Crew Chief And Driver Pay

[Nitrohelper]

For $200K you could could hire "almost" anyone out there now...
The people over that amount are working for only a few team owners...
If you want to buy a ride, then $300k to $1.0m could get you from some to all the races...
For 4 million a season everyone would be happy to paint your product name on the car ...

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

What is the big damn deal?! This isn't like asking your next door neighbor or brother-in-law what they make. It's not only a natural curiosity to know what celebrity types make, this very topic has been talked about on this board before. It's not like they don't make the salaries of many other sports figures public knowledge, so why should the curiosity with our drag racing folks be any different? They're obviously not on the same level as the stick-and-ball contingent, but they're no less my heroes than Kobe Bryant is to a basketball freak.

If someone qualified wants to chime in with a ballpark figure, then great. If it offends you, then don't respond. Wow................

Sean D

 

[sammi]

I think the number of t/f, f/c and pro stock drivers who actually get a full time pay check to drive would startle and sadden most fans of the sports. I'll take the number 10.

 

[RAPID]

Since I now tune along with my driving gig on the new team. I guess I must get double Virgil's dollars!!

Rapid

 

[n/a]

What is the big damn deal?! This isn't like asking your next door neighbor or brother-in-law what they make. It's not only a natural curiosity to know what celebrity types make, this very topic has been talked about on this board before. It's not like they don't make the salaries of many other sports figures public knowledge, so why should the curiosity with our drag racing folks be any different? They're obviously not on the same level as the stick-and-ball contingent, but they're no less my heroes than Kobe Bryant is to a basketball freak.

If someone qualified wants to chime in with a ballpark figure, then great. If it offends you, then don't respond. Wow................

Sean D

Sean,
you are sooo right. Whats the big deal??? I think alot of it has to do with ego. If the general public was to know what "some" drivers had to bring with them...such as sponsorship funds,their own cash or what ever they may not appear to be all of that ...so to say.I think most could give a rats a$$ less. I did know one cc that was on a team that ran about 15 races a year and his pay wasnt something to brag about, and he tuned a car that did get past the first round a number of times.Oh well....now about my pay,oh thats right i own the place...no pay raise for me.

 

[vegasnitro]

I think the number of t/f, f/c and pro stock drivers who actually get a full time pay check to drive would startle and sadden most fans of the sports. I'll take the number 10.

I would agree with this assessment. Drag racing has always been a pay-for-play arena, not a get paid to play arena. Almost ALL of the players in the pro categories have businesses/jobs away from the track.

 

[Rat]

For $200K you could could hire "almost" anyone out there now...
The people over that amount are working for only a few team owners...
If you want to buy a ride, then $300k to $1.0m could get you from some to all the races...
For 4 million a season everyone would be happy to paint your product name on the car ...

Thank you for the one and only useful answer on this question. This is exactly the type of scale answer I am looking for..I even said I don't need exact numbers. Also, thank you to Vigil and others for understanding my point.

 

[Greg]

Some of the responses here are ridiculous. Again, no one was ever asking for specifics on what a specific individual makes. No tax returns or W-2's were ever requested. It's no different than asking how much does the average commercial pilot earn...no big deal.

 

[Rat]

Thank you very much. I was looking at these 2 pictures:

Team 1 wants to run full event season at a top ten performance level. what's the minimum needed to hire a crew chief to get the job done. I know money wise it takes about 1.5 mil to run all events at an ok level. So how much?

Team 2 wants to run full event season at a championship title chance performace level. What's the minimum needed to hire a crew chief to get the job done. I know money wise it's 3-4 mil plus to run at # 1 level. So how much?

Just give us ballparks if you don't mind. We are not looking for exacts so there's no reason to take offense.

 

[Taunsie]

In the days of inovation crew chiefs Like Dale Amrmstong, Bill Schultz, Bob Brandt, Austin Coil, Roland Leong and a handful of others had "secrets", and friends with even more tricks. Those secrets and tricks were had value and owners were willing to pay for the performance advantages they offered. As NHRA put more and more restrictions in place, all of the combinations became the rule , inovations slowed to a crawl and the value of the crew chief's knowledge was diminished. Today the top teams have "brain trusts" for the most part and the lessor teams attempt to "follow the leaders" With most of the combinations being equal by rule, the top crew chiefs are those that have mastered the application of power to the conditions. Alan Johnson is the current master of that skill , with others close on his heels.

Crew chief compensation is a simple equation of supply and demand. If a crew chief is precieved to have extraordinary skills , owners will pay for results and if a crew chief can deliver he deserves to get what ever the traffic will bear. Actual crew chiefs have to act in the role of a general manager also, dealing with employee relationships, and budgets and public relations.

During the inovation period most drivers, that were not also owners usually were paid a precentage of the earnings plus direct expenses. Today most of the top tier teams have drivers that effectively sourced sponsorship funds. Thier compesation is therefore usually a precentage of the sponsorship proceeds. Those commision probably vary somewhat, but 10-15% of the gross would sound about right. Using that formula a driver that brings a $2,000,000 sponsor would be paid $200,000 to $300,000 per year, and most likely would pay his own direct expenses.
I am no expert , but I recently prepared a operating budget for a potential sponsorship of a tier one type operation and did some reseach among friends that a currently active and derived the approximate costs.

 

[Usual password less 1]

Thank you very much. I was looking at these 2 pictures:

Team 1 wants to run full event season at a top ten performance level. what's the minimum needed to hire a crew chief to get the job done. I know money wise it takes about 1.5 mil to run all events at an ok level. So how much?

Team 2 wants to run full event season at a championship title chance performace level. What's the minimum needed to hire a crew chief to get the job done. I know money wise it's 3-4 mil plus to run at # 1 level. So how much?

