You sir are wrong. Seth aint scared. Trust me. And here we go again about the damn "free tickets". It was genious. And you know what? I'd rather pay $500 to go out of town and watch an ADRL race than see an NHRA race. For doorslammer fans, there is not a better show on earth than the ADRL. 2 days of non stop, action packed racing. I guarantee you if the ADRL started charging their ticket prices (a whole whopping $30 for 2 days) they would still pack the place. HRP had more people in it last year for the ADRL than I have ever seen. By 3 they had to shut it down and wouldnt let anybody else in. And if giving free tickets means a whole lot of people came and now love the sport, AWESOME. Also, speaking of HRP, they have made some improvements over the winter. And your wrong on the money also.
Your right Justin, that is exactly what I was getting at in my post. Sure, they aren't a big threat to NHRA now, but there will be a time when (if they wanted) they could still pack the stands even charging a modest entry. What if the ADRL start offering their own sanctioning, and give sanctioned tracks an event? I'm sure these are probably things the NHRA, may be looking at if their smart. If folks don't think you could make a comparable profit from an ADRL race (even letting the majority of people in for free), then they obviously have no idea how tracks operate.
At ADRL events, they actually stand to make more money by letting people in free, then they do if they charge at the gate. I know that's a concept that is hard to grasp, but when I was running a track for a while, we actually made more money on the nights we charged the least. Knowing what I know now, I would never charge a gate fee at a racetrack again, and I guarantee you will make more money. I think gate fees are the biggest stumbling block to a track's profitability. People get so hung up on it. Spectators don't like paying it, and most track owners feel like they have to make ALL their money there. The ADRL is doing whatever they can to get as many human beings as you can possibly pack into a place, and that is what makes you exponentially more money in the long run. Those people will spend their money on something, make no mistake about it, whether its concessions, t-shirts, or whatever. Then they tell others about this bad ass free race they went to, then those folks attend the next race, who then tell their friends, etc. etc. etc.
Sure putting on an NHRA event will bring in a ton of money, but the outlay is tremendous, especially in labor, advertising, fees, and insurance. Not to mention the NHRA gets a hefty cut as well. I can see how a track would actually do nearly as well, if not even slightly better with an ADRL race.