Food For Thought: Pro Racing (2 Viewers)

[Cliff]

So who gets the TV coverage? How do you convince sponsors to stay on board with 50% of the current exposure?

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ironpony]

So who gets the TV coverage? How do you convince sponsors to stay on board with 50% of the current exposure?

Just my 2 cents.

Why would their be 50% ? there would be the same number of events in each area East/West actually double the events.

Please list "true" sponsorships.
Kalitta B2B marketing
Head self
Torrence Self
Beckman
Johnson Jr. more of a donation than sponsorship

 

[Bob G.]

I was happy to see they let the West Coast Grudge guys share the spotlight at Seattle. And I was happy to see Alan and Force mention Doner and the wild days past. I saw Jerry Ruth at the Good Guys event and sadly he looked pretty frail. He can still do a cacklefest though!

 

[ANDY]

why cant NHRA have the top 12 (in pro classes) in the countdown instead of the top 10? every year the same teams are busting their ass trying to get into the countdown most of which go to all 24 races and spend the cash just like the other 10 -12 cars but come Indy and u gave it ur best shot and missed by 1 or less rounds it really feels like getting kicked in the head. but wait NHRA realizes that a change would probably make a few extra teams try a little harder or better yet those 2 extra teams probably deserve to be in the countdown anyway. I know it cost a lot to race but if u dont have a reason because now the countdown is up for grabs but ur sitting outside that suks.its a different feeling when ur outside.NHRA board of directors that make around $800,000 yr will not be able to continue that if they dont help the racers that feed them. just me thinking out loud

 

[ironpony]

hey new idea, save a lot of money, eliminate qualifying, there is rarely more than 16 cars anyway.
if more than 16 show up just send the filler, non stars home.

 

[Cliff]

Actually, that did happen. One race had Qualifying rained out, so they set the field based on points. Teams were able to figure out a combination & the race was completed. There were some pro cars that got left out, cuz not in the points.

 

[tom]

hey new idea, save a lot of money, eliminate qualifying, there is rarely more than 16 cars anyway.
if more than 16 show up just send the filler, non stars home.

I think (hope) you're kidding. I much prefer Friday and Saturday over Sunday because you get to see more runs.

 

[ironpony]

I think (hope) you're kidding. I much prefer Friday and Saturday over Sunday because you get to see more runs.

well based on responses from NHRA participants, there is no need to change anything schedule wise so what can be cut next. Being they can barely get full fields, never mind have to "qualify" some just eliminate it. 10K a pass adds up quick and if you have a Tasca moment 100k out the door for what?? you are guaranteed a spot.

 

[J. S.]

I'm glad Mike English brought up the Don Schumacher interview over at CompetionPlus.com. This is an important point in that less races does not reduce the cost much for most teams who have full-time employees and other overhead costs that need to be paid even if they stay home. Even though the economy is quite good, it appears that for most teams sponsor money is not what it was even just a few years ago and of course new sponsors are even harder to come by. So reducing the cost of engine parts only helps up to a point.

Low car counts is a real problem in the fuel ranks but there are no easy answers.

 

[Muddy]

I'm hesitant to argue that point with Don Schumacher given his success and experience but I disagree with him. If there were less races there would be more time between races to prep the cars and produce parts. Logically given more time you would need less staff, machine tools, inventory, equipment, space etc. It would be no different than a company with for example 50 percent less sales than another company in the same industry. Of the two companies I've built and sold my overhead only grew as the company grew. That is except for inflation. It's not a 1 for 1 ratio but it's not far from it.

 

[Rajunz]

We had East Coast and West Coast events back in the 70s, with Divisional races for National points. Guess what, many events only had 5 - 6 cars show up, and a lot of the heavy hitters used to pick and choose the events with weak competition.

The one idea here that stands out to me is have quaifying on Friday, and the event on Saturday. The problem with that though is the track's revenue gets butchered.

Leave the schedule and figure out a way to help the little guys stay on tour, which is exactly what DSR, CAPCO, Kallita, Force have been doing.

 

[ironpony]

so as long as the rich guys want to play and support the little guys so they actually have someone to race we will have nitro with light fields.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

I'm sure there's an answer for this, and if I missed it, I'll apologize right now...…..

I, along with several others have beat to death the topic of why the NHRA can't seem to appeal to the larger companies and ultimately compete for their sponsorship dollars. In Schumacher, you have a very successful business owner that also appears to feel that way when you consider he doesn't spend his marketing dollars, in a major sponsor form, anyway in this venue. If one of the more prolific personalities and owners in professional level drag racing doesn't see the sport as a viable ROI, how can we expect everybody else to?

