May I please begin the New Year – and my new column – with this most-respectful observation:

You can’t be a good race fan without knowing about the Business of Racing.

Fortunately, for me, editor Bobby Bennett must agree. Thus, his kind invitation to join the nitro-powerful Attitude's Competition Plus.com team.

I don’t claim to be any more than a drop of Valvoline in the CP.com news machine. But, straight off the line, you’re entitled to an introduction – at least 1,320 feet of my 500-mile saga.

An Introduction …

May I please begin the New Year – and my new column – with this most-respectful observation:

You can’t be a good race fan without knowing about the Business of Racing.

Fortunately, for me, editor Bobby Bennett must agree. Thus, his kind invitation to join the nitro-powerful Attitude's Competition Plus.com team.

I don’t claim to be any more than a drop of Valvoline in the CP.com news machine. But, straight off the line, you’re entitled to an introduction – at least 1,320 feet of my 500-mile saga.

I’ve spent most of my 40-year professional life behind closed garage doors and inside corporate conference rooms. I carry a briefcase, not a tool box. That probably doesn’t strike you as unusual, but back in the day, it produced an amusing story.

When Budweiser poured into NASCAR in 1984, as sponsor of Darrell Waltrip and Neil Bonnett in Junior Johnson-owned Chevrolets, I set up the PR operation. One of my first moves was to place an early-version of CBS’ bulky in-car camera with Bonnett for the Daytona 500. (Junior said OK for Neil but not Darrell.) Years later, Waltrip admitted that when any briefcase carriers walked into the garage area – no matter whether we were lugging black plastic Samsonite or brown leather Hartmann -- he and his buddies would giggle and call us “sissies.”

(I bet Kenny Bernstein will laugh at that one.)

Most of my years were laser-focused on the now woebegone Indy Car series. Say what you will about Tom Compton and NHRA’s management, but in comparison to Tony George, Andrew Craig, Joe Heitzler and the All-Arrogants who drove American open-wheel racing into a wall and then into the ground, the Glendora Gang looks like an office full of Harvard MBAs. At least I have five CART team championship rings (Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi) to remind me of what truly were the good old days...never to be seen again in my lifetime.

In December 1980, about five weeks after leaving the Philadelphia Daily News to become CART’s first communications director, I traveled to New York City to work on the original ESPN deal. Believe it or not, the Board of Directors thought a $7,500 per-race rights fee was boffo. In 1983, we got it to $1 million, from NBC, for the full season. Now you understand why I am so interested in NHRA’s pay-to-play contract with the “Worldwide Leader.”

I’m a California native who grew up in Philly. The first racetrack I ever went to was Langhorne. But the second was Atco. In the mid-1970s, as a Daily News sportswriter, I headed to Englishtown for my first NHRA Nationals. The day was memorable – and not only because the fabulous Linda Vaughn sported a breathtakingly bright red top and shorts that added heat to an already sunshiny afternoon. Let’s just say Miss Hurst didn’t need a credential. Among those Linda kindly introduced me to were Frank Iaconio and – yes - Wally Parks.

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website 

---

I didn’t get really hands-on in drag racing until 1999, as a consultant to Valvoline. Hello, Joe Amato, Ron Krisher, Matt Hines, et al. Since I had worked on Mario’s and Arie Luyendyk’s retirement tours, it was only a matter of months before Amato and I got to talking about his. What was to be “The Last Blast” for the 2001 season went up in smoke – figuratively and literally – when eye doctors advised Joe to quit immediately after the ’00 finale at Pomona, where he lit the tires in the first round.

Darrell Russell took over Amato’s Top Fueler. Russell hadn’t done much more than a National DRAGSTER interview when I got him so prepping Darrell for the live announcement on ESPN Radio was like starting with a basic tune-up. No problem. He was a media natural. Darrell’s debut win at Pomona to launch NHRA’s 50th anniversary celebration remains one of my top-five personal career highlights.   

So, it’s been quite a ride. In recent years, I’ve returned primarily to journalism, which I want to believe remains a great and noble profession. I blog and host The Race Reporters radio show and contribute to the Arizona Republic. I specialize in analyzing the business and politics of motorsports because, as I’ve experienced directly, cash and (not horse) power form the foundation of most decisions. Whether made in the pits or in the midway or the tower.

Know this: The health of every series in the world will always be measured by money: The amount companies are willing to spend on sponsorship; media on rights fees and coverage costs; fans on tickets and souvenirs.

Money impacts your enjoyment of the sport. It determines the depth of fields and quality of the competition and who you can and can’t cheer for or against. When Budweiser’s new corporate owners barely gave Bernstein’s historic 30-year deal a casual review before shutting-off the funding keg -- a few seasons after Miller no longer was on tap in Don Prudhomme’s motorhome -- it officially ended the popular “Beer War” era. The nitro-class special events disappeared because their title sponsors vanished. How many team budgets crashed with the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies? Ditto those torched by Torco? Ford has suddenly replaced its NHRA-friendly motorsports boss, making me wonder if the new guy will continue to steer a “straight” course. And, where have you gone, Angelle Sampey, Melanie Troxel, Tommy Johnson Jr., J.R. Todd, Hot Rod Fuller, Hillary Will, Dave Connolly and Doug Herbert?

Here’s the bottom line:

The unpredictable nature of the Full Throttle series is a huge part of what makes NHRA exciting. Economic uncertainty, however, is not the kind of drama drivers, owners, crew members – or spectators – want. Money = MPH and a sputtering national economy is a factor in determining who wins or loses on Sunday. Or, even, who shows up.

I hope that’s reason enough for you to want to better understand the Business of Racing. That’s why, God willing, I’ll be here every month.

{loadposition feedback}