I found this great article on the ADRL and the way the money is structured. Good read. Here is the article and the link to the full site:
Is the ADRL onto something big?
Friday, 20 March 2009
I thought I'd seen and heard it all in drag racing but a recent conversation with Seth Angel, the general manager at Houston Raceway Park, provided yet another surprise.
It seems Angel had a unique problem on his hands a few weeks back when the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) opened its fifth season at his facility with the Safety Kleen Dragpalooza 5 event. While stuffing his pockets with $10 bills for the umpteenth time that picture-perfect Saturday afternoon as he helped his staff get people into his massive parking lots, Angel came to the conclusion that he had to stop the madness.
"We were reaching capacity," Angel said. "The infrastructure of our facility simply couldn't handle any more fans. We were getting maxed out."
Angel got on his radio and summoned ADRL president Kenny Nowling and the head of the huge off-duty police force he had assembled to keep everyone safe and together they decided to send some Texas State Troopers to the freeway exits and prevent any more cars from filtering into the track.
Stands were packed prior to Saturday's eliminations. "It's hard to turn people away, especially ones that are so fired up to come and enjoy your facility and some great drag racing, but the comfort and safety of the fans has to take precedence over everything else, including making money," said Angel, who is now gearing up for the 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals. "We still had our best two days in track history and we've been around a long time.
"What the ADRL is doing, what they've grown to in just a few years time, is nothing short of amazing. I'd hold six ADRL races a year if they'd give them to me."
Those lucky enough to already be inside were part of an estimated crowd of 55,000 people (no joke) -- the largest I've ever seen at any drag race any where -- having a great time. To me, this was how it should be. Everyone had broad smiles on their faces and they were enjoying some great side-by-side action. The mood in the pits, from the racers to the crew personnel to the spectators was very upbeat and positive. One t-short vendor told me that ADRL officials had been by five times that day just to make sure he was happy. He was blown away.
The difference? Well, the obvious one is the ADRL gives away free tickets to each of its 10 events. Angel says they printed up and handed out 500,000 free tickets to this year's race. The track makes money charging for parking ($10 in the regular lot and $20 for the premium spots closer to the gates), at concession and souvenir stands, and by selling hospitality suites.
The ADRL profits almost entirely from sponsorship as there are practically no entry fees for the race teams, which pay just $10 a weekend for each crewman that needs restricted access.
"It's a completely different business model," said Josh Hernandez, one of the best racers on the circuit and the nephew of Tommy Lipar, who together with Dave Wood financed the fledgling series in its infancy. "They have a main sponsor in the National Guard and a main presenting sponsor in Flowmaster. That's the money they use to pay the bills. They also have a magazine so they can sell ads in that. They have a small staff that works real hard. It's really impressive."
Each race has a title sponsor that pays about $50,000 for naming rights. That money is used to pay the purses, which top out at $8,000 for the winner of the top class. (In all, five categories are contested.) The event sponsor gets to brand those 500,000 tickets, which, by the way, have a basic contact information form on the back that must be filled out by the fans for them to gain admittance. A customer list is then compiled and shared with the event sponsor and the National Guard.
"The basic premise of the entire series is to have fun," said Hernandez, who pegs his team budget at about $50,000 a season. "Of course there are costs involved but instead of doing it the way NHRA and others have done for 50-something years and charging a lot for tickets and stretching it out for three or four days, they just pack in as many people as they can for a day and a half and sell the sponsors and the track owners on the huge crowds. The fans love it because they're getting in for free, and as you saw in Houston, there's no shortage of people taking advantage of the situation.
"They had nominal losses the first two years but have shown a profit the last two years. It's really turned into a nice little deal that's growing big time."
The main thing missing was nitro racing and the ADRL's eighth-mile distance took some getting used to but the fans hardly seemed to care. I'm also extremely suspect of the way they crown champions -- putting the top eight point earners into a winner-take-all event at the end of the year that completely diminishes season-long performance. Still, overall it's hard to argue with the ADRL's success.
Maybe Bruton Smith should give up his dream of buying NHRA and give the ADRL a look. All he'd need to do is add nitro and the show would be complete.
By the way, kudos to the east coast fans that did a good job of making the NHRA Gatornationals a success. The stands weren't as packed as I've seen in the past but there was certainly enough people there to prove that fans still want to see the best drag racers in the world. It was a nice rebound from Pomona and Phoenix.
