Helping HD Partners

#16 11-29-2007, 12:47 PM

Seems like we are just rehashing stuff from old threads, but I will go ahead and rehash my ideas:

- Shorten the TV show. 3 hours is too long, too many replays of the same runs especially first round top fuel and funny car. Also too many interviews. We don't need to see Force thanking everybody four times an eliminations show.
- Fix the TV time slot. Asking folks on the east coast and in flyover states to stay up to 1 AM on Sunday night is ridiculous.
- Pick 4 events and call them the "Grand Slam" or "Big 4" or something along those lines. Hype the heck out of them and buy time on network TV for those races. If NHRA can buy time on ESPN, they should be able to get on ABC. (I nominate Gainesville, ETown, Indy and Pomona 2)
- Run races in the summer on Saturday night. Too hot during the day on Sundays and too many tire smokers. Also allows you to pick your time slot on Sunday for a replay show for those that can't stay up Saturday night for the first broadcast.
- Develop ancillary TV programming. Should not be hard to develop NHRA Tech or Inside NHRA or something similar for a mid week show on ESPN2 or Speed.
- Either increase the purses for the Pros or backoff on the ridiculous fees they charge for selling merchandise on the midway. Also allow teams to have reasonable fees for hospitality and catering.
- Develop the sportsman series as a type of Busch series for NHRA pro racing. Hype the stars of tomorrow. Give a short segment on the national event broadcast for the sportsman winners.

#17 11-29-2007, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Flies

My "premature evaluation" statement was a "slap in the face" to you? I guess it doesn't take much.

If you think of me as a keyboard "expert", I don't have a problem with it, but apparently you do.

I don't post much, usually only in matters that I have had some experience in. In this case, I thought posting ideas about what a HDP should do before they have even taken charge is a bit, well, premature. And that is not meant to be a slap to anybodies face.

I guess you think I am not allowed to post my comments, that is, if they go against yours.

If you want to continue this, maybe a PM would be more appropriate.

From the number of posts in the short time since Bob posted the thread, I believe we would want to continue this through general posting without the keyboard "experts" comments.

May we now return to our regularly scheduled Mater thread.

#18 11-29-2007, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PJ Sapienza

While I agree that we may never be as big as nascar (and I am ok with that)

Now admittedly I don't watch nascar but the few times I have stopped to see what the big deal is it seems only the front few cars get coverage or any big name person that isn't doing well and of course whoever crashes.

Do they really show all 30 or 40 cars that are running in nascar. When the are shown is it focussed on them or are they looking at 10 cars fighting for 7the place?
When Winston sponsored both nascar and drag racing they said that while they did get twice the new customers from nascar then they did from drag racing, it took them 4 times the money to do it. Seems DR is the better deal as you get a better ROI

I'll be more than happy to stipulate that you see the "successful" NASCAR teams lap after lap just like I had stipulated you see the successful drag racing teams. Truth of the matter is you almost don't see anything of the less successful drag racing teams (count down or not) and the sponsor get no exposure. In NASCAR the sponsor of most teams (good or bad) at least gets some exposure because of that big ol bilboard called a hood.

By the way I don't care for the count down the way its structured and I think it further impacts the sponsors exposure but not as much as the teams lack of success.

#19 11-29-2007, 01:48 PM

OK but I have to wonder. If the low budget team who barely makes it in the field and qualifies 16. Does he not get more direct coverage than whoever finishes 13th, 21st,29th or last in a nascar event?
In drag racing they will show the burnout, last second adjustments, staging then the run as well as replays. You have 2 vehicles or for this conversation sponsors and thats it. In nascar anytime that they would show cars further back in the back it would be as a group shot. The viewers attention is split in several directions and that assumes that the camera is such that each sponsor on the 3, 6, 12 cars in the frame can all be seen.

I would think The leaders in a nascar race would get more actual tv time then a winner in tf but even at that I wonder if this is a question of quality vs quantity. Driver A wins the race. He/she gets 4 passes where it is only them and one other car, interviewed after each pass plus the race winning interview. Drive B wins the nascar race. Leads 25 laps. never runs away from the pack the camera is always on 4-7 cars. One interview after the win.

Now driver b gets more tv time, but with spiltting the viewers attention is it to the same quality(and arguably more of an impact) then drive a gets.

