What do the owners do? (1 Viewer)

[you]

Maybe I'm naive about this subject because I don't race on ANY level (just a dedicated spectator), but when did the driver become the person responsible for bringing in sponsors for the owner?

Again, my lack of experience may play into this, but I always thought it was the owners' responsibility to bring in the funding and keep the sponsors happy. Don't get me wrong. I know the owner's pay out of pocket for some expenses and sponsor funding doesn't cover everything.

Can you imagine, if early in Peyton Manning's career, he wasn't signed to a team because he didn't bring a sponsor to the table?

I guess this is just like anything else. Once one person does it, the flood-gates open up soon after.

 

[handsome]

it's the way of the world today. talent out ....... money in. many of the best drivers are sitting at home and will probably never get to fully show their talents again.

 

[john]

The deals to put a team together must be as diverse as the individuals involved. I guess it's "any which way you can".

 

[MM]

more or less the sponsors basically sponsor the driver more than the owner...i mean think about it...when you here 'skoal racing funny car' you think TJ not Don Prudomme, and when you here 'US Army top fueler' you think tony, not don....so it makes sense to me that the driver that can acquire the sponsors and convince a corporation to let them be associated with their product often gets the ride....that DOESN'T however mean that i agree with it!

 

[Gordon]

I guess this is just like anything else. Once one person does it, the flood-gates open up soon after.

The classic chicken or the egg argument... How does a driver show his stuff to potential sponsors without a ride? By the same token, how can a potential driver afford to be competitive without a sponsor?

I partially agree with Bruce - there are a lot of really good race car drivers out there who could win, but since they can't bring money to the table we may never see them again... He says talent out, money in & that's what I don't completely agree with. Jeff Arend is talented, just like Phil Burkhart is. According to Rob Geiger (Geiger Counter 04/04/07), Brady is just as talented as Troy (though both have limited experience in TF). My point is that it's not always talent out - a lot of times it's talent replaced with similar talent... with money.

Regardless, it's a shame it's come to this. I hated it for Phil & I hate it for Troy, but I'm happy for Jeff & Brady.

 

[yoda]

I've always seen it as the Owners build it out of their own pocket (or the pockets of a few faithful others) to get the car assembled, the truck and trailer outfitted and to get the expendables (fuel, tires, crew ,etc.) initially. At one point, they even paid for the driver to come on board and offer them financial incentive to be part of the team.

At some point during the build up, they got sponsors to get on board and cover some of the expenses that got the car out of the garage and to the track. Sponsors supplied the parts that they made (which is why I get a giggle out of cars with things like Strivectin on the body panels.. ), and the build process went better for those guys that got stuff from everyone (my stepdad had help from Pennzoil (oil, truck gas and hotels), M&H (tires) and Simpson (safety gear and on-the-road help) back with his BB/FC). THEN once you got it together, you saw folks about sinking some cash into your completed project- more if you had a name and a nice piece; some if you actually had some good performance and some company rep noticed.

Things went a bit haywire when costs escalated out of control around the Billy Meyer/ Raymond Beadle days, when it became really difficult to get out of the garage on your own dollar, and the need for financial sponsors came before cars were even completed. Owners became dollar hunters once the paint design went on paper, and I remember tons of projects that never made it past the rendering stage- cars and teams that would have been operational 15 years before.

The end of the "Cars are the Stars" era was the start of when the Owners "got wise" and started to see that part of the sales pitch to sponsors was WHO was in the seat, not just how nice the car was, or how well they had run before. Selling sponsors on the drivers kept the money flowing in as long as the guy was in the seat, and once they left, the owner had to move quick to make sure there was another "hot shoe" to take his place. Once the drivers got this figured out, backdoor deals with sponsors caused them to scoot with the name on the side of the car when they left the team (MATCO and Whit come to recent memory- not quite a bad thing in that particular case).

Maybe the pendulum has swung the other way- Owners have seen that the money usually follows the Drivers, and now make the first thing they look for on a drivers resume is what Company do they have in pocket to help get the multi-million dollar project out of the shop bay. That's fine for those drivers that have been able to sell themselves to interested Big-Dollar corporations, but to those great drivers that are good at "point-and-shoot" but not so hot in the boardroom, living the dream of being in the Big Show gets more difficult every day. It's not going to be going back- just as going to the junkyard for a 392 to stuff into your rail is a distant memory- and the parts that everyone on the team plays is now aligned a bit differently than it used to be.

