How does the "Umbrella" work????? (1 Viewer)

"Dr. Dirt"

Nitro Member
As Pro Stock Cars are being farmed out like Richie to J&J and the Enders purchasing the "Assets" of the SRT car running Nickens power I'm getting more and more confused. I can't imagine how Nickens & the Johnsons would be required to share valuable information, or do they? Questions have arisen concerning the future of Mel's ride that Evan has assured is still secure while Mike Ashley & Evan Knoll seem to be separate ownership & management yet they all are under the DSR "Umbrella?"

Can someone explain the benefits of said "Umbrella?" Is DSR is paying these folks to keep out of the rain or are they paying him for the privilege of keeping dry? How are the sponsorship contracts & money allocated and under whose control are they? I thought the Enders landed Revive themselves. Is it now Don's? Who has the final say with important decisions? Is it all about sharing hospitality area?

In short, I'm just confused as to the benefit of being under the umbrella? I don't doubt that there must be a substantial benefit given the caliber of those choosing to remain under it but it's somewhat puzzling? It seems so uniquely different from all the other multi-car teams.
Any insights?
 
I wonder if even Don knows for sure who gets what and when? I would think keeping books on all this stuff would be an accountant's nightmare.

Danny
 
I am as confused as you are. All of these are assumptions. Mopar increased their money to Allen Johnson to take control of the tuneup and "lease" an engine to Richie Stevens. DSR still owns the car and equipment. As for Enders I would guess that they have either leased or purchased all of the equipment from DSR. If they purchased the equipment I would assume they have no connection to DSR anymore. As for the Mike Ashley team, it is definately financed by Evan Knoll. I believe all of the equipment and crew are from DSR. Evan is basically giving x,xxx,xxx amount of money for DSR to run the team. It is the same kind of deal that Ken Black has with the Kalitta family. Of course I may be wrong on everything.
 
As Pro Stock Cars are being farmed out like Richie to J&J and the Enders purchasing the "Assets" of the SRT car running Nickens power I'm getting more and more confused. I can't imagine how Nickens & the Johnsons would be required to share valuable information, or do they? Questions have arisen concerning the future of Mel's ride that Evan has assured is still secure while Mike Ashley & Evan Knoll seem to be separate ownership & management yet they all are under the DSR "Umbrella?"

Can someone explain the benefits of said "Umbrella?" Is DSR is paying these folks to keep out of the rain or are they paying him for the privilege of keeping dry? How are the sponsorship contracts & money allocated and under whose control are they? I thought the Enders landed Revive themselves. Is it now Don's? Who has the final say with important decisions? Is it all about sharing hospitality area?

In short, I'm just confused as to the benefit of being under the umbrella? I don't doubt that there must be a substantial benefit given the caliber of those choosing to remain under it but it's somewhat puzzling? It seems so uniquely different from all the other multi-car teams.
Any insights?

None from me. I'm as confused as anyone about this.

Ah, for the good old days when everyone ran their own operation. I guess it didn't rain much back then. ;)
 
I am only speculating based on my experience with large projects and how various aspects are handled by different entities within...

The two "umbrella's" (funny car and pro stock) are probably very different because of actual team ownership.

In the pro stock camp, DSR own's the team and I'm assuming that J&J is receiving a fee for the engine program and on-track management of the team while day to day operations like scheduling, transportation, lodging and other administrative functions are handled in house by DSR.

In the funny car camp, DSR does not own the team and is probably receiving a fee for handling the day to operations and the sharing of data.

Erica's deal would not fall under any kind of umbrella as I see it since they have purchased the assets and are now operating independently.
 
Erica's deal would not fall under any kind of umbrella as I see it since they have purchased the assets and are now operating independently.
That's exactly what I was thinking until this was posted on the "Erica's sitting out at Reading" thread:

I have sold the assets of the red car to Greg Enders and David Nickens is doing the engines for that team. Erica and Greg will stay involved in my operation for the future. Erica is a great personality and that will benifit all of us.
 
Is anyone else old enough to remember going into a department store through a revolving door? Appears DSR may have found one - :D
As far as Mel's 2007 ride - Evan told us she had one. He did not say it was in an NHRA ride!
Silly season is in full swing and until the big boys with the bucks reveal their plans, we are aii just speculating. It will keep post level very high on the Mater!
 
I'm as confused as anyone on this thing and (for the most part) I don't really care. The only thing I'm wondering about is why Evan Knoll spreads his resourses out so widely. It seems to me that if he put it all together as one he would be more of a powerhouse than DSR,JFR,KB racing, Kalitta and Bernstein put together.

Maybe that is in the future for him. I (for one) would like to see that from them. Imagine this....

TF- JR Todd
Melanie Troxel
plus 2 IHRA guys whose names escape me.
FC- Ashley
and a host of others.
Pro Stock- Dave Connelly
Tom Martino
All the IHRA guys
Pro Mod- Ricky Smith
and a host of others.
Pro Stock Bike- Matt Smith
and a host of others.
Pro Sportsman- Conway and a ton of others.

It would be an association unto itself. I would like to think that this guy is working on something extremely large. This deal could be of "Monolith" proportion. Why not, his Corp. is paying for it anyway, right?
 
I could care less about any "Umbrella"...To me it's all about the drag racing!! I have favorite drivers/cars that I'd like to see win,and it doesn't matter who is funding the money or what shop the car sits at or who's engine is in the car.


I say if you want an answer to the Umbrella question...ask the man himself..Don Schumacher
 
Last edited:
Are we all confused? Yes we are! We have two guys who appear to have unlimited resources sponsoring teams and racing series (and, of course, a professional football stadium) completely at random.
If I had that much money and wanted to win championships, I'd drop about $10 million to build a fuel team with two dragsters and two funny cars and the best of equipment, drivers and crew.
Obviously, none of us have that much money. It's going to be very interesting to see where it goes in 2007!
 
I think it's awesome how Shoe has built up his organization and equally awesome how Evan Knoll has helped so many drivers and teams get or stay on the track. The only scary thing about this "umbrella" scenario is what happens if one of these guys decides to fold up their umbrella and go do something else...
 
Ways To Support Nitromater

Users who are viewing this thread


Back
Top