Justin@NRE
Nitro Member
NHRA will have Pro Mod in 2017. From a more reliable source than Agent1320, there are still some details that have to be hammered out, but it will be there. If RPM wasn't in favor of adding more races, it was probably because they didn't want to stretch their existing funding or ask everyone in RPM for more. As far as racers themselves go, you'd probably find the field split down the middle as far as adding more races.
As someone already stated, NHRA is the bigger problem here. When we started the Pro Sportsman Association for the Alky cars, NHRA told us they would assist us as much as they could as far as finding space for autograph sessions, but any extra PR or sponsor hunting, we were on our own. They just didn't have the staff and time to give us what we were looking for, so it was up to us to help them make a bigger deal out of us. The only thing NHRA offers besides a place to race to the sportsman racer is a marketing demographic information packet that you can use in your own presentations to potential sponsors, which is fairly helpful. But then once you land a major sponsor, NHRA will swoop in and try to get money for the series out of them too, sometimes poaching them right out from under you. And that's the problem... NHRA isn't out there beating down doors looking for their own series sponsors, they rely on racers to bring them in, and then they will beat the door down. They rely way too heavily on people like Forrest Lucas, Steve Matusek(Aeromotive),the Whiteley's (J&A Service) and other longtime racer/sponsors to come in and save a dying series or unsponsored national event. People who already field race teams who have a vested interest in keeping their place to race alive. Instead of hunting for more sponsorship, they just keep going back to people like I've listed and begging them to help even more than they already do. I can tell you that will only last so long, and we should all be grateful for those benefactors who have stepped up in times of need to keep our show on the road. If the NHRA Board each gave up even small portions of their salary and annual bonuses, they could afford to have at least a few more full-time marketing people in place to find those sponsors and make deals.
And while I'm on the soapbox, make the sponsorship deals a little more sponsor friendly, even on the contingency level. I've experienced NHRA sponsorship deals at contingency as well as sponsoring a class at national event level through my last two companies I've worked for. Contingency sponsorship = You pay NHRA 5 figures just for the ability to be an official contingency sponsor, then you still pay out contingency. All NHRA does is verify the sticker is on the car claiming it. You might be able to get a hard card and parking pass for races out of them. Our experience at the event sponsorship level was actually fairly pleasant, came with X amount of daily tickets, parking perks, advertising on the big screen.. But at the end of the weekend when we didn't use NHRA's contracted caterer in our hospitality area, they tried to back charge us a significant amount of money for eating/supplying our own food. This didn't go over well at all and I began to understand why there are so many one and done deals with NHRA. I won't even get started on series level sponsorship or midway displays.
The bottom line is NHRA has an arrogance about it because of the level they've been able to do things in the past and they still feel like they are worth it. They haven't adjusted much with the times. I liken it to a 85 year old woman that was a supermodel in her 20's that goes to a dance club and expects to get hit on and picked up by a 21 year old before the night is over. They feel like sponsors should come running to them and pay an incredibly hefty price for being a part of it. And a big part of that arrogance comes from how racers keep coming back. But at that point you're just a heroin dealer giving the junkie a fix.
They do probably have the best game/sandbox when it comes to the actual racing and racing support(track prep, member track facilities, safety crews, rules, safety regs.), but that doesn't excuse the operational arrogance. And you might pull in more racer sponsors if they felt like their money was actually going to go to the racer and support crews instead of padding annual bonuses for NHRA top brass. I know that sales isn't easy in any aspect, no matter what you're selling, but you can sure make it easier with more attractive deals and transparency for the potential customer.
As someone already stated, NHRA is the bigger problem here. When we started the Pro Sportsman Association for the Alky cars, NHRA told us they would assist us as much as they could as far as finding space for autograph sessions, but any extra PR or sponsor hunting, we were on our own. They just didn't have the staff and time to give us what we were looking for, so it was up to us to help them make a bigger deal out of us. The only thing NHRA offers besides a place to race to the sportsman racer is a marketing demographic information packet that you can use in your own presentations to potential sponsors, which is fairly helpful. But then once you land a major sponsor, NHRA will swoop in and try to get money for the series out of them too, sometimes poaching them right out from under you. And that's the problem... NHRA isn't out there beating down doors looking for their own series sponsors, they rely on racers to bring them in, and then they will beat the door down. They rely way too heavily on people like Forrest Lucas, Steve Matusek(Aeromotive),the Whiteley's (J&A Service) and other longtime racer/sponsors to come in and save a dying series or unsponsored national event. People who already field race teams who have a vested interest in keeping their place to race alive. Instead of hunting for more sponsorship, they just keep going back to people like I've listed and begging them to help even more than they already do. I can tell you that will only last so long, and we should all be grateful for those benefactors who have stepped up in times of need to keep our show on the road. If the NHRA Board each gave up even small portions of their salary and annual bonuses, they could afford to have at least a few more full-time marketing people in place to find those sponsors and make deals.
And while I'm on the soapbox, make the sponsorship deals a little more sponsor friendly, even on the contingency level. I've experienced NHRA sponsorship deals at contingency as well as sponsoring a class at national event level through my last two companies I've worked for. Contingency sponsorship = You pay NHRA 5 figures just for the ability to be an official contingency sponsor, then you still pay out contingency. All NHRA does is verify the sticker is on the car claiming it. You might be able to get a hard card and parking pass for races out of them. Our experience at the event sponsorship level was actually fairly pleasant, came with X amount of daily tickets, parking perks, advertising on the big screen.. But at the end of the weekend when we didn't use NHRA's contracted caterer in our hospitality area, they tried to back charge us a significant amount of money for eating/supplying our own food. This didn't go over well at all and I began to understand why there are so many one and done deals with NHRA. I won't even get started on series level sponsorship or midway displays.
The bottom line is NHRA has an arrogance about it because of the level they've been able to do things in the past and they still feel like they are worth it. They haven't adjusted much with the times. I liken it to a 85 year old woman that was a supermodel in her 20's that goes to a dance club and expects to get hit on and picked up by a 21 year old before the night is over. They feel like sponsors should come running to them and pay an incredibly hefty price for being a part of it. And a big part of that arrogance comes from how racers keep coming back. But at that point you're just a heroin dealer giving the junkie a fix.
They do probably have the best game/sandbox when it comes to the actual racing and racing support(track prep, member track facilities, safety crews, rules, safety regs.), but that doesn't excuse the operational arrogance. And you might pull in more racer sponsors if they felt like their money was actually going to go to the racer and support crews instead of padding annual bonuses for NHRA top brass. I know that sales isn't easy in any aspect, no matter what you're selling, but you can sure make it easier with more attractive deals and transparency for the potential customer.
