Train wreck

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
41

RE: Manufacturers

From time to time, Manufacturers have been in racing. In Cup Ford and Chrysler in the late sixties, then largely out in the 70s.

Same with BMW and Porsche and Jaguar in the “old” IMSA. And when they were the only money, when they left, it was a helluva vacuum.

But Big Bad Bill and Bill Jr would always dial the rules back–AND FAST-- so everybody and anybody could race.

That is why Chevys were competitive on the Ovals, and stock bodied Porsches and Nissans won the 24 hour event.

Now, I dunno, it looks like a clownshow, or…a trainwreck… without clear direction.

42

I don’t think a sponsor cares exactly HOW their dollars are spent, all they care is that they’re getting an ROI on those dollars. And in my opinion (with my little bit of marketing experience as a small business owner) it is VERY VERY hard to justify 30 million dollars to be a primary sponsor in NASCAR, and then add in many millions more of sponsorship activation dollars - I’d bet a 30 million dollar sponsor deal costs a company 40 million bucks. That’s foolish. Racing just doesn’t drive that kind of sales anymore. Even as a race fan I find a company’s involvement in NASCAR means very little to my spending habits. I drink both Monster and Red Bull, and I didn’t shift more to Monster because of their nameplate on the Cup. I don’t ship items with FedEx over USPS or UPS because of the 11 car. I’m sorry, it just have little to no effect on the daily buying habits of the average consumer. Now if a company could get a primary sponsorship deal at 10 million we would have full fields of fully sponsored cars. So I believe they have to get the cost to operate down by at least half. And sorry again, but that’s going to involve a LOT of people losing jobs. That hurts to say, but payroll costs are likely the biggest single expense for these teams. Best I can find on these interwebs Hendrick employs somewhere around (possibly over) 600 people. SIX HUNDRED PEOPLE to run a 4 car race team!!!

That’s foolish and flat out stupid.

43

Luke–Agree that 30-40 mil seems like a lot.

That is why most sponsorship is for a handful of races, and they need several sponsors for the year.

BUT, if someone will pony it up, that means that sponsorship was “worth” 40 mil to that sponsor.

As the deal ratchets down, it may be “worth” 10 mil per year, or say, a half a mil.

When the sponsors will pay only that much, that in fact will be what it is “worth”.

Again, all self leveling.

44

Luke, I think you are spot on with everything you said. I agree that most sponsors probably don’t care how the money is spent. My thinking is that if it takes less to run a team, then there will be more to go around to several teams, not just a few. You could not be more right that there is NO WAY, not even today, that it should take $30-$40 million dollars to sposor a stock car, and 600 people to run 4 tube frame cars. It is totally out of hand.

45

OS, we are on the same page about IMSA I think. If you remember how we got the Daytona Prototype, then you will see they are setting themselves up to repeat history. Remember, IMSA went bankrupt, and then we had the USRRC. Top level sports car racing almost disappeared in the US. ANd, in typical fashion, NASCAR (IMSA) is milking the golden goat until it falls over dead. I was privy to some insider meetings back at the end of 2008, right when NASCAR officially took over Grand Am, and trust me, after that I knew where this was going to lead.

46

Joe knows the details of the following story better than I, no doubt…

Back in the day NASCAR/Daytona would let various other sanctioning bodies run the 24 Hour Rolex event, presumably so they didn’t have to deal with it. Invariably they would either go broke on their own, or the major manufacturers would pull out, or they would become too big for their britches and decide they wanted way too big a piece of the gate-pie (a la CART).

Anyway, in the mid 90s or so this sequence of events occurred and Bill Jr & the boys formed the “WSC” (World Sports Car series) with generic rules in which one dropped in their engine of choice and went racing.

In fact in 1998 Giampiero Moretti (of famous MOMO sporty car steering wheel fame) managed to win the event in a Ferrari powered car, and it was a very popular win. Here is an article featuring pics of that car:

https://www.momo.com/en-us/momo-ferrari-333-sp-featured-in-project-cars-2-game/

But that is not the point of this enduro-post.

Waay back in the day some street rodder types would stuff a US V8 in a home brewed chassis, hammer out a body, and go racing against Jags and Maseratis and whatnot.

One of the most famous was Max Balchowsky’s “Old Yeller II” Buick powered ride:

https://www.oldyeller2.com/

In that same spirit, a re-purposed (racing) Olds Aurora or Cutlass was rebodied and turned into a WSC “prototype”. It never enjoyed much success, but I did like watching it roll around at Daytona in the mid 90s.

And so, here is a ONE car effort that made it to the track, and made a minor note of it’s own in the history books. I now (finally) present…

THE CANNIBAL!:

http://www.fantasyjunction.com/cars/628-Chevrolet-CANNIBAL%20IMSA-N/A

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You covered it pretty well, that Cannibal was one ugly race car! On a different note, are you going to the 24 Hour?

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I found it kind of endearing, in a pound-mutt sort of way. Hey, it ate an oldsmobile!

RE: Rolex–Yeppers, I be there. Only missed two & that was before I could drive.

49

Marketing 101

JTG Strategy:

http://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2019/story/_/id/25685889/jtg-daugherty-use-sponsorship-strategy-focuses-shopper-themes

And Jack Rousch, who reportedly said “Really? I know that Ryan and I can do better than that”:

https://youtu.be/io0-fSA6zDw

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[QUOTE=OldSchool+;177988]JTG Strategy:

http://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2019/story/_/id/25685889/jtg-daugherty-use-sponsorship-strategy-focuses-shopper-themes

And Jack Rousch, who reportedly said “Really? I know that Ryan and I can do better than that”:

https://youtu.be/io0-fSA6zDw[/QUOTE]

Not really sure how it fits in all this:huh: but I love the Oscar Meyer commercial!

51

Jacko–re: tie in–Not once in the JTG report did I see anything related to car count. And Newman is driving the Weinermobile in 2019.

https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2019/01/10/oscar-mayer-sponsor-ryan-newman-roush-fenway-racing-no-6/

At the risk of further pulverizing a long dead horse, one more round that may bring my point into perspective:

Let’s say Jerome secured $2.5M from Sotheby’s to run a two car effort in the Rolex. Of course, he is lead driver in one and you in the other.

You guys enjoy success and the sponsor is pleased and sells even more expensive stuff than usual.

Then IMSACAR decides to limit a team to one car.

How much coin do we think Jerome will ask for the following year…?

52

$1.25M? He will need less.

53

The figure was a guess on my part. You can pencil in the numbers.

The “extra” is, um, profit. Perhaps some for his co-driver.

Plus, race teams always seem to cost more than one anticipates, and best not to guess on the low side.

But if it was there, because they have got it and are convinced he is making them significantly more than he is costing them, would he ask for less…?

Even if he would (which I doubt–and more power to him {of course, I could be wrong}), would Chip Ganassi?

Keep in mind the guy is racing–and in style–because he makes what he can make on fine art–again from folks that can easily pony up the cash. Indirectly…sponsors.

And I support and salute his efforts. Hey,sometimes I get a pit pass out of the deal!

54

Hopefully, brother will make the decision to go racing again, and there will be more pit passes in the future.