Chris, I am wondering who is having their rides paid for by Tony George? I am curious, because I know a few people over in that series, and this is news to me...I must have missed something.
Gary Densham...only race possibly? (1 Viewer)
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Chris, I am wondering who is having their rides paid for by Tony George? I am curious, because I know a few people over in that series, and this is news to me...I must have missed something.
Who over there is peeved...? And by the way, no one will be getting free chassis, that has already been confirmed. The Champ Car teams are buying them from other teams that have extras.
luxexpress
Nitro Member
Agent 1320 says to look for Densham to run over in the IHRA now. I don't really see Gary sitting on the sidelines if there is anywhere he can "play." I think going IHRA will be good for him in finding additional dollars and certainly good for the IHRA Nitro Funny Car program.
Nitrohelper
Nitro Member
I've been hearing the Cost of Nitro racing is getting out of hand for the last 15 years! And just like 2000-01 Fuel Racing will once again rebound!
I guess that depends on the definition of "rebound".
Being a Nitro geezer, I remember in the '60s when Nitro went from $187 to $319 a drum in one jump.We only burned around two gallons a run, but people cried & said they were quiting. Then there were many hundreds of blown fuel cars in the USA. No nation series then ,but we could race several places on a weekend
During the 70s energy crisis,I had a pending sponsorship with Miller beer that went away over night because using gas for racing was viewed as "unpatriotic". People said we were done, but local match racing & division races continued, there were hundreds of fuel cars in the USA..
During the early '80s with interest rates at 15% , NHRA considered eight car Nitro fields, because in those days of early TV, they didn't show first round anyways. But we still had match races at local tracks to support our habit. There were a couple hundred fuel cars in the USA.
During the '90s National event racing grew ,but match racing started to go away,and more sponsor money was needed to fund our addiction.
There was still over a hundred fuel cars in the country.
Now in modern times, National events are the only game in town. We have less than one hundred fuel cars left. Nitro match racing is all but dead. But "classic nitro" is trying to come back. (we have a car ready to run). Plus injected cars came back.
These classic cars might cause the local tracks to bring back match racing, and will add to the overall blown Nitro car count , but I don't think we are going to see several hundred Nitro cars in the country ever again. Lets not mention the Homeland group & our future!
Unless more guys can find funding, be happy with the "DON & JOHN" show, and around forty "big" cars at NHRA.
At least we can still get a "fix".
Jerry, in 1999 or 2000 I'm not which year. Eddie Hill, Mike Dunn lost sponsorships and the End of TF Dragster was just around the corner! In fact several races had short fields or soft bump times. Flash ahead to 2005-2006 and look at How strong the Sport rebounded! This sport will always have bumps in the road via the National economy and other factors.
Nitrohelper
Nitro Member
Over the past five years Tony G. has funded part, or all of six teams plus a few extras for the Indy 500 to get the 33 car field filled. There were several drag racing crew members over there for a while. Some worked for the "Tony show", including Chad Head. A few are still there.
Based on the current Champ Car actions, it looks like Tony was wise to keep the IRL in business. Nice to be part of a wealthy family. I believe the war is coming to an end. Too bad for all the people that just bought Panoz cars.
vegasnitro
Nitro Member
Hey Jay, sorry it took me so long to see your post.
Vision Racing is Tony George. (AJ Foyt IV for this season, was 2 cars last year for Ed Carpenter and Tomas Schekter). Dreier and Reinbold (Sarah Fisher) is partially funded by TG. AJ Foyt has often received money for his team from TG. At the Indy 500, TG's TV contract guarantees 33 starters, so in the last few years when car counts were in the 29-30 range, TG dug deep or gave away chassis and engine leases to make up the field to get to 33 cars.
vegasnitro
Nitro Member
From Robin Miller's article at SpeedTV.com dated 2-12:
Registered member said:
AUTO-RACING - Champ Car Heading for Bankruptcy? - SPEEDtv.com
Tony George is buying the extra chassis and giving them away ... But the low-funded teams do not have chassis to spare so only the big teams will see a windfall from this.
Actually, AJ IV is not a lock for that seat...I do think though, that he will get it.
Sarah no longer drives for Dreier & Reinbold and they are not at all funded by TG...
If AJ has gotten money from TG in the form of a subsidy, you are the only person that knows that...
TG hasn't had to pony up engines or cars for the last few years because there has always been 33 teams to compete. At the last second you have seen AJ, Chip, Penske and others throw cars in, but TG didn't pay for them, with the exception of a third Vision car last year, which was planned almost 4 months in advance in February...And last year, if you recall, there was actually some bumping, too.
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Personally, I like Robin...but how many times has he been wrong in the last couple of years about what TG and/or ChampCar are/were going to do...?
Why would TG have to buy chassis for these teams? He already has 14 at Vision Racing, and there are at least 40 available on the secondary market that are legal and some of them only need simple update kits, the others are current and ready to go...There is a lot of equipment out there right now.
Besides, he has already publicly retracted that statement about giving away cars/engines or any subsidy other than the standard $1,200,000 that all the teams get.
I am told that there will be an announcement made about the merger/takeover on Monday afternoon...I will try to keep you posted as I find out...
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It is an equal share of what used to be the purse...Now it is more of an appearance fee for the season...The only variance in the payout to each team is the top 5 at Indy...That pays some nice bonuses...Other than that, if you sign up and show up for all the events, that is your share for your team, no mateer your point standing or finishing positions.
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