NHRA and the Olympics
 

When the Olympics began, its purpose was to provide a forum for athletes around the world to compete and determine who was the best in a myriad of different competitions. The judges of the Olympics did not view the winner in Wrestling any different than the winner in Archery. Each Athlete competed to be the best in the category that he entered. The pinnacle of each was just as important as another.

When the NHRA began, a small group led by Wally Parks set out to provide a safe and legal forum for auto enthusiasts to test the performance potential of their vehicles. It was soon apparent that differences in the levels of modifications of vehicles could result in great differences in vehicle performance. For example, some racers liked a wide open set of rules, where they were free to be creative in their performance endeavors. Other individuals were more happy to work within a confined set of rules, where attention to detail resulted in the most performance.

Television came to the Olympics as a means of showcasing the best athletes the world had to offer. However, the Wide World of Sports and the ESPN’s of the world soon realized that they attracted more viewership to wrestling than they did archery. More and more television time was devoted to the categories that turned on the most televisions, and eventually many of the categories were dropped from coverage entirely.

When business managers began to replace the original founders of NHRA, they began to focus less and less on the racers, and more and more on the spectators. And then television came to drag racing, and again the focus became which categories could turn on the most televisions.

When I was in college, I day dreamed of racing at NHRA national events. At that time, I calculated the payday from winning a national event for everything from a fantasy Top Fueler to a fantasy Stocker. Though I don’t remember the actual numbers, I realized that, with contingency, the fantasy Stocker could take home 67% of the payout of the fantasy Top Fuel car. This was for a car that required no crew, and an engine and driveline that should last at least 2 seasons. My direction in drag racing was pretty much decided at that time.

Today, the Stock winner can make only 22% of the Top Fuel winner. The Stock winner does not get shown on television, even though every round of Top Fuel is shown on television. Wally Parks saw this coming, and made a last ditch attempt to stop it, when he came up with his plan on NHRA being run as a true non-profit association, and NHRA Pro Drag Racing being sold as a separate for-profit corporation. If he had succeeded, the fate of sportsman drag racing would have been secured for a long time into the future. Instead, the moneymen realized that they could wait old Wally out, and that’s exactly what they did. I don’t think most of us realize how much we lost when Wally’s plan was scratched.

Now, I’ll be the first one to tell you that I didn’t get into drag racing for the money. If my intentions were to make money, this certainly would not be the route I would go. And, I am a business manager myself 5+ days a week, so I understand leading an organization on the path that makes the most money. But, to go from 67% to 22% is ridiculous. These guys have realized that the thing that brings us back time and time again is ego. An NHRA win is bigger than an IHRA win. A national event win is bigger than a division win. Win the race, and you get your picture in National Dragster for the whole country to see. They don’t have to pay you, as long as that picture gets published. Do you realize that until a couple of years ago, you could not hardly even find a picture of the winner of the Million Dollar Drag Race on the internet? I spent over an hour trying. And this person won almost as much as the combined purse of all 23 Stock winners over the course of a year!

I am as guilty as the next person for letting my ego dictate my racing. For all practical purposes, I know I could do as well financially bracket racing at my local track. But, as the entry fees continue to increase, and the purses continue to decrease, practicality is gaining on ego. Keep heading in this direction, NHRA, and one day, I will not be there.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Well said Greg I believe alot of us have reached the point you mentioned
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Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

5-6 years ago we could qualify a car for a National meet and with our qualifying money pay for our entry fees/ most travel expenses/misc race expenses like gas-oil- tires/plugs & other small stuff now it costs us about $500 min maybe $750 just to go a coupla hundred miles down the road--we cut out National events other than one that is about 50 miles away and stay/eat at home no motels, just do Opens and Divisionals still have fun but not as often---what really gets me is I watched qualifying (Daytona 500) today and saw sponsor names/products on cars of companies that I know many guys(everything from T/F to PS as well as Sportsman cars too) have put proposals to and in no uncertain words were they interested in "anything" to do with racing/ motorsports of any kind, totally against it--- now maybe the Nascar guys are asking for a minimal amount of money maybe a one race deal and thats it but they are still getting money no matter how much and drag racing is not!!! I do not understand it do you???

