Prudhomme Annouces Retirement (3 Viewers)

[BaldyLochs]

Good luck to DP. He's been an idol of mine for a long, long time. One thing I will say, is that at his age.... the travel has got to be taking it's toll. You look at how much these guys travel; whether it's by airline, car, private plane or whatever week in and week out - all the hotels.... that stuff adds up. Then I look at Don's peer Connie Kalitta; Connie's only different in the fact that he actually physically works all of those trips; he's in the cockpit with his Nephew every single time. You have to respect these "older" people who can still do this stuff after all these years. Then again; that's all they know.

Another thing that stands out about Don was a few years back, he commented when Dick LaHaie came back to Kalitta.... that he believes we instead needed an influx of youth to the sport... people like Todd Okahara, Antonelli, etc etc.... young guns who can maintain this weary road life, get better with age, and get better performance out of the tools we have to work with and increase thier skillset. He's a great guy for saying that, IMHO.

 

[DrRocket]

I'm thinking that perhaps lost in all of this "costs have to come down" and "he got tired of fighting for sponsorship money" and "Are PR people worth the space they take up?" talk is the fact that Don's no spring chicken anymore, and perhaps he figured that there are a few other things he'd like to do with his time now. Kick back, and enjoy the success, and like one poster said, "smell the roses."

Good luck, and enjoy your retirement Don.You've earned it. Thank you for all of the great memories. (Man, I wish I still had that "Final Strike" shirt you signed."

Now, as for Don's assets. Didn't someone post a while back they'd heard info that a certain "Joe" was putting together another team.............

 

[JB3]

I will kick this around with you. I can only speak from my business experience, but when revenues decline like we have seen in this recession the first place that is looked at is the $$ spent to support the product/service you are selling. I have worked in Marketing in previous roles, but my current role is on the Commercial side of the business and I evaluate the efficiency of the operations to determine we are generating enough margin to justify the marketing dollars spent on particular programs. Based on the premise your fixed overhead costs are at benchmark top tier levels, the majority of your flexible spending is in Marketing and IT. Our like for like margin has declined by roughly 10% in the past year and a half and we have had no choice but to evaluate all of our marketing programs. You have to make the tough call to keep the programs that deliver the biggest return and scrap the programs that fall into the bottom half of the evaluation. In normal business conditions where margin is growing, you can justify spending marketing dollars in areas that deliver moderate returns, but in this environment you evaluate things differently. When I worked in Marketing, I believed the world evolved around the group, but I have since taken the blinders off and I understand what makes a business successful in these tough times. I agree with what you said about the PR individuals you spoke of above, but my point is when times are tough and you have to answer to shareholders, sometimes tough decisions are made and unfortunately many of the cuts are on the Marketing side of the business. We are starting to see signs that we are restoring some of the revenues lost in this recession and early indications for the upcoming year is that we will see growth, so hopefully the worst is behind us and companies will be in a position to start spending money again to support growth.

I' think people need to look at this realistically. As the ecomony starts to turn and recover I seriously doubt the first thing corparate america is going to be looking to do is drop $$ millions of dollars into motorsports. Sorry, but those days are gone. The business world has changed forever. Companies will hoard cash in order to preserve profit margin to appease stock holders. As loyal as motorsports fans are, the ROI doesn't translate well in the board room anymore. Besides, todays drivers don't have the cache to potential sponsors that the legends of the sport did.

 

[Eracer]

At the tender age of 6, the first drag race I ever attended (at Minnesota Dragways) featured the Snake and the Mongoose...in their Hot Wheels cars and pulling into the facility on the ramp trucks. I'll never forget how I felt when I saw those cars. Even at such a young age, I thought "this is the coolest thing EVER!" and another drag racing fan was born.

Crap, what happened to the last 40 years?

Happy retirement Don. Thank you so much for the memories.

Same Here - Minnesota Dragways 1976

And when I saw this car

I'll never forget how I felt when I saw those cars. Even at such a young age, I thought "this is the coolest thing EVER!" and another drag racing fan was born."
Thanks Snake for making another life long racing fan

 

[Eracer]

That day my Dad won Stock Eliminator as crew cheif of this car

 

[Eracer]

And a Snake Photo Tribute of sorts. Hope you enjoy.

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