"Stop me if you’ve heard me speak of this before, but when I attend a big show event, invariable you’ll get a certain number of racers hanging out at night."


https://dragracingedge.com/the...g/is-it-the-economy/

Yes.

X2

When you attend a race that permits you to have 4-5 races over the weekend it is FUN vs 3-4 day of wasting time to race one race for the whole weekend.

Both events have 600 to 700 cars, people/racers are more likely to have fun when they get to race their cars more...just an observation.

Yes, we hang out at night and the economy helps!

Things are moving better, fuel prices still too damned high but manageable and I believe that hitting one or two of these as a small racer helps sharpen your program at your home track. The downside I see is greedy promoters that are going to kill the golden goose if they don't back up a bit. A lot of talk about the gamblers race and the number of cars at WFC XIII. More of the money in the gamblers should have been pushed to the winner and runner-up. The race itself could have used some better track prep and some of that extra car count money pushed into round money.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chasracer,

Off my soapbox for the moment - John I have a question for you.

Given the number of bracket racers and big buck races across this country alone, why do manufacturers dismiss the idea of contingency money at these events? I could always understand why there was nothing on a local level and my last involvement with NHRA ages ago showed that they were losing interest fast. Is it too much of a problem for event organizers to deal with? Or is it simply the expectation that we are going to purchase the product anyway in a "monkey see, monkey do" environment, so why bother?

quote:

Originally posted by chasracer:
Things are moving better, fuel prices still too damned high but manageable and I believe that hitting one or two of these as a small racer helps sharpen your program at your home track. The downside I see is greedy promoters that are going to kill the golden goose if they don't back up a bit. A lot of talk about the gamblers race and the number of cars at WFC XIII. More of the money in the gamblers should have been pushed to the winner and runner-up. The race itself could have used some better track prep and some of that extra car count money pushed into round money.

Greedy? I'm eager to hear a more detailed explanation of your thoughts. Do you think anyone that shares this opinion, has any idea what it costs to have this event? Do you think anyone of them have any idea how much a huge car count, track drying and staff overtime runs that cost up? One of the issues with people that don't understand how it works, is they talk about things they don't understand. Let me show you the bills for WFC XIII and then you tell me how much more we should have paid.

The purse is guaranteed, and we do exactly what we promise to do. Show me more of those races, and I'll show you where I want to race. I haven't ever cared what the promoter makes. I just want them to do what they say they'll do, and do what I signed up for. We pay 2nd round winners. The more entries we have, the more the payout increases. The math is simple, yet some make it so complicated.

I've been called a lot of things in my life, but greedy hasn't been one of them until now. The profit isn't made in a weekend my friend. We bust our ass for 9-10 months, to make this event work. Next time you have an opinion like the one you shared, put some merit to it by giving us examples of how you'd do it.

I've been a NHRA Racer for more than 55 years but I have to admit the past twenty have been a real struggle due to the overall cost. I retired 20 years ago and as a result my income took a major hit so forking out $1200 to $1500 (the combined expenses) to continue racing isn't possible. Living in California severely limits your opportunities to race anything other than NHRA events. The best I can do is one or possibly two NHRA races a year, and even those are a financial challenge.

The two problems with running my car at a the NHRA event are #1 the time required, 4 to 5 days and #2 the expense , $1200 (at a minimum). I can't speak for the other racers who live here, but the NHRA events are financially out of my reach. The purse has not increased in decades but the entry fees certainly have and the contingency money is a joke. I removed all the contingency decals five or six years ago, every single one.

I would be far ahead entering one high dollar event but it seems that you are required to have a sort of "Grade Point" standing, that means attending several a year. That ain't happening at my present income level, so I want to sell everything (car, trailer and motorhome) and give up the ghost.

Bob

I am with Jed on this. and any promoter will probably agree. they have to make money when they can because they are not guaranteed of a profit next weekend. anybody ever hear of a thing called a weather forecast?

nothing is guaranteed in promoting except the purses.

ep-I hope all promoters who work hard on events make money.

X3 here with Jed & Pauley!!! To add on to what EP said, if promoters dont make a profit where you gonna take your toys and play then??? They cant do it just cause they love it. They cant push money up to satisfy racers and them just go home breaking even. And I been knowing Jed All way back to B&M Series days, dang you old Jed and I’ve never met a more straight up, honest, sincere human being in my life than Jed; so “greedy” and Jed dont even belong in the same topic much less sentence.

