Something like what almost destroyed Indy Car Racing?
And they still haven't recovered.
I remember going as a kid in the sixties, they were packed, not so anymore!

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******** AHDRA -- PG 144 ********
www.americancycleperformance.com
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There was a stockholder press conference for HD shareholders and that question was asked. NHRA will be paying NHRA Pro $800,000 per year to include the Sportsman racers in national events.

Here are a couple of links for some more reading.

HD Partners Acquisition Corporation

Roadshow Presentation

Page 31 is interesting.

Jeff

Paul, whatever changes these players have in mind if the Connie Kalitta's, Evan Knolls, John Force's and Don Schumacher's aren't onboard they'll have Major problems! These 4 figures control almost 40% of the Nitro contingent.

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Shift for Brains!!!!

Gregg is right. NHRA owns Indy, Columbus, Gainesville, and Atlanta with a long term lease on Pomona.

I KNOW WHAT THIS WHOLE THING IS ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!

Since the NHRA actually has money now, they are lowering ticket prices for the fans.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Am I not the only one who is majorily dissappointed in Coke/Poweraide's marketing of our sport? I am serious. When it was first announced I was like Awesome, now we will have major marketing and even have some drivers on coke cans and stuff or atleast some poweraide bottles. Besides at the racetrack and once at a store I have yet to see it. I dont understand why you would spend the money they have to sponsor our sport and then not advertise it.

I would hope that somehow the television exposure of NHRA racing increases. Maybe at some point they could start an NHRA channel or even bring back the pay per view of national events. I feel that there are enough fans that they could make some money selling the races on PPV. If they gave the fans the Sunday races for all 23 event they could probably sell the package for $300 for the whole season and sell indivisiual races at $30 each. During the sportsman classes they could just use the track announcers and use the current ESPN group during the pros. If there is a rain delay or even a long oildown they have thousands of hours of old footage to run.

After the dust has settled, I was sitting back and trying to understand this change. The first thing is, what is in it for the NHRA as we know it? What did they gain from doing this? Not for us but for them. It seems to be that they gained financially and legally.

First financially they gain by no longer having to maintain and upgrade 4 tracks. Secondly they gain by divesting themselves of the "payout" portion of the sactioning body. They retained the "payin" portion which includes the sportsman racers, crew and family, the nostalgia reuinons and of course the "membership" dollars. So on balance they sold the outlay side and kept the income side.

Legally they have divested themselves of the liability issue that comes with the ownership of 4 tracks plus all the liability of the Pro side. With HD taking over the debt structure of NHRA it would seem logical they would also include the Pro Stock Truck settlement. Perhaps with the Russel case on the horizon they decided that the cost of liability was just too high.

One of the things that I have learned over the years that if you want to understand why something is being done, FOLLOW the MONEY!!!!

One last thought. Over the past years NHRA's strangle hold on the sportsman racer has not only been loosened but has almost slipped away. How so? Simple, look at all the smaller niche groups that are having a very successful run. These range from Pro Mod circuits to Fuel Altered circuits, to Ford, Mopar, GM (Chevy) only circuits and of course all the different nostalgia groups. This all came about when NHRA no longer was able to adequately take care of the sportsman base while pursuing the big corporate dollar.

On a personal note this does not affect me as my car does not fit any of their classes but there are plenty of other places to play who are glad to see me and treat me that way. Nice change.

Just my observations and as I have said before, time will tell.
jim

I was waiting for the pay-per-view talk to come up. What about charging for access to the NHRA website?

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Sullivan Motorsports
LODRS Div. 2
"Time wounds all heels"

If people aren't watching drag racing for free the way it is now, what makes you think they'll pay to watch it. I know I couldn't

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Jackee Allen-ProStockJunkie
"The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress." -- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French Philosopher

Greg,

You missed my point. The spectator count of 60,000 is also on the low end. The $10 dollar figure for concessions and souvenirs was on the low end. The point was, if each spectator just spent one more dollar each day it would more than make up for any money that was made from the sportsmen.

