Another Top Fuel Team is Parked

[HEMI6point1]

Cat signed w/Richard Childress starting 2009 on Jef Burton's 31 car

Figures, another case of "dump a drag race team for a roundy-round taxi cab."

 

[pete]

So,CAT drops the $2.5/3mil sponsorship due to the economy, and keeps the $25/30 mil sponsorship? Wow, high finance escapes me!

 

[none]

Jumpin jiminy......next you are going to say the bigwigs at the big 3 should not be given bonuses in the year that they all go out of business!!!

You should not comment if you don't understand how things work.....

 

[clwill]

So,CAT drops the $2.5/3mil sponsorship due to the economy, and keeps the $25/30 mil sponsorship? Wow, high finance escapes me!

From a purely numbers standpoint, it may make sense. NHRA's typical TV audience numbers somewhere around 0.5m viewers per race, NASCAR's are something like 10m viewers. 20X the viewers for 10X the money seems like a good deal. And this doesn't count butts in seats, and print/internet press, which we all know far favors NASCAR...

 

[pete]

I realize NASCAR has better tv numbers and more butts in the seats. But, who are they advertising to? How many dozers will they sell because they are on a cot? The mechanic angle in NHRA seems more workable. CAT certainly couldn't have potential employees show up at Burton's trailer, could they? It would be like Boeing sponsoring a car. Why the heck for?

 

[mick]

...CAT certainly couldn't have potential employees show up at Burton's trailer, could they? It would be like Boeing sponsoring a car. Why the heck for?

little known paper airplane division

wonder if rob flynn knew anything that may have prompted his move?

 

[yoda]

I realize NASCAR has better tv numbers and more butts in the seats. But, who are they advertising to? How many dozers will they sell because they are on a cot?

It's not because of backhoes that they are still targeting NASCAR... Think about how much they make selling the hat!!

 

[kd]

If 9 cars showed up there would be 1 bye in rd1.
That leaves an even 8 to run each other, producing 5 winners to go to rd2.

Again 1 bye, in rd 2 the other 4 run each other, producing 3 winners.

Rd3 - 1 bye, the two run each other, producing 2 winners.

The final rd - no bye's, the two left run each other.

Maybe I'm not explaining this clear....help me gang.

Hey Paul!!!...All of this "ladder talk" reminds me of the 1974 PDA/PRO race of Garlits and Ed Eaton in New York...FIVE SEMI-FINALISTS!!!!!!!

 

[rocketman]

The fact that they would drop a team before the contract is up and increase the NASCAR BS should be the ultimate wake up call for NHRA. Powers should sue. Look at all the guys now out of a job.

 

[Rajunz]

..........................Pulling back from the days of ungodly excess may actually be good for the sport.

Here's a post I put in another thread:

Teams parking it creating short fields will open up opportunities for new teams to compete. NHRA should stay with 16 car fields or the infux of new racers will dry up in my opinion. Some in the TAD and TA/FC ranks will view this as an opportunity to go pro, rather than looking at it as a playground for the rich......................RG

Sounds like the perfect time to go back to basics. Single mags, smaller fuel pumps, smaller blowers, all of the things people have brought up to slow the cars down. These will all make Nitro racing cheaper, as well as getting it back to 1/4 mile.

 

[FuelFC]

Figures, another case of "dump a drag race team for a roundy-round taxi cab."

Umm CAT has been in Nascar for oh 5 plus years now. Was with Bill Davis now moves to Childress. This is real old news from like June.

CAT was in NHRA? What a year and a half?...

One is a true corporate backed deal and the other ahh not so much. Dealer supported marketing program.

As well yellow anything is not really flying out of dealer showrooms this week. Trucks, construction....oh and the fact they laid off a bunch of folks.

 

[The Counterfeiter]

The fact that they would drop a team before the contract is up and increase the NASCAR BS should be the ultimate wake up call for NHRA. Powers should sue. Look at all the guys now out of a job.

Rich - suing a major corporation sounds like a good idea until reality sets in. This would probably be contested in a Federal Court and Powers would be paying lawyers to go up against a litigation department that I'll bet is already in place at CAT. A case like this could be dragged through the courts for years, with legal costs quickly eating up anything you have no guarantee of winning.
Unfortunately, it's the other Golden Rule - "those who have the gold make the rules". JMHO

 

[Rajunz]

Its not hard to understand , its just elliminator racing . It would just effect how many rounds of ellimination happen before you elliminate all the competition to have 2 cars meet for the final . More competitors you have then more elimination rounds , less competitors then less rounds . For example a 16 car field , you have 8 first round eliminators , then after that you will have 4 , then after that you have the 2 semi final rounds leading to the final race . Is that hard to understand?

So if only 8 cars show up, do they all get minimum 2nd round points for that event?

Index

 

[pete]

Umm CAT has been in Nascar for oh 5 plus years now. Was with Bill Davis now moves to Childress. This is real old news from like June.

CAT was in NHRA? What a year and a half?...

One is a true corporate backed deal and the other ahh not so much. Dealer supported marketing program.

As well yellow anything is not really flying out of dealer showrooms this week. Trucks, construction....oh and the fact they laid off a bunch of folks.

