See a pattern there? The US Army cut back too. Why? It costs an awful lot to sponsor one car let alone two and the extra exposure really doen't do them that much more good. Oh, it's nice to have that extra car out there when the other car doesn't get in or is out in an early round, but lets face it advertising budgets are tight, yet the cost to race continues to sky rocket.
I was visiting with an ex-fuel racer today and he agrees that the costs have exceeded what the exposure is worth for MOST companies. Unless you race IHRA where the exposure to a sponsor is limited since the series is not nationwide (but I hope it is someday), you need a minimum of 2-3 million IF you already own most of the equipment to race in NHRA, since the purses aren't enough to sustain a team on the road.
Some kid ask me what I spend. I told him about 25K per year. He said "that's it?" And I said "25 K doesn't appear out of tin air. It's a hell of a lot of money if you start with zero."
