Food For Thought: Pro Racing (1 Viewer)

[Ramjet]

It is almost for certain that the money Tony got from the Army did not cover the entire cost of running that car or cover Tony's salary. If Don was supplementing it with his own money I would believe it was likely because it was the ARMY and he would not do that for any other generic sponsor. It's not really patriotic to put money towards having "Acme Widgets" as a sponsor.

 

[none]

It is almost for certain that the money Tony got from the Army did not cover the entire cost of running that car or cover Tony's salary. If Don was supplementing it with his own money I would believe it was likely because it was the ARMY and he would not do that for any other generic sponsor. It's not really patriotic to put money towards having "Acme Widgets" as a sponsor.

Roger,
You say it is almost certain that the money the ARMY paid didn't cover the program. I'm genuinely curious why you would say that? Where does your information come from?

Alan

 

[camaro]

Roger,
You say it is almost certain that the money the ARMY paid didn't cover the program. I'm genuinely curious why you would say that? Where does your information come from?

Alan

while its hardly proof, but i remember reading years ago, the army deal was offered to Don Prudhomme first and he passed, because it wasn't enough to fund his operation. i read this on the internet so its probably true

 

[ironpony]

I think we can look at Tanner Gray for that answer.
He came in, won the championship, went back to circle track.
20 minutes on the track is a lot more fun than 7 seconds.
IMO same with sponsorship, viewership.
In Nascar even if the driver is last your name is out there for 2 hours.
Drag racing is a unique set of parameters to work in.

 

[Nunz]

I think we can look at Tanner Gray for that answer.
He came in, won the championship, went back to circle track.
20 minutes on the track is a lot more fun than 7 seconds.
IMO same with sponsorship, viewership.
In Nascar even if the driver is last your name is out there for 2 hours.
Drag racing is a unique set of parameters to work in.

I don't know about that Ken, the guys at the back of the pack in other types of racing don't really seem to get any coverage, IMO.

 

[Ramjet]

Roger,
You say it is almost certain that the money the ARMY paid didn't cover the program. I'm genuinely curious why you would say that? Where does your information come from?

Alan

The last time the Army re-upped their contract several years ago there was an article (or thread) I believe on Competition Plus that said that they were having trouble with justifying the sponsorship to congress and Don took the deal with the same or a lesser amount even though costs had gone up a bunch. In a purely business sense a man with obviously the kind of savvy he has would not take this deal just to be out there. I also in my opinion think that this is a stand-up guy that did this in part for his country.

 

[ironpony]

Maybe not as much TV time but there are xx thousand people in the stands.
Does anyone know what a Nascar vs NHRA sponsorship is in dollars.
Never followed Nascar at all.

Also I seen F1 mentioned, an F1 budget is $600 million to a billion hardly a comparison.

 

[TSK]

Maybe not as much TV time but there are xx thousand people in the stands.
Does anyone know what a Nascar vs NHRA sponsorship is in dollars.
Never followed Nascar at all.

Also I seen F1 mentioned, an F1 budget is $600 million to a billion hardly a comparison.

Not to mention the fact that at this past weekend’s F1 race in Hungary, the weekend attendance was announced at 230,000.

 

[Nunz]

F1 is an entirely different animal. Every race is in a different COUNTRY, so that is the one and only chance for people in that country to see a race. And the budgets per team I believe are in the 200 million range. All for a trophy too, I don't believe there are race purses. But the whole financial model is unique to that form of racing as well. I'm not an expert, just know enough to be dangerous, LOL. I do believe Lewis Hamilton earns around $50Mil per year driving for Mercedes. Not too shabby...

 

[Dragracer]

The lowest cost team in F1 is Williams and they spend approx $300m and are a back marker. The last amount I was told Red Bull spends was in excess of $900m.

 

[Nunz]

That’s insane. Man what does Red Bull as a company do in sales? It has to be a crazy number considering what they spend in F1 and all their other sponsorships. The shame of it is I believe there’s been opportunities to get them into drag racing but NHRA wasn’t really welcoming. Think about the fact that if they spend 900 mil on their F1 program, a fuel car team or two would be pocket change.

 

[Cliff]

Wish we had the Beer Wars again.

 

[RM FAN]

That’s insane. Man what does Red Bull as a company do in sales? It has to be a crazy number considering what they spend in F1 and all their other sponsorships. The shame of it is I believe there’s been opportunities to get them into drag racing but NHRA wasn’t really welcoming. Think about the fact that if they spend 900 mil on their F1 program, a fuel car team or two would be pocket change.

Here is some info. Trying to find the article but I read Red Bull was never interested in drag racing.

Red Bull F1 Investment Accelerates 17.5% To A Record $220 Million

Red Bull has revealed that the amount it spent on its Formula One teams accelerated by 17.5% to a record $223.8 million in 2017 driven by a surge in driver salaries, fees for engines and the introduction of costly new regulations.

www.forbes.com

 

[JFat]

Ignoring all the $900 million F1 teams and skipping NASCAR with their own set of issues.