 

[you]

Awesome posts fellas........I guess a word of advise for pepole wanting to be a pro driver in the future: Forget going to a technical school and learning about the mechanical aspects of the car; go to a good business school and get your masters degree. You're gonna be spending A LOT of time in the boardroom and hospitality area.

 

[PJ]

You questions answers itself. If driver B brings money with them and driver A does not, then you are gaining a sponsor by grabbing driver B

Yes it sucks but in the world of cubic dollar racing thats how it is

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Well, since drag racing doesn't have the popularity level of NASCAR with sponsors climbing all over each other to get in, you get what you see. You can win a championship one year and be sitting out without a sponsor the next. Teams are put together with whatever it takes. Money out of the owners' pockets, drivers bringing sponsor and/or personal money with them, etc.

 

[Jim]

more or less the sponsors basically sponsor the driver more than the owner...i mean think about it...when you here 'skoal racing funny car' you think TJ not Don Prudomme, and when you here 'US Army top fueler' you think tony, not don....!

Not sure I agree with that. KB, Snake, Shoe, and Jim Dunn (in a different way) may be big enough owners where there's little question who's in charge.

Personally, I see no reason a driver shouldn't be a critical part of the sales team. That is, participating in the attracting, care and feeding of sponsors and their customers. The whole deal has to be a TEAM effort!

 

[cephus]

Great post, I have been offered 3 different deals on fuel cars but guess what
i had to bring money first, it wasn't about ability or talent just money, although i did have to know have to drive somewhat i guess, what is funny i
have 20 years experience with the trucking business, John Deere, Cat equipment, truck stops and could talk circles around some of the drivers & reps on the mechanics & marketing of these arenas but it doesn't matter and also look at our record in alcohol racing and you see Torco and some of the others sponsoring some these guys and they don't produce wins don't make any sense to me, It's almost like they ignore the Southern market potiental??
I would think the sponsor want wins and market share!

As i have said it's about money and who you know & blow!

Bama Boys

 

[MM]

Not sure I agree with that. KB, Snake, Shoe, and Jim Dunn (in a different way) may be big enough owners where there's little question who's in charge.

it's not a question or statement of who is in charge....it's a question of who do u associate with product on the side you the car the owner or the driver?

 

[none]

You guys are looking at it all wrong. If you are an owner, it is a business. You are in business to make money. There is an old saying;

"You can make friends, or you can make money"

In another life, I was a heavy equipment mechanic. I was good at it. I was paid well. And I had a great relationship with the company owner. It cost him a lot of money in pay and benifits to have me fix his trucks and tractors. Now, imagine that a guy comes along who has experiance fixing stuff and loves to do it. He tells my boss, I can fix tractors just as good as Alan can and I'll PAY YOU if you let me do it! What do you think my boss would have done.

How many of you have employees? If someone came along that was willing to pay you if you would let him work, would you say no?

Alan

 

[Cymon Sez]

If someone came along that was willing to pay you if you would let him work, would you say no?

Alan

It would come down to loyalties unlike most companies. COUGH circuit city

 

[Gordon]

You guys are looking at it all wrong. If you are an owner, it is a business. You are in business to make money. There is an old saying;

"You can make friends, or you can make money"

In another life, I was a heavy equipment mechanic. I was good at it. I was paid well. And I had a great relationship with the company owner. It cost him a lot of money in pay and benifits to have me fix his trucks and tractors. Now, imagine that a guy comes along who has experiance fixing stuff and loves to do it. He tells my boss, I can fix tractors just as good as Alan can and I'll PAY YOU if you let me do it! What do you think my boss would have done.

How many of you have employees? If someone came along that was willing to pay you if you would let him work, would you say no?

Alan

Great point Alan. But in your analogy, the mechanic willing to pay the owner is EQUALLY as talented as you were. Is the owner going to continue to make money if everything the new guy fixes comes back with problems? I would guess at some point those heavy equipment operating folks are going to take their business & their heavy equipment elsewhere to get it repaired, no?

That's why I posted what I did on this subject. It's not ALWAYS talent out, money in. A lot of times (most of the time, in fact) there are equal trades talent for talent, but the new guy (or gal) has money... then it makes sense, whether we fans like it or not. As you said, it's a business decision and owners are in this to make money. Fair enough.

