4-11-09 Chassis Cert @ NPR

[Pat Joffrion]

Mr. Wesley Roberson came down to NPR yesterday for our "scheduled" chassis certification yesterday. I watched as 20+ racers turned around when they discovered that the fee was doubled to $150.00.

That is what I was talking about... The only guys that got their certification were those that needed it to make a national or divisional race. Mr. Wesley was in and out of here in just a few hours. The last four times he was here, he did an average of 50 to 60 cars. This time, he did less than half of what he would have done on a "normal" certification day.

Ray Charles could have seen that when you double your price, you will loose more than 1/2 of your customers. The laws of economics are relative. SUPPLY + DEMAND = PRICE. Increase supply and the price goes down. Increase demand, and the price goes up. Increase price and the demand goes down.

If any business wants to decrease customers, then, all they need to do is increase their price. If any business wants to raise revenues by doubling their prices, they will soon find out that they will take in less money than before, because they will now have fewer customers.

My 85-year old dad asked me the other day, "Son, you were charging spectators $10/day when you opened back in 2001. How can you make it when you are still charging the same as you were 8 years ago?"

I explaind to my dad that I believe that there are four times as many people with 10-bucks in their pocket as there are with $15 ir $20 to spend to watch a drag race. And guess what? NPR profits are UP 93% from last year! THAT'S ALMOST DOUBLE (for those of you on the left coast).

As a track owner, I have seen other promoters come and go. I tried to explain to one of them that his spectator fee of $27/day was way out of line. He insisted that he needed to get that much to make a profit. I recommended that if he cut his price down to $10 or $15 that he would get a lot more people to show up for his series. Blame it on the economy (or whatever) but his organization recently announced that they are closing their doors and now are out-of-business. Go figure...

Linda & I make our living running an NHRA track. I appreciate the support from racers from across North America, and I appreciate what NHRA has done for "the sport". I just would hate to see NHRA go bust, and when I see what Ray Charles could see, I cannot see the doubling of sportsmen fees generating much more revenue.

Whomever is giving "the board" advice on economics needs to be taken out to the wood shed. When I see customers leaving my track without their certification, I know where they are going. IHRA has a track 50 miles from here, and their chassis fee has not increased. That is 20 racers who won't be coming back to race here. Doing the math... We had 195 cars entered in our track brack race yesterday. Take away 20 racers, and we are down 10%. Each time another racer's inspection comes due, I will loose another few racers.

NPR does not depend that much on bracket racing to survive. We make most of our money holding Test-N-Tune on Wednesdays, and Midnight Street Car events for the kids on Saturday evenings. And, we diversify with road racing and concerts to pay our $20,000/month note. Truth be known, after payouts, staffing, and track prep costs associated with a bracket race, we make three times more net profit from a Midnight race than we do from a bracket race.

I am sure that other track owners will see the same effect of these price increases reducing their customer base. Most other tracks are dragstrips only. Those are the ones that will be most effected. I can only suggest that they pursue alternative venues to supplement the loss of drag racing revenues. It is hard enough to make it in today's economic conditions with "just a dragstrip". Track owners need help from NHRA to survive. We all need for NHRA to rescind their decision to double the fees. We need NHRA to help us keep our customers, and not send them racing at other facilities. We need NHRA to make it easier for our customers to participate, and returning to the prior rates is only one step, but least it would be a step in the right direction.

Pat Joffrion
No Problem Raceway

[Rick Bailey]

Need a report from Milan

[Jim Wahl]

Wow! Pat, somebody told me I had "balls" for what I wrote in a thread yesterday, but yours are brass, and shiny! I just wish there were more track operators who had enough of them to tell it like it is. I also wish Compton (the dog food hack) had the balls to read those threads and say enough is enough and put NHRA back on the original track Wally envisioned 50 years ago. But Wally is gone and the Compton's of the world are taking over. This is why associations like our SSSSA has taken off the way it has. People just want to be treated fairly and have fun. In a world where it is becoming increasingly harder to find fun and fair treatment you have to get it where you can find it. It's a real shame but NHRA isn't all that much fun anymore when it all comes down to how much money they can make. The ship is sinking and Compton is still drinking! Thank you Pat, you are a man of integrity and business sense beyond any at the NHRA. The bloated egos of Glendora will never allow them to ask for or take the advice of anyone in the field and that is unfortunate. Unfortunate for all of us. Jim

[Sally McBride]

We were one of the 20 or so that turned around. Nothing aginst you Mr. Pat, we love your facility, but we only had $100 on us. Guess we'll be back if the rates come back down. If they don't, we will be forced to race IHRA. We will not renew our membership with NHRA. We can save the $100 competition fee; the $150 chassis certification fee; and the $128 membership fee. We can use these savings to enter 7 bracket races @ $50, and still have change in our pockets.

[Larry Hill]

Thank you Miss Sally

[John DiBartolomeo]

Late last week, Mr, Joffrion suggested a writing campaign to Glendora and I have said much the same thing. I sent mine and I only hope there are more who are willing to do that than those who would just rather sit and complain. Mr. Joffrion is right in every respect. I don't know that this can be changed, but I do know that if a effort isn't made, it won't matter.

[Ron Zenzen 5402]

What is the e-mail address, RJ Zenzen & kids 5402ss,5403s, &5404ss

[mannymen]

Milan's is this weekend and they are giving 20% discounts for the 3 year cert according to their website