Sean, he was saying that the Sportsman racers bring in more Gate than the paying spectators do! That is not the case!
What is the Holy Grail in growing NHRA Drag Racing? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Speedy_Sticks
- Start date
Sean, he was saying that the Sportsman racers bring in more Gate than the paying spectators do! That is not the case!
clwill
Nitro Member
Per head, you bet they do.
Have read some very good ideas, and the one I personaly like was have the Nitro classes Chicago style, drop the class limits winner race winner ,loser race loser, best of both meet at end,some say not fair but small teams can come out and reach a final, big teams overpower , it can work out. Second run 16 N/FC and N/TF along with big show, people love cars that look like cars not all door stops.That gives a possible 64 nitro cars,, what a draw. Adjust the price down a little ( NHRA is still cheaper than NASCAR from what I have seen) and go back to making it fan friendly.
Sean D, shondoo
Nitro Member
rollingthunder
Nitro Member
He is right about the free tickets. I have been given tickets to other events. When we are there we buy the concessions and someone in the groups is always buying a t shirt.
Ice Bucket
Nitro Member
I never thought the day would come that I was not a diehard drag racing fan, but its here. I haven’t been to a notional event in a few years, not even the ones in my back yard. I still make 15-20 sprint cars races a year, so its not like I am not a race fan at all. While I still keep up with the goings on with the sport on the web and never miss a ESPN2 show, the desire to jack with going to an actual race just isn’t there.
It just doesn’t have the appeal to me anymore. So much of the experience is sights and sounds that have changed over the years. You always looked forward to Force and Skuza’s 660 burnouts. 3 good whacks during warmup. In the pits you would have the well polished teams like Snake and Bernstein and some rag-tag groups like Hoffman who would put your ass on the trailer with a dually and goose neck. Many of the guys in Pro Stock showcased their speed shop or engine shop and could fund their racing from a racing related business. The current cookie cutter equipment, trucks, trailers, support vehicles, race cars and so on just doesn’t create too much excitement for me.
So, how to correct it, if it is even correctable? As for the nitro classes, the cost to run a car has far exceeded the value of sponsorship dollars needed. There just isn’t 2.5 million worth of value to a sponsor. If there was, we would still have Budweiser, Miller, Coors, McDonalds, Advanced Auto, Quaker State, The Yankee’s, Valvoline, Oakley and I could go on forever in the sport. Companies are fully aware of the NHRA and if it produced a ROI, they would be involved. In today’s market budgets are so tight every $ has to produce. Gone are the days of VP’s who love racing figuring out how the slide a sponsorship in to the ad budget. This means NHRA has to get the cost down on these cars.
I have no idea on where to start in making a nitro car less expensive to run, but there has to be plenty of ways to do so. Regardless, if you could the cost to run a full year down to $1-$1.5 million per year, the car count would have to go up. There would be more sponsors able to justify the lower price of entry. Not to mention, nitro cars bring in a decent amount of money if you can qualify and go a few rounds that would help offset the cost with the help of the rich guys who have always keep us going. Hopefully, the changes would also add a little more seat of the pants turning that would help guys like Haddock or Scott Palmer. There needs to be a hybrid of the current technology and NFC specs.
As for Pro Stock, I stated in another thread spec heads and manifolds would really boost the class. There has never been media value in PS, but at least we could try to get the cost down. There are plenty of engine builders that could build a competitive PS engine if they had the funds for R&D on the heads and intake. If you took the R&D cost (time and money) out of these parts you would see a increase in the participants in this class. I don’t think spec parts would hurt the integrity of the class. There is still 1,000’s of areas to tweak and tune on the engine and the best would raise to the top. Do you think Larry Morgan could do more than he is now if he had the same budget for R&D as the top teams? WJ/KJ, Stanfield, Todd Paterson, just to name a few would be championship contenders if the cost were in check.
NASCAR has done a great job in getting the equipment on a level playing field and the racing over the past few years has been better than ever. While they are struggling with attendance too, NHRA could learn a lesson from them on controlling cost. I also think the internet has helped just as much as it has hurt. I can sit at my desk and keep up with all of the drama and news in real time from countless websites. By the time a National event comes to town, part of my fix has been taken care of. IMHO
It just doesn’t have the appeal to me anymore. So much of the experience is sights and sounds that have changed over the years. You always looked forward to Force and Skuza’s 660 burnouts. 3 good whacks during warmup. In the pits you would have the well polished teams like Snake and Bernstein and some rag-tag groups like Hoffman who would put your ass on the trailer with a dually and goose neck. Many of the guys in Pro Stock showcased their speed shop or engine shop and could fund their racing from a racing related business. The current cookie cutter equipment, trucks, trailers, support vehicles, race cars and so on just doesn’t create too much excitement for me.
So, how to correct it, if it is even correctable? As for the nitro classes, the cost to run a car has far exceeded the value of sponsorship dollars needed. There just isn’t 2.5 million worth of value to a sponsor. If there was, we would still have Budweiser, Miller, Coors, McDonalds, Advanced Auto, Quaker State, The Yankee’s, Valvoline, Oakley and I could go on forever in the sport. Companies are fully aware of the NHRA and if it produced a ROI, they would be involved. In today’s market budgets are so tight every $ has to produce. Gone are the days of VP’s who love racing figuring out how the slide a sponsorship in to the ad budget. This means NHRA has to get the cost down on these cars.
I have no idea on where to start in making a nitro car less expensive to run, but there has to be plenty of ways to do so. Regardless, if you could the cost to run a full year down to $1-$1.5 million per year, the car count would have to go up. There would be more sponsors able to justify the lower price of entry. Not to mention, nitro cars bring in a decent amount of money if you can qualify and go a few rounds that would help offset the cost with the help of the rich guys who have always keep us going. Hopefully, the changes would also add a little more seat of the pants turning that would help guys like Haddock or Scott Palmer. There needs to be a hybrid of the current technology and NFC specs.
As for Pro Stock, I stated in another thread spec heads and manifolds would really boost the class. There has never been media value in PS, but at least we could try to get the cost down. There are plenty of engine builders that could build a competitive PS engine if they had the funds for R&D on the heads and intake. If you took the R&D cost (time and money) out of these parts you would see a increase in the participants in this class. I don’t think spec parts would hurt the integrity of the class. There is still 1,000’s of areas to tweak and tune on the engine and the best would raise to the top. Do you think Larry Morgan could do more than he is now if he had the same budget for R&D as the top teams? WJ/KJ, Stanfield, Todd Paterson, just to name a few would be championship contenders if the cost were in check.
NASCAR has done a great job in getting the equipment on a level playing field and the racing over the past few years has been better than ever. While they are struggling with attendance too, NHRA could learn a lesson from them on controlling cost. I also think the internet has helped just as much as it has hurt. I can sit at my desk and keep up with all of the drama and news in real time from countless websites. By the time a National event comes to town, part of my fix has been taken care of. IMHO
