Jim, with all due respect, are you new to drag racing, or motorsports in general? Your posts are so far out there it's kind of hard to really engage in any serious responses. Comparing racing to pro stick and ball sports is really apples and oranges. In stick and ball sports, athletes are recruited for their rare and exceptional physical abilities, and are paid accordingly. In racing, car owners and drivers need to have the ability to pay to play, whether it's through their own funding or marketing partners. The 2 models are very far apart.
No. I am not new to it. I started following drag racing when I was a kid and one of my friend's father owned Atco, Cecil County and the old Pittsburgh International. I have been reporting on motorsports since 1998 and on drag racing in particular since 2001. Yes, I look at drag racing differently because I don't care how it is now or how it used to be. I care about what it can be in the future. Right now, drag racing is a dying sport because it refuses to change.
My comments are based on what it will take to get drag racing recognized on a professional level, the same as other sports. People complain all the time about payouts at NHRA events. If people want higher payouts, there has to be more revenue coming in. To get more revenue, the sport has to treat itself as a professional. That means everyone involved acts as a professional.
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The sport needs to build fan favorites that fans will buy tickets to see or turn on the TV to watch. To do that, the drivers have to be there. If drivers only show up once in a while, they are not going to get the coverage they need, and in turn, will not get sponsorship dollars. I often read people complaining about the media covering John Force more than other drivers. There is a reason for that. John Force and his team are always there. His team has great PR people and if a reporter wants to talk to John, Robert, or Brittany, they make it happen. John Force has also done a lot to make sure other teams can show up at races. He is a professional. Schumacher's team is the same way, as are Ron Capps, Antron Brown and a few others.
But let's look at this weekend. If anyone is a Blake Alexander fan and bought tickets to Maple Grove to see him drive, they are going to be disappointed. Drivers, like pro athletes, miss races because of injury or illness. But if the driver is not there because the team owner had other things to do, it leaves a bad taste. Can you imagine if NBA fans bought tickets to see Steph Curry play but he did not show up because he wanted to do something else that night?
I understand that teams have to pay to play. That's where NHRA needs to step up. Does F1 ever have a team decide not to show up for a race? Never happens. Look what happened at the Indianapolis 500 this year. When it looked like they might not have a full field, IndyCar stepped up and helped fund the 33rd entry to make sure they have a full field.
Drag racing and stick and ball sports may be different models. But they are all competing for the same TV money, the same viewers, the same ticket money and the same attention from fans. When within motorsports, drag racing is competing for money against NASCAR, IndyCar, F1 and others.
There are many other things I would like to see changed about NHRA drag racing. But the first thing is that everyone involved needs to be in it on a professional level. I do not care what drag racing has always been. I want it to move forward.