My premise is no more flawed than yours. You did not deduct the associated costs of having the sportsman classes at the event (extra employees, airfare, hotel rooms, meals, supplies, etc.). I don't have a clue how much that would be. Maybe you do. You also did not add the alcohol categories and their payout. Then, if I'm not mistaken, gold card holders don't pay entry fees. I'm sure that's not a big number but it must be figured in the totals also.

$90,000 is probably closer to $70,000 when you take every else into consideration. The average ticket price is probably closer to $40, not $35 which is what I used for the St. Louis race. Vegas is even higher. The amount made from the sportsmen is very small percentage of the total take.

I'll ask the question again. If the sportsman classes participating at a national event was such a cash cow for the NHRA, why did they cut back on the classes at each event and why do they limit the number of participants in those classes? I would think they would want as many as they could get. Based on your figures an extra 10 participants in each category would net another $16,000. But then, add a dime to the price of a drink and you would probably net the same.

Don't get me wrong, I like the sportsman classes. I just don't agree with the statement that they pay the bills for the pros. The pro show could make it without them. The spectators with the hot dog, the beer and the souvenir t-shirt pay the bills.

First the government gives away and cheapens US citizenship and now the NHRA PRO's get sold to an Acquisition entertainment group.
What's next apple pie and Hamburgers ruled UnAmerican?
Oh yeah we already went through that and Germany won the hamburger war by a few weeks.
Hopefully as Wally promised better things await the sportsman racers but judging from the Divisional racers I have attended no one but the racers even knew they were going on.

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THE CORRECT ANSWER TO THE ENERGY CRISIS IS D ALL OF THE ABOVE !

Dave,

I guess both our points were lost in the haze. I fully agree with your analysis of revenue generation from other sources.

And my point wasn't that the sportsman racers are a cash cow at national events. But the non-alcohol sportsman classes do generate enough capital to cover a large portion of the general operating cost of a national event.

I think you missed my comment regarding the fact that the number of additional personnel and support staff required for the sportsman racers is very minimal over what would be required to run a pro only show. I would bet that there are fewer than 20 additional people needed to support the sportsman end of the show.

To answer you question as to why NHRA "enhanced" the sportsman experience...

NHRA would like to try and convince everyone that they restricted the number of class and number of entries for the benefit of the sportsman racers themselves... so that the sportsman racers wouldn't lose time runs, or actually get an extra time run, blah, blah, blah! It had nothing to do with making things better for the sportsman racers or the cost of having them. It had everything to do with speeding up the show, getting the Pros more space for their hospitality tents, engineering centers/rig, & everything else, and the fact that most facilities just couldn't support the number of competitors any longer because of the size of the rigs, both pros and sportsman... but especially the Pros.

Plus, since the sportsman racers more than cover their own tab at the events, it doesn't cost NHRA any additional funds to book in filler material between the Pro sessions.

1. Sportsmen must earn grade points to attend a national event. One grade point per divisional at $150 per entry, most national events require 2-3 grade points to enter, this equates to money into NHRA’s coffers.

2. As I understand it, the posted contingencies for each event are paid to the NHRA if they are not claimed. The sportsmen by the parts to be able to claim the sticker money, lose the sportsmen and see how many contingency sponsors stick around.

3. Unless the NHRA owns the facility, concessions and a pretty good portion of the gate go’s to the track, not the NHRA.

4. The reason entrants have been limited for national events is limited parking space, as the pro’s have added more teams, hospitality trailers and technology centers, the sportsman parking has been reduced.

Personally, I could care less if national events became Pro only. I would just as soon have all of the contingency sponsors leave the Pro events and bump up the divisionals. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy competing on the same tracks as the Pro’s at the same events, that is one of the things that makes NHRA so unique amongst all motorsports, but I think for the health of sportsman racing, we as competitors would be better served with a Sport’s National type of series with increased appreciation for the competitors.