LOOKING INTO THE BUSINESS OF RACING: AN ELITE OF A TOP FUEL DEAL (1 Viewer)

[mikebcurve]

LOOKING INTO THE BUSINESS OF RACING: AN ELITE OF A TOP FUEL DEAL | Competition Plus

Staying in your own lane when it comes to business can be challenging - just ask Richard Freeman. To clarify lane assignments, Freeman is adamant his lane is in doorslammer racing, whether it be his beloved Pro Stock or Competition Eliminator. Fuel racing or any other type that doesn't have...

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[Cliff]

Hmmmmmmmm..........

 

[J. S.]

Hmmmmmmmm..........

Yes, definitely Hmmmmmm. Wonder if in fact they have someone in mind to "partner" with? Maybe a Krista Baldwin type? Good to read that this guy Freeman is looking to help raise car counts in other classes in NHRA drag racing.

 

[Ramjet]

It sounds like He is possibly thinking about having a facility that a team or teams could work out of with services and possibly parts buying power. The truck and trailer facility is a plus for maintainance. Machine work and a shipping hub and would be close. Things like travel scheduling - plane tickets etc. could be handeled by Elite. If he is thinking about using the Oklahoma location though it is 14 hours away from Brownsburg where the bulk of teams are now which may or may not be an advantage sometimes.

 

[Muddy]

I've always thought Oklahoma would be an ideal place for a team. Centrally located with I-35. I-40 and I-44 all intersecting in Oklahoma City. A good track in Tulsa and a business climate the welcomes new business. Of course, I live there so I would think that.

 

[Ssfuel]

I agree with him the classes are dead. Capps, pedregon, force, it’s like the 90s never left. The guys who used to fight for the bump 20 years ago are now second rounders, and not because they got better .

I disagree with him about pro stock having been turned around. Last I checked, it’s still all Chevy, and basically down to two engine builders. Andersen, Enders, and a few 20 year olds with money who have any shot. Koretsky, has chance now, 20 years ago that program couldn’t make the 16. Again, less Comp, means remaining comp slides up by default .

 

[camaro]

I disagree with him about pro stock having been turned around. Last I checked, it’s still all Chevy, and basically down to two engine builders. Andersen, Enders, and a few 20 year olds with money who have any shot. Koretsky, has chance now, 20 years ago that program couldn’t make the 16. Again, less Comp, means remaining comp slides up by default .

i 'm also not on board with the feeling pro stock is now thriving. the Cuadra's 3 car team makes it look better than it really is and when they get tired of the first round loses, its right back to where it was a couple years ago. its not like 32 cars are showing up. I've always felt the same way with the nitro classes. for the last 20 years or so 3 car owners made up half the Top fuel/Funny car fields combined, which is is fine, a car is a car no matter who owns it but when said owner decides to call it quits the fields can potentially shrink by a lot very quickly.

 

[Nunz]

Lots of doom & gloom here. We may not have 32 PS cars showing up, and the fuel fields are occasionally short a car or two, but the sport isn't dead. Considering we made it through the pandemic, and given what's going on now with the economy, and especially inflation, I think it's been a great season overall so far. In the big picture, there is a ton of room for improvement, there always is. Regarding the Cuadras, I don't think they're 1st round fodder. They're improving and seem to be in it for the long hall. There are many positive developments to point to, 2 of which are the Koretsky's purchase of Maple Grove, and the addition of Tony Stewart to NHRA. A couple of sharp business guys willing to invest in the sport's future. Having said all that, I've always been a "glass half full" kind of guy. It just seems so many people choose to pine for the old days, whether it's the '70s or the '90s, and refuse to enjoy what's happening right now.

 

[aakar]

Maybe Richard Freeman might take over DSR when Don goes full time fishing? The DSR facility might make a nice EE (Elite East)?

 

[HoodooVoodooAngus]

Lots of doom & gloom here. We may not have 32 PS cars showing up, and the fuel fields are occasionally short a car or two, but the sport isn't dead. Considering we made it through the pandemic, and given what's going on now with the economy, and especially inflation, I think it's been a great season overall so far. In the big picture, there is a ton of room for improvement, there always is. Regarding the Cuadras, I don't think they're 1st round fodder. They're improving and seem to be in it for the long hall. There are many positive developments to point to, 2 of which are the Koretsky's purchase of Maple Grove, and the addition of Tony Stewart to NHRA. A couple of sharp business guys willing to invest in the sport's future. Having said all that, I've always been a "glass half full" kind of guy. It just seems so many people choose to pine for the old days, whether it's the '70s or the '90s, and refuse to enjoy what's happening right now.

