Aug 26

Written by: The Commish
8/26/2010 10:49 PM 

GMP is one of the many great companies that support Wind Tunnel's Super 7 Sweep game with prizes.  In addition to a couple of Le Mans NART Ferrari 412p collectibles they've come up with three pretty cool drag racing collectibles from the 60's and 70's; two stock cars and a fuel altered, replicas of then -famous machinery that far too few will remember and fully appreciate.

Seeing those cars got me thinking about where drag racing is today, NHRA drag racing specifically, currently under attack by the smaller ADRL and IHRA series and its own operational challenges.

This past season the NHRA saw a number of less than full fields in the Full Throttle fuel classes with results showing various field fillers, i.e. start-and-get-parked entries that are either being paid to come and qualify or the cost of racing a fuel dragster or funny car is more affordable than I thought.

Example: Chris Karamesines is still racing his 'Chizler' top fuel dragster at select NHRA events, at the ripe old age of 80 and you can bet he's not doing it out of his own pocket.  His sponsorships obviously pay him enough to race and fortunately the Top Fuel class is basically spec now, with the same engines in similar chassis that can be tuned to run within thousandth's of each other if all the settings are right.  Nowadays it's all about the relationship between engine and clutch tuning according to track and atmospheric conditions first, good driver second.  So the 'Golden Greek' is rarely embarrassed and his presence makes it possible for another NHRA national to boast full fields.

If he shows up.

Every racing series is hurting but the NHRA is really hurting.  With three deaths in two seasons, one a spectator,  dwindling gates and thinning fuel car fields, residual angst about  four wide racing and 1000-ft. runs -- from both fans and racers alike -- plus a depressed sponsorship pool, which is now more like a little puddle, the oldest, largest most successful and most respected professional drag racing organization could conceivably go away if things don't improve.

I certainly hope not, but times are tough. 

There's been lots of talk lately about various fuel teams running the smaller but a little bit sexier IHRA and ADRL series next season, not in addition to but instead of the NHRA series.

The eighth-mile ADRL is the hip (yes, I said hip) extreme show for the offspring of baby boomers and their chillun; discretionary income spenders who don't care about, let alone remember the good old days of the sixties, seventies, eighties or even nineties.  They're all about the noise, nightfire and extreme graphics. 

ADRL Events feature Extreme Pro Stock, Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Flowmaster Extreme 10.5, Pro Nitrous and Pro Extreme, "the quickest full-bodied class in all of drag racing" according to their website.  It's pure entertainment with wild and often violent acceleration, a wide variety of content (lotsa new and vintage body shapes and manufacturers) and its a whole lot cheaper than racing the Full Throttle series.

The IHRA Nitro Jam series runs Top Fuel, Pro Fuel dragster and Nostalgia funny car with companion races for a dozen or so sportsman classes for stocks and super stocks, dragsters and other hot rods.  Nitro Jam competitors run the full quarter mile, the fuel dragsters are the same as NHRA's and the two day events skip qualifying and go straight to eliminations to crown winners each night.

It's cheaper if only because there are fewer runs and events. 

The ADRL and/or IHRA may offer a better ROI than a full season with the NHRA for a lot of sponsors, especially the new, worried virgin ones. More than a couple of Top Fuel or Funny Car teams are rumored to be seriously considering dropping out of what Wally built in favor of going radical elsewhere and maybe doing some cherry picking.

The NHRA needs 16 cars at each and every national.  If just one or two go away and one or two teams just can't show up anymore unless a check changes hands, they're going to be short.  

And when you can't fill your premier class fields consistently it's time to start looking for the tent storage bag.  Less-than-full-fields go right along with fewer or less active 'official' sponsors, fewer ticket sales, less concession and souvenir revenue, reduced exposure, reduced interest and a reduced capacity to thrive.

So that's what got us thinking, and when I say 'us' I mean me and a couple of fellow fantasy game buddies; one a former big corporation marketing VP who sponsored and fully activated a two-car NHRA funny car team for years, another the former communications veep for Phoenix International Raceway. 

Yes, we were seated at a table in a sports bar and there were pitchers of Miller Lite in play.  This is what we came up with.

Bruton Smith has been linked to talks about buying the NHRA for years.  He just built the latest and greatest Taj Mahal of dragstrips in Charlotte with four lanes and plenty of runoff area and held the 1st Annual zMax Four Wide Nationals this past season that was deemed a commercial success but to all accounts a fan yawner and a complete team fustercluck.  After the event 60 of 63 racers in the Professional Racers Owners Organization voted to send a letter to the NHRA saying they simply would not race that way again. 

Then they all changed their minds because they remembered or were reminded how they need Bruton and SMI, including its tracks at Las Vegas, Sonoma and Bristol, a whole helluva lot more than he needs them.  Four-wide racing at Charlotte -- and at any other existing or future SMI facility -- is here to stay.

So we decided if push comes to shove Bruton will buy the NHRA and do what he does best.

He'll go back to the full 1320 ft. race distance and somehow implement new rules to reduce costs and encourage new teams for the fuel divisions as neither the Pro Stock or Pro Stock Bike classes are broken.  Then he'll address the schedule and tracks and maybe Englishtown, Firebird and even Pomona go away if safety at those tracks can't be improved.

There's no denying the significant synergistic potential among NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA drag racing.  Package deals and cross discipline promotions and partnerships can offer added value to shared sponsors, manufacturer and race teams.

And if anybody can turn NHRA drag racing into a motorsport on par with the top roundy-round sports car, open wheel and stock car series it's Bruton and his staff.

My personal preference is for the NHRA to survive and flourish.  If it can't do it alone maybe it can find help.  And if help only comes in the form of selling the series to a healthy organization that will keep it alive at least, and tweak it to dramatic growth and Justin Bieber success at best, maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Check, please.



 

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