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Greg - Great stuff. I believe you echo the sentiments of many racers out there, including me.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

One reason is the TV exposure time....the other reason is its ONE race...ONE winner. Not multi winners at each race. To many different eliminators, to many classes in each eliminator plus the handicap starts and breakouts = confusion to the non car guy TV viewer. Not all who watch are car people. They want entertainment. Who really won? Sure we like the class structure.....we are car people but to the large mass of people who watch and buy avertised products...they are confused when watching Top fuel whatevers and they very rarely get down the track side by side. The TV time never even bothers with the sportsman eliminators. HOW does one fix this?

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

I was on TV four different episodes last year. (3 IHRA on SPEED, plus the K&N Spring Fling on Inside Drag Racing, Fox Sports Net.) Maybe you just need to look at different events.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

And what time in the middle of the night did these shows air? LOL. I never saw one of them during "normal" hours. Congrats for being in the finals and getting your exposure.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

I'm not talking about being on TV personally I'm talking about the "other" 400+ racers at an event--Absolutely no human interest stories of any kind ---I guess Nascar is pretty much the same way too--Dale Jr/Gordon/Johnson--what about the guy that has maybe a million dollar sponsorship or whatever thats always running in 15-20 place how about him and his sponsors they too would like to have some TV time not just the people at that race or the people that see the transporter going down the hiway--I know ya cant please everybody but maybe just once try something a little different

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Right on X-Tech . As to FED's question,hood or quarter panel space is not cheap,even on a backmarker for one race deal at Daytona 500 . Car owner promises "eyeballs" with an impressive marketing package from NASCAR detailing exposure time in seconds on TVof your company name . They do one hell of a good job "marketing the brand". Ever notice how every race car on TV is a "Nascar". even if it doesn't compete in one of their divisions ?

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Palm Beach coverage aired on a Saturday at 7PM
Rockingham coverage aired on a Sunday at 4PM
All-Stars coverage aired on a Saturday at 6PM
K&N Spring Fling coverage aired on a Sunday at 11:30AM (also available on YouTube. You can view the first segment, which contains a closeup of the Volare in the pits (at :50 sec in the video) as well as one of the elimination runs (at 2:06 in the video) at http://www.bracketraces.com/)

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Damn....I missed all of them.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Greg,

One of my big interests, besides drag racing, baseball, and economics, is music and none of the stuff I really like (jazz, blues, bluegrass, folk) was on the Grammy's during prime time either, although it was nice to see Esperanza Spaulding (a jazz artist) win Best New Artist rather than a haircut (Justin Beaver or whatever his name is).

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

If you followed the NASCAR coverage over this past weekend, there are a few companies paying large sums (millions) of dollars and not getting a penny's worth, while others spending a few dollars are getting tons of exposure. In the few short hours we watched, Danica somebody got more exposure than a company which spent most of their last years earnings for no dollars!! Where are the shareholders?

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Addressing Greg's initial observation about NHRA/Olympics media coverage,at least the sport gets coverage as flawed as it is. Without the "Pro" and "star" coverage drag racing would probably be relegated to the airtime given to Figure 8and Demolition Derby events. I cite by example the SCTA which drag racing evolved from,with the exception of terrible Bonneville coverage they get no airtime at all. Much as I despise the format of National Event coverage , I am thankful drag racing is being aired at all. I remember the days when the Daytona 500 was shown six months later interspersed with figure skating and drag racing was barely covered if at all .

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

No, you don't.

As a veteran of twenty-eight years on the salt, I can attest the SCTA doesn't actively pursue any television coverage of their events.

I'm beginning to get the impression you read NONE of my replies to your observations in the "Why Can't..." thread.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

I am truly sorry Bret,I did not intend to offend you. I did read with interest your posts as put up and after first realized how unworkable and unrealistic the concept proposed really is. I was only trying to make apoint of how one group took a path toward commercial success and the SCTA proudly stuck to its roots. I do by the way remember when stockcar races were broken up into segments for TV with unrelated sports in between segments. I did read and learned how television really works from someone respected within the industry,thank you for the education. Once again my apologies as was never my intent to offend.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

I'm just jokin' around so no offense was taken. Funny thing about our memories; even I thought the old Wide World of Sports coverage of Indy and Pomona showed up months after the fact but I did some research and found, (to my dismay), the shows actually aired no more than five weeks after the races! I didn't look it up but I sure the Daytona 500 was probably never delayed by more than that amount.

You got it right about the SCTA; it's a gaggle of the hardest-core "old school" racing people on the planet. They make drag racing class racers look like Marilyn Manson by comparison and those old guys wouldn't care if there was never another TV show shot on the salt. A TV camera at El Mirage is almost unheard of!

