Is drag racing a business or a sport (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter BigDaddyB
- Start date
mw6789
Nitro Member
mw6789
Nitro Member
mw6789
Nitro Member
I see a major of your believe its a business, so like one post put it the smart way to conduct this business to make a profit is run car hard enough to show a profit on the bottom line. If others are willing to run faster than you oh well. Never contending to be number one in any class is secondary to putting money in your pocket. Mediocre is good.
d'kid
Nitro Member
Which is why I read your post. Do you HAVE an opinion of Your own?
Having Watched Palm Beach all weekend, I was reminded of what is missing. I think the NHRA should go to a TEN race season, screw the test ban, and anyone can run booked in races as the racers budgets allow. They know what it costs to run their mess, and how much they would have to charge a promoter/ track operator.
d'kid
Treeshaker
Nitro Member
I enjoy the journey as much as the destination. If my budget dictates that I run mediocre to survive and to be able to continue on the journey, then so be it. I also enjoy physically working on my cars, and being a team owner that is set up to run for a championship would not allow me to do that.
My plastics business is the same. I have had many opportunities to grow much larger, but it puts me into a position of doing the parts of the business that I don't enjoy so much. So I stay small and continue to build molds and do the parts that I enjoy. Again, it is the journey.
Same with the home life. I could work harder to make more money to live in a bigger house and newer cars, etc., but what are the trade offs? Miss the kids growing up and their activities? Diner at home every night? Envolvement with the grand kids? I love the journey that I am taking in life too much to worry about being number one in the world.
And as a member of NHRA you never had any "rights" or "control". They just put it in writing with the vote. And your share of Apple doesn't allow you much control either, just a small vote that doesn't mean anything compared to the large share holders. All companies are founded for the benefit of the founders, the one(s) that are willing to step up and take the chance to succeed.
The Gazelle didn't have a choice so it is making the best of what it was dealt in life. The lion will prosper until something/someone bigger/smarter comes along and puts him down.
My plastics business is the same. I have had many opportunities to grow much larger, but it puts me into a position of doing the parts of the business that I don't enjoy so much. So I stay small and continue to build molds and do the parts that I enjoy. Again, it is the journey.
Same with the home life. I could work harder to make more money to live in a bigger house and newer cars, etc., but what are the trade offs? Miss the kids growing up and their activities? Diner at home every night? Envolvement with the grand kids? I love the journey that I am taking in life too much to worry about being number one in the world.
And as a member of NHRA you never had any "rights" or "control". They just put it in writing with the vote. And your share of Apple doesn't allow you much control either, just a small vote that doesn't mean anything compared to the large share holders. All companies are founded for the benefit of the founders, the one(s) that are willing to step up and take the chance to succeed.
The Gazelle didn't have a choice so it is making the best of what it was dealt in life. The lion will prosper until something/someone bigger/smarter comes along and puts him down.
none
Nitro Member
Come on Karl,
This from a guy who told me that if NHRA didn't race in VA. he would never come to another race.
Now you want to cut the schedule in half?
Alan
clwill
Nitro Member
Funny you should mention Apple stock. I'm racing today largely because of Apple stock, which has done very, very well for us in the last few years. It's provided much of the funding for our racing efforts. My "share" of NHRA hasn't performed anywhere near so well
my friends call me Zappy
Nitro Member
Karl, you are absolutely correct Sir. The testing ban is ridiculous, communistic actually, and bad for future growth of the sport.
I mean no harm in my post nor due I want to offend anybody for the choices they make in life. I do also believe that we make the house bigger to include the people want run nitro. Who says we can't run TF, FC, PS at the Divisional level. An my vote might be small but combined with like minded people it becomes powerful.