Just give us ballparks if you don't mind. We are not looking for exacts so there's no reason to take offense.

Team 1 better own everything already and have a bunch of parts if you want to try and run on 1.5 million...100k minimum for an up and coming crew chief and don't think that will guarantee you a Top 10!

Team 2- 250k to whatever you want to spend for an established Top 5 crew chief and there are many teams that have a big budget and don't finish in the Top 3

It takes time for a team to gel and you need to have the right crew guys and driver to make it all work...and that's what takes the $$

 

[Nitrohelper]

...and that's what takes the $$

And that's not to mention what it costs to get a highly talented "fly-in driver" from the West Coast...

Unfortunately a talented tuner or driver of a Nostalgia Nitro car can be hired for much less ...

 

[Rat]

Thank You Tom and Jeff. Best of luck with your teams. Please guys provide more insight. As an example, I never asked jeff what he makes or his team has as I do not care to know nor does he want to tell me i'm sure and I respect that, it's all just a rough baseline to add to the equation of what you really need in terms of money for a bare bone top 10 capable team running the season. So thanks to the good feedback I am at a minimum of about 2 to 2.5 million and maximum of 3 Million PLUS.

This is only as idea, and Don take no disrespect if you happen to see it that way, but running 3 tf cars at full performance with the crew talent and especially crew chief talent as well as parts, we may be looking at around 5-6 million a team. Could it really take up to 5 million a year and more to be a go home late on sunday championship team at 22 events? If I'm correct it seems that theirs no longer a professional class that you can run for less than a million and expect to compete for the championship. Pro-Stock may be just as much a nitro operation

 

[MM]

Patrick, if that's what you wanted to know, then why didn't you just ask how much money do you need to be a competitive team in TF/FC for an entire season.

If you want to run for the championship, you better have about $4 million at your disposal, provided you are an established team with plenty of supplies and facilities.

If you are starting your operation from scratch, and want to be a player for the forseeable future in the fuel classes, you need to have access to about $10 million in startup money.

 

[Rat]

Patrick, if that's what you wanted to know, then why didn't you just ask how much money do you need to be a competitive team in TF/FC for an entire season.

If you want to run for the championship, you better have about $4 million at your disposal, provided you are an established team with plenty of supplies and facilities.

If you are starting your operation from scratch, and want to be a player for the forseeable future in the fuel classes, you need to have access to about $10 million in startup money.

thanks i figured as much, I knew what the total cost was for a team is for parts and budget from other threads on here, just I wanted to break down what chunk of the pie the crew chief and a driver gets in ballpark cause no one on here went there. I know that you can probably get an all volunteer crew and even crew member salaries are easier to find out than this.

Volunteer crew with all expenses paid or crew members that get 30-60k are basic idea. But if you get a volunteer crew chances have to be while a driver may or may not drive for free with perks, your not gonna find a tuner taking no pay unless the team owner is the cc and or driver.

Guys like Wilkerson or Cruz I would say are probably not salaried and there take home is probably to either try and break even or not spent anything outside of sponsor money by the end of the year. Other than very few teams, i don't see drivers and crew chiefs getting rich off drag racing.

I bet even consider how fantastic the 2010 season was for al-anabi tf car, it's hard to say if they made any profit over what they spent to dominate as they did.

 

[twostep]

I bet even consider how fantastic the 2010 season was for al-anabi tf car, it's hard to say if they made any profit over what they spent to dominate as they did.

Pretty safe bet to say they went in the tank a few million, but what the heck. Sheik Khalid can afford a few million, and you might as well have fun with it while you can. Things can and do change rapidly in that part of the world.

I commented to you earlier that driver and CC salaries are none of our business, and while they really aren't, I didn't mean to imply that you were some sort of jerk for asking. Please accept my apology for any such implications.

I could guess, just like the rest of us are guessing. I doubt if even Virgil or Jeff know for sure, other than themselves, since there are so many variables in play.

Maybe we should ask the question another way. How much would YOU be willing to pay Austin - or Cory - or Whit - to come to work for your fuel team?

 

[Rat]

Pretty safe bet to say they went in the tank a few million, but what the heck. Sheik Khalid can afford a few million, and you might as well have fun with it while you can. Things can and do change rapidly in that part of the world.

I commented to you earlier that driver and CC salaries are none of our business, and while they really aren't, I didn't mean to imply that you were some sort of jerk for asking. Please accept my apology for any such implications.

I could guess, just like the rest of us are guessing. I doubt if even Virgil or Jeff know for sure, other than themselves, since there are so many variables in play.

Maybe we should ask the question another way. How much would YOU be willing to pay Austin - or Cory - or Whit - to come to work for your fuel team?

not a problem. That's an even harder question because then you gotta rewire the world. Should Lebron James really make more than a 10 year cop or 20 year doctor? Should anyone make more than a million a year? This is a whole different can of worms

 

[d'kid]

not a problem. That's an even harder question because then you gotta rewire the world. Should Lebron James really make more than a 10 year cop or 20 year doctor? Should anyone make more than a million a year? This is a whole different can of worms

Who is Lebron James? Honestly, I have no clue...

 

[mick]

.......Should anyone make more than a million a year? .........

damn rite they should and much, much more whatever the market will bear;
to play devil's advocate and answer from other side.......
not in this administration's world, and you're rite, this is a whole other
can-o-worms.

high end nhra jobs are only worth so much (figuratively speaking);
there's a pile of money that annually circulates between racers, officials,
track owners, and vendors; fed by sponsor, ticket, vendor, racer and other fees
nhra's pile is "x" big
nascar's pile is "X" big
nfl's pile is "X" big

 

[Rajunz]

Michael Shumacher made $63Mil a few years back for an annual take, highest paid athlete in the world that year was a race car driver.................I'm just saying.