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Ya know, I was thinking the other day about how the normal fan does not understand handicap racing and how to explain it in a way they would understand.
How about first round of stock eliminator (everyday at a national meet) run two cars, say an A or so car and have it run a lower class car and have the announcer explain it as their running.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

This is a myth. This is like saying The Price Is Right is too difficult to understand. People have watched and understood game shows for decades. Here's the set of rules, here's the objective. It's NOT hard. I have explained the sport to novices in the stands (or over the PA) on numerous occasions, and people not only pick it up quickly, but also start to enjoy it -- once somebody BOTHERS to tell them what it is they're looking at. It was only a matter of minutes before a 12-yr-old boy watching Super Rod running at Tri-State (1/8th mile) was pointing to the scoreboard, "Dad, look! There's another 6.40!"

Announcing at a bracket race with all racers and no spectators is a different discipline than announcing at a National event. I was given the opportunity to give an NHRA announcer a pizza break at Maple Grove one year, and got to announce a round of Super Comp. I had Stocker guys tell me that was the most interesting Super Comp had ever been to them... like, they actually paid ATTENTION to it.

Know your audience. Inform, then entertain.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

You guys are all talking AROUND the central point of the problem as far as TV goes... there is no apparent will on the part of the NHRA TV crews to enlighten the television audience about sportsman gasoline racing... it would not be too difficult to put an announcer in place that could pass along the nuances of the sportsman competitor, they just need to want to (granted, part of that wanting is driven by how many revenue dollars they think it will generate). I point again to the phenomenal rise of televised POKER... a sport where everyone sits at a table and plays with CARDS!!! The interest comes from giving a CLEAR explanation of strategy, potentials and outcomes to the viewer, and making a connection to the personalities for the audience... how easy would THAT be for NHRA to do??? Right.... not hard at all, the problem is with NHRA, not the spectators.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Marvin---ABSOLUTELY correct---everybody is talking about/around the subject both in this thread and the other one concerning the old days of TV---somebody makes the decision on what gets shown and what does not--the announcer can only announce what is presented to him or what is happening before his eyes----If whoever ONLY presents PRO classes then that's all the announcer has to work with---what has to happen is to find out who makes the decision as to what gets shown--- if its tow cars or golf carts then thats all they have to work with---if its Pros same scenario---if its sportsman same thing---comp

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

Thank you for the responses, everyone. My real problem is not with the television coverage, it is with the money, although after rereading my post, I can see why the discussion has gone down this path. I remember hearing of guys in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s winning three times as much as they had invested in the car. When I bought my Stocker, I paid $18,000 for a car (and trailer) that could win $15,000. Not THAT long ago, I heard rumors of a guy building a Hemi Plymouth, and he would have $40,000 invested in it by the time he was done. That was considered outrageous at the time. Now, how much does it cost to build a Stocker? And, how much can you win with it?

My two main points were that we missed a huge opportunity when Wally Park’s proposal to split the Pros from the Sportsman didn’t go through (with what amounted to a trust fund to support sportsman racing well into the future). And two, I think the publicity that we do get is what separates NHRA Sportsman racing from other forms of racing at the same level. Many organizations have put together a $10,000 to win race for far less entry than $305. Here, more and more money continues to go to the nitro class. But, they know they can continue doing it, and still keep the fields full, because we all want to see our picture in National Dragster, I guess.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

When I quit drag racing the first time (1979) points races and national events (including contingency money) paid the same to a little more than now. That same dollar number does not go nearly as far as it used to. A new $100,000.00 SS/GT roller now would pay for three or four complete SS cars back then.

Re: NHRA and the Olympics
 

I can only give my opinion as a spectator since I have never raced. I attend 2-3 national events and a few divisionals and the dutch. The problem I think is NHRA just doesn't care as much for the sportsmen racers. They could enhance the racing experience for all fans by pushing the sportsmen classes more. If you could get more sponsors in sportsmen it would boost the payouts and up some of the fields. Maybe Lucas should push a sportsmen show if only an hours show maybe show the quarterfinals of comp on down. You could do some pit stuff on the cars and some of the racers. Explain the classes if you did that and more it will draw more fans to the local tracks. Look at inside MMA everybody knows the UFC but they talk about the amateur shows all over the world and show highlights. People care about the UFC because they know the fighters. You mean to tell me putting somebody like Fletcher on tv wouldn't be entertaining?