Sean D

 

[ironpony]

IMO companies can not justify spending the dollars involved for the air time received. If a car runs all 4 qualifying sessions then runs all four rounds to win the race, total airtime?? 16 minutes?? the way NHRA edits tv more like 8 minutes?? A couple of interviews, maybe, if you win rounds. I have watched where winners did not even get interviewed if they were running Force. So for x million you get seen for 20 minutes IF they show all the rounds, mentioned twice IF your driver wins AND get interviewed.

I remember watching an interview with Schumacher and he specifically said I will never use my own business money to run a car.

I will ask again, what teams have true full time sponsors for the year ??
many teams are self funded
several teams have multiple sponsors to fill the year
some are B2B marketing
a couple run on donations to help a charity
some rely on handouts from the big teams.

 

[camaro]

if i had to guess, out of all the pro catagories :

Brittany Force
Antron brown
John Force
Hight
Tasca
capps
Anderson / Line
Hines / Kraweik (sp)

 

[8sec71]

if i had to guess, out of all the pro catagories :

Brittany Force
Antron brown
John Force
Hight
Tasca
capps
Anderson / Line
Hines / Kraweik (sp)

Prock
Pedregon
Smith
Mcmillen
Millican

 

[Nunz]

Everybody needs to stop beating the dead horse when wondering why Shoe doesn't fund Tony out of his pocket. Nobody here knows his personal finances, that's his business. I've been to his race shop, I've seen the infrastructure he's built over the years, I'm pretty sure he has invested a couple dollars of his own, including feeding a team car that was maybe not fully funded at any given time. The economy is stronger than ever, but the entire marketing dynamic has changed dramatically (another dead horse but people aren't getting it). Don has been very successful in life, and it's not hard to see he has a huge passion for drag racing, even after all these years. Between stuff I read here and other places, like FB, it blows my mind how people get genuinely upset that Shoe isn't spending 3 or 4 or whatever million out of his own pocket to get Tony on the track. I'd bet we'd all be surprised at how much Don HAS spent over the years building his organization.

 

[Cliff]

I can't imagine the costs today. Teams have their own shops, they build their own chassis & parts, tractors & trailers, costs for crew people, insurance, hotel, some have private bus they drive to the track, on & on. Sponsor $$$ cover running the car(s) for each year, but don't touch the other costs. You gotta be crazy or a die hard or both.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

Everybody needs to stop beating the dead horse when wondering why Shoe doesn't fund Tony out of his pocket. Nobody here knows his personal finances, that's his business. I've been to his race shop, I've seen the infrastructure he's built over the years, I'm pretty sure he has invested a couple dollars of his own, including feeding a team car that was maybe not fully funded at any given time. The economy is stronger than ever, but the entire marketing dynamic has changed dramatically (another dead horse but people aren't getting it). Don has been very successful in life, and it's not hard to see he has a huge passion for drag racing, even after all these years. Between stuff I read here and other places, like FB, it blows my mind how people get genuinely upset that Shoe isn't spending 3 or 4 or whatever million out of his own pocket to get Tony on the track. I'd bet we'd all be surprised at how much Don HAS spent over the years building his organization.

I'll address your response as how it pertains to me personally, Nunz.......

Questioning why he doesn't spend out of his "own pocket" is not what I'm doing because I differentiate money "out-of-pocket" with the money strategically earmarked for marketing of any given business that's already part of the budget to start with. In my eyes, two TOTALLY different things. I have no doubt that you're correct in that DS has probably spent portions of this money (and maybe some of his own), but again, I can't help but wonder if the reason he chooses not to fund a car as a primary sponsor is due to the ROI not being what he believes it should be. If that's the case, I would consider that to be an important issue. Much more important than many of the things determined as problems with the sport we routinely banter about on this board.

Sean D

 

[Cliff]

How much of a difference would marketing make, if NHRA would use social media, newspaper, TV, etc to reach different groups of people? Not like they do now, but more intense. Was thinking, what about folks who like circle track, or sports cars / road racing, boats, off road, etc? How would you get someone like that to come to the drags? There is a small oval dirt track here in Phoenix. The people who go there are knowledgeable. I listen to them talk & think, wow, they really know the cars & drivers. They see things I don't. So how would they feel about going to the drags? Would they think it's boring? Would they understand the different classes? I'm kinda like that w/ circle track. Love watching the sprint cars, but know zip about how they set them up, etc. I ddunno, just thinking if more fans, maybe more sponsors cuz they'd realize a bigger market potential. Just my 5 cents. Used to be 2 cents, but my costs went up. heh