Vandergriff Shuts Down Team and Retires (1 Viewer)

[glofria]

could this be the " future " of Top Fuel?

Well I'd be inclined to agree, but participation in N/TF is dwindling too. A few years ago there were close to 20 cars going for a 16 car field at the March Meet. This year there were 13 going for an 8 car field.

 

[JB3]

NHRA will do nothing as long as the public is attending the events. The bottom line is they are making money and the big boys are splitting it up with their bonuses at the end of the year.

And that is wrong why ?? Is that not how most businesses operate? Not aware of any company who's Executives invest their personal salaries back into a business. Certainly not towards prize money or purses. Investment $$ maybe, but not directly to accounts payable.

Sean said it best up above ... the only place prize money can come from is more marketing partners, it cannot be created organically. Ask team owners in all forms of motorsports who need $$ support from 5-10 different partners on their cars just to stay competitive. NASCAR, Indy, F1, and NHRA all have the same basic issue. The sanctioning body cannot be expected to provide the purse $$.

This was decades in the making and certainly cannot be fixed overnight, next week, or even next season without the influx of $$ and partners. Corporate board rooms aren't easy to get into these days.

 

[JB3]

Jay made the following statement,

When you see the door slammer events selling out tracks and causing 5 mile long traffic jams on the interstate from people trying to get it, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see the future of the sport.

I also agree with what Jay said and just finding it amazing that the people in charge of the N.H.R.A. don't seem to see the same thing that others see see.

Forget about trying to reinvent the wheel and figure out why the Pro Classes are not doing better and simply go with what works and apparently is what the racers and fans want to see.

Jim Hill
http://www.nostalgicracingdecals.com

I agree with Brian ... these events are using star power in part to draw fans. If door slammer racing is so popular, why are PDRA events like a ghost town. Look at video from Rockingham, not very large bleachers there and the crowd was countable on a computer screen even when the Extreme and Nitrous cars were running.

You can accomplish a lot with smoke and mirrors. When IHRA went to the "Monster Jam" format, everyone screamed they wanted races not shows. Imagine the anarchy on this site if NHRA adopted a similar format to draw spectators.

 

[Muddy]

In days gone bye but not that long ago people flocked to the track because there was always a feeling that I and a few of my friends could also do it. There was also the" I've got a better idea" feeling. Those thoughts no longer exist because of regulations and cost increases. There are also other factors but that where it starts. If you want to recreate drag racing the first thing you have to do is solve those problems. The cause is very simple but the solution is far more complex than any one person can solve. .

 

[None]

And that is wrong why ?? Is that not how most businesses operate? Not aware of any company who's Executives invest their personal salaries back into a business. Certainly not towards prize money or purses. Investment $$ maybe, but not directly to accounts payable.

Sean said it best up above ... the only place prize money can come from is more marketing partners, it cannot be created organically. Ask team owners in all forms of motorsports who need $$ support from 5-10 different partners on their cars just to stay competitive. NASCAR, Indy, F1, and NHRA all have the same basic issue. The sanctioning body cannot be expected to provide the purse $$.

This was decades in the making and certainly cannot be fixed overnight, next week, or even next season without the influx of $$ and partners. Corporate board rooms aren't easy to get into these days.

Not talking about their personal salaries. That is part of operating expenses. It is a not for profit company. All the money that comes in minus, the operating expenses, is profit. They can't show a profit. So instead of putting that money into prize money or improvements they split it up in bonuses in top management.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

Not talking about their personal salaries. That is part of operating expenses. It is a not for profit company. All the money that comes in minus, the operating expenses, is profit. They can't show a profit. So instead of putting that money into prize money or improvements they split it up in bonuses in top management.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all, John, but I can't imagine the bonuses (whatever they may be) are anywhere near enough to make an ACTUAL impact on the prize fund. I might be wrong, but........

Sean D

 

[Pete]

I'm not disagreeing with you at all, John, but I can't imagine the bonuses (whatever they may be) are anywhere near enough to make an ACTUAL impact on the prize fund. I might be wrong, but........

Sean D

Have you seen the bonuses from past years? 600K+ for most

 

[MHayes]

Have you seen the bonuses from past years? 600K+ for most

Link?

 

[Nunz]

The salaries aren't really out of line for a company in the $100Mil revenue range, particularly for a CEO. If you took $600k divided by 24 events, there's an additional $25,000 per event to whack up amongst, say, 48 pros (not even counting bikes). I haven't looked at their returns, so don't go getting all exact on me...

 

[Nick Name]

Those door slammer events are selling out tracks that might hold 5000 people max....... SGMP seats 3000 people.

They didn't have to close the track because the stands were full. The people who could get in were parking on those cotton fields on the road to the track. They was way more than 3000 people there. Also, doubt that many people showed up to see a TV star.