This is Nitromater. Doom and gloom are part of the package.

I'm old. But more like 80's, 90's old. Things are doing pretty damn good really. There's less leakers now than there was 25 years ago. Lots of new blood in the fuel classes. Plenty of young stars in Pro Stock and people like Richard Freeman figuring out ways to get it done and thrive. The writing was on the wall for sponsorships back when they outlawed tobacco. And I think that there is a lot of promise for what might be on the horizon. It's different for sure, but drag racing is engineered in such a way that it has to evolve because we are a victim of our success. Whether is horsepower or cubic dollars.

 

[Ssfuel]

I’ll admit, doom and gloom describes my takes , and i wish I was lying or had a bias.

The sport has become unwatchable. Unless you’re just in it for the cars or sheer power, and if that’s the case you’d probably be ok if these cars were automated driven or remote controlled. I suppose what kept my interest for 20 years prior was the idea of people , talent , etc. Dave connoly show up in a car Jenkins powered try to take down the Johnson’s, Anderson, Gaines, line, Morgan etc was always appealing. The names just didn’t end, alderman, Allen Johnson, the nba guys for a while nance and hammonds, pawuk. Now it’s guys with money, who look like they graduated high school in the last 5 years who have enough money to lease an engine from a program. Most finals have two guys with same engine building team. And I always thought two Castrol cars in the final sucked.

Look at the sides of the cars if you don’t believe me. Basically comp cars, small no name, local sponsors, or family name. Compared to the likes of McDonald’s (Yates) , ac Delhi, marines, Jäegermeister. Mcgahas mid, koretekys kid, troy coughlins kid, etc. pure nepotism anyway you slice it.

Clearly sponsors aren’t into it anymore either. And yes , less leakers on the track. They also shortened the track by 25 percent, pretty soon it will be a burn out and reaction time contest. But hey as long as they blip the throttle in pits.

And fuel cars are a joke to watch. Qualifying is not really qualifying if everyone gets a trophy and lines up on race day anyway. Used to be interesting to watch, no bump, no threat of not racing on Sunday. Capps and force have been around for 30 years no new blood, it’s good to buy new shoes and styles once in a while .

Yes when the beer and tobacco companies exited, that made it tough, but nascar seemed to do just fine. As a spectator, past 30’different oil and tool brands, what’s the appeal? Us army used to be a cool sponsor, Oakley used to be fine, mad tv, wwf, jerzzez car (vandergriff) , Yankees , McDonald’s, team, etc . Let’s face it, the sport has gone from prime time cable to local access channels at 5 am status

 

[mikebcurve]

From a spectator perspective it seems obvious that drag racing is on an upswing. Comparing the past with the present isn’t fair.

I think the rise of nascar has robbed the NHRA of sponsors simply because nascar has so much more exposure. Sponsor money is not spent in the same ways as it was in the past.

The answer for drag racings struggles are so complex it’s unfair to blame shorter tracks, older drivers, etc. The big money in sports today is not ticket sales. The NHRA needs to get to a point where their streaming rights are worth paying for and then you will see the growth other motorsports has enjoyed. Drag racing has faced a lot of things that are out of its control. I personally think the NHRA has been more open to change and made much better decisions in the last few years.

 

[Nunz]

I’ll admit, doom and gloom describes my takes , and i wish I was lying or had a bias.

The sport has become unwatchable. Unless you’re just in it for the cars or sheer power, and if that’s the case you’d probably be ok if these cars were automated driven or remote controlled. I suppose what kept my interest for 20 years prior was the idea of people , talent , etc. Dave connoly show up in a car Jenkins powered try to take down the Johnson’s, Anderson, Gaines, line, Morgan etc was always appealing. The names just didn’t end, alderman, Allen Johnson, the nba guys for a while nance and hammonds, pawuk. Now it’s guys with money, who look like they graduated high school in the last 5 years who have enough money to lease an engine from a program. Most finals have two guys with same engine building team. And I always thought two Castrol cars in the final sucked.