Jim. ya think that $30 million would have paid a few salaries? There are very very few NASCAR fans that are going to buy a front end loader, dozer or pan.
If they were selling a consumer product, maybe I could see the logic, but not heavy equipment.

 

[Mooseman]

So if only 8 cars show up, do they all get minimum 2nd round points for that event?

Index

Um thats a good question

 

[none]

Jim. ya think that $30 million would have paid a few salaries? There are very very few NASCAR fans that are going to buy a front end loader, dozer or pan.
If they were selling a consumer product, maybe I could see the logic, but not heavy equipment.

I don't think you get NASCAR. They are the number 2 sport after the NFL in the sports marketing world. Where is NHRA? Tony Shoe is the only name getting any print out side of drag racing. Look at the driver marketing deals for NASCAR advertizers. I bet Jimmy Johnson has better marketing income than the whole NHRA racing budget. It is not like he is the only guy, look JR or Gordon, Harvick, etc, etc ... My point is CAT is getting more ROI with NASCAR than NHRA. I know that it may not be true but, they think so and it is their checkbook.

 

[clwill]

Rich - suing a major corporation sounds like a good idea until reality sets in. This would probably be contested in a Federal Court and Powers would be paying lawyers to go up against a litigation department that I'll bet is already in place at CAT. A case like this could be dragged through the courts for years, with legal costs quickly eating up anything you have no guarantee of winning.

Been on both sides of this. My lawyer's rules of thumb:

1) don't sue anyone unless you can afford a minimum of $100k in legal fees, just to get started. This means the amount in question better be at least $1m. If the opponent has deep pockets, multiply these numbers by 10.

2) on the other end of the spectrum, don't sue anyone who doesn't have the money you're suing for. What good is a judgment that won't be paid, and you still have to pay the lawyers.

3) don't sue if you are in a hurry. Measure the time to closure in years, then see if it's worth it. Just got an email from my lawyer, one suit I won looks like it may actually pay off in March -- 4.5 years later.

And if Powers did sue, imagine the presentation to the next sponsor:

- Potential sponsor: "So, how did your last sponsorship work out? Did they get their money's worth?"
- Powers: "Well, we're still in court over that one..."
- PS: "The door is right over there."

 

[pete]

I don't think you get NASCAR. They are the number 2 sport after the NFL in the sports marketing world. Where is NHRA? Tony Shoe is the only name getting any print out side of drag racing. Look at the driver marketing deals for NASCAR advertizers. I bet Jimmy Johnson has better marketing income than the whole NHRA racing budget. It is not like he is the only guy, look JR or Gordon, Harvick, etc, etc ... My point is CAT is getting more ROI with NASCAR than NHRA. I know that it may not be true but, they think so and it is their checkbook.

I probably don't get nascar. My point is, what ROI are they possibly getting. JimBob is going out Monday and buying a track hoe? I work in construction, and I will never rent anything from Cat again. That's their ROI from me.

 

[clwill]

My point is, what ROI are they possibly getting. JimBob is going out Monday and buying a track hoe?

The difference between NHRA and NASCAR in this comparison is... ???

Advertising serves several purposes: to establish name recognition, to convince customers to buy, to make people who've already bought feel good about the purchase, to make the people inside the company feel good, to assuage the egos of those buying the advertising, to make the company seem solid and safe, etc., etc.

Look at Super Bowl advertising, for example -- almost none of it is saying "buy my product". And a whole lot of NHRA sponsorship isn't about convincing people to buy, but rather to reward employees/customers with a very cool weekend at the track experience.

In short, it's not all about convincing JimBob to buy a track hoe.

 

[FuelFC]

Jim. ya think that $30 million would have paid a few salaries? There are very very few NASCAR fans that are going to buy a front end loader, dozer or pan.
If they were selling a consumer product, maybe I could see the logic, but not heavy equipment.

Yeah I do think that. Ain't my first rodeo. And this didn't happen Friday where Childress ends up with the CAT deal either.

Do you or anyone honestly think this is a pointed attack at NHRA?
So NHRA fans will buy more CAT product than the 75,000,000 fans of Nascar? Yeah. Lets look at those attendance demographics and shear numbers one more time. So exactly just how many CAT customers are there in NHRA demographics? And I'll let you include the truck engines too.

I started to post in last reponse that everyone should just go out and pick up a new CAT 770 for the holidays but deleted it. If like Sally Struthers said just one CAT 770 just think of the racing we could do.

If anyone here thinks there is no problems out here in the real world other than lesse here, banks, auto, housing, investments, commodities...nah sorry no worries here.

Read the financial times/journal/etc. it is ugly out here. Like porkchop ugly. Size 28 black polyester stretch pant hail damaged butt ugly!

CAT is no one to blame nor is Nascar.

Caterpillar sponsored Bill Davis Racing for 10+ years.

GM has pulled 600,000,000 dollars from marketing (no misprint).

1st, 2nd and 3rd tier supplier companies are in big trouble. If cars don't sell, then they don't need parts and the material suppliers to them don't sell anything...

Off box your serve.