You can not get new blood interested in any kind of drag racing they feel they can not do. Back in the 60 ( sorry Joe ), we all got hooked on nitro racing because we were doing it. Junk yard motor with rods, pistons, valve springs and a blower off of a bus, and we were racing.

As far as nostalgia top fuel, there was never really any such thing. Those cars with the phone booth cockpits, narrow front axel, big carbon injector and VW slicks with monster canards, was not something that was ever raced in the past. It has never had any kind of fan base outside of the guys that do it.

 

[Rajunz]

They didn't have to close the track because the stands were full. The people who could get in were parking on those cotton fields on the road to the track. They was way more than 3000 people there. Also, doubt that many people showed up to see a TV star.......

There's probably twice that many people in the campgrounds alone at some of the NHRA races like Baytown, Brainard, etc.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

Have you seen the bonuses from past years? 600K+ for most

So?? Like Nunzio pointed out, that's a drop in the bucket towards getting the prize funds where they should be, commensurate to what they're spending to run these cars.

I'll stand by my original position; this has to be rebuilt from the ground up. The money it's going to take to make professional level drag racing attractive to people other than the independently wealthy looking for a hobby will HAVE to come from marketing partners. There's nowhere else to get it, period. And as of right now, that marketing base is obviously not there for whatever reason and they need to know why. Is it viewership, whether it be event attendance or television ratings? The demographic to which these companies are trying to reach? I have my hunches, but I don't KNOW. But it would be easy enough to find out. With all the race teams out there competing for advertising budgets, you know that many companies have heard pitches from several different organizations. Why did they go a different route? Ask them. At least the sanctioning body would get some idea on which direction they need to go. Otherwise, you're looking at watering the cars down to the point where the costs to run them is more in line with the prize funds, which may very well render them uninteresting to watch.......

Sean D

 

[Toejam]

Those door slammer events are selling out tracks that might hold 5000 people max....... SGMP seats 3000 people.

We have a Winner!!!! Now should one of these Doorslammer shows Jay raves about Fill Gainesville or Indy? Different story

 

[Butch]

I read that Mike Guger is staying on board to help liquidate the race equipment.
He said that the contract was good till the end of the 2017 season. I personally think Bob should have given it a short time to heal in his loss of his friend. But who knows it might be more to it than we've all heard.
Hopefully he gave all employees a severance package.
The days of a couple friends pooling paychecks and racing in a pro category is over.
The cost of racing anything has gone out of control. I helped my grandson race his Kart and watching parents through $250K a year at racing a GoKart.

 

[Jer]

Whats the point of having a contract then??? They obviously mean nothing

 

[Toejam]

One poster said the following,

I hope NHRA also figures out a way to massively increase purses at the Pro level.

You got to be kidding me with the trend in drag racing heading south with fans, racers, sponsors and smaller fields you really think now is the time to increase the purses?
Where would the money come from to do this?

To me the name of the game now is how to survive over the next five years or longer.



Just my opinion.
Jim Hill
http://www.nostalgicracingdecals.com

You've got to be Kidding? Survive the next 5 years? God I wish I had a $1 every time somebody said the sport is dying! I can't wait to revisit this thread come Nov!

 

[Nick Name]

We have a Winner!!!! Now should one of these Doorslammer shows Jay raves about Fill Gainesville or Indy? Different story

NOt sure NHRA would want this at their tracks. What do you thing it would say if they did fill Gainsville. I wonder if Duck has tried to do that.

 

[Toejam]

They didn't have to close the track because the stands were full. The people who could get in were parking on those cotton fields on the road to the track. They was way more than 3000 people there. Also, doubt that many people showed up to see a TV star.

You can not get new blood interested in any kind of drag racing they feel they can not do. Back in the 60 ( sorry Joe ), we all got hooked on nitro racing because we were doing it. Junk yard motor with rods, pistons, valve springs and a blower off of a bus, and we were racing.

As far as nostalgia top fuel, there was never really any such thing. Those cars with the phone booth cockpits, narrow front axel, big carbon injector and VW slicks with monster canards, was not something that was ever raced in the past. It has never had any kind of fan base outside of the guys that do it.

So you would rather see full stands at a 5,000 seat track than 20,000 at Pomona? Doesn't make any sense!

 

[Toejam]

NOt sure NHRA would want this at their tracks. What do you thing it would say if they did fill Gainsville. I wonder if Duck has tried to do that.

They filled the Texas Motorplex with Free tickets, once they started charging attendance tanked

 

[Rajunz]

The answer to all of it is not more fans in the stands. The races sell pretty well. Some markets better than others, but venues like Baytown, Norwalk, Vegas 2 are always close to sellouts. The answer to it all is making the new Fox TV package work. If that continues to improve, more sponsors will come, guaranteed.