Look at the sides of the cars if you don’t believe me. Basically comp cars, small no name, local sponsors, or family name. Compared to the likes of McDonald’s (Yates) , ac Delhi, marines, Jäegermeister. Mcgahas mid, koretekys kid, troy coughlins kid, etc. pure nepotism anyway you slice it.

Clearly sponsors aren’t into it anymore either. And yes , less leakers on the track. They also shortened the track by 25 percent, pretty soon it will be a burn out and reaction time contest. But hey as long as they blip the throttle in pits.

And fuel cars are a joke to watch. Qualifying is not really qualifying if everyone gets a trophy and lines up on race day anyway. Used to be interesting to watch, no bump, no threat of not racing on Sunday. Capps and force have been around for 30 years no new blood, it’s good to buy new shoes and styles once in a while .

Yes when the beer and tobacco companies exited, that made it tough, but nascar seemed to do just fine. As a spectator, past 30’different oil and tool brands, what’s the appeal? Us army used to be a cool sponsor, Oakley used to be fine, mad tv, wwf, jerzzez car (vandergriff) , Yankees , McDonald’s, team, etc . Let’s face it, the sport has gone from prime time cable to local access channels at 5 am status

I could take the opposite side of every negative you listed, but I don't have the energy, lol. I'm not saying you're wrong about a lot of it either. The sport has been around for around 70 years, has the world changed much in 7 decades? Drag racing has had to change as well, and is still adapting. There are plenty of things that may have been better about the sport during different eras, but I'm just saying there's an awful lot of cool stuff happening now.
Some things happen over time that are part of progress. Remember Pro Comp? Probably the coolest class ever. But progress killed it. By that I mean, after a few years it was obvious the most consistently fast car to win with was a AA/DA. Which led to the split of the class into TAD and TAFC. Our modern example would be Pro Mod. Started off with all kinds of crazy bodies and combinations, now it's become a lot more vanilla, and NHRA is tasked with trying to keep multiple power combos on a level playing field. Start off with a category full of variety, and over time racers will gravitate to the combo that can win the most. And there goes the variety.
I'm getting long winded, so I'll just wrap it up by saying, things are different than in previous eras of drag racing, some worse and some way better. And 10 years from now I'm sure things will look different than now. So I'm just going to keep enjoying it every step of the way!

 

[qualified17th]

I’ll admit, doom and gloom describes my takes , and i wish I was lying or had a bias.

The sport has become unwatchable. Unless you’re just in it for the cars or sheer power, and if that’s the case you’d probably be ok if these cars were automated driven or remote controlled. I suppose what kept my interest for 20 years prior was the idea of people , talent , etc. Dave connoly show up in a car Jenkins powered try to take down the Johnson’s, Anderson, Gaines, line, Morgan etc was always appealing. The names just didn’t end, alderman, Allen Johnson, the nba guys for a while nance and hammonds, pawuk. Now it’s guys with money, who look like they graduated high school in the last 5 years who have enough money to lease an engine from a program. Most finals have two guys with same engine building team. And I always thought two Castrol cars in the final sucked.

Look at the sides of the cars if you don’t believe me. Basically comp cars, small no name, local sponsors, or family name. Compared to the likes of McDonald’s (Yates) , ac Delhi, marines, Jäegermeister. Mcgahas mid, koretekys kid, troy coughlins kid, etc. pure nepotism anyway you slice it.

Clearly sponsors aren’t into it anymore either. And yes , less leakers on the track. They also shortened the track by 25 percent, pretty soon it will be a burn out and reaction time contest. But hey as long as they blip the throttle in pits.

And fuel cars are a joke to watch. Qualifying is not really qualifying if everyone gets a trophy and lines up on race day anyway. Used to be interesting to watch, no bump, no threat of not racing on Sunday. Capps and force have been around for 30 years no new blood, it’s good to buy new shoes and styles once in a while .