But an example that comes readily to mind of an unequal talent trade is Andrew Cowin for Mike Dunn in Darrell Gwynn's TF car. As much as I love Andrew Cowin, he was no Mike Dunn... but he had money. He may be as capable as Mike someday, but when that deal happened, he wasn't. So, Mike's out (still) & Andrew's in.

But then we probably enter into a whole new arena... Had Andrew not brought money, would Darrell Gwynn have been able to compete at all - thus potentially leaving Mike without a ride anyway, and us fans minus one TF car at each event? Honestly, I don't know the answer to that question, but I suspect I can guess & if I'm close I won't like the answer.

As I said before, it sucks but it is, as Alan said, business.

 

[T.Smith]

Well, if didn't take 3 million a year to race a nitro car. Maybe we would see more teams and drivers out there.

...if the purse wasn't so pitiful, maybe we would see more teams and drivers out there.

...if some owners wouldn't spend 2 million year and put a major decal on their car for $500,000 a year, maybe we would see more teams and drivers out there.

The costs to run one of these cars far exceeds what it is actually worth. If an owner knew for the upcoming 3 years he had 9 million dollars worth outside money coming. I would be willing to bet he would be a lot less likely to hire a driver because he was the highest bidder.

As far as "making money". I would like to see the real books of some of the "money making" nitro teams.

As far as Peyton Manning and race car drivers are concerned. There are very few people on earth that possess the talent Peyton has to allow him to play in the NFL. Many, many people tune in on Sunday afternoon to see that talent displayed. That's why he is paid so much!!!

I could pull somebody out of the stands that could drive a race car and do it at a very high level. Most drivers and fans don't want hear that...but too bad!

 

[TJ]

Tony....Perfectly said.....I have always felt that the driver situation in a fuel car was way over-rated....and that was determined after obtaining an alcohol funny car license in 8-9 passes on a horrible track (LACR) and never driven anything down a track before in my life.

On the owner thing....D Gwynn said it best when he stated many owners are dumping more of their own dollars into the program that what the sponsorship gives em...w/out admitting it..

 

[you]

As far as Peyton Manning and race car drivers are concerned. There are very few people on earth that possess the talent Peyton has to allow him to play in the NFL. Many, many people tune in on Sunday afternoon to see that talent displayed. That's why he is paid so much!!!

I totally agree with you Tony. I was just using him as an example. I was trying to use a non-racing reference and he's the first one who came to mind.

 

[none]

What's the most important thing that you look for in a driver?

If you said "On track performance" you are living in a fantasy world. The correct answer is, "The ability to generate exposure". It has always been like that. If you win, someone might want you to wear their shirts, or use their copiers, but the reason is that they want to be able to say "Alan wins with Acme" (making up names)

John Force had never been close to winning a race when he hooked up with Castrol. But he promised them that he would spread the word, and he delivered. Twenty-three years later, he still is. Kenny Bernstein went to Budweiser and told them he could help to sell beer, not that he could win races. That came later.

Let's take an example of Alan who is a successful businessman who has the money to race Super Street. Alan is willing to spend 1.5 million of his own money because he loves to race and he can afford it. Are you with me so far? Along comes XYZ corp. and wants to be on a car. They call Alan and say we would like to sponsor you for half a million dollars, just paint our logo on your car and cash the check. Alan says "DEAL!" I'm still having fun racing, and now I'm saving $500,000.00 What a deal! After all I was going to spend the money anyway. And XYZ can say that they have a Super Street car.

Now, on the other hand, Fred is a car owner who races for a living, he doesn't have the money that Alan does, but he has been able to feed his family from racing for a while now. His driver is Chuck, Chuck is a good driver and Fred pays him $50,000.00 per year plus a percentage of what they win, last year Chuck made $85,000.00 But Chuck isn’t that good at public speaking, he is even a little camera shy when the ESPN guys come by. Fred can't afford to spend 1.5 million to keep up without sponsor help so he tells ABC corp. that in order to race he needs $1,500,000.00, You still following me? ABC corp. says, well, XYZ is only spending 500 thou. so why do we need to spend three times as much? Fred tries to explain that the true cost is 1.5

