DRO Article About Possible Boycott (1 Viewer)

[Meeks]

Im thinking of it this way...with the little amount of time on the air, ESPN is thinking of the best ways to bring in new viewers....although all of us dont like watching it, the newcommers to the sport probably take a big interest in "John & Ashley Force" and this highly talked about "Countdown". Do I agree with this? No not at all but being a diehard fan, Im going to watch it no matter what they are showing. ESPN may be thinking along the same lines that they have fans that will continue to watch and they are going to find the best marketing strategy they can to bring in new people. Now that people have started to speak up lets just hope there is some changes to be made...for the better!

PS- I also think the countdown SUCKS!

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Wait a minute! Haven't I heard some of the pro-Countdown people saying that just doing something different would be good for the sport? Anything to draw attention? Any press is good press? Wouldn't a boycott do the same thing?

 

[NHRADeuce]

With all due respect, you guys are crazy. This is no different than any other sport since the beginning of time. Take the NFL for instance. They know a thing or two about marketing right? Who is getting the coverage? The Pats, the 'Boys, Green Bay, and Indy. You see much about KC or the Jets? How about the Bucs or the Panthers? You hardly even hear about the Dolphins and they are on the verge of one of the worst seasons of all time.

The simple fact is that the media gives unfair coverage to the winners and stories that are out of the ordinary. You also have to consider that visitors to this web site are NOT the typical fan. Maters are in a very small minority of hardcore fans. Most casual fans have never heard of Lee Shepherd or Ronnie Sox or Jungle Jim. They probably couldn't pick out Arley Langlo out of a line up. They know the top names and that's all they care about.

I very rarely agree with Jeff Burk, but this time I think he's right. Unless ALL pro drivers boycott, the few that do will only be hurting themselves. Not a good way to start the season, not a good way to start their relationship with the new owners, just not a good idea in general.

 

[TJ]

You cannot pick and choose where you want to race your sponsored car in the NHRA series unless that is in the contract..
And what sponsor wants to hear that you do not agree w/ the new format and if you do not make the cut you will not participate...Little exposure is better than none.
And the contracts I have seen only promise that the truck/trailer will be @ every NHRA event...Only a few state that you will perform to a certain degree on the race track
...Ask Bazemore about promising a certain finishing position in a contract...He guaranteed a top 3/5 finish w/ the 'Winston' car and ended up losing alot of bonus money..
I was working for another team and coming into the Finals that year he owed the crew around 40-60k and was really counting on that bonus money...

 

[Larry]

I remember a certain little known racer who got a lot of attention from Diamond P before he became a big winner!

Dave often said he thought he had something!
John Force !
One hoped he would win just to hear his commentary on the run.

Yep the next John Force has to be seen and often even if he has to wear a chicken suit to get noticed.

 

[Prestaged]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, strictly as a Fan...

What If They Gave A Race And Nobody Came?????

You are either really old or a smart fella (or both!). That is exactly the line used by Garlits when he staged his PRO race in '72.

 

[davey]

You cannot pick and choose where you want to race your sponsored car in the NHRA series unless that is in the contract..
And what sponsor wants to hear that you do not agree w/ the new format and if you do not make the cut you will not participate...Little exposure is better than none.
And the contracts I have seen only promise that the truck/trailer will be @ every NHRA event...Only a few state that you will perform to a certain degree on the race track

You can pick and choose if you're Evan Knoll, Forrest Lucas, or to a certain extent Connie.

 

[d'kid]

You are either really old or a smart fella (or both!). That is exactly the line used by Garlits when he staged his PRO race in '72.

Roger...
Two things hurt PRA/PRO...

Too many ran both The PRO Race and Indy... The only way a strike will work is if all the players set out.

And the other one we still haven't figured out.... The Racers are the Show, and should not Promote their own Race, you can't be racing and make rules calls. The Rule Makers should stick to making the rules and supply the tech, safety and track prep support, and should not promote the Race...
Let the Promotion be done by the Track Owners and the Series Title Sponsor...

Blog will be posted by 22:00 16 Dec 2007... I may have bit off more than I can chew this time...

d'kid

 

[Ugly one]

Dear Sir,
I'd like to order about 40,000 of those posters with the oversized popsicle sticks and I need them by Feb.6th.....................yes we're on STRIKE.

 

[90-percent]

The racers got PRO but they sure as hell don't use it! Racers are competitive personality types and I dont think that makes for good collective actions or any form of collaboration.

They will never advance as long as they are sponsored by corporations, who are as anti-union as one entity could be. How the hell could corporate sponsored racers possibly conduct a strike? The corporate pull out would be so massive the only nitro left "NHRADRAGRACING" could possibly offer would be nitro FED's and nostalgia Funny Cars, or maybe even Roger Gustins "nitro coupe" series?

I'm a 43 year nitro fan and completely clueless on how to attract Joe Couch-Potato to NHRADRAGRACING, but Burk here still wrote a out of touch editorial, in my opinion.

