Forrest Lucas Interview (1 Viewer)

[Nunz]

DRO has a great interview with Forrest. He's very frank about many things, such as TV and the spiraling costs of fuel racing.

 

[Jude]

It seems Mr. Lucas has some concerns with the changes in direction he see's coming with the new ownership, bye bye Powerade, hello "next level".

 

[PJ]

interesting and worrisome how he says Powerade is gone once the deal goes through. How much longer is that contract for?

 

[megadeth]

The big difference is NHRA pays for their air time were NASCAR gets paid for there product that's a huge disparity that won't change anytime soon!
Until that happens ESPN will always shorten a NHRA event to broadcast what they pay too!

What's kind of funny is back in the seventies they were on ABC's Wide World of sports so they regressed some!
Forrest is right the only way to get NHRA to the next level is exposure and TV is the only way to accomplish that!

 

[none]

I got a different slant on the TV coverage issue. BECAUSE NHRA pays for the slot, they should have more control and not be exposed to "bumping". Sort of sounded like a leadership issue to me.

 

[Toejam]

Losing Powerade can't be a Bad thing IMO. I think that sponsorship has done Little or nothing to Boost this sport. Remember Winston spent $12 Mill per year on NHRA, Powerade was less than half that!

 

[T.Smith]

I got a different slant on the TV coverage issue. BECAUSE NHRA pays for the slot, they should have more control and not be exposed to "bumping". Sort of sounded like a leadership issue to me.

Yeah, in a perfect world.

 

[Joker]

Losing Powerade can't be a Bad thing IMO. I think that sponsorship has done Little or nothing to Boost this sport. Remember Winston spent $12 Mill per year on NHRA, Powerade was less than half that!

I agree Joe, I have been greatly disappointed with Poweraide. At first I thought it was going to be great since Coke owned them and that we would see commercials and cars on coke bottles etc, nothing like that. The only commercials I see are during NHRA broadcasts. How the hell does that bring in new fans, you already have to be a fan to be watching it.

 

[mick]

I'm happy that powerade stepped up, happy that they've hung on this
long until the next step will be taken; would have really sucked to have
had coke drop the sponsorship with nothing to replace it.
(i hope that's not the case right now!?)

here is a quote from Glen Grissom's column on dro.

A smaller electronic audience than NASCAR will be a given for some time, but it is a highly “qualified” audience (younger, more involved and with buying power) than the typical NASCAR one, and that is a plus to sell to sponsors. It is also about 10-15 years ahead of NASCAR in the diversity of its audience and participants, and that is a lever that really should be used much more than it has in the past.

What's ever around the corner for nhra pro drag racing had better not
be too hokey. IMO going after the masses (nascar) for a new audience
might be healthy for sponsors short term, but i think dumbing our sport
down would spell the end for a lot of us life long fans.
(nhra pro racing that is) just remember, whether we're staying at the
Holiday Inn or the zip-up tent at the facility; we're the one's religiously
buying the tickets and watching the tv. if things vere too far from the norm,
i have other interests that could easily occupy the very little free
time i have, much less my disposable income.

try to control costs wherever possible, actually racing equipment costs
especially, even if that means.....look out!......slowing the cars down.
if that's not feasable, then find another pocket of money to slice.
I would think it's a two way street - the series and the participants need
more $$ to compensate escalating costs, so in trying to revamp
certain aspects of the sport to attract new fans and sponsors, wouldn't
it be fair to assume that a potential new or even existing sponsor might ask,
'what are you (nhra) and your racers doing to control costs so
I can sign a multi-year agreement with you and/or one of your race teams and expect the same level of performance throughout the agreement
(performance on & off the track)

 

[.]

Here's the link that was accidentally left out of the first post

::: Drag Racing Online ::: InnerView - Forrest Lucas - 6/13/2007

 

[luxexpress]

Nice interview. Interesting to get the point of view of a major sponsor and how they look at their return on their investment.