It's official: Skoal Shootout Done (1 Viewer)

[NHRAMike]

Just found this over at Competition Plus

INDY FUNNY CAR SHOWDOWN FINISHED

An era may be over, or at least it seems that way.

Andy Hoefer, Director of Marketing for United States Smokeless Tobacco, confirmed that currently there are no plans for his company to return as sponsor for the $100,000-to-win United States Smokeless Showdown in 2009.

“We are considering a new program and looking at all options,” Hoefer said. “We are trying to come up with a program that benefits the NHRA and United States Smokeless. We look forward to figuring that out. We’ll talk about it and decide what to do at a later date.”

Unsubstantiated rumors suggested Skoal approached the NHRA about an increased payout of upwards in the $1 Million range for the special race-within-a-race based on qualifying and that the NHRA turned the offer down for fear of upstaging the series sponsor.
“There is nothing that I am aware of,” Hoefer responded when asked.


Even if this is just rumor, It doesn't suprise me that NHRA would try to stop someone from providing a payout that is DOUBLE what the series championship pays just because it would show cheap the leadership is.

 

[NitroRichFire]

OK, lets see we've lost the Budweiser Classic for Top Fuel, now the Skoal Showdown for Nitro Funny Car. Anyone seeing a pattern here or is it just me?

 

[turbo ken]

New plan = U.S. Smokeless T/F Shootout?
Since they sponsor a t/f car and no f/c's!

 

[Prestaged]

The "Race Within a Race" thing has never had much appeal and is in no way a good value for a sponsor. This is just one more thing that annoys me about the suits.

 

[rocketman]

Don't panic! Sounds like they want to stay involved in some capacity. Perhaps they want to be in Top Fuel where their car is.

 

[Rich]

I've never really cared for the race within a race thing. I've always thought that if this was going to be done then it should be done as a seperate event on a separate weekend with all four classes being there. In fact I would like to see the Pro classes run the shoot out event (or whatever) along wih the Jegs All Stars. Most stick and ball sports have a separate all-star weekend and even NASCAR has an all star race as well as the Bud Shootout. Perhaps the NHRA should consider doing the same.

 

[clwill]

I think this idea makes sense, but then the purse has to be a lot richer, and deeper. To get 8 teams to drive somewhere, set up, make at least one test pass, then up to three race passes, the payout has to be a lot more than "only the top team wins enough to pay for the weekend".