XYZ now is thinking that they could call Alan's brother Jeff and get on board for "just" $500,000.00 But, Fred knows the game, he tells ABC that he will display the car 30 times a year in all the major markets. He will make the trip to the ABC annual sales conference, display the car. He will welcome the regional “Salesman of the month” as a VIP guest at the races in that region Above and beyond what Alan does for XYZ corp. ABC says, OK we can go $1,000,000.00 but that’s all we have. Fred thinks he can do it for that if he cuts back on testing and maybe does a little less R&D. (Do the math, he is giving up $10 THOUSAND a week!) But halfway through the season, he is running short of cash, and not running very well, because he can’t afford to test. ABC corp. is thinking that they are spending twice as much as XYZ and not getting the same results. Along comes Jeremy who has a connection with GHI corp. he is willing to pony up $750,000.00 Above and beyond what his salary will be, because he is a paid spokesperson for the company. Fred tells Jeremy that he will have to speak to the ABC corp. functions, and make appearances, Jeremy says, “no problem”. Fred has known Chuck for years, and hates the thought of having to let him go, but he can’t keep racing without the extra money, so he does what he has to do.

Now, is Fred the bad guy here? If you were Fred, would you do it differently?

Next week we’ll talk about Personal Services Contracts.

Alan

 

[Paul]

What's the most important thing that you look for in a driver?

If you said "On track performance" you are living in a fantasy world. The correct answer is, "The ability to generate exposure". It has always been like that. If you win, someone might want you to wear their shirts, or use their copiers, but the reason is that they want to be able to say "Alan wins with Acme" (making up names)

John Force had never been close to winning a race when he hooked up with Castrol. But he promised them that he would spread the word, and he delivered. Twenty-three years later, he still is. Kenny Bernstein went to Budweiser and told them he could help to sell beer, not that he could win races. That came later.

Let's take an example of Alan who is a successful businessman who has the money to race Super Street. Alan is willing to spend 1.5 million of his own money because he loves to race and he can afford it. Are you with me so far? Along comes XYZ corp. and wants to be on a car. They call Alan and say we would like to sponsor you for half a million dollars, just paint our logo on your car and cash the check. Alan says "DEAL!" I'm still having fun racing, and now I'm saving $500,000.00 What a deal! After all I was going to spend the money anyway. And XYZ can say that they have a Super Street car.

Now, on the other hand, Fred is a car owner who races for a living, he doesn't have the money that Alan does, but he has been able to feed his family from racing for a while now. His driver is Chuck, Chuck is a good driver and Fred pays him $50,000.00 per year plus a percentage of what they win, last year Chuck made $85,000.00 But Chuck isn’t that good at public speaking, he is even a little camera shy when the ESPN guys come by. Fred can't afford to spend 1.5 million to keep up without sponsor help so he tells ABC corp. that in order to race he needs $1,500,000.00, You still following me? ABC corp. says, well, XYZ is only spending 500 thou. so why do we need to spend three times as much? Fred tries to explain that the true cost is 1.5

XYZ now is thinking that they could call Alan's brother Jeff and get on board for "just" $500,000.00 But, Fred knows the game, he tells ABC that he will display the car 30 times a year in all the major markets. He will make the trip to the ABC annual sales conference, display the car. He will welcome the regional “Salesman of the month” as a VIP guest at the races in that region Above and beyond what Alan does for XYZ corp. ABC says, OK we can go $1,000,000.00 but that’s all we have. Fred thinks he can do it for that if he cuts back on testing and maybe does a little less R&D. (Do the math, he is giving up $10 THOUSAND a week!) But halfway through the season, he is running short of cash, and not running very well, because he can’t afford to test. ABC corp. is thinking that they are spending twice as much as XYZ and not getting the same results. Along comes Jeremy who has a connection with GHI corp. he is willing to pony up $750,000.00 Above and beyond what his salary will be, because he is a paid spokesperson for the company. Fred tells Jeremy that he will have to speak to the ABC corp. functions, and make appearances, Jeremy says, “no problem”. Fred has known Chuck for years, and hates the thought of having to let him go, but he can’t keep racing without the extra money, so he does what he has to do.

Now, is Fred the bad guy here? If you were Fred, would you do it differently?

Next week we’ll talk about Personal Services Contracts.

Alan

This was a classic response Alan, thanks for sharing. Hopefully, some people will get the picture.