WHO GETS THE MONEY?
Burk, your comment regarding Dave Connolly "deserving" to
have corporate sponsorship, based on his performance and
marketability prompted me to offer a comment.
It has been proven time and again in motorsports
of all types, that racers who receive support aren't necessarily
the ones who perform the best on track or have the most fan
support.
Sadly, it is those with the most competent
marketing program that usually land the big sponsors. In
a perfect world, those who run the best and win the most
would get the backing.
In drag racing, it has always seemed that "real" racers
who can tune, drive, fabricate, innovate and win have had
the most difficulty securing and keeping adequate support.
Having been personally involved in making sponsorship
presentations to large corporations, I can tell you that
the ability to sell a program's attributes has become more
important than figuring out the clutch.
This is not a fact that brings me any joy,
as my heroes are the guys who can build, drive, tune and
maintain these demanding machines, weather or not they function
well as rolling billboards or if the corporate hospitality
center has carved roast beef.
Our sanctioning bodies need to dedicate more
resources aimed at helping the racers secure the sponsorship
they need to stay out there, before they are subsidizing
entire teams in order to keep the show alive. If there is
one aspect of "NASCAR envy" that NHRA and IHRA
need to emulate, it is this.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Terry Spencer
Covina, CA
PRO TEAMS HANGING BY A THREAD
Enjoyed the article, Jeff. You really hit it
on the head.
Brad Miner
TOP END ANNOUNCERS
I laughed my ass off, but I couldn't agree
with you more on self-important announcers trying to put
themselves into the action. I heard "YOU HATE THAT GUY" on
the TV show and thought it was strange. If there's a joking
relationship with Reinhart and Ron Capps, keep it to yourself;
if Reinhart is a professional he should be aware of open
microphones. NHRA announcers need to take lessons from Gary
Gerold.
I love that drawing and it looks just like
him, reminds me of the old Isky Toons.
Keep them honest!
Tom Conifer
