I just read over at DRO that Millican's car owner, Mark Pickens, may be parking the car after this season if a sponsor isn't found. This year's fields have been surprising good considering where the world was headed a year ago and going into '09. But, next year may be even tougher. DRO says Pickens spends 150k per event to run the car. Of course he's going to park it w/o a sponsor, people with a lot of money won't have it long trying fund a fuel car. Think about what Terry Haddock is going through to race, how long can he really keep it up? Did anyone notice even Pro Stock, which just a few years ago had almost enough cars showing up to have 32 car fields, is now starting to get "filler" cars to round out the field? What are the prospects of someone like Haddock or any of the many privateers landing serious deals if a guy like Snake can't? I'm not trying to be a doomsayer, and I know this topic gets rehashed often, but something has to change if there is going to be a "Professional" level of drag racing. All the crewchiefs have said that 1000 feet is saving a lot of money. Remember last year when Snake said it won't be long before they're blowing up before 1000ft? It's happening. The wick got shorter. I'm not claiming to have the answer, but I think NHRA and the racers need to put their heads together and try to plot a course for the future. I have a bad feeling that there are many more racers that we consider regulars that are teetering on the edge of being parked than we know.
Thinning Fuel Ranks (1 Viewer)
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e-town iceyman
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only time will tell... no mater what strories come out about guys being parked or guys running a full schedule i dont beleive any of it until the race starts and theyve run down the track...things can change to quickly to always be set in stone espec in this day and age
tcrawf
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definitely a lot of true aspects . . .
from my limited perspective we have a few things lined up for next year but no major year-long sponsors like the big boys have. Just small time businesses that are our friends or have a passion for drag racing and are willing to do 1 or 2 race deals.
from my limited perspective we have a few things lined up for next year but no major year-long sponsors like the big boys have. Just small time businesses that are our friends or have a passion for drag racing and are willing to do 1 or 2 race deals.
Nunzio, I think you are dead on. It shouldn't cost 150K per race period. It shouldn't cost 50K per race. It shouldn't cost 25K per race. I was visiting with Johnny Athens in Medford and his A/Fuel car costs close to 10K per race. That's what fuel racing should cost in my opinion. Everyone involved needs to take a hard look at what is happening to our beloved sport. Has Snake found a deal yet? I have an opinion piece on this at Cap Racing Home Page
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tcrawf
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no kidding . . . we made it to the first round at Bristol and the Kelleys about broke even with the earnings and sponsorships.
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I would imagine the NHRA will trow some $$$ to the underfunded teams to ensure there is a close to a full field. It would be embarrassing to only have 12 cars in field.
my friends call me Zappy
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Perhaps nhra should have less Natl. events, and drop the testing ban so teams could do more match races and MAKE money.......just a thought.
rosco
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Motel 2600
Fuel 2 Trucks 4000
Air Fare 4000
Car Rentals 1300
11,900
Race Fuel 1500
Tires 2000
Engine Parts 25,000
Misc 10,000
38,500
Total $50,000.00 Down the drain
Toejam
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I seem to remember around this time last year everyone was projecting TF car counts in the 10-12 car range come the 2009 season. And yet I think the first 6-8 races saw Full fields! I'll believe this TF is dead hysteria when I see it!
Treeshaker
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Where some see doom and gloom, others see opportunity.
You have to consider the source when receiving information. Some times things are sensationalized to make the story better. For example, the story about real short fields at Virginia. At the time of the story, there were 19 FC and 16 TF entered at Virginia. One FC team had to withdraw due to a family member accident, so there are still 18 FC. This is off the driver's entry site, not the public site which is rarely correct.
There are a couple of rigs in my parking lot that will leave for Virginia today. Neither team spends anywhere near the numbers quoted. I know another car owner that leases his car out for approx $50,000.00 a race and makes a good living off of drag racing.
It costs a lot less per race to run a limited schedule than it does to run the full series. There are many people throughout the country putting plans together to race next year. Some will come to fruition, some will not. But I would expect the fields to be full at most events in 2010 when the gates open.
You have to consider the source when receiving information. Some times things are sensationalized to make the story better. For example, the story about real short fields at Virginia. At the time of the story, there were 19 FC and 16 TF entered at Virginia. One FC team had to withdraw due to a family member accident, so there are still 18 FC. This is off the driver's entry site, not the public site which is rarely correct.
There are a couple of rigs in my parking lot that will leave for Virginia today. Neither team spends anywhere near the numbers quoted. I know another car owner that leases his car out for approx $50,000.00 a race and makes a good living off of drag racing.
It costs a lot less per race to run a limited schedule than it does to run the full series. There are many people throughout the country putting plans together to race next year. Some will come to fruition, some will not. But I would expect the fields to be full at most events in 2010 when the gates open.
mw6789
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$150K per race seems ridiculous to me, but since I have no firsthand experience I am not qualified to say. I had to miss Memphis this year, but my part time high school shop hand went with his high school shop class to the races on Friday. One comment he made was the lack of cars as opposed to past years. I noticed that even the pro stock entry list was very slim. I believe that 2010 will be the year when the economic woes really take a toll. I feel like some teams that were holding on this year hoping for a deal, will fall by the wayside next year. Sad to see so many good racers and owners headed for the sidelines.
Virgil, thanks for responding because I was really hoping for some input from a fuel team owner. I am always the optimist, and this year has, IMO, been very good considering the weak economy. And, I realize that like anything, adversity presents opportunity. I love seeing more part-timers come out and run more races, and I am sure that will continue. Hey, there will never be enough money out there to support all those who want to do it. It will always be passion driven, and those who want it bad enough, find a way. Virgil, I would bet you have ideas as to how we could get more fuel cars out there on a regular basis. I mean, something as simple as taking away the racers' ability to sell their own apparel hurt a lot of teams. I guess that my thinking is, after all these years, we really haven't opened the floodgates that would allow the number of sponsors that NASCAR has enjoyed to come into our sport, and it's only going to be harder going forward, so maybe it's time to re-invent the fuel classes so more privateers can participate? Maybe a slightly less powerful, less costly fuel motor (like NHRA is testing) will help?
CrewGuy
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I saw him in the pits after second round qualifying in Memphis and he was not a happy camper.
Still 50 K a race exceeds many people's salary for a whole year. Back in the day only a few drivers per class did the whole tour and the rest did what they could in the region of the country they lived in. The sport is moving back to that direction. The problem is there isn't the match racing to support it like there was back then.
Rich I agree that we're going back in that direction, which doesn't have to be a bad thing. I am missing the reason why there isn't any real match racing anymore. If there are part time fuel racers out there, wouldn't some promoters try and put together some match race dates like the old days? I understand a racer running 24 events not really having the time, but for others, wouldn't it or couldn't it be a good compliment to a part-time event tour?
TR
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Test run limitations?
tcrawf
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Treeshaker
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In my opinion, the way to make the sport stronger in all aspects is cooperation between the sanctioning bodies, tracks, tv production companies and participants. I believe there is a need for one central agency to market all entities of the sport. A sponsor needs to be vertically covered to gain the best results and our current system of everyone working against and undercutting each other makes it hard.
And simplify the cars. Get rid of all the extra gadgets from TF to Stock. The less there is on a car means fewer parts to buy and service, which means less people on the crew and less money needed to run the team.
Our sport's biggest problem is covered by the old adage "stepping over dollars to pick up pennies".
Great post Virgil. I am amazed at the number of crewmembers there are on each fuel car now. I am sure salaries and airfare for a lot of these guys has a lot to do with how large the budgets can get. Be cool to see teams need half the guys, but have everyone stay working because of twice as many cars...
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