The High Cost Of Pro Racing? (1 Viewer)

[NitroRichFire]

OK Maters, I asked this question on the old "NitroMater", but it was about sportman's class cars and got my mind blown out of the water. Now I'll ask the same question about the Pro class cars. How much is a turn key, ready to race>
Top Fuel Dragster
Fuel Funny Car
Pro Stocker
Pro Stock Motorcycle
Any one have any idea of what these monsters cost? I'll make sure I am sitting down before I read the replies! Once again thanks for the knowledge ahead of time.

 

[Toejam]

TF/FC can cost $100,000 per, but you have to factor in the Parts breakage per run. $8-10,000 per run? And that's for a Independent team I'm guessing. PS cars I was told can run $250,000 turnkey, that's if you have your own motor program. PS is anyones guess, don't know. These rae just figures I've heard from crew members and racers over the past year or two. The well Funded TF/FC teams are getting 3 million+ per year anymore. How much is that per pass? $25-30,000????

 

[Buzzz Miller]

Yeah, Joe is right. A turn key funny-car is not that much. But when you start figuring out what you will need in spares, that number changes every round.
Then you figure crew, hotels, fuel for transporter, someone to clean out the transporter all winter, meals, plane tickets, rental cars, tow vehicles, etc. That is where much of the cost comes into play.
New pro stock car rolling with all the tricks. $105,000
Trans, third member, computer, driveshaft, and all the others to make it run $25,000
Engine purchased that will qualify is a tough one, because no one will sell one. Probably around $200,000 if someone would. If you did not want it to qualify, around $30,000. So Figure $300k for pro stock. That is probably the highest of the classes, because your genius is in the heads, and in the engine in the frame-rails.
Top Fuel and funny car would be much less. More like $160-$180K for a turn key competitive car with ZERO spares. But there your genius is in the tune-up. That is why the great crew chiefs get the big bucks. And the spares in your trailer. Figure a good fresh spare bullet complete is around 50K a pop. And a short block about 3/4 of that. And you will need plenty of those. Not to mention going through clutch parts like water. Then fuel costs, tire costs, and the like. Pro stock cars burn 2 gallons of fuel at a few bucks a gallon. Fuel cars burn 12-15 at somewhere in the four times the cost per gallon range. Then pro stock guys dont need spare bodies, but FC needs them.
This is for brand new stuff. You can get used cars for about 40cents on the dollar of brand new that are good pieces and will still work just fine.
This is a rough baseline for that question. If you need more detail, let us know.
Pro stock bike, I have no idea. Askin the wrong guy here. I couldn't get within 200% of the right number.

 

[Bottle]

I can tell you a top team in Sport Compact PRO RWD with two cars, employees, and travel.

Is close to 1 million dollars.

 

[BaldyLochs]

I always like to try & comprehend how much total money is sitting on the premesis at any given POWERade national event. Dem's alotta pickles!

 

[Redman]

There is a big difference between fielding a Funny Car and competing for the Championship.

You can put a program together and make all the races for about $1.5M. If you really want to give yourself the best chance to really compete at the highest level... plan on $3M plus. The start up year is obviously the most expensive. You'll need a transporter, tow vehicle, hospitality?, computers, bodies, paint, new everything...

The next year it gets a little easier, but not much. The things you think would carry over rarely do. The transporter is about the only thing that will serve you well for the next several years. Seems like everything else gets improved and you need a new one (or ten).

This is an expensive game. But it is highly addictive. That's why so many keep coming back.

Jim

 

[speedster]

so your saying all i need is a spare 3-5 million and i can come play too?
thats not to bad let me ask the wife it's in our budget this month
oh dont forget you get that big check at the end of the season if ya win the title!

 

[JAG]

Saw an interview or maybe question to some pro stock teams. They said engines are usually leased at between 800-1 million a year for engine program. Sure is a far cry from my first superstocker for $6900.

 

[d'kid]

terry
what's 400K in the big picture? Bonuses for the crew... or four races down the road?

 

[Toejam]

I remember at Testing in Phx. back in Jan. The track announcer Rick Carlson(?) not sure exactly.....said that Team Schumacher spent $28,000 every time Tony's car went down the track in '05! That is factoring in Crew salaries, Hospitality, Hotels, Fuel, etc....

Can you imagine the same expense for a team losing first round every week?

 

[murf]

Jim, we are happy you and others are addicted. The sport depends on top notch sponsors,team owners, drivers, and crews to keep us entertained. That's what it's about, making the show on Sunday. Thanks.

 

[willy]

Jim, we are happy you and others are addicted. The sport depends on top notch sponsors,team owners, drivers, and crews to keep us entertained. That's what it's about, making the show on Sunday. Thanks.

What Glenn said, Jim. We're lucky to have ya..

 

[XPilot]

Had a friend who ran some races on the tour in TF out of his own pocket. I asked him about costs per run, and he had down to around $500 a pass. Now this is not leaning on the motor, 5 sec passes, no full time crew, etc. He occasionally qualified for a few races, and actually won a couple of rounds at one race.

This was also with one motor going the entire weekend, no full teardown. Run the valves, set the clutch, change the plugs between passes. VERY different from what a championship caliber car must have, and the money spent showed it. Had a couple of other guys tell me they were throwing around 10K a run at the cars. This was back in '01 or '02. Don't remember. Been a while since I've been anything more than a bump on the bleachers during race weekend... Man my job sucks.....

 

[Toejam]

About 4 years ago I met Bob Bode that year he ran the Tour. He told me it cost him around $20,000 per weekend. But he had an all volunteer crew and struggled to qualify at many races. I'm sure that figure was based on modest Parts breakage, any Fireballs what so ever and that $20,000 turned into $50-60,000!