Amazing Jon Asher Article (2 Viewers)

[Toejam]

Jon Asher, you and I have discussed ticket prices for a number of Years! We both agree that they are WAYY out out of Control! Don't tell me that Compton/Light don't look at Gate receipts every race! If NHRA was really concerned about Full grandstands, they would do anything it took to make that happen! We both that won't happen...

 

[clwill]

Jon, I'm sorry, but I don't think I misunderstood what you wrote. You spent the first seven paragraphs discussing, with anecdotes and article citations, what can only be described as "the problem with today's kids". Randy Goodwin chimed in with similar sentiments. They're too ADD, they're too focused on technology, they aren't interested in cars, they can't and aren't interested in working on them.

To me, much of that is simply excuses. I said it before and it's worth repeating: it sounds a lot like blaming the customer for not liking your product.

If Wally was right, and the cars are the stars, maybe we should be racing cars that bear some resemblance to the cars the target market can and does buy. And if getting them interested in working on them is important, that resemblance should be technological and not just appearance. To show them what can be done with the car they drive every day.

 

[daveo]

Tar and feather Tom Compton, and hire Kenny Bernstein to run NHRA back to the standards we would all like to see!

 

[George.]

How many people fall into a simular catagory..

I'm 52 years old, and grew up somewhat rural. My next door neighbor owned a small speed shop, and his name was Don Clement. Don raced Don Garlits many times during his early days in gas dragsters, but never put together anything more.
My first drag racing "experience" was in his shop, sitting in that sling shot style blown gas dragster at 10 years old. I was in heaven and totally under the drag racing spell. I had all of the Hot Wheel sets with the Snake and Mongoose cars.
I ate, drank and lived engines and performance, and FUNNY CARS...
I think as many pointed out, it seems the thread that sews all motorsport nuts together was the ability to work on, and compete with older cars like we grew up with, and engines that you could actually take a wrench to and do something with.
We had the Snake vs. Mongoose.
Shirley vs. Big.
Glidden vs. Sheppard.
Amato vs. LaHaie
The Blue Max.
The Hawaiian.
The Bounty Hunter.
Jungle Pam, and Jim...
All draws before the race.
We had real personalities to take sides with above and beyond the car..
No disrespect, but now all there is is a pretty nepotism Girl against the latest pretty boy who probably couldn't change the oil in the car, or a foreigner with tons of our oil money to buy our Americana playground with..


My son is 18 years old. Smart, "A" student. Not a video game kid, but technologically smart. But at 10 years old, he couldn't give a rats rear end about fuel cars, even after a few races. It just didn't excite him the same way it excited me. Looking back, there was nothing there, other than the cars to actually pique his interest. No personalities other than the worn out Force crap. There were no hot wheel sets, and maybe I didn't do enough to spark the interest by working the pits for autographs, but he never displayed a flicker. Someone once gave him a Bobby LaBonte toy race car, and while watching a Cup race, he would stroll through and ask about Bobby, but that was it..
Maybe motorsports is simply evolving out of our culture.

As others have pointed out, the NHRA's overwhelming arrogance has dropped them (NHRA) to the bottom of the barrel of relevance, and IMO, in a position that they will NOT recover from because they have successfully alienated the old schoolers with this 1,000' thing.. Talk about a 100% chance of killing the sport fast..
I think the NHRA has shown over they years just what NOT to do..
I totally agree with Dave in the above post.
First step would be to remove the old guard completely, and I mean completely from top to bottom. Jon offers some great ideas, and if this sport wants to breed new motorheads, new ways of drawing interest must come from what draws in kids today, and that's bridging technology and hand devices to motorsports.

 

[daveo]

George, I just turned 53 two weeks ago. And my racing ideas started when I was 8 years old. I grew up with neighbors who drag raced. So, as kids we pushed our Tonka Toys on a smooth driveway, and I made a Christmas Tree with flashlight bulbs painted weth Testors model car paint. When I turned 12 years old (1970) my buddies and I begged my Dad to that us to Bonniville Raceway in Salt Lake City, Ut. Nitro set the hook in me! I've been going every season since. I've been crewin' for the last 17 years with a few friends with bracket cars. And I work at Felt Automotive Machine for the past 14 years, which does the engines for Nitro Thunder Nostalga Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car. 4 time World Champions in AA/FD with the help of my Boss, Steve Watson, Crew Chief.

