Contingency sponsors are paying for that 36-square-inch
space on your car for the entire event. Your reward for
running the decal is cash, if you get to the final round.
Would you leave your major sponsor's logo off of your car
until the final round? If no one is watching the early rounds,
how do you justify selling "traditional" sponsorship
on your race car (not you specifically, just in general)?
I wouldn't expect Larry Cummings to leave his door blank
on his Super Stocker until the final round, and then slap
his Moser decal on. I don't think Moser would be too happy
with that. So why should Holley or Comp be happy about our
contingency decal missing? After all, we are a SPONSOR. I
know for a fact several racers who have been paid more money
from just ONE contingency sponsor in one season than they
were paid by their "major" sponsor.
We manufacturers spend a great deal of money marketing our
brands and tracking our "hits" or impressions.
NASCAR probably gives Holley the biggest exposure on the
contingency level. You can pick up a USA Today on a Monday
after a Cup, Busch, or Truck race and usually see a picture
of a car with a Holley decal on it. We aren't paying Hendrick
Motorsports contingency to put a decal on Jeff Gordon's car
for a winner's circle picture.
How many times do you see
a photo of a car or a shot on TV, whether he won the race
or crashed out, with a Holley decal on it? Now that is getting
your money's worth as a sponsor! Drag racing is no different,
even at the sportsman level. We want to maximize the opportunities
for our brand to be exposed to potential consumers.
As for the IHRA's position, don't be too quick to throw
them under the bus. Look no farther than your contingency
posting sheet you get at each event. My best guess is that
70% of the companies posting, including the ones mentioned
above, have been on every sanctioning bodies' asses about
decal enforcement. IHRA is getting mega pressure from us
manufacturers to police their programs. I agree that taking
a racer's entire contingency earnings for a race is harsh,
but when a majority of the manufacturers are backing you
up, then it's going to happen. The problem is that racers
continue to ignore the rules of the program, which are clearly
stated on the entry paperwork for the event, that you have
the decals on before the START of eliminations (or qualifying/class
elims) to earn the contingency money. No matter how many
times IHRA has warned racers, there still seems to be a lot
of non-compliance with the program. Obviously, the action
taken at the San Antonio race got someone's attention, or
I wouldn't be replying to your article!
I could keep going and going about this subject, but I am
sure you understand what I am getting at. I welcome opening
up the dialog on this subject with racers and other manufacturers.
I think that the more awareness that is brought to this subject,
the less chance that a racer won't get paid for something
as silly as slapping on a decal.
Thanks for your time.
Chris Crecelius
Midwest Regional Manager
Holley Performance Products
CONTINGENCY #3
I was waiting for "all of the facts" to be aired
on this subject. For the record Childs & Alberts screwed
me out of $100 contingency for a NHRA National Event win
many years ago after I had purchased (100) custom made dykes
rings from Bruce Walker @ C&A at a considerable expense.
I have never bought another C&A product in the past 20
years...
As an automotive mfg. we have tested contingency programs
and dropped all of them because racers who we KNEW did not
buy our product, were getting paid when they won. We even
had one high profile racer and event promoter try to convince
us to pay him for using a competitor's product.
As far as I am concerned, guys like Chase Knight from Crane
and a few others always did things right. They checked each
engine/racer at the track PRIOR to eliminations at National
Events to verify the cam was in the engine and that you had
the cam card with the serial number in your possession. Crane
also paid quickly compared to a number of other companies
who put you off as long as they could or never paid at all.
Randy Hubbard
CONTINGENCY #4
Avarice has a grip on most people. In sounds like the symbiotic
relationship of racers and manufacturers is being compromised
due to significant abuse of the honor system that has worked
well in the past. (As usual the NHRA is in the middle of
it.)
Maybe the honor portion can be replaced by a professional
approach. Here's an example: Have every racer pre-register
all contingency related parts/decals with the NHRA prior
to each race. This could be something as simple as a racer-provided
sheet listing the parts/manufacturers they are claiming that
race stapled to their event registration sheet. (This way
the NHRA is somewhat earning their cut in all of this.)
Granted it will take more administrative work for all involved,
but it might just keep the honest people honest.
Brett Porter
Seattle, WA