The complete link: Geiger Counter
Is the ADRL onto something big?
Friday, 20 March 2009
I thought I'd seen and heard it all in drag racing but a recent conversation with Seth Angel, the general manager at Houston Raceway Park, provided yet another surprise.
It seems Angel had a unique problem on his hands a few weeks back when the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) opened its fifth season at his facility with the Safety Kleen Dragpalooza 5 event. While stuffing his pockets with $10 bills for the umpteenth time that picture-perfect Saturday afternoon as he helped his staff get people into his massive parking lots, Angel came to the conclusion that he had to stop the madness.
"We were reaching capacity," Angel said. "The infrastructure of our facility simply couldn't handle any more fans. We were getting maxed out."
Angel got on his radio and summoned ADRL president Kenny Nowling and the head of the huge off-duty police force he had assembled to keep everyone safe and together they decided to send some Texas State Troopers to the freeway exits and prevent any more cars from filtering into the track.
Stands were packed prior to Saturday's eliminations. "It's hard to turn people away, especially ones that are so fired up to come and enjoy your facility and some great drag racing, but the comfort and safety of the fans has to take precedence over everything else, including making money," said Angel, who is now gearing up for the 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals. "We still had our best two days in track history and we've been around a long time.
"What the ADRL is doing, what they've grown to in just a few years time, is nothing short of amazing. I'd hold six ADRL races a year if they'd give them to me."
Those lucky enough to already be inside were part of an estimated crowd of 55,000 people (no joke) -- the largest I've ever seen at any drag race any where -- having a great time. To me, this was how it should be. Everyone had broad smiles on their faces and they were enjoying some great side-by-side action. The mood in the pits, from the racers to the crew personnel to the spectators was very upbeat and positive. One t-short vendor told me that ADRL officials had been by five times that day just to make sure he was happy. He was blown away.
The difference? Well, the obvious one is the ADRL gives away free tickets to each of its 10 events. Angel says they printed up and handed out 500,000 free tickets to this year's race. The track makes money charging for parking ($10 in the regular lot and $20 for the premium spots closer to the gates), at concession and souvenir stands, and by selling hospitality suites.
The ADRL profits almost entirely from sponsorship as there are practically no entry fees for the race teams, which pay just $10 a weekend for each crewman that needs restricted access.
"It's a completely different business model," said Josh Hernandez, one of the best racers on the circuit and the nephew of Tommy Lipar, who together with Dave Wood financed the fledgling series in its infancy. "They have a main sponsor in the National Guard and a main presenting sponsor in Flowmaster. That's the money they use to pay the bills. They also have a magazine so they can sell ads in that. They have a small staff that works real hard. It's really impressive."
Each race has a title sponsor that pays about $50,000 for naming rights. That money is used to pay the purses, which top out at $8,000 for the winner of the top class. (In all, five categories are contested.) The event sponsor gets to brand those 500,000 tickets, which, by the way, have a basic contact information form on the back that must be filled out by the fans for them to gain admittance. A customer list is then compiled and shared with the event sponsor and the National Guard.
"The basic premise of the entire series is to have fun," said Hernandez, who pegs his team budget at about $50,000 a season. "Of course there are costs involved but instead of doing it the way NHRA and others have done for 50-something years and charging a lot for tickets and stretching it out for three or four days, they just pack in as many people as they can for a day and a half and sell the sponsors and the track owners on the huge crowds. The fans love it because they're getting in for free, and as you saw in Houston, there's no shortage of people taking advantage of the situation.
"They had nominal losses the first two years but have shown a profit the last two years. It's really turned into a nice little deal that's growing big time."
The main thing missing was nitro racing and the ADRL's eighth-mile distance took some getting used to but the fans hardly seemed to care. I'm also extremely suspect of the way they crown champions -- putting the top eight point earners into a winner-take-all event at the end of the year that completely diminishes season-long performance. Still, overall it's hard to argue with the ADRL's success.
Maybe Bruton Smith should give up his dream of buying NHRA and give the ADRL a look. All he'd need to do is add nitro and the show would be complete.
By the way, kudos to the east coast fans that did a good job of making the NHRA Gatornationals a success. The stands weren't as packed as I've seen in the past but there was certainly enough people there to prove that fans still want to see the best drag racers in the world. It was a nice rebound from Pomona and Phoenix.
The complete link: Geiger Counter