 

[Nick Name]

I don't understand the idea of not being able to work on todays cars. I am in the motorcycle side of the business, and I can tell you that the old school bikes with carbs, etc is pretty much over. However, the new stuff with electronic fuel injection and computer controls is on fire.

There is a whole new side of the industry, reflashing ECUs, ect.

It is as big today as it ever was. There are also large groups of young people at the track racing these 200+ H.P. motorcycles.

Maybe it is because it is less costly to build and race a 7 second streetbike, than a 7 second street car.

Then over on the Corvette boards, I believe I am the only guy not putting a stroker crank and AFR cylinder heads on their LS motors. Then again, the vette guys are also older.

Young people are just not drag racing cars. When they have the Time Attack series or the drifting events here at the track, you should see all the ricers that show up.

NHRA is in a bad position now. They have an existing customer base that is dwindling. They need to make drastic changes. But!! The last thing they can have happen is for the current base to leave because they don't like the changes, and the new customer base to be too slow or non existent to fill the gap. They could go out of business if that happens.

Any chance that could happen? Just look at the 1000' debates. The old guard wants no change and is very vocal about it. The "we want no change" group is as much responsible for the current situation as the NHRA is.

 

[Super Mod]

Any chance that could happen? Just look at the 1000' debates. The old guard wants no change and is very vocal about it. The "we want no change" group is as much responsible for the current situation as the NHRA is.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41xfDt2M2wL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
"We have met the enemy and he is us"


Light In The Tunnel - YouTube

 

[rocketman]

Stop worrying about NHRA and do your part to get the public excited about the sport you love. It never happens automatically, you have to take the first step. I was involved in promoting the sport before I was ever a racer. If you are a racer, share your sport, share your passion! Get your car front and center in the public eye. The NHRA is the Government of drag racing. Don't wait for their help make things happen on your own. We are promoting a big car show next weekend and are focusing our attention on the local drag strip. Yeah its a lot of work and risk but it's always worth it once it's over.

I was surprised with how few local racers we have interested in participating in our show. Oh, the show is full anyway and the racers that are participating get it. The others are either apart for the winter, don't really care or are lazy. I can't race with out a sponsor so anytime I get opportunities like this I jump on it and as a result we have made a lot of fans and a few critics along the way but people know our car and that's what's important. This coming year we will have several celebs in music and sports coming out due to our outreach.

So stop worrying and make it happen! Don't be a recluse! Make things happen in whatever market you live in and good things will happen to you as a result. Organize a show, do displays, anything that promotes the sport. Grass roots is how our sport will survive.

Capitol Auto Group Racing - Rich Bailey

 

[daveo]

Your right Rich. We as fans, racers, and media, should put on a Show and Tell to get people involved. 2012 The Year of Change!

 

[NitroRichFire]

Rich and Dave, this isn't as easy as it sounds. Back in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and so on, we would try to bring at least 1 or 2 new fans to the track at every race we attended. We would try to convert NASCAR fans into Nitro Fans and it worked, once they got to feel, smell and see the Nitro, they were hooked. Now when we try to do that, it's a different story and this is what the replies back to us sound like when we ask someone if they would like to attend an NHRA event. "Sounds nice, but NHRA drag racing has changed for the worst, it just isn't the same show any more. The sport use to be the Bad Boy of all motor sports, No Limits, it's man Vs machine. Who can go the fastest and the quickest. Now there are limits, to the nitro percentages and they don't even race the quarter mile any more, and the ticket prices are the same."
Rich and Dave, this is a constant reply we get all the time, when we approach people who have never been to a race, but we keep on trying!

 

[Muddy]

Drag racing used to be all about making a engine, car, motorcycle or chassis perform in a manner that the engineers never intended. I believe the correct word is innovation. Same way with NASCAR. Now it's all cookie cutter crud and the real challenge is gone. It's like a circus without the lion tamers and tight rope performers, it's nice but if you've been once you've seen it all and nothing new is going to happen.

Not only have they failed to attract new fans but they are loosing the old ones at an alarming rate.We're either loosing interest or dying off. Ten or twelve years and the NHRA will be something totally different than what we know today.

