industry.

 

[clwill]

I know salaries in six figures get people all wound up. But I was VP of HR (including compensation) for a company in the Fortune 10, and these numbers are not at all excessive. For a CEO to make < 1% of gross is quite reasonable.

BTW, one important reason why the expense numbers don't add up is the costs of putting on the races -- a number not shown. On the national level, you have the entire traveling circus that needs to do 20+ races a year around the country. Just the fuel bill alone must be impressive, let alone the travel expenses for the crew. But then there are seven divisions, each with a staff, and equipment, and travel costs for dozens of races.

Back to compensation. Even as a total, many, many companies have salaries and benefits that represent 50, 60, even 70+% of gross. Yes, it varies by industry, but the numbers here, under 20% don't point to a huge problem with salaries.

You can argue all you want about whether the individuals earn their salaries, and I'll not get involved in that discussion. But from a raw numbers perspective, there are no red flags compared to many companies and non-profits.

 

[mick]

in the last paragraph of article it talks about percent changes of categories;
gonna' guess if you put those numbers up against similar series the numbers
mite actually look rather good (since the downturn in '08/'09)

 

[Ma Green]

For me the biggest problem with NHRA is the fact that the majority of the suits had absolutely NO understanding of their product coming in to their jobs. They had no background of the sport, had no idea the history or the heros. Drag racing is a product unto its self, it doesn't always run like a normal business. That said, though, if these suits were smart, they would have lowered spectator prices when the economy went south, allowing more people to still afford to attend. They have raised every possible cost to the racers, vendors, etc. At Pomona, there were only 6 racers t-shirt trailers...the prices raised again. The cost for the teams to have hospitality areas is absurd. So, no wonder NHRA is making a profit. It's coming on the backs of all the racers. Sorry, I'm convinced new management with racing backgrounds would make a huge difference.

 

[None]

I know where most of the Maters stand on this. What I do not understand is why it just can't be accepted that this is not your Father's NHRA anymore. It is not a casual hobby and it does not use a business model where more $$ in should automatically mean more $$ out. At least not if you want to survive. I don't think anybody would disagree that costs of any product or service has disproportionately grown apart from income levels. Same would apply here, I beleive. It is what it is.

Look at the article again, and see the hard decisions that had to be made to help the bottom line. Do layoffs, cost cutting, and lower staffing levels sound familiar to anyone who works for someone else and still has a job these days? I know folks directly affected by this, think they enjoyed it? NO. Think they complained? NO.

I want the opinions of other Maters who work in Corporate America. All the above sounds familiar right? Does anyone besides me think that on face value the salaries of those NHRA Execs who make between $200k and $400k as Directors or VP's by title isn't actually low when compared to comparable positions in the "real world"? Is $750k as EVP and GM of a company considered to be excessive? Really? Not in my experiences. There are people with the same title in equal or smaller corporations making 2x or 3x that salary.

I could care less what another man / woman makes quite honestly. It just seems that the Mater wants the sport of NHRA Drag Racing to grow and prosper but people should still have fun doing that instead of making a living at it and the money shared with all. Its 2013, not 1963. Its all about money in all walks of life. I don't want to hear the blah, blah, blah about "I would do that job for free" crap. What ever your chosen profession is, I assume you want to make as much money as you possibly can in order to support your existance. Has anyone here ever refused a raise or wage increase? Didn't think so. It's just business, don't take it personally. You can't change it. Complaining certainly won't change it. NHRA's ultimate fate won't lie directly in the hands of those running it but it will be a product of a faltering economy and the evolution of upcoming generations. The bigger probelm lies with once the baby boomer generation is no longer racing cars (Stock, SS, E.T., etc) or attending races (for the obvious reasons), where is the replacement demographic group? It sure isn't our kids and their friends and that group is exponentially larger than the baby boomers.

Just sayin'

I don't think what they were paid was ever the problem. I think what they skim off the top in bonuses is.

 

[JB3]

I know salaries in six figures get people all wound up. But I was VP of HR (including compensation) for a company in the Fortune 10, and these numbers are not at all excessive. For a CEO to make < 1% of gross is quite reasonable.

BTW, one important reason why the expense numbers don't add up is the costs of putting on the races -- a number not shown. On the national level, you have the entire traveling circus that needs to do 20+ races a year around the country. Just the fuel bill alone must be impressive, let alone the travel expenses for the crew. But then there are seven divisions, each with a staff, and equipment, and travel costs for dozens of races.

Back to compensation. Even as a total, many, many companies have salaries and benefits that represent 50, 60, even 70+% of gross. Yes, it varies by industry, but the numbers here, under 20% don't point to a huge problem with salaries.

You can argue all you want about whether the individuals earn their salaries, and I'll not get involved in that discussion. But from a raw numbers perspective, there are no red flags compared to many companies and non-profits.

Absolutely Chris. How about some of these costs associated with running an event ...

• Private / Local EMS and Fire Sevices (including helicopter)
• Private / Local medical teams to man First Aid stations
• Private Security

None of this can be cheap.

Even the 25% or higher bonuses are not abnormal.

 

[MM]

I think the people that are outraged by how much board members get paid would be quelled if they felt that the board was producing an adequate product.

 

[clwill]

Absolutely Chris. How about some of these costs associated with running an event ...

• Private / Local EMS and Fire Sevices (including helicopter)
• Private / Local medical teams to man First Aid stations
• Private Security

None of this can be cheap.

These are provided by the local track (which is NHRA at 6 of the tracks) as part of the cost of hosting the national event. The items I listed are all direct NHRA costs.

 

[Dave]

I think the people that are outraged by how much board members get paid would be quelled if they felt that the board was producing an adequate product.

And there you have it...

 

[Huge]

Absolutely Chris. How about some of these costs associated with running an event ...

• Private / Local EMS and Fire Sevices (including helicopter)
• Private / Local medical teams to man First Aid stations
• Private Security

None of this can be cheap.

Even the 25% or higher bonuses are not abnormal.

Having a medical helicopter on stand by can't be cheap. I know my unexpected 20 minute ride in one during my travel between the Pomona and Phoenix race in 2004 was $11,000.00.

 

[Paul]

You can perhaps argue that the NHRA salaries aren't that much out of wack.

But what is totally out of wack is that the current board hijacked a non-profit company by totally eliminating any membership control over the board members.

The NHRA was originally set up to have the board members be elected by the NHRA members. The NHRA was also originally setup, and still to this date has zero private ownership, its a free standing non-profit that can never have any private owners.

In a very slick, and mostly under the covers move, the current board eliminated member voting rights many years ago.

Now the current board alone sets their own salaries and bonuses and also decides who gets hired and fired.

Unlike most companies, if they do a poor job there is no mechanism in place to remove them, or at least cut their bonuses. They alone decide how good of a job they did and how to give bonuses to and who to also allow in to this special controlling inner circle.

This is not the way typically business league non-profits are supposed to be run, they typically are ultimately controlled through members voting rights.

The best example of this is the NFL, which is also a non-profit business league. In the NFL's case the team owners are the members and they periodically elect the commissioner and also fully control the NFL bylaws, which specify how the league is to be controlled and run. The NFL bylaws are also available online for anyone to read, unlike the NHRA which makes it as difficult as they possibly can for outsiders to access its company bylaws.

I believe if they banded together that the NHRA members could legally force the NHRA to restore members voting rights so that board members would be periodically elected.

But this would take someone well respected to lead the charge to do so and getting this pretty diverse group to band together would not be an easy task.