2012 National Schedule

Discussion in 'Pit Buzz' started by JustinatAce, Nov 18, 2011.

  1. JustinatAce

    JustinatAce Member

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    #1
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2011
  2. Bill Naves

    Bill Naves Member

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    thanks

    thanks I was hoping that would come out soon.
     
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  3. bruce mullins

    bruce mullins Top Dragster

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    wow! no alky at E-town national event! good thing Zmax is the same distance south for me to go spectate. But what kind of car count do they think they will get in the south.
     
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  4. Barry Ferriolo

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    yet another hit for div 1 racers. but what the hell, we were all told that "we all know what we have is BROKEN" so i can only assume that no alcohol cars at e-town must be good for the class. right about now, that chuck anderika fellow is looking like the smartest guy in the room.
     
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  5. Will Hanna

    Will Hanna We put the 'inside' in Top Alcohol
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    Wake up and smell the coffee

    Contrary to what some of you think I don't think anyone is happy about this new deal. Maybe a few that wanted to chase the national points more may be happy about the reshuffle of the points structure, but nobody is happy about losing divisional races.

    For some of you who keep insinuating that somehow we should have just kept our mouths shut...if some of us hadn't bitched about the system 'being broken' and this all would have just never happened.

    Wake up and smell the coffee!!

    Tracks were losing money on us. If you think that tracks were going to continue to host us while losing money, you're "sniffing the Nitro" as I was told.

    This new deal is tough. Unfortunately we will probably lose some racers over it. Some will have to race less, some a lot less.

    But this "I'm just going to stick my head in the sand and this all will go away" mentality is partly why things got this way. This thing came to a head just like I have said for a few years it would. Enough tracks got together and said either we don't have alcohol or we don't have a divisional.

    As I stated in another thread. What's done is done, we all need to band together and work on rebuilding our 'brand.' If we can't show we are a front gate draw and can MAKE the tracks money instead of COST them money, we're going to keep losing events.

    At the end of the day we're going to have to put aside the feeling we're entitled to a place to race, entitled to a certain payout, really entitled to anything. We're going to have to get back to basics no different than if we were a regional circuit and start working with tracks and NHRA. We need to work with the tracks that have brought us in with the attitude "What can we do to help make you money."

    If we can get a few track owners to rib the other track owners that dropped us at the year end track owners meeting, we'll be on to something. "Hey Bob, do you know how much money I made off those damn alcohol cars this year?" As it stands right now, most of them are getting together talking about how much money they lose. That's why this regional deal happened.

    If we sit back and put the promotion of our class all in the hands of the tracks and NHRA, well look around and see what's happening now.

    I know this is still a sore subject to some, but everyone sitting around saying 'careful what we wish for' needs to realize this was going to happen. Just be glad they didn't shit can the whole program and tell us we have 16 nationals to run at.
     
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  6. BLOWN INCOME

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    It get old listening how some tracks are losing money on us !!!!!!
    Quit blaming us........
    They did this to themselves !!!
    WHY ? Two separate points meets i never ,never once heard it advertised on the radio.
    I talked to a track owner and asked him what he did to make out so well after his points meet !!! He said he spent $16,000 on advertisement in a 100 mile radius of his track...
    YOU HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY
     
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  7. Will Hanna

    Will Hanna We put the 'inside' in Top Alcohol
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    blame

    Santo,

    I'm definitely not blaming the racer. But we nor NHRA can hold a gun to the track owner's head and make them promote a race they don't want to promote.

    The damage was done years ago when it was acceptable to not promote a Lucas Oil or Federal Mogul, or to some degree some of the later Winston divisional races.

    Now we have a reality we have to accept. That's where I see a problem. Some people don't want to accept that a lot of tracks didn't see us as a money maker for them. Maybe some tracks didn't want to take the risk of advertising. Maybe some tracks weren't in a cash flow position to advertise enough to get a return. Some tracks were not getting enough of a car count to get a show to promote.

    Whatever the case may be, we need to take a realistic look where we're at, quit taking it for granted tracks will just bring us back because it's what they've done for 30+ years.

    We all need to realize what just happened, and more importantly WHY it happened. Then we need to go to the tracks that did bring us back with an attitude of 'what can we do to help?' opposed to an entitlement mentality that we're entitled to have a place to race.

    Too many people still think this was about improving car counts.
     
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  8. john348

    john348 Top Alcohol

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    Then explain to me why the hell they even own a race track, what a crock,
    I just deleted the rest, sounds more like politics every day
     
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  9. Woodchip

    Woodchip Top Alcohol Dragster

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    So the racers are expected to put up 16K in promotion and advertising to make a regional event return a profit for the track? How does that work? A sanction in theory should be like a franchise, When you buy into a franchise you are expected to pay for advertizing to promote the chain of franchises. Also the product must follow strict guidelines that match that of the entire franchise. What if In And Out Burger let their franchise holders use soy as a cheaper substitute to make their product? How successful would that individual franchise be? And what impact would that have on the goodwill of the rest of the franchise? There was a time if you had a NHRA sanction you were expected to have a payout for a rigid class structure top fuel class on down, Comp, Modified production, Super stock, Stock, Pure stock, Etc. It was fun to watch and there was little to no brake light racing. Fans (not racers) actually came to the tracks to watch! Then NHRA let go and let the tracks determine what "soy product" they would use. Soon fans stopped coming but, heck every single soy farmer in the area who couldn't afford beef sent their product down the track. Tracks didn't need to advertise anymore. They had back gate where they could safely take little to no risk and accurately predict what there return would be at the end of a fiscal year. So why even bother to have a sanction anymore? The fry cooks are running the franchise! It's a business model turned on its head!!
     
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    Last edited: Nov 23, 2011
  10. notbeenracing

    notbeenracing New Member

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    Woodchip, I know what you are trying to say with your layout of soy vs. beef analogy but you need to get your correct company information. As a FYI In-N-OUT isn't a franchise, it is family owned by Lynsi (Martinez) Torres. They won't go nation wide and can control their great product. You should have used Wendy's or Jack In The Box or (insert name here).
     
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  11. Woodchip

    Woodchip Top Alcohol Dragster

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    understood, we have zero in and out burgers here in the east so I wouldn't know that, But you get my point.
     
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  12. Dave Germain

    Dave Germain New Member

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    Race Track Profits

    Years ago it was the fans that were the profit source for the track owners. Now there is super this and super that, bracket this and bracket that. The track owners don't need the fans to make money. Fans actually cause them some hardship. They have to arrange food services workers and product, porta-potties, and grandstands. Think about that statement for a moment- why even have grandsatands? There isn't anybody to sit in them. All they need is some pavement, doesn't seem like the NHRA has any actual track safety requirements. Once the track owner eliminates the alcohol cars from his show he is free and clear to run things as cheap as possible. No track prep costs, no concessions workers, no safety requirements. It couldn't be any easier for them. Hell, the tracks back east make it even easier yet- run 1/8th mile. Pretty soon those guys will be running Div events in parking lots. Dave Germain
     
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  13. Will Hanna

    Will Hanna We put the 'inside' in Top Alcohol
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    the cards we have in our hand

    John and Woodchip:

    First off, Woodchip, I've never said anywhere the alcohol cars should come up with their own purse money or advertising money for a track.

    We can all get hung up in what the tracks and NHRA 'ought' to be doing or the way it should have been.

    All I'm trying to do is address the here and now. We can try to improve the situation we have now or just keep on taking what they deal us.

    I'm not justifying the mentality of some track owners, some division directors and series sponsors that got us to this point. In the business world it's referred to as a sunk cost.
     
    #13

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