Personally, I would much rather have MORE COVERAGE of the Rit Pustari's, luigi Novelli's, Terry Haddock's, Bobby Lagana's and all the other low buckers out there than another interview with some "star" talking about losing!

Would we have been better off if WWE bought what-ever HD partners is still trying to buy? Are the HD corporate smartest guys in the room having second thoughts about what ever the hell they think they were buying in the first place?

Is there any science to back up the justification for the "welfare points system" (thanks to Frank Oglesby, who I credit with coining that apt term) in terms of TV ratings?

Anybody?

-85 to 90% Jimmy, just wondering............

 

[BaldyLochs]

I would think that one way to combat this - for anybody out there who can be creative enough to make it work (because I don't nessecarily believe it just takes "money"), is with the one-off paint schemes and special joint-marketing efforts, having "celebrities" involved and appearing with the car at a race, etc. The PR people have to really think out of the box. There's been several - Chip Foose, Jesse James, TonyP & KISS, Force-Elvis. Maybe try and use some more cross-genera tactics (Rusty Wallace has ran special paints on his stock car along with NHRA cars before, Richard Petty has appeared at NHRA races, as well as some open wheel racers have been to NHRA races too, just as The Carrier Boys took thier dragster to a stock car race, too.
These types of things might sitr up some media. NHRA is a be-there sport. you have to get the people through the gates to really get them hooked. I'd like to see some viable market research on the percentage of how many national event first-timers come back to a race

 

[kingcobrafan]

With all due respect, you guys are crazy. This is no different than any other sport since the beginning of time. Take the NFL for instance. They know a thing or two about marketing right? Who is getting the coverage? The Pats, the 'Boys, Green Bay, and Indy. You see much about KC or the Jets? How about the Bucs or the Panthers? You hardly even hear about the Dolphins and they are on the verge of one of the worst seasons of all time.

The simple fact is that the media gives unfair coverage to the winners and stories that are out of the ordinary. You also have to consider that visitors to this web site are NOT the typical fan. Maters are in a very small minority of hardcore fans. Most casual fans have never heard of Lee Shepherd or Ronnie Sox or Jungle Jim. They probably couldn't pick out Arley Langlo out of a line up. They know the top names and that's all they care about.

I very rarely agree with Jeff Burk, but this time I think he's right. Unless ALL pro drivers boycott, the few that do will only be hurting themselves. Not a good way to start the season, not a good way to start their relationship with the new owners, just not a good idea in general.

The difference between the NFL and NHRA is that, unlike NHRA's "countdown-only" BS, an NFL telecast shows BOTH teams, regardless of who they are, for three hours.

 

[Old21stud]

The difference between the NFL and the NHRA is that the two teams playing for the Championship at the Super Bowl don't have to play the 2nd quarter against a bottom rung team.

A bottom rung team that wants to run the score up if possible to prove to their sponsor that they deserve the money next year. Especially if the other team gets to play the 2nd quarter against another team owned by their owner.

As you can tell I don't like the countdown, but if it's got to happen it at least needs to be only countdown teams racing countdown teams! Diving is for the Olympics. And media excitement? It's hard to get excited about a two race Championship.

 

[None]

The difference between the NFL and NHRA is that, unlike NHRA's "countdown-only" BS, an NFL telecast shows BOTH teams, regardless of who they are, for three hours.

HUH??? Try again. What would you call the teams that don't make the playoffs and are idle till the next year?

 

[club]

HUH??? Try again. What would you call the teams that don't make the playoffs and are idle till the next year?

But the NFL teams that don't make the playoffs aren't forced to play games against each other with no TV coverage. The only way to compare the two is if NHRA limited the field to 8 cars after Indy. Then it would be the same as the NFL.



Interesting: The spell checker in the reply screen recognizes NFL as a correctly spelled word but NHRA is underlined as if misspelled.

 

[NHRADeuce]

The difference between the NFL and NHRA is that, unlike NHRA's "countdown-only" BS, an NFL telecast shows BOTH teams, regardless of who they are, for three hours.

Your example PROVES exactly what I just said. Yes, who ever plays the Pats this week will get some are time - just like the guys in the other lane do. But all of the half time interviews, the end of game interviews, the player of the game awards, the special sideline reports and anything else the production staff comes up with is going to be about the Pats and how bad ass they are.

But the NFL teams that don't make the playoffs aren't forced to play games against each other with no TV coverage. The only way to compare the two is if NHRA limited the field to 8 cars after Indy. Then it would be the same as the NFL.

That's irrelevant. The Pats, Cowboys, Packers, Bucs, Seahawks, Colts and Chargers have all clinched playoff spots but there will still be 15 games this weekend. Next week when all of the playoff spots are decided there will still be 15 games played. Yes, there is the difference that the teams that miss the playoffs in the NFL go home, but in NHRA the teams that miss still get some TV time and still have the chance to win a race. In any case it doesn't change the fact that the winners and tragedies get the media coverage in every sport and that's just not going to change any time soon.

