Judging by the comments I'm reading the operation of a PRO team is a losing proposition. So if DSR and JFR folded tent then there would be no more TF/FC class racing. Don Prudhomme made the point that he could not race a car on his own dime. So my question is, Is the sport so fragile that if a number of PRO teams lost sponsorship that the sport would harmed greatly?
Almost every racing endeavour is a losing proposition. Ferrari spends 300 million a year to race in F1. A large portion of that is offset by sponsors, the rest comes from selling cars. A top flight Cup team spends 15-20 million a year, there are no sponsors paying out that kind of money. They are counting on associate sponsors, Tshirt sales, and race money to cover the rest to get them into the black. Audi spends 80-100 million a year on the R10 program, and it is rarely seen besides LeMans, all of that money comes from their marketing budget and selling cars.
Almost EVERY team owner in NHRA was extra-ordinarily successful businessman before they got into race car ownership. They could probably withstand the loss of a sponsor for a while, but if they lost their bread and butter business, then they are in much more trouble.
There is no DSR without Schumacher Electric.
There is no Morgan Lucas Racing without Lucas Oil.
There is no Kenny Bernstein Racing without the old Chelsea King restaurant chain.
There is no Bill Miller Racing without Bill Miller Engineering.
There is no Jim Head Racing without Head Engineering.
There is no Alan Johnson Racing without AJPE and the Sheikh.
There is no Summit Pro Stock team without Ken Black/Vegas General Construction.
There is no Kalitta Racing without Kalitta Flying Service/Kalitta Air.
There is no Tasca Racing without Tasca Ford.
And so on and so on.
If you want to be a PRO team owner, your best bet is to make your mark in the business world first and have a healthy residual business/income to weather the sponsorship ups and downs.
