NOT SO MUCH ACTION?

Some news that isn't good for NHRA's professional class racers is that Action Collectibles, the folks that make all of those neat die-cast cars, had a very bad 2004. According to a report in the Dec. 26, 2004  issue of Street & Smith's Sports Business magazine, Action had revenues of 344 million bucks in 2004 but their net income was just $500,000. In 2003 the company had 370 million in sales and a net income of 24.2 million! The article speculated that Action was close to violating some terms on a major bank loan.

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So, you may be asking, how does this effect drag racing? Well, many of the smaller professional teams make a good chunk of change in the course of a season selling die-cast cars. That is also part of the reason we see so many paint scheme changes during a season. Every time a team changes the paint scheme, a new collectible car is generally issued.

According to some collectors the Agent spoke with, the problem is that the market is saturated and, worse yet, instead of making 5,000 units as they used to, Action now issues 10-15,000 and the cars are then not so collectible. [1-4-2005]

BITING COMMENTARY

Midwest drag racers Kyle and Deb Fickler sent the Agent this photo of their daughter Danika. Since the cutey is literally cutting her teeth on a "Wally," can there be any doubt of the sport in her future? (And lest there be any misinterpretation, this is not a threat on Mr. Parks.) [1-4-2005]

TAG TEAM WELDING

The Agent got a note saying that 2005 would be the 38th year that Dave Siipola and Paul LeSage have been working their magic at the races. Siipola of Trans End (dsiipola@aol.com) and LeSage of Team Torch (torch@oakley.com) will be welding and making repairs at all NHRA National events again this season. A tip of the Agent's fedora to these two, who are welcome sights in the pits when things have gone wrong.  [1-4-2005]