Yes when the beer and tobacco companies exited, that made it tough, but nascar seemed to do just fine. As a spectator, past 30’different oil and tool brands, what’s the appeal? Us army used to be a cool sponsor, Oakley used to be fine, mad tv, wwf, jerzzez car (vandergriff) , Yankees , McDonald’s, team, etc . Let’s face it, the sport has gone from prime time cable to local access channels at 5 am status

You literally complained about "no new blood" after complaining about too many young guys being out there. If you're gonna complain, at least pick a side

 

[aakar]

I’ll admit, doom and gloom describes my takes , and i wish I was lying or had a bias.

The sport has become unwatchable. Unless you’re just in it for the cars or sheer power, and if that’s the case you’d probably be ok if these cars were automated driven or remote controlled. I suppose what kept my interest for 20 years prior was the idea of people , talent , etc. Dave connoly show up in a car Jenkins powered try to take down the Johnson’s, Anderson, Gaines, line, Morgan etc was always appealing. The names just didn’t end, alderman, Allen Johnson, the nba guys for a while nance and hammonds, pawuk. Now it’s guys with money, who look like they graduated high school in the last 5 years who have enough money to lease an engine from a program. Most finals have two guys with same engine building team. And I always thought two Castrol cars in the final sucked.

Look at the sides of the cars if you don’t believe me. Basically comp cars, small no name, local sponsors, or family name. Compared to the likes of McDonald’s (Yates) , ac Delhi, marines, Jäegermeister. Mcgahas mid, koretekys kid, troy coughlins kid, etc. pure nepotism anyway you slice it.

Clearly sponsors aren’t into it anymore either. And yes , less leakers on the track. They also shortened the track by 25 percent, pretty soon it will be a burn out and reaction time contest. But hey as long as they blip the throttle in pits.

And fuel cars are a joke to watch. Qualifying is not really qualifying if everyone gets a trophy and lines up on race day anyway. Used to be interesting to watch, no bump, no threat of not racing on Sunday. Capps and force have been around for 30 years no new blood, it’s good to buy new shoes and styles once in a while .

Yes when the beer and tobacco companies exited, that made it tough, but nascar seemed to do just fine. As a spectator, past 30’different oil and tool brands, what’s the appeal? Us army used to be a cool sponsor, Oakley used to be fine, mad tv, wwf, jerzzez car (vandergriff) , Yankees , McDonald’s, team, etc . Let’s face it, the sport has gone from prime time cable to local access channels at 5 am status

Wow, while you bring up some good observations, I could not imagine being so negative about a sport you obviously care about. Seems to me Drag Racing is doing pretty good, there are issues of course, but why not focus on the multitude of positives?

 

[mick]

no nitro classes are not suffering because an individual team owner/s decides to shrink or cease to exist. FC is down two cars because gray family money was done.
don didn't fund his own son when army money ran out, and most likely will be the same way when maynard family money is done.......it's exciting to see don fielding one car again,
and all the other smaller operations......jfr is the only 4 car team left in nitro rite? what happens when AAA is done? or john for that matter?.......someone will step up who will see that
can enter races and qualify for sunday. i've said this before, i think nhra would be ok if they would concentrate on only 16 car fields. no more bump spots. get 16 cars in each class
to each race. qualify them and run them on sunday. use a qualifying points system to get into a handful of 'major' races such as gators and indy......or have bump spot races only
at a handful of 'major' races.

 

[Nunz]

no nitro classes are not suffering because an individual team owner/s decides to shrink or cease to exist. FC is down two cars because gray family money was done.
don didn't fund his own son when army money ran out, and most likely will be the same way when maynard family money is done.......it's exciting to see don fielding one car again,
and all the other smaller operations......jfr is the only 4 car team left in nitro rite? what happens when AAA is done? or john for that matter?.......someone will step up who will see that
can enter races and qualify for sunday. i've said this before, i think nhra would be ok if they would concentrate on only 16 car fields. no more bump spots. get 16 cars in each class
to each race. qualify them and run them on sunday. use a qualifying points system to get into a handful of 'major' races such as gators and indy......or have bump spot races only
at a handful of 'major' races.

IMO the bump spot deal is still fine. Norwalk had 21 TF cars, so there was pressure to make the show. There have been others with more than 16 cars, again, not like from years ago, but there are races with great car counts. I say let 'em fight to get in if there's more than 16 cars, NHRA pays non qualifier money so there's still incentive to try and make a packed field. Again, JMO.