Put limits on cubic inches, fuel volume, computers and number of spark plugs to limit speed and let the innovators come back with any block, any fuel any chassis modification that is not crazy and unsafe, etc. Right behind them will be the crowds. JMO

 

[Baron]

I'm solidly in the promote, promote, promote camp and I have proof that it works.
Have you listened to the way we talk? What is box racing? Boxes? We race cars.
Delay boxes? It's a race, for Pete's sake, why would you want a delay?
Throttle stops? What are they for? Why do you want to stop the throttle when you're racing?
These terms are unintelligible to an entire range of people we want to attract.
At the last MoPar Mile Hi Nationals, I sat in front of a young fellow and his date. She inquired concerning "why those cars suddenly slow down?" Her date, who clearly didn't know, attempted an explanation having to do with it being a practiced technique. She was kind enough not to press the issue or laugh in his face.
While we are at it, let's highlight the NHRA's quickest cars at 1320 feet: Top Alcohol. They are still relegated to a sort of limbo when they should be front and center. The NHRA, to its credit, has attempted to make some improvements but I urge them to do more.
Finally, where are the rule changes for the fuel cars that will get us back to real drag racing, in the words of the song, "burning up that quarter mile?"
Happy New Year!
Cheers,
Ed
Rocky Mountain Superchargers

 

[vegasnitro]

It's not just NHRA ... it is live sports/entertainment in general.

$100 tickets.
$10 or more parking.
$9 beers.
$6 dollar soggy hot dogs.
$5 Cokes.
The effort involved in getting to and from the venue.
The people you have to put up with at the venue.
Personal seat licenses just for the privilege of overpaying for a ticket (obviously not NHRA related, but still).
The way you are treated by the league/venue as a fan.

HD TV almost obsoletes all of that nonsense. You can sit in your own living room, unlimited replays, drink your own cold beers, order a pizza or grill your own hot dogs. It has hit the saturation point for most people, ESPECIALLY anyone with a family.

 

[PJ]

Just a little work on the NHRA mobile app would be a great start. Not only is it WAY overpriced at $4.99, if it does work the info is not nearly enough.

I could even see a fantasy league as part of the app...not that I want PJ out of a job.

actually had somene try to set one up with them. Then they did the csk deal. Could be a great marketing tool for them

 

[Marchboom]

Throttle stops? What are they for? Why do you want to stop the throttle when you're racing? At the last MoPar Mile Hi Nationals, I sat in front of a young fellow and his date. She inquired concerning "why those cars suddenly slow down?" Her date, who clearly didn't know, attempted an explanation having to do with it being a practiced technique. She was kind enough not to press the issue or laugh in his face.

IMO, throttle stops have taken away any excitement these cars used to have. I understand why they are used but the racers (who use throttle stops), with NHRA's approval, have made their classes boring to watch. They have made these classes a race for the respective racers, not the spectators. Who wants to see a race car travel 1/3 of the track at idle?

Best thing NHRA could do would be to ban throttle stops.

 

[JB3]

It's not just NHRA ... it is live sports/entertainment in general.

$100 tickets.
$10 or more parking.
$9 beers.
$6 dollar soggy hot dogs.
$5 Cokes.
The effort involved in getting to and from the venue.
The people you have to put up with at the venue.
Personal seat licenses just for the privilege of overpaying for a ticket (obviously not NHRA related, but still).
The way you are treated by the league/venue as a fan.

HD TV almost obsoletes all of that nonsense. You can sit in your own living room, unlimited replays, drink your own cold beers, order a pizza or grill your own hot dogs. It has hit the saturation point for most people, ESPECIALLY anyone with a family.

You're right Chris ... you can see empty seats on TV watching the best of the NFL or MLB. There is visibly a fair amount of unused seats at many Pro events these days. I can speak for 2 teams that I go see live occassionally.

NY Giants:

• Tickets are $75 face value for the worst seats (upper deck)
• $40 for parking in ALL lots. Its outsourced with no other options.
• So ... if I take my family (4) I am at $340 and haven't bought any of those over priced concession items or souveneirs yet. That's if we sit in the cheap seats.

NY Yankees:

• If you look hard, you can get a $60 ticket in an OK seat.
• $20 for parking. You might find something cheaper but you'll have to walk quite a way in a crappy area.
• Was there this year with 3 others. Tickets were a gift. I bought a round of 4beverages and 4 food items for the group ... $50

Going to live sporting events is becoming an occassional special privilege. I think the NHRA fan should consider themselves lucky in some ways. It isn't quite as bad as some of the more famous teams / venues in American sports.

