Real Cost To Arrive-And-Drive TAFC & TAD? (1 Viewer)

[Jay]

I am curious for those of you who really know what these numbers are (Randy?) - What are the real numbers for a full season for a driver to fly-in and drive for the weekend, assuming it is a full season and 4-5 preseason test days?

Also, what constitutes a full season? (I ask this because if I remember correctly, don't they give you the points for your BEST 10 races? So how many would you typically run? Of course, I am referring to just national events...

I'm curious....Thanks!

JR

 

[vegasnitro]

Tom Conway just posted a driver position for his A/Fuel car. You must posses a valid TAD license, be willing to race the events he has scheduled (7 or 8 between now and the end of the season) and bring $12,000 per race or the equivalent sponsorship. The car should be competitive. I don't know how this stacks up against the other pay drivers in the alcohol ranks. Last I heard, and it has been several years, a middle of the pack TAFC was going for $5,000 per event.

Edit: Here is the link:

http://www.speedcityperformance.com/afuel_driver_wanted

Edit 2: Wasn't Lee Calloway driving this car at the beginning of this season?

 

[Nunz]

Chris I think that sums it up. I would call Tom's deal the high end, and $5-6k per race the lower end. Of course it's all situational, and there are other variables, like how much work you're willing/able to do in addition to bringing money.

 

[Randy]

One high profile TA/FC team was collecting $15,000 per race from their driver to compete at the championship level a few years ago. I am told AFD is less expensive to run than TAD/TAFC so Conway's numbers may work for him. If you have everything you can get away with that much (or little) but one bad weekend will run it up much higher on average.

The last time we hit it hard with sponsor funding was 2005 when Larry Minor was driving my TA/FC and Torco was sponsoring me. That year our expenses averaged out to $15,000 per weekend and I already owned everything. One of the biggest expenses teams have is travel (rig, flights, rental cars) and lodging.

You can race with less but won't be travelling much, won't be staying in 5 star hotels, updating/maintaining parts or running out of a rig that requires expensive insurance and trip/fuel permits.

In today's dollars a team chasing a championship could spend $350,000 to $650,000 in one year easily. My last driver wanted to go for it for just a few races a year. Although he did very well he ended up spending all the money he saved to buy a house and maxed out all of his credit cards before he realized he didn't have any business doing it.

 

[Mooseman]

You can race with less but won't be travelling much, won't be staying in 5 star hotels, updating/maintaining parts or running out of a rig that requires expensive insurance and trip/fuel permits.

Its incredible how much your lifestyle plays into your racing costs.

 

[FABMAN]

Randy Meyer does this and seems to work fairly well, they won last weekend at Heartland Park.

 

[Pete]

I know of another A/FD car that is rented for 10K an event and the owner is paying the remainder of the nut. I knew of a former TAFC owner that ran with a $650k/yr budget and ran about 20 races a season.

I dont have an issue with the car owners renting the rides, I actually think it extends a lot of teams lives on the track and gives guys and gals, who have the cash but no equipment, to be able to step up and fulfill a dream for themselves.

I guess the real question to ask is what does it cost to run a competitive TAD (A/F or B) and TAFC per run?

Randy?

 

[the zone]

I am surprised you say a 650k yearly budget Pete for a TAFC team. Because the teams I know, only one (TAD team) has spent that much ( a bit more actually in one of their seasons) The average per weekend for most competitive teams is 2500.00 per run or 10-15K a weekend and that includes travel of up to 1000 miles.
For teams that fly in four or five per weekend (not just the crew chief and one or two others) the price goes to up to 3500 per run. There are only a half dozen crew chief who earn 100k in the two classes and maybe 10 that earn 50-100k.


Manzo, Bartone and Payne had budgets perhaps reaching that number

 

[Larry jr.]

So after reading this thread building Vintage Corvettes and Cackling Dave Mandella's dragster seems more like the correct place for Me to be. The cost of racing is insane, I have a standing offer to drive Bob Richardson's Circut Breaker Nostalgia Top Fuel Car, for 15K per event After the licence upgrade to NTF for 10 K then 20K in testing. Cackle cars are looking pretty good right about now.

