Quote:
Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY
Alan, a close friend of mine will often ride throughout the sportsman pits and declare.....Look at all the poor ness.....LOL... Isn't it ironic that NHRA follows such a poor business model yet so many of the sportsman racers are astute business men and ladies and that is why they can afford such expensive toys...ie....support equipment....M.J.
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M.J., I agree.
As an example, Kevin bought the motorhomes we traveled in in order to make it nice for his wife to go to the races. Really, asking a wife not devoted to racing like we are to stay in a super confined space with her husband and his crew chief is a bit much. Why shouldn't she be relaxed and confortable? It's her time away, too. Later, she didn't go much, and Kevin downsized. To the point where we had about 8'x8' of living space.
The motorhomes are good for other things, too. That same motorhome can be used for any sort of traveling. Why should a family be restricted to one type of leisure activity?
Another thing about it, two hotel rooms for three nights gets expensive if you do it often. Figure $120 a night total, if you stay in a real cheap motel, for 3 nights a weekend, 8 or 10 weekends a year. Now figure a payment on a new/newer 1 ton crew cab that costs between $50K and $80K, then that gap gets real narrow, figuring the payments on a 60-72 month schedule. When the bigger rigs are financed like a home mortgage and hold their value fairly well, it starts to make sense, if you can swing it.
These days, rigs get stolen all too often. Most often, when people spend the night at a hotel. The bigger rigs avoid that exposure.
And I agree, if racers can figure out how to create a good business model and live relatively well, why can't NHRA figure out a decent business model and afford to increase payouts like they increase their salaries?