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5/7/03
Funny how things work
in this business.
s you may or may not know I am an occasional contributor
to Drag Racing Action magazine which now is edited by Super
Comp racer, speed shop owner and general all around good guy
John DiBartolomeo. Also, as you may know, I am considered
to be controversial by both the sanctioning bodies and the
racers, sometimes too controversial for some tastes.
I'm also a lifelong drag racer, having
started out racing a '54 Merc L/Stocker and later a D/ Stocker
'62 Galaxie 500 that I ran at the 1969 NHRA World Finals
at Tulsa. My brother and I put every nickel we had into
those cars and never won a dime. I didn't care because I
just love to drag race. Over the years I've raced in AHRA
Top Eliminator with a blown dragster, NHRA Comp Eliminator
with an A/ED, IHRA Top Fuel with a twin- engine nitrous
injected dragster, and NHRA T/AD with the same twin motored
car, several Alky funnies and, currently, a '67 El Camino
bracket car.
In addition, this magazine supports columnist
Jok Nicholson's Super Comp dragster and the Super Street
Vega he's building this year and a bracket dragster that
columnist Dale Wilson is building. The reason I'm telling
you this is that when I submitted the following column to
Drag Racing Action it got bounced because it might piss-off
the racers and because, I was told, I shouldn't write something
like this until I've walked in the sportsman racers shoes.
Well, I feel like I've earned the right
to express my views about sportsman racing and I like to
think that many of the racers who read this magazine respect
that. We try to present all sides here at DRO and that's
why we print all signed letters to the editor, good and
bad. This is your forum too. It is also an independent magazine.
If all you want is good news and the party line I think
you know where to go to read that kind of stuff.
Recently in this column I chastised some sportsman racers
whom I thought over-reacted to a situation that occurred
earlier this year at NHRA's Gatornationals. I won't rehash
what I wrote, but suffice it to say that I thought that
some racers acted in an unprofessional manner and abused
the NHRA unfairly. The mail that I received after that was
both angry and supportive, with the ratio running about
3-1 in favor of the angry racers.
A common thread that ran through many of the letters --
other than the fact that they thought I was drinking the
NHRA POWERade -- was that many of them felt that NHRA was
abusing and at the same time making a ton of money off of
the sportsman racers. They also seemed to feel that NHRA
owed the sportsman racer more -- much more -- respect and
consideration than they were getting.
I read the letters, thought about what was said, and decided
to do some research to see if I could convince myself that
they had a legit complaint. After researching the subject
and talking to many sportsman racers, I came to the conclusion
that for the most part the sportsman racer has very little,
in my opinion, to complain about. Having said that, I'll
probably get more angry letters but I'm sticking to my convictions
on this one.
First, the idea that NHRA is making a killing off of sportsman
racers' entry fees simply doesn't make sense if you look
at the big picture. As far as I can determine the NHRA probably
makes less money, on a percentage basis, from sportsman
racers entry fees than most racers realize.
Let's say for the sake of argument that an average NHRA
event sells 40,000 tickets for a three-day event. It could
be more or less, but let's use that number for the sake
of my argument. A quick check of ticket prices for a three-day
NHRA event puts the average price for the event at about
$50. It might be a little more or less but for the sake
of the argument, let's use that number.
Okay, get the handy calculator out and punch in the numbers.
The dollar figure for gross ticket sales would then be a
cool $2,000,000. Now that isn't profit, that's gross and
the actual profit after paying all of the bills and the
purse for the event will be a number with the decimal point
at least one figure to the left of six zeros.
Now, let's do the math to determine how much NHRA will
"rake in" from the racers. Let's say that 450 sportsman
racers come in the back gate. If you total up the entry
at most NHRA events other than Indy, Gainesville, Pomona
and maybe E-town, that number is about average. Before you
write me, I added up the racers listed on qualifying sheets
from several NHRA events to get that number. I then called
about a half-dozen sportsman racers and asked what it cost
them to get into a national event. The number that came
up most often was about $250. That means the back gate on
average will bring in between $100,000 and $125,000. Even
if there were a thousand sportsmen the total take would
amount to around $250,000 gross. Start taking out expenses
for salaries, purses and other incidentals and you can soon
figure out that the sportsman racer revenue is just not
a big deal in the overall picture.