 

[Randy]

It's all in what your goals are. If you just want to go play and don't expect to go rounds or line the shelves with Wally's you can do it fairly reasonable since there aren't 25-30 cars showing up for 8 and 16 car fields like there used to be. Just like some of the lower budget TF teams, you can race as your budget allows and still get to set up your stuff at the big show. But if you are there to kick butt and take names you need to have depth in your program which means spare engines and everything else under the bench with all the right parts on them and extra everything in the cabinets. At one race a few years ago we went through three engines in four runs. When Bucky ran TA/FC he would count the number of rounds it took to win on Sunday be it three or four and would have that many engines rolled out of his rig on engine stands with engine covers on them ready to go, including ignition systems timed...locked and ready.

 

[none]

Just to throw the nitro nostalgia cars in the mix... You're looking at somewhere between 7k to 10k to show up and drive our NFC. That's assuming you stay in the Midwest and you are a licensed experienced driver. Like Randy said the travel,crew,hotels eats up the most of your budget. If you want to run the California races it costs more. By the way, our car is available

 

[Nunz]

Great posts. Obviously it's all situational. But the arrive and drive deal can be a great fit for an owner with the hardware but no operating budget, and someone who wants to race but can't or doesn't want to make the investment in the infrastructure.

 

[Randy]

Or, someone like me who realized I wasn't exactly built to win in a TA/FC...6'4"...285 pounds at the time. When I went through the scales after a qualifying run at Speed World Motorplex many years ago the guy working the scales stuck his head out and asked "HEY...HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN THAT CAR?" My car was way overweight and I realized sending Koby Bryant in to shoot the winning free throw would be much better than sending Ray Charles in when considering the overall package and what was best for my team.

 

[Toejam]

Just to throw the nitro nostalgia cars in the mix... You're looking at somewhere between 7k to 10k to show up and drive our NFC. That's assuming you stay in the Midwest and you are a licensed experienced driver. Like Randy said the travel,crew,hotels eats up the most of your budget. If you want to run the California races it costs more. By the way, our car is available

I was talking to one of the crew on the L.A. Hooker N/FC a couple of years ago at Pomona, He was tossing out figures I'm hearing for an Alky FC, $1,500-2,000 per run, IF you don't hurt anything!

 

[Toejam]

It's all in what your goals are. If you just want to go play and don't expect to go rounds or line the shelves with Wally's you can do it fairly reasonable since there aren't 25-30 cars showing up for 8 and 16 car fields like there used to be. Just like some of the lower budget TF teams, you can race as your budget allows and still get to set up your stuff at the big show. But if you are there to kick butt and take names you need to have depth in your program which means spare engines and everything else under the bench with all the right parts on them and extra everything in the cabinets. At one race a few years ago we went through three engines in four runs. When Bucky ran TA/FC he would count the number of rounds it took to win on Sunday be it three or four and would have that many engines rolled out of his rig on engine stands with engine covers on them ready to go, including ignition systems timed...locked and ready.

How times change, I remember before Darryl Russell went Top Fuel I saw him in Randy Parks' pit when he ran TF Dragster. Darryl told me they budgeted $4,500 to run a Div. race, and $6,000 for Natl's! This was around 93-94?

 

[Pete]

I am surprised you say a 650k yearly budget Pete for a TAFC team. Because the teams I know, only one (TAD team) has spent that much ( a bit more actually in one of their seasons) The average per weekend for most competitive teams is 2500.00 per run or 10-15K a weekend and that includes travel of up to 1000 miles.
For teams that fly in four or five per weekend (not just the crew chief and one or two others) the price goes to up to 3500 per run. There are only a half dozen crew chief who earn 100k in the two classes and maybe 10 that earn 50-100k.


Manzo, Bartone and Payne had budgets perhaps reaching that number

Hey Dean,
One of the three you mentioned above is where I got my figures fro .

 

[cephus]

dang I didn't spend near that much but was 10 yrs ago
gk

 

[unclebob]

OK, I'll play......
One of those three has a paid fly in crew chief and several figs, the other two are up to their neck in maintenance themselves, the answer to who spends more.......... may be behind door # 2 !

 

[none]

When we both were serious about points in the late 90's to mid 2000's there were a boat load of events we could run within driving distance. The regional deal made it must to travel a lot more to chase points. Flying guys with 9-5 jobs gets pricey real quick. Like someone said " what's it cost to race ? All you have".

 

[Mooseman]

Does anyone camp out at the track?