Enjoy...

State your objectives, evaluate all ideas, and establish several areas that align with your stated objective -CTQ. Also helps to establish key stakeholders - racers, tracks, sponsors, maybe even the fans. Break out the subsets which have different perspectives - mega team/full time independent/ part time racer/ hobby racer ... hardcore fan/nitro fan/1st time fan ... same with marketing ... etc.

Reduce/control costs - Eliminate $$$ computerized Pro Stock shocks, carbon fiber blower injector scoops, exotic ultra high dollar components., etc ...

Recognizability factor - It used to be the Funny Cars had some resemblance to the intended make and model, now and for too long they have been melted rounded off front ends, narrow reverse teardrop roof lines, gigundo rear side wing things - Standardize roofline widths to somewhat match the production vehicle, more verticality on the nose, reduce height of rear side plates. Top Fuel has less to play with, but i would start with requiring the front wheels to be even, not allowing one to be offset to the other (Z axis), maybe shorten the wheelbase from 300". Pro Stock should mandate some rear spoiler not a rear shelf and make the car look stock or let it die. The side body enhancements on the Funny Cars is a step in the right direction, IMO.

Fan experience - start with visual aids, Chicago the giant display screen was at the starting line facing the pit reserved side stands, at Norwalk the giant display screen was on the top end facing away from the pit reserved side even though there was a large cement spot bewteen the tower and the spectator side stands with 3 or 4 card tables setup for any spontaneous game of bridge that may bust out by the starting line. Have visual aides at the track indicating what category is up next and what follows and when its scheduled to run (subject to change). Every time for the first race or two of nitro its people piling into the stands, need more than the standard its time for nitro (!!) get in the stands (!!) 30 sec warning. Do not have CLOWNS screaming in a microphone blasted through the speakers during down time or betwen rounds, learn how to talk and turn down the volume when cars are not running - for crying out loud!!! Or have better Displays at starting line where most fans are and show stories/material during breaks, and what is coming up next and when ... Better track departure procedures. Chicago funnels everyone thru the main entrance - maybe open it up more after the finals (not Round 1/2/3 finals), mark out pedestrian walk areas on the side of the main spectator parking road or widen the road, list all food/beer vendors and locations at track on social media, list pro racers pit locations on social media or wherever to assist in finding what interests you. And free can of MY at the end of the race, I gat thirsty hauling ass to the car to get out of the lot.

The Drivers - NHRA sold your soul for the low ET and big MPH (milestones were great) and now were dealing with all the consequences. As its been said, how many fans can tell the difference betwwen 305 and 335 MPH? 3.69 and 3.89? Turn off the scoreboards and tell me what they ran. Put the driver back in control, not likely to get back to the 2 speed transmission, but there has to be some driver involved action that increases the driver's value (trained monkee ...). Make the final stage full lockup of the clutch activated by the driver hittiing/pulling button on the wheel. Fuel racers would know better than me, but there has to be something.

Entertainment value - If they just can't do or agree to anything to improve TF/FC then bring in nostalgia Funny Cars or dragsters and AA/Gassers or Fuel Alterds. The Scott Rod AA Gassers put on a whale of a show. Anyone seen Wilkerson run his Altered? There are modern Alterds and classics, but whatever establish partnerships with reqional race orgs and run them at national events, not all but NFC here, Alterds there, AA/Gassers everywhere - I have some amazing vid from Byron the other week that I need to get around to compiling and posting, good stuff. Back to TF/FC - Make qualifying 10 points if within 1/2 sec of track record, 2 points 300' and shutoff, plus bonus points for top 3 of each round.

I don't gets it, people BMC about running 1000' and then they talk about 1/4 mile again and people BMC. I get the arguments both ways, just kinda perplexed at the amount of negativity online to try it at select events - if could be done so with consideration to the independent teams.

I would like to see a partnership for TF and FC to get back to a "shootout" event, but scrap the Top 8 based on qualifying and open it to everyone, everyone runs who shows up, just need big bucks north of $100K to win... 64 Funnuy Car Shootout in Chicago (TF somewhere in TX) sponored by fill in Mega-Brewery Corporation. 32 AA, 16 NFC, and 16 BB. If it was enough bucks maybe a TF driver or 2 could enter a teams backup FC. Only 31 Funny Cars run so far this year? Don't be so negative. Make it happen, c'mon people. Pro Mod "stole my idea" and it seems to be doing fine at Bandimere.

Regards,
John

 

[mikebcurve]

^^^^^^^^^My goodness....you deserve credit if nothing else for taking the time and effort to type that out!

 

[ironpony]

Make the cars even some what resemble the factory car and the aero will slow them down.