#20 11-29-2007, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Waters

I'm sorry to say this because like you I truly enjoy and love drag racing. But the truth is drag racing will never be able to compete with NASCAR and other forms of motor racing because of its very nature. Think about it..you get to see the sponsor's name for 25 or 30 seconds in drag racing and that's only if the team is very successful. In most other forms you see the sponsors name lap after lap after lap. Total exposure time for the sponsor is measured in minutes not seconds.

Simply put the return on investment is and never will be there. At the end of the year a 3 million dollar investment get a sponsor perhaps 10 minutes total exposure at the rate of $5,000.00 per second while 20 million in NASCAR may get 90 minutes total exposure at the rate of $3,700.00 per second. Next you must calcuulate how many eyes view that second. I don't know the numbers but its very easy to speculate that for every drag race viewer there are 20 or 30 NASCAR viewers.

Before you jump on this about the numbers let me say they were just for illustration purposes and I'm unsure of the accuracy but I suspect if they are wrong then it will only make the ROI for drag racing worse.

At some point we must get back to our roots and realize drag racing will never be a big time fan based motor sport. It just doesn't lend itself to a made for television event that provides an acceptable ROI for the sponsors.

We've taken the real innovation out of it which is the reason most of us did this thing. We've made it so expensive that 3 or 4 guys can no longer go together a build a competive car that can run in the "PRO" classes. We used to have 32 car fields in fuel classes all the time and once in a while 64 car classes. What happened? We need to get back to our Roots!

Just my opinion

I agree!
There is too much down time between action and if an oil down happens it's worse!
I think Sportsman classes need their own event, I like sportsman classes, but people are paying to see the Fuel Cars that is an undisputable fact!
Just look at the stands when the sportsman classes are running it's not rocket science.
Make Pro Mod's, T/F Harleys and Fuel Altered a class would be a good idea.
I agree with Doc a solid TV package would definitely help the cause but bottom line Drag Racing is not TV friendly and until they could figure how to make it friendlier it will stunt the sports growth!
I don't have any ideas myself but it still needs to happen.

#21 11-29-2007, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PJ Sapienza

OK but I have to wonder. If the low budget team who barely makes it in the field and qualifies 16. Does he not get more direct coverage than whoever finishes 13th, 21st,29th or last in a nascar event?
In drag racing they will show the burnout, last second adjustments, staging then the run as well as replays. You have 2 vehicles or for this conversation sponsors and thats it. In nascar anytime that they would show cars further back in the back it would be as a group shot. The viewers attention is split in several directions and that assumes that the camera is such that each sponsor on the 3, 6, 12 cars in the frame can all be seen.

I would think The leaders in a nascar race would get more actual tv time then a winner in tf but even at that I wonder if this is a question of quality vs quantity. Driver A wins the race. He/she gets 4 passes where it is only them and one other car, interviewed after each pass plus the race winning interview. Drive B wins the nascar race. Leads 25 laps. never runs away from the pack the camera is always on 4-7 cars. One interview after the win.

Now driver b gets more tv time, but with spiltting the viewers attention is it to the same quality(and arguably more of an impact) then drive a gets.

I guess the real point is that many people including housewives, doctors and so forth who really are not all that much of a gearhead like and watch other forms of motor racing mostly NASCAR. Drag racing fans on the other hand seems to be mostly gearheads or family of a gearhead. That limits the number of exposures the sponsor gets and also the type of sponsor.

Couple that with the fact that if your a front runner your burnout gets watched and you perhaps get interviewed before or after the race while the car in the other lane get largely ignored. And that's before the first count down cut. If you don't make the cut your chopped liver.

In the mean time those big ol billboards with the sponsor's name on it just keeps goin around in a circle for what seems like days all the while getting some exposure or mention from time to time with millions watching. Then after the fact each race is rehashed for several days and next weeks event is analyzed over and over. Everyone want to know why so and so isn't running well or in contention. Did you ever hear that question asked about Doug K. or anyone else on ESPN sports center?

All the while we are on the track and in the interview booth an average of about 20 seconds per pass. So if we win we get about 2 1/2 min. for our sponsor. Next week if we go out first round and get about 40 seconds exposure.

All I'm saying is we're over way to quick and only watched by a limited audience to ever be an effective marketing tool except to a limited number of sponsors.

And those big ol bill boards are still goin in a circle just like something you just flushed down the drain.

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