The playoff format doesn't matter one iota to the media, the stories that have the widest interest sell more. Believe me, I am not knocking the Joe Hartleys and Dean Skuzas of the world, I love those guys. But I, like most Maters, are not a good sampling because we are not typical fans. Typical fans are interested in pretty girls driving, the guy who happens to be winning right now, the guy that had a spectacular crash, and the crazy guy who you never know what he's going to say when the camera is on him.

The typical fan is interested in Tom Brady and Tony Romo not Cleo Lemon or Jason Campbell.

 

[PJ]

The dolphins, a historically great team, have been down this year yet they received alot of publicity after getting their first win this past weekend. I saw more interviews with them then I did the Pats.


Doug Kalitta, from also a historically great team, had a down year yet when he finally got his first win of the season the countdown squeezed him out from any coverage.




What the nhra is doing is not a playoff. When you can win the championship without going against the other playoff participants then it is meaningless, as happened this year. Once the nfl regualr season is over. The Patriots will no longer b able to beat up on the Jets and Dolphins instead they will have to compete against other playoff teams like the Colts, Packers and Jaguars. Also when they do play them they will not have to worry that the Falcons and Lions will be playing at the same time, Face it the countdown is nowhere near a playoff. It's some make believe fantasy, made for TV reality show type of BS just meant to push some fake excitement and hopefully some publicity. They should get a tv contract with the lifetime channel, all the supposed "drama" of the countdown was just as bad as watching one of those poorly acted melodrama movies on that network.


darn it I had been doing so well staying away from this topic too.....

 

[NHRADeuce]

What the nhra is doing is not a playoff. When you can win the championship without going against the other playoff participants then it is meaningless, as happened this year. Once the nfl regualr season is over. The Patriots will no longer b able to beat up on the Jets and Dolphins instead they will have to compete against other playoff teams like the Colts, Packers and Jaguars. Also when they do play them they will not have to worry that the Falcons and Lions will be playing at the same time, Face it the countdown is nowhere near a playoff. It's some make believe fantasy, made for TV reality show type of BS just meant to push some fake excitement and hopefully some publicity. They should get a tv contract with the lifetime channel, all the supposed "drama" of the countdown was just as bad as watching one of those poorly acted melodrama movies on that network.

Ignore this part because it's totally irrelevant. The media doesn't care if the NHRA runs a psuedo-playoff, a welfare championship, or if they pick a name out of the hat. They're going to cover the guys whose names are in the hat because they are the ones who have a chance to win the championship. Yes, Doug K should have gotten more air time when he won but it's not a perfect world. TF was clinched early in the day as was PS, so the big story was Funny Car, which had 3 guys fighting it out right up until Scelzi and Capps made the final. His story was just overshadowed in the opinion of the media.

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily agree with who is getting the coverage. I would love to see the little guys get more coverage than they do, but that's not what sells unfortunately.

 

[PJ]

Doug won his race before the finals so there was no championship clinching going on, he just wasn't part of the countdown facade so he wasn't covered.


I understand that the big names are who will get the most coverage its like that across the board throughout media. Regardless of entertainment, sports, polictics or business news, the bigger the name or the more controversial then the more coverage it gets. I get that and despite not agreeing with it I understand why. To the media person they are trying to generate the most interest among the widest numer of viewers across whatever medium the are using (tv, radio, newspaper, magazine, web and so on.)
They feel that if the do what is deemed to narrow of a story of focus that too many people will loose interest and flip the station, pick up another paper or whatever. Number of people that pay attention means $$$.
So I get that John Force is the biggest name in racing and him tying his shoe is going to trump whatever most other people are doing.

The issue though with the current nhra/espn coverage is that they are missing the point in how your grow. People love the underdog, the feel good story. By always focusing on just the name guys on the tv coverage people miss out on the "others" some of the people missing would be potential sponsors. With the countdown they have forced the focus to only be on a few select racers for at minimum 25% of the season. So in an effort to supposedly grow the sport they have limited the amount of people that will be able to get coverage. How do you expand through contraction?
Now I know the first thing somebody will point out is that in most seasons at best there are 1-3 people fighting for the championship and they get all the coverage. This is true in part however with that few of people other stories are still allowed to come through.
Think about it in the countdown races you didn't get to see any other stories and rarely and interview that didn't involve somebody in the countdown. Doug getting his win, Baca's return, what about Whit getting dumped, Melanie's late season surge, Antron/Angelle and the army shake up and the list goes on. At most these got a quick mention.

If they want to grow then you must make the class appealing across the board. Why would a new sponsor get involved when they see only a few teams will matter for the last part of the season? In years past those not in conention still had the chance to get coverage. Now unless you crash or moon Tom Compton you have no chance