Big $$$ S/SS Races as a Business Model..Viable?

[Tex013]

Frank put it the best in words what i have tried to say for several years .
We have the same problems here in Australia , but for sure a smaller base racers and spectaters and far less tracks .
People keep harping on that " we were bigger than V8 Supercars(Nascar sort of ) in the 80s/90s , we had massive crowds etc "
Losing beer and cigarette sponsors hurt promotion and that has never recovered
Too much choice now for family dollar . People are time poor so they will watch a 3 hour ball game but not all day at the track .
People need a month pre advertising to be able to organise their time and money to go to a "big" event .
If you want to make it easy for Joe Blow , make it a gold coin , $1 and $2 dollars here , entry for under 18s . Realistic pricing for adults - not 25/35/45 . You just might get a few more kids in with a dad/mum or 2 if they can see it as only 20 or 30 dollars for the whole crowd when they might only have 2 or 3 hours to spare to go watch .
At this point you are not relying on spectater money , racer entry covers track , so you are not "giving " income awat . Its not there to start with

Tex

[Crisco]

I think it could be a very good business model if you (the promoter) would have the racers actually show up. Not many businesses will survive without customers. Alot of them S/SS racers complain about NHRA raising entry fees, not raising payouts, contingency not paying anymore, having to be there (at a National, hell even a divisional) for a week, etc, etc. Now, you have some good, reputable S/SS racers stick their neck out for them to have a good place to race, pay them on the spot more money than they could ever win at a National or a divisional even with contingency, actually tell them thanks for coming, throw them a party, and actually have a damn good time yet no one shows up. I guess alot of the S/SS racers think its not S/SS racing if it isn't under the NHRA sanctioning. I know there is some prestige in winning a Wally, but doesn't 25k sound better?

If the S/SS promoters can keep this going, get more product sponsors on board for round wins/loses etc, make it fun with the rules still in place, why anyone wouldn't support it is beyond me....

Chris Avaritt

[novassdude]

Originally Posted by Crisco

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If the S/SS promoters can keep this going, get more product sponsors on board for round wins/loses etc, make it fun with the rules still in place, why anyone wouldn't support it is beyond me....

Chris Avaritt

The answer is easy for many, location. Not ll racers can afford the time and money it takes travel over a 1000 miles to race. I think Ken's race is close to a perfect set up good money fair entry multiple races for one tow. But the location for anyone out of div 1 and maybe 3 is a very long tow. SGMP had the same issue just a different corner of the country. Not to mention another race 250 miles away on the same weekend.
There is no good solution for the location part. no matter where you hold the race there are people that will not be happy and therefor not attend.

[Crisco]

Originally Posted by novassdude

The answer is easy for many, location. Not ll racers can afford the time and money it takes travel over a 1000 miles to race. I think Ken's race is close to a perfect set up good money fair entry multiple races for one tow. But the location for anyone out of div 1 and maybe 3 is a very long tow. SGMP had the same issue just a different corner of the country. Not to mention another race 250 miles away on the same weekend.
There is no good solution for the location part. no matter where you hold the race there are people that will not be happy and therefor not attend.

While I do agree with you, I also disagree... look how many racers travel to Florida from Canada, Jersey, and all those other very Northern states..yeah they stay a month, but will still travel. I think if more racers would just get out of their "normal" routine on NHRA racing and try some other sanctioning/big money races, it would eventually give them more avenues to race... just my humble opinion.

[novassdude]

Originally Posted by Crisco

While I do agree with you, I also disagree... look how many racers travel to Florida from Canada, Jersey, and all those other very Northern states..yeah they stay a month, but will still travel. I think if more racers would just get out of their "normal" routine on NHRA racing and try some other sanctioning/big money races, it would eventually give them more avenues to race... just my humble opinion.

You are right there are and will always be racers who have the time and money to travel. But I would guess if you took a poll on them a very small percentage are your every day 9-5 job people. They are all either retired, self employed or what we like to call Pro-Sportsmen racers that rely on winning or sponsors to stay on the road. And it is great for the people that can afford to do that. But I don't think there are enough of them to pay for putting on a high dollar race. I could be wrong have been many times. So you need to put it on in a location with a high local (by local I am thinking under 7 or 8 hour tow) car count to make it pay.
I am all for the racers supporting these races over the NHRA races. I haven't had my stocker out for some years But when I do it will be for a Midwest class-racer combo and not an NHRA event. Hopefully this year we will make a couple.

[thomas r polk]

The point i was making why not have buy back so the promoter could make some money and put on more of this type of races

[1299]

Thomas the reason that bye back are not a good idea in stock/super stock. Let say you have a heads 1st round and you are behind by 2 tenths. Your opponent spin the tire 1st round and you win. Now he/she bye back and re runs you heads up. Now this time you lose. That would leave a bad felling.

[thomas r polk]

what are the chances of this happen. The good out weights the bad

[rognelson777]

you will never draw a large spectator group. look around where the spectators are now...no time races, no prep races, 1st to the finish line. When class racing started, before super stock was around, how many classes did you have 12? so you have 100 cars, roughly 8 cars each class running off.thats 3 rounds of heads up racing times 12. thats what spectators want to see. I think stick and auto were in the same class. do that and you will get fans. why did that stop, big bucks won the races..so keep working on these races, run a index race within it, match up cars that have same index, handicap off index after that, and best driver most under index should win

[my69396]

Are we talking about class racing or bracket racing? As much as I liked the race in St. Louis it was still a real nice bracket race. Until NHRA decides to do something for the sportsman racers we are stuck with this reality. As far as the future of our kind of racing goes, the associations that are giving us a alternative to the dog and pony show that is the NHRA now, enough good can't be said. I did like the CIC race. We could have had some interesting races for class. Maybe some payout for that would be nice. Sponsors are hard to find but would be a nice touch. I know the promoters are trying to the figure out how to make these gatherings as profitable as possible but until the racers decide that they will make the big dollar race their alternative to the NHRA show it is going to be a uphill battle.