After adding the amount of money a three-day race could
take in from concessions, souvenir sales, event sponsorship
and other revenue streams, in addition to the ticket sales,
and the back gate money becomes between 2-6% of the gross
receipts before NHRA and the track have the settlement and
split the profit at the end of the event.
Administrating sportsman classes is probably the most labor
intensive and expensive component of NHRA national events.
The people and payroll required overseeing the "super classes"
Stock, Super Stock, and Comp is mind-boggling. The number
of different classes of cars approaches 1,000 and there
have to be tech officials competent enough to do a complete
teardown on everything from a 2003 EFI Stocker to a '53
Oldsmobile L/Stocker. Regardless of how obscure or exotic
the car is, the crews have to know everything about the
engines, options, and what cheaters do to them to make them
quicker, and they have to be able to do it at a moment's
notice.
Then there is the knowledge required to tech and administrate
the "super classes," with all of the electronic wizardry
involved in those classes. They probably need an engineer
with an EE degree to do it right, and those guys have to
get paid whether they're working the U.S. Nationals or a
points meet at U.S. 13 Dragway. By comparison, one man,
Ray Alley with the help of a few good men and women, monitors
both the Top Fuel and Pro Stock classes.
Like it or not, a majority of the ticket buyers at national
events aren't there to see sportsman racers. The NHRA could
probably put on national events without sportsman cars and
make the same or more profit than they do with sportsman
racers included. I even think there are some people in positions
of power at NHRA who would just as soon do away with the
sportsman classes to simplify the event and bring NHRA national
events closer to a NASCAR scenario where there is just one
winner.
I believe that there are people working at NHRA who still
see the organization as a car club for all racers and are
absolutely dedicated to keeping sportsman racing as part
of the national event scene at any cost. You can add me
to that list. I realize that it is the sportsman racers,
not the pros, who predominantly buy the parts that keep
mainstream speed parts manufacturers in business. But the
question is: At national events is sportsman racing a necessity
or a luxury. I think a good case could be made both ways.
I think that instead of constantly griping about how they
feel that NHRA mistreats them, perhaps sportsman racers
should be grateful. Yes, I said grateful; grateful for the
privilege of racing at premium tracks in front of tens of
thousands of fans instead of some s***hole track with no
stands, no pavement, no shutoff, and no fans.
Grateful for being a part of the big show where sponsors
like Jegs, Summit, GM, Valvoline, Pennzoil, Mopar, Winnebago,
Drag Racing Online Magazine, and other companies can justify
sponsoring them due to the number of potential customers
that see their logo at the event and on the television shows.
Grateful that NHRA continues to allow as many sportsman
racers as their facility will hold to attend. Grateful that
NHRA doesn't decide to limit all sportsman fields to 32
cars.
Maybe sportsman racers should quit acting as if being allowed
to race was a right that came with the t-shirt, decal and
subscription to National Dragster they get when they renew
their NHRA membership and understand that it is a privilege.
Consider this. NHRA has to have some "filler" classes on
Sunday but Gainesville proved that it doesn't have to be
sportsman. It could be Pro Modified and Top Fuel Harley.
Those "exhibition" cars cost NHRA nearly nothing, are bringing
major new sponsors and spectators to the sport, and are
just grateful for the chance to race at the big shows. Think
about it. You can bet someone at NHRA is. vAs for me, I'm
just going to keep drag racing whatever and wherever I can.
I'll park where they tell me to, race when they tell me
to, keep trying to make my car quicker and faster, and fight
wars I think I can win, because the bottom line is I'm addicted
to drag racing and I'll pretty much do whatever I have to
for my fix.
Send the love/hate letters to jeffburk@racingnetsource.com.
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