NHRA and IHRA need 7/14/05
So, the obvious question is what could the sport of drag racing do to attract both a larger and more demographically correct fan? It seems apparent that the nitro classes of Top Fuel and Funny Car by themselves aren't the answer. Sponsors and fans show lukewarm interest at best in the Pro Stock and Pro Modified classes. It's no secret that, unlike the original Super Stockers that gave birth to Pro Stock and even Pro Mod, only a very small percentage of racing fans or manufacturers can relate to either Pro Stock or Pro Mod. They may as well be F-1 cars. The announcers call them "Factory Hot Rods," but they aren't. If a casual fan happens to attend a National event or accidentally catches it on TV he won't see anything that resembles what's on the local car dealer's showroom floor or what he has in the driveway. No Imports, no flat-hooded turbocharged or fuel-injected cars. No Mustangs, no Dodge Chargers -- in short, no cars that Detroit's current or future customers could relate to. Unfortunately, the racers and powers-that-be in the premier doorslammer classes seem determined to make sure the cars don't appeal to the 18-35 crowd. Pro Mod is full of brands of cars that are no longer manufactured such as Studebaker and Willys. And a 1969 Camaro is considered a new car. The Pro Stock class is full of cars that most of the younger crowd can't afford, won't buy and can't relate to. In my opinion, NHRA's Pro Stock and Pro Mod cars have become way too predictable and similar in appearance, which to the average young fan makes them just plain boring. Drag racing's executives, sponsors and racers seem to have a severe case of deciding what their customers want to see. Both the Detroit and street connection that NHRA and IHRA enjoyed when Super Stock or AFX was the premier doorslammer class just isn't there anymore. I'm now convinced that a majority of the Y Generation (or whatever the marketers are calling them) are coming to NHRA and IHRA events mostly to be entertained by nitro cars that, when the drivers step on the throttle belch fire out of the headers, shake the ground and set off the alarm in the fans' new Mustangs in the parking lot. The NHRA brass recognize the problem and have tried to address it. They tried to attract the Import crowd with a separate series, but that effort has failed miserably. The Import events are more about lifestyle than actual racing and, with few exceptions, attract few fans and fewer cars. But I think there is a possible solution. The NHRA management took a step in the right direction by bringing in Pro Mods, but then allowed the class to turn into basically slow alcohol Funny Cars that feature cars introduced before my 18th birthday. But they had the right idea, so maybe they could try again. I think the major sanctioning bodies need to bring the ten-wide tire cars in as a major attraction. I've been watching "Ten-wide" cars race for nearly 15 years going back to when I first saw the class at the "Street Car Nationals" in Memphis. The class is filled with cars that fans can relate to because most of them retain absolutely stock body lines, from muscle cars of the Sixties to Detroit's 2005 factory hot rods. There's even the occasional pickup truck. They have a wide variety of body and engine types. You can see cars with state-of-the-art turbocharged, supercharged, and carbureted-nitrous oxide-injected engines. Many of them even have Ford, Chevy and Mopar small blocks under their flat hoods. With smaller tires, flat hoods and stock bodies (many have working head and tail lights) they actually resemble what young racers are buying and driving. Fans can easily relate to them as cars they drive themselves. That's an important factor in a sport where it's increasingly hard to tell the difference between a Stratus and a GTO from the cheap seats. Almost every Detroit brand is represented as well as a few foreign makes. They have to race on a tire with a 10.5-inch tread, are relatively heavy, and generally have too much horsepower to hook up. The attraction of this class for fans, sponsors and Detroit is that these cars are prone to giant wheel stands, guardrail to guardrail laps, and are nearly as quick and fast as NHRA Pro Stockers with six-second, 200-mph laps always a possibility. Ten-wide cars aren't cheap, but they aren't as expensive as a Pro Stock or Pro Mod. They usually have great paint jobs, but sometimes a racer shows up in a primered car and takes everyone to the cleaners. When's the last time that scenario occurred in today's ultra professional world of million dollar Pro Stock and Pro Mod teams? As I said, those classes have become just too predictable. Drag racing's management teams know they need to attract the younger, affluent fan base in order to keep from becoming irrelevant as a major sport. Maybe a class where Detroit's Big Three might actually want to compete with each other in cars they're trying to sell would help. I'd pay to see ten-wide, factory backed STOCK APPEARING versions of Ford's Mustang, Chevy's Monte Carlo, Pontiac's GTO, a Hemi Charger, or even (shudder, gasp) a pickup truck going heads-up. It's pretty obvious to anybody that pays attention to the industry that Detroit is going to have to re-invent itself to survive. Drag racing may have to do the same by adding a class (or deleting another one) to bring people, racers and more corporate involvement to the sport. The drag racing game still attracts the younger, affluent fan; a trip to the local track on test and tune night will verify that. They do want to watch and race the cars they drive. One last question. What is the most popular auto racing series
in North America and perhaps the world? The answer: the National
Association of STOCK CAR Racing. Really stock appearing cars racing...hmmmm,
could that mean anything? |
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rag
racing's major sanctioning bodies have some major issues, not the
least of which is that their core audience and participants seem
to be getting "grayer" at a rapid rate. While drag racing's
major competition for advertising dollars, sponsorships and media
awareness, the circle track sanctioning bodies NASCAR, IRL and CART,
find corporate-backed teenaged and early twenty-something drivers
who can connect with and be related to by a much younger generation
of racing fan, most of drag racing's stars are much closer to their
40th birthday than their 20th. The demographics for that fan base
certainly has to be one of the reasons why drag racing and its professional
teams can't attract the kind of corporate sponsorships and funding
that NASCAR does. 
