MARKETING WOES AND THEN SOME
I agree 100%. I have written (via emails, etc) NHRA to voice my concerns over their “crappy marketing efforts.” NASCAR is everywhere, in all the stores and in all areas (toys, clothing, apparel, even furniture and home decorating items). NHRA items can ONLY be found at NHRA events and then at horrible prices. My son has been a drag racing fan since he could watch it on TV (mainly because I watched it). He is best friends with several of the most prolific names in the sport.
At 4-5 years of age, he knew every NASCAR driver (name, car type and sponsor), yet had never watched a race or been to a race. His first NASCAR event was at Sears Point for Richard Petty's last run there. He knew all his driver information through the toy manufacturing business. He had all the NASCAR trucks, trailers and matching cars (I bought them for him). They cost only $1-4 each. As a parent, it was affordable, as I didn't have to worry about the high replacement costs if he broke them. There were NO NHRA items in the stores. When I talked to NHRA, they claimed they had 1/64th scale diecast trucks and cars that could be purchased. Yeah, right! At $15 per car and $39.95 per truck and trailer, a parent would need to be “fool hardy” with their money to buy those for a 4-5 year-old kid. And the point? My son had all these NASCAR toys and he wanted to go to a NASCAR race to see the “real ones.” So, like any other dad would do, I took him. Imagine that!!!! I bet it could work the same way with NHRA (affordable toys and other such merchandise at regular department stores, but NHRA has NO such thing. Their money-grubbing upper management ensures that that can never happen. It's not all the fault of the folks in NHRA marketing. We've known/met several of the folks in marketing over the years. Many saw the same problems. When they tried to correct the problem, they were fired.
I remember growing up as a kid and attending the AHRA drag races at the now long-gone Fremont Raceway. There would be so many Nitro cars at their National event in October that it would take nearly two hours to tour the pits to see them all. Then AHRA went away. NHRA took over. The events went from great to worse than any four-letter word could describe. Instead of 32 cars (or more) competing for 16 spots in the nitro categories (Funny Car and Top Fuel) there were often no more than 6 in either of those classes competing for a spot in an 8-car ladder. The payouts to the racers were less and the price to the fans went up (drastically). I quit attending the drag races completely after about 1982 until my son was old enough (two years of age) to enjoy seeing his favorite driver (John Force) in person. Then I took him to the Winternationals at Pomona in 1990. We've attended at least 2 races per year ever since. Not because of NHRA, but because of the racers, especially John Force. Unlike NASCAR (and other racing formats) you can meet the 'stars' up close and personal. My son met his favorite. This should be a major selling point for NHRA, but they are to STUPID to see it.
I also agree that IHRA can be a great 'grooming ground' for future NHRA stars, as it takes a considerably smaller budget to compete there. Shirley Muldowney, Clay Millican, Bruce Litton can all prove that. I was very happy to see IHRA finally get off the stick and bring back nitro funny cars and change their nitro category rules to more closely follow those of the NHRA. One BIG problem IHRA has is that there are NO West Coast events (California, Seattle, etc). Sponsorship dollars is obviously another big problem, but it appears to be getting better. They also need to figure out a way to get 16-car nitro fields. Bottom line...Top Fuel and (nitro) Funny Car are two of the most popular categories in drag racing. They “thunder,” are unpredictable, extremely quick and fast and totally envelope the senses.
The NHRA scheduling deal in as crooked as it gets. Hopefully, someone can step up and make them “eat it.” As the old saying goes, "Money talks and BS walks." If IHRA can get the money, the name racers will show. But, the big question is: If IHRA reached the level of NHRA, what assurances do we have that they won't take the same money grubbing path the NHRA does?
Mike Cantrell
California
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