Now that NHRA is officially a SPORTSMAN Organization

[Lynn A McCarty]

*What are their plans to get Stock and Super Stock off the pages of designed obscurity?

*Are they interested in our opinions about how to promote our Sport?

*Do 6 digit Super Stockers and Stockers warrant television time ahead of guys racing brass beds or Sport Compacts? (I even saw guys running weed-eater motored scooters once)

*Can we organize a promotional tape for S/SS lets say at Gateway in the spring of lets say of wheel standing varieties, nostalgia to help them out?

*Shouldn't we all be partners in making S/SS the best it could possibly be?

If we sell it, then it will sell. If we dont, then it wont.

Lynn

[Michael Beard]

>> Now that NHRA is officially a SPORTSMAN Organization

They are? I heard on CompetitionPlus.com's forums that a few sizable buys of HDP stock occurred this week. The aquisition has not taken place yet, though.

Sportsman pay for themselves and make the promoters money. Fans pay for the Pros. Sportsman do help pay for their insurance, though!

[Real Racer]

Originally Posted by 1664SSJA

Im talking about money accumulating through the year, not just at a national event. Sportsman money far outweighs spectator money in my opinion. If the Sportsman cars stayed home ALL year see if they could survive on spectator money. Its a no brainer. It aint happenin. The sportsman and bracket guys are the ones there week after week after week. Not the pros. And definitely not the spectators. They did some kind of look see and figured that the only Sportsman class at a national event that has almost as big a following as the Pro Stock cars is SS/AH............... I always had a thought that when they split the class and gave them their own designation that they were setting the stage for something...... If they wanted to do away with Sportsman they could still run the Hemi cars for a draw. Anythings possible in the wonderful world of NHRA.......

I beg to differ sir.
NHRA would actually do much better financially without the sportsman on a national level. No tech, no ladders, no pit parking, etc means that many fewer NHRA personel.
Do you have any idea how much it costs to spectate at a national? Park, eat, drink for 3 or 4 days?
That's where they make their money.
Why do you think that HDP Partners only purchased the Powerade Pro Series? The sportsman divisions cost more to operate than they bring in. Do the math.
If you believe any of that kool aid that NHRA is trying to sell us about the purchase money being used to perpetuate sportsman racing then I have some beach front property in Gainesville Florida that you may be interested in.

[GaryGoFast]

I would think that most who have ascended to the Pros have come from the Sportsman ranks. Seems if they did away with us, they'd shoot themselves in the foot.

gary federico
s/st #11

[Michael Beard]

>> I was strictly talking about MONEY that sportsman racers spend vs spectators. The amount they spend over a given period. The amount they bring into tracks.

Average of even 20,000 spectators/day over even 3 days probably spends $200+ over the weekend between tickets, concessions, etc. That's $4 Million dollars. I've read tracks claiming 125,000 attendance over the course of a full national event weekend. (what fingers and toes they're counting, I don't know) That's $6Mil in ticket sales alone. There is no math that can show 700 Sportsman racers generating more money in a weekend than 20,000 spectators. And racers get paid.

>> If the sportsman classes were that much of a "drag" on them then why dont they simply eliminate them.

Because they still make money on them. Not as much as on spectators, but money is money.

I fully agree that the Sportsman racer is extremely important, but there's no doubt that spectators pay the bills. This topic should turn back to Lynn's original intent: How do we MARKET class racing to spectators, thus making our Sportsman classes worth even more?

[Adger Smith]

A race with Stock, Super Stock & even Comp & the .90 classes could be considered "One of the Best Car Shows" you can attend. Just think of all there is to see and the diversity. Why isn't it marketed that way to muscle car era guys to share with their children & grand children?? It could also be marketed to the generation after the muscle car generation to show them what their Fathers & Grandfathers raced/lived through. It's time to show some creativity to get spectators back at the divisional series races instead of trying to make ALL the money from just the pit gate. There are a few owners/promoters that do market divisional events & fill the stands. Just look at the No Problem races & the Norwalk divisional race. Just the Norwalk divisional probably had more spectators than all the other Div.3 races combined. Then Pat knows his market & works it better than most other Div 4 track owners do at Divisional races. Those are just 2 race tracks that make it on more than the pit gate. Don't tell me they are the only two markets in the country that can do it. Why is Pinks so hot right now? I think it is because they have more to market than just performance & they have found out HOW to draw interest to themselves. (market their product) Sportsman racing, NHRA & IHRA style, has just as much if not more than Pinks to market. It is time to get in gear with promoting Sportsman Racing.

[mannymen]

1664SSJA Many businesses have customers that cost a company money, but the company will continue to keep them due to an integrity/1st customer issue. The NHRA could dump the sportsman racers, but if fans were to see this they may end up turning away and looking elsewhere, which is what the NHRA doesn't want.

[Bruce Noland]

Sportsman racers have provided nhra with millions of dollars worth of tax relief over the decades. We probably are a break even proposition at Nationals but we help shield them from the tax man. This concept has always been their deal, that is, suck off our tax dollars and then stuff their pockets. It really is a beautiful, all american scam!

[Everett Vassar]

Ever watch Barrett -Jackson on SPEED Everybody does.Even my wife will watch it.Things really heat up when a classic muscle car or even an old race car hit the stage.Does NHRA not realize they have a place full of these cars at natl and div races.You think they would see the huge interest and capitalize on it with a little T.V. time.

[Ron Middleton]

Lynn and Adger,
I think Stock/Superstock is suffering from and indentity crisis right now with national event fans, casual spectators, and the television audiences. As a whole the sportsman categories do very little in the way of promoting themselves and/or the sport in general. It seems like most of us are so wrapped up in our own little world and our own crisis that we can't see the big picture. Just look at this board and many of the posts here day to day.
I wonder how many of us have taken just a little bit of time promoting ourselves and our cars by taking them to local car shows and/or events and conversing with the casual fan about our sport? How many of us have gotten out to our local tracks and spoke with local fans or even taken the time to speak to fans when we're at races we already attend? How many times have any of us spoken to our local media sports guys and try to stir up some interest? We seem to expect fans to show up and watch us just because we know we're cool and think the fans should automatically know this.
It's cool to have an association to help as a liason with a sanctioning body but we could really use an association to help pool resources to help market and promote our classes and sport and then maybe work with sanctioning bodies. Pooled resources would definitely allow us to market ourselves and work with tracks, promotors amd the media. It's really up to us to make a difference and it needs to be soon or the heads up/outlaw racing and pros will soon take all the fans. JMT.