Jon Asher wrote a great article over at CompPlus about the current state of the sport, now that the HDP deal is dead. He focuses on how drag racers for years have sold themselves short just to get a deal, and over the years this has hurt the perceived value that sponsors assign to the sport. I think it's a good piece and on the money.

Asher as always is spot on that Jack Clark deal was rediculous. Either NHRA needs to raise the purse or figure out how to reduce the costs but Pandora's box is wide open and the box is probably going to get even bigger.

I've always said that the Name on the side of the car doesn't always mean a whole lot. But then again, taking a $350,000 Sponsor cut still means your getting money that's NOT coming out of your own pocket.

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Shift for Brains!!!!

Unfortunately undercutting yourself is inherent in just about every industry were one competitor thinks it will give him an advantage over the other. They would rather get the work, and give a half-ass return on the investment. Many times they don't realize they are only hurting themselves. Even in my industry, I do hard drive data recovery for clients all over the world. There are really not a lot of people in the world that do what I do, but there are a lot of people who think they know how to do it. There's always some joker who thinks they can make a quick buck at it and tries to advertise it for $299 or some ridiculous price. Sometimes the parts alone cost that much, not to mention everything you have invested in equipment, custom software, tools, etc. Sure enough, they usually know just enough to screw things up, and in turn they make the whole industry suffer to some degree.

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Greg Duffield
ACS Data Recovery
http://www.acsdata.com

i also enjoy mr. asher's columns.
i would like to see him follow this thread a little farther
and comment on sanctioning body/race team relations as
they apply to new sponsors.
how, why and where do the sponsors end up; event sponsors,
team/car sponsors, official 'widget' of sanctioning body, etc.

if an independent team attracts a major business for their team
only, are they open to attacks from other teams, sanc. bodies
who think they need to 'share the pie'?

Bottom line is most team's offer basically the same thing... signage, driver appearances, contest tie-in's etc. That means race car sponsorship is a commodity, like salt or gasoline. You always buy a commoditiy at the lowest price. Until team's can show that they have a unique advantage over everyone else, price will always be the overrideing factor.

I understand what Jon is trying to say, but in my opinion most teams are not in a position to justify asking for the kind of money it takes to race.

Keep this in mind... The value of a motorsports program should have nothing to do with what it cost to race (as Jon pointed out $2.5MM). It should instead be based on the kind of Return the Sponsor can get. Instead of saying "Mr. Sponsor you need to give me $2.5MM because that is what it cost me to be competitive"... you need to come up with a program that delivers 2x to 4x that amount back to the sponsor so that they can justify giving you $2.5MM.

Is it possible the low buck deals are actually right in line with what the sponsor is getting in return on a value basis? You decide...

respectfully my opinion,
-Mark

I think Asher is right on target, there is a percieved value to things and if something is priced below a certain price point certain folks won't buy it, that's how a lot of higher end/luxary brands work. Are $300 jeans really better than $10 jeans? I don't think so but a lot of people do, I think that explains a lot of the sponsors that are in Champ/IRL & ALMS, their numbers aren't as good as drag racing, but they are percieved as the luxary brands of motorsports and drag racing is percieved as the Dollar Store of Motorsports. NASCAR is percieved as the Wal Mart of motorsports, but like Wal Mart its to big for corporate America to ignore. As long as folks give out full signage for 1/4 to 1/2 value deals and the sanctioning bodies try to Shanghi sponsors from teams courting them, drag racing will never have the proper percieved value in line with the true operating costs of the sport. We all know that we're not a bunch of low class leather jacketed hoods, but that's still the perception of drag racing among the general public and more importantly those who control the purse strings in coporate board rooms. If we continue to ask for and accept crumbs and act like rubes that's how the corporate world will continue to treat us. The BBC did a great documentary about F1 and its linkage to the corporate world and why sponsor line up to be part of even back marker teams, because of the market penetration AND cache of F1 Formula for success - BBC World People know this no longer just a sport but a business that supports lots of people and PRO needs to act in concert with each other and the sanctioning bodies and treat it as such, for the survival and growth of the sport.

Semper Fi
D