 

[George.]

It's not just NHRA ... it is live sports/entertainment in general.

$100 tickets.
$10 or more parking.
$9 beers.
$6 dollar soggy hot dogs.
$5 Cokes.
The effort involved in getting to and from the venue.
The people you have to put up with at the venue.
Personal seat licenses just for the privilege of overpaying for a ticket (obviously not NHRA related, but still).
The way you are treated by the league/venue as a fan.

HD TV almost obsoletes all of that nonsense. You can sit in your own living room, unlimited replays, drink your own cold beers, order a pizza or grill your own hot dogs. It has hit the saturation point for most people, ESPECIALLY anyone with a family.

Clearly, you have demonstrated that it's not necessarily the cost, but the actual product, and I agree. Some sports can do this because people will pay to see it, and others think they can, but don't have the "goods" to support it..
I watch the most unwatchable team in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills. The stadium is always sold out, eventhough the local team sucks. What sells the product is NFL Football, and it's stars..
Until the NHRA product is repaired and fit for sale again, it really doesn't matter what we as fans think..

There are no stars anymore with any sort of random name recognition.
I applaud the guys above who think that it starts will self promotion. I'm here to tell you that it's a waste of your time. You can promote your product until you're blue in the face, but until a bunch of things happen to repair the NHRA product so a random fan doesn't ask about NHRA killing, excitement buzzkill throttle stops, or three second joke of a fuel race, they won't be back to buy another ticket. Witness this at any track..

 

[clwill]

Best thing NHRA could do would be to ban throttle stops.

Really? REALLY? This is the one best thing the NHRA needs to do? Ban throttle stops? That would fix everything? Forget 1000', forget 3-second races, forget ancient technology, forget ticket prices, forget lackluster marketing, forget all of that. To fix all that's wrong with the NHRA, you'd ban throttle stops?

Let's be clear, almost no one (except friends/relatives) comes to a national event to watch the Super class cars. And no one except people who really understand the sport are fans of Super class racing. It really doesn't bother me or any of the 1000s of other Super class racers that everyone heads to the rest room when we run at a national event. We're there to race, we don't care if you watch.

Super class racing (racing with throttle stops) is about the racing, not about fans. It's some of the tightest, most competitive, most fun racing in the sport. And it's by far the most popular racing in terms of participation. Of the 40,000 licensed drivers, or thousands of those who chase divisional or national points, the clear majority of those are Super class racers. In pure numbers, Super class racers outnumber all the other classes combined. When you look at back gate revenue for the NHRA, the strong majority of that revenue comes from Super class racers.

Dear me, we're talking about fixing the NHRA, and the suggestion is to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Some of you people really need to stop by the clue store and pick up a case.

 

[clwill]

HD TV almost obsoletes all of that nonsense. You can sit in your own living room, unlimited replays, drink your own cold beers, order a pizza or grill your own hot dogs. It has hit the saturation point for most people, ESPECIALLY anyone with a family.

But live sports have always had something that you can't get at home. There is something special about a live, shared experience that you just can't get at home. There is something about coming through the gates and seeing the field for the first time at a football or baseball stadium, and you can't get that at home, even with 3D. There is something magical and electrifying about 1000s of people cheering in unison, and you can't duplicate it at home. There is the aroma of the popcorn, hot dogs, and beer. And of course there is a sound experience that you can't duplicate regardless of your 7.1 sound system. Especially with the NHRA.

To this day I remember distinctly the feeling I had the first time I walked into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on bump day. The sound of them practicing, the whine of the cars, and the feeling of dozens of cars going by, feet away (you used to be able to get down right next to the wall) at 200+ is something I'll never forget. And this was over 30 years ago.

But that is a fraction of the experience of the sound of NHRA nitro cars. Or the amazing aroma of nitro or race gas. Is there anyone on this board who doesn't think the pure visceral experience of live NHRA drag racing isn't a sellable commodity? Really?

To paraphrase the old saying: we've already established what NHRA drag racing is, we're just arguing about the price.

 

[bukweet]

Maybe motorsports is simply evolving out of our culture.

Scary thought for us old guys but......as we know motorsports to be, it's very possible.