Jared, that's the way I saw it and the opinion isn't just mine but quite a number of other racers too. Bottom line, no one is questioning making a profit for the work that is done - yes you should make as much as you can I suppose and yes you paid the purses published and I guess that settles it right there. Other promoters and even some track owner/operators on a good day will push a bit to the lower rounds. That's not in your mix and so be it. My opinions are mine and I have a right to express them.

If the flyer looked good enough to make a person roll through the gate, and the flyer was followed to the letter (and number), what's the problem? What more could a racer ask for?

quote:

Originally posted by chasracer:
Jared, that's the way I saw it and the opinion isn't just mine but quite a number of other racers too. Bottom line, no one is questioning making a profit for the work that is done - yes you should make as much as you can I suppose and yes you paid the purses published and I guess that settles it right there. Other promoters and even some track owner/operators on a good day will push a bit to the lower rounds. That's not in your mix and so be it. My opinions are mine and I have a right to express them.

I have no issue with you expressing your opinion. However,if your opinion is that we are greedy, you couldn't be further from reality. I am assuming you watched the event on the Live Feed. Any idea what that cost is? Any idea what it costs to feed EVERYONE at the track on Saturday? Any idea how our contract works with Bristol, in terms of car count and hours worked? We had our 'In The Way' bonus on Saturday. That was a cash expense. There is staff, ice cream, water for the lanes etc. The list goes on and on. Most have no idea what it takes to put this event together, and I'm ok with that, as long as they don't try to tell me how we should do it.

The point is, anyone that will sit and tell me how we 'should've' done it, SHOULD do it. Their opinion would change WAY before they ever get the gate open on their first event.

If you break down the event's profit, by the real hours worked to promote and actually have it, it is good pay at best. It all comes with the territory, but so does a fair profit for a successful event.

I have to agree with Jed...no one really knows the expense side of promoting...nuff said about that!...everyone knows exactly what the payouts are prior to entering...nuff said about that as well...I happen to know promoters factor in gamblers and buybacks to pay the bills and maybe add a little profit...

Every event I enter is top heavy on payouts...heck, my local track pays $1750.00 to win and $300.00 to runner up...the fact is splits are often made for this reason...

Lastly, I have known Jed and Steve for a long time and "greedy" is not something I would ever call them...ever...

I'm only going to say this and it's not about the big money races but race tracks in general. I have been on the board of directors of our local track for about three years now. All I can say is you just need to do that for awhile and I guarantee you will have a lot better understanding of what goes into putting on a race.

quote:

Originally posted by Lenny5160:
If the flyer looked good enough to make a person roll through the gate, and the flyer was followed to the letter (and number), what's the problem? What more could a racer ask for?

This is a real problem many people have today. They are less focused on what they have, and more focused on what everybody else has.

I would just like to know what chasracer's personal experience was at the WFC race. How did his car do? was the track prep good for him? was the splits he was in to his satisfaction? and was the payout what he was expecting?

ep-or did he fail to attend and is spouting what he heard about said race

Jed is taking the gamble to put on a race that racers want in my opinion



/

Promoters have nothing to do with the split that I know of and if somebody ain’t happy with it they can just say no.

I think the economy is why the big races are doing so well right now. But The economy will stumble sooner or later. It always does. Then you will see the car counts come back down.


Now I do go to some big races but I will pick and choose. I'm really not big on 7+ hours to run a round, then have reentry round and then run to 3 or 4 in the morning or finishing the race up the next day. To me that takes the fun out of racing.


Now I do think all the big dollar racing is hurting local tracks. More and more people won't go weekly, so they can save money for the bigger races. They are chasing the big check and hoping they will win it. But in reality most people don't even win enough to pay for their racing each year. JMO

I've been racing 25 years now, and I've had just about all the different viewpoints and attitudes.

At this point I most look forward to NHRA divisional events. I can race both of my cars without running my a$$ off all day or running all hours of the night. Once I'm through the gate, the expenses are all paid. Since I probably drove a long way and there are no buybacks, first round gets the butterflies up like they used to years ago. There is no buyback or another race the next day.

There is almost no chance of payback, but the outlay is relatively small and most importantly I have fun doing it.