Karl I concur, I think what the younger generation does not fully appreciate is that back in day they were meets up the Yeng Yank, between Lions, Orange County, and Irwindale you could see the whose who in drag racing. Like you know when there is not place to race to get some kind of return on your investment it can go to the streets. An being from LA I can tell you that it can go from mild to wild with big money involved. Not something I'd like to see. I have lost some good friends on the street. Karl is a witness, just one title Los Angeles Brotherhood of Street Racers.
mick
Nitro Member
i don't see the business of nhra drag racing growing exponentially, but rather
moving up and down with economic tides; tweaking rules, format and dates
in efforts to minimize the 'downs'......to many choices for entertainment dollar
for any one american racing series to unexpectedly surge (i may be wrong?)
what i think the NHRA should try is variations in event formats; the
forerunner being the 4-wides @ charlotte. variations mite be......
- sat. night elims.
- variations in track length
- double points
- bonus payouts
- 2-day events with 2 qual. runs, final order on average et
- do they all have to be called 'nationals'?
........do 22+ events have to be identical? change it up a little.
moving up and down with economic tides; tweaking rules, format and dates
in efforts to minimize the 'downs'......to many choices for entertainment dollar
for any one american racing series to unexpectedly surge (i may be wrong?)
what i think the NHRA should try is variations in event formats; the
forerunner being the 4-wides @ charlotte. variations mite be......
- sat. night elims.
- variations in track length
- double points
- bonus payouts
- 2-day events with 2 qual. runs, final order on average et
- do they all have to be called 'nationals'?
........do 22+ events have to be identical? change it up a little.
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clwill
Nitro Member
This is a remarkable post, my DOH! moment. I love it. Hadn't even thought about it this way until I read this.
This is a fantastic idea. Heck, even tailor the format for the various venues. If you want people to treat them special, then make the Pomona races and Indy have a few more points than the others. Vegas is all about money, up the prize money there, or have weird bonuses (like an extra $20k for top qualifier, or top 3 qualifiers, or...). Make the Western Swing be all the same but just a little different from the others (maybe 2-day events?). Shorten some events (like Englishtown) but let others stay 1/4mile. ZMax is your 4-wide event. Maybe at one of the "record-breaking" tracks you offer extra special bonuses (money and/or points) for record ETs. Another track it's record MPHs. Have some event have a different qualifying format: maybe average with one throw-away. Phoenix is "hot" so hot lap teams, cut the turnaround time from 75 minutes to 50 minutes to spice it up. Who knows? Open it up to the various tracks to suggest things that would make their event special.
I think this is great way to breathe life into the sport. Stop trying to make all 22 events the same, celebrate the differences. I love it.
Bullard Anderson
Nitro Member
Add the next new track (whenever that is), scratch Charlotte's first date and give it to them. Push Charlotte's date to late May the weekend of The Winston.....errrrrr.....The NASCAR Nextel All Star Challenge and bring back the BIG money All Star race to drag racing on Sunday, the day after the Nascar All Star event! This is fantasy and probably met with a "heck no" from many.
mick
Nitro Member
every nhra nat. event is an all-star contest
if talking about summer holidays.....nascar puts on it's charlotte spectacular
over memorial weekend, as does indy car w/500.........if the charlotte track
should get anything, it should get the labor day NHRA race.
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Unless the product is entertaining, attracting and holding an audience is not going to happen. Without an audience there is no way to generate revenue. It is an essential element in the attendance equation, so if the objective is to avoid any concious effert to entertain the paying customer, the results are predictable.
Feld Entertainment, who purchased the IHRA after it went bankrupt and also owns the circus, will most certainly incorporate an entertainment component into their IHRA racing program in one form or another...they "know the deal" and don't plan on going bankrupt. The fact is without jeopardizing the core excitement of drag racing, integrating entertainment into the mix is "no big deal", and no, they won't know the outcome ahead of time and winning will still remain the ultimate goal in every pairing.
Today, drag racing is for the most part just a sport as its alway been for about 6 decades...entertainment be damned, who needs it? Let me make this very clear...drag racing needs it and always has. Unless, of course, there is no need at all to interest the 99.9% of the market that doesn't even know it exists. The beauty of it is that you can have "the best of both worlds" with a little innovative thinking...then we'll both be happy. No drag racing event really is a "show" but with a little tweaking it can be and then you really would get "a lot more for your money".
