Lifted from Drag News, May 2, 1959

As drag racing took off in the mid-Sixties, radio commercials were added to the mix. A track’s part-time manager or publicist usually wrote a 60-second commercial for a local DJ to read. Some promoters, such as Bill Doner and the late Steve Evans, avoided that expense by recording their own scripts. With the Seventies came short television spots in major media markets, typically relegated to late-night programming on back channels. (E.g., “creature features” were cheap buys, and attracted the targeted teenage demographic.) Ticket prices did rise to cover these electronic-media campaigns, but barely; as late as 1970, C.J. Hart was still charging three bucks for Saturday nights at Lions.

Not until the appearance of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company did our sport get serious about marketing and sponsorships. Not coincidentally, regular TV coverage arrived at the same time. Older readers will recall that national-network coverage was unknown before 1963 — and then only as a highlight segment of ABC’s Wide World Of Sports. Television exposure stayed spotty until mid-1974, when Winston came calling on IHRA, first, then NHRA.

The feds had just kicked cigarette advertising off the air. Tobacco companies were looking for legal loopholes through which they could send brand identification to viewers. They found eager takers in NASCAR and drag racing (plus rodeo and golf). Enter entire departments of salespeople and media managers and handlers. While RJR has rightly been credited for dragging drag racing into the corporate club, the main beneficiaries seem to be team owners who fly their own jets and NHRA execs who earn well into six figures. Hardcore fans haven’t fared as well.

Even adjusted for inflation, a day at the races costs a whole lot more than it did before — and buys but a fraction of the entertainment value, in my opinion. (Didn’t we pay five bucks to watch the entire inaugural PDA Meet in 1967?) Winston’s money and promotional acumen served to supercharge not only our sport’s transition into big business, but also a redistribution of power to the marketing side. Thus does the tail seem to be wagging the dog, three decades down the road.

Look no further than Page Four of my National Dragster (Nov. 25). Gary Darcy, the newly-promoted Senior Vice President Of Sales And Marketing, had this to say to us 60,000-plus members who remain: “With the recent addition of several sales executives earlier this year, we believe it is important that we integrate the sales and marketing departments in our ongoing quest to secure new sponsors, service existing clients, and foster an environment to encourage sponsor activation with the intention of reaching a broader audience to grow and build the sport of NHRA Drag Racing.”

In other words, what the sport really needs to capture lost momentum and make new fans is more salespersons?

Lotsa luck, Mr. Darcy.

Now and Then [11-8-05] More Than A Ghost Town Sits Frozen In The Badlands Of Bodie