Do you need to be a multi-millionaire to race PRO?

[twostep]

So does anybody believe that John Force earns as much as Tony Steward.

No, but I can't say that I ever gave it much thought, either, Bruce....

 

[BigDaddyB]

Well, maybe this is the question to ask, Can any owner in the NHRA go to either Indy Car or NASCAR an start a racing operation?

 

[twostep]

Both Joe Gibbs (NASCAR, NHRA) and Kenny Bernstein (IndyCar, NASCAR, NHRA) had simultaneous racing operations. There may be others. I know of no reason, short of a financial one, that someone can't own racing operations in more than one series at any given time.

Would you need to be a multimillionaire to do so? It wouldn't hurt...

 

[BigDaddyB]

So we have Al Anabi as an owner, do you think that his participation in drag racing will influence others (i.e. Gnassi, Penske, et al) to step into the sport? Is drag racing attractive enough for a good return on a 20m investment?

 

[MM]

Television show, Huge merchandise sales.....

He didn't have the television show when he was expanding his operation. He got the television show after his operation had reached its peak. And these huge merchandise sales everyone thinks these teams have, most of those souvenir trailers lose money or just barely make ends meet, but the sponsors require them to be there. Don't believe me? Go ask how much NHRA charges them to have their trailers on the midway, and then factor in how big a % NHRA takes of the sales.....

 

[vegasnitro]

So we have Al Anabi as an owner, do you think that his participation in drag racing will influence others (i.e. Gnassi, Penske, et al) to step into the sport? Is drag racing attractive enough for a good return on a 20m investment?

No ... it is MUCH more likely that Ganassi, Penske, Hendrick, Roush ... or maybe even McLaren or Williams will go to the Sheikh and say something along the lines of "Why are you wasting all of that money on drag racing ... come with us and we will get you much more bang for your buck." They have no interest in following the Sheikh here, they have a much more vested interest in getting him interested financially in their existing operations.

As an aside on a team owner like Ganassi (who owns cars in NASCAR, IndyCar and Grand Am Daytona Prototypes) ... it is MUCH, MUCH cheaper to run a fuel car full time than it is for any other series he races in, so if he wanted to be here in NHRA, I would have to think he would already be here. Same for Roush ... MUCH cheaper to run a Pro Stocker than it is a NASCAR truck team, let alone Nationwide or Cup, so if he wanted to be in Pro Stock he would be. I don't believe Penske has ever given a crap about drag racing ... and unless there is an oppurtunity to make a lot of money (which we have already established there really isn't) I don't expect that to change.

Lastly, the Sheikh is the ONLY guy in drag racing close to writing that check all in one shot. DSR, JFR, Kalitta et al built up to that level over many years. I don't think it is important to the Sheikh to turn a profit, he is doing it because he loves it. I don't know that there is anyone else on the planet willing to do the same thing. Unless you had multiple sponsors signed on for many years, there is hardly any way you could justify a $20 million dollar investment in drag racing if you were expecting to make money. Would take you YEARS to recoup that money.

 

[JON]

Chris Cook: "No ... it is MUCH more likely that Ganassi, Penske, Hendrick, Roush ... or maybe even McLaren or Williams will go to the Sheikh and say something along the lines of "Why are you wasting all of that money on drag racing ... come with us and we will get you much more bang for your buck." They have no interest in following the Sheikh here, they have a much more vested interest in getting him interested financially in their existing operations."


>> Spot on, Chris.

 

[BigDaddyB]

Vegas,

That's where your divisional races come into play. Your earn points to the big races in your area with unlimited travel between divisions to earn points. Should there be racers who want to compete on the national scene then they could tailor their schedules to compete. My idea is to increase the divisional racing which would feed the big national events. You could have 2 or 3 big national events in the year. Why does it have to be limited 16 cars. Structure the system for broad participation but let individuals bit off what they can afford to do. I think spread the races to the divisional level makes it more important to get to the national level like in horse racing. Not all horse owners are interested in getting to the Kentucky Derby but they will race locally. Plus you can either do this by money or points.