DRAGS, DOLLARS & SENSE: SOMETIMES CONTROVERSY ISN'T THE BEST SELL
Tue, 2010-08-03 18:54
Can’t we all just get along?
Tensions have been running as high as revs lately in NHRA. I guess it’s to be expected considering the season has included: Two alcohol class driver fatalities, a spectator killed, a couple of Pro Stock track issues, and an economy sputtering like a Funny Car on six cylinders.
“I see the fighting on the starting line,” John Force said to me after the event that was anything but Speechless in Seattle. “I know they’re frustrated -- some Pro Stock guys and Warren Johnson’s statements about Ray Charles (being able to see bumps). He made a lot of people mad (Bob Tasca III and Jim Head, to name two), but he didn’t mean it that way.
RELATED STORY: PHILLIPS, SMITH FEUD REACHES NEW LEVEL
RELATED STORY: NITRO RACERS REACT TO WJ'S COMMENTS
Can’t we all just get along?
Tensions have been running as high as revs lately in NHRA. I guess it’s to be expected considering the season has included: Two alcohol class driver fatalities, a spectator killed, a couple of Pro Stock track issues, and an economy sputtering like a Funny Car on six cylinders.
“I see the fighting on the starting line,” John Force said to me after the event that was anything but Speechless in Seattle. “I know they’re frustrated -- some Pro Stock guys and Warren Johnson’s statements about Ray Charles (being able to see bumps). He made a lot of people mad (Bob Tasca III and Jim Head, to name two), but he didn’t mean it that way.
“Let’s start being a family again. We’re falling apart. I’ve worked too hard, spent too much money. I want to hold this thing together.”
I’ll take into account the legendary John-Being-John factor, but, still . . . Maybe the NHRA pit area community isn’t falling apart, but – politically speaking – they sure don’t give the impression of hanging together.
It’s a terrible time for disunity of purpose.
Before I get into the reasons for that, however, I have this counsel for Tom Compton: If you haven’t already done so, you – not Graham Light, not Jerry Archambeault – need to have a locked-door meeting with Michael Phillips and Matt Smith. Just the three of you. Deliver the following message: Settle your personal issues. The “or else” consequence should not be a NASCAResque joke of probation, not just a fine and loss of Full Throttle points, but SUSPENSION. Anyone who has watched a cable TV news show in the last month should understand the societal issue here and the clear and present danger this situation poses to NHRA’s proud heritage of diversity.
NHRA’s national image is under assault. Several weeks ago, during a network radio interview to discuss the three fatalities, one of the hosts said to me: “If this was any other sport, there would be a Congressional investigation.”
No doubt that was a pre-planned provocation. But it should have sent an unmistakable message to series executives, drivers, owners, sponsors and track operators: Your sport has a serious image problem -- one that certainly can impact already hurting ticket sales and corporate support.
I did a lot of reporting on this last month for a long story in the Arizona Republic – commissioned by the sports editor since the fan death happened at Firebird International Raceway and alcohol dragster driver Mark Niver resided in Scottsdale. I came away troubled – too few seemed to see the flashing-red-light-alarm PR problem.
Some – including one of drag’s biggest names – declined to even talk about it. The impression that left with me, based on my own decades of image-management spin doctoring, was they wouldn’t explain and defend their sport at a time of peril.
Force, Jack Beckman and Tasca rightly understood the urgent need to proactively and honestly address the issue.
“Sponsors don’t like any of this – it’s negative,” admitted Force.
“When a competitor gets killed, the most devastating thing is we lose a friend, and a family loses a part of themselves,” explained Beckman, the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car driver. “That’s the worst thing.
“But does it hurt our image? Anybody that’s honest would have to say, ‘Of course.’”
Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang driver Tasca offered a real-life example.
“Someone very high level at Ford called me after Eric (Medlen) died and John almost died (2007 crash at Texas Motorplex). The person at Ford said, ‘Bob, let me make it very clear: We don’t sponsor daredevils. We sponsor race car drivers. If this sport turns into a daredevil sport, we’re out.’
“The message was: Get your act together. No one comes to see people die. I don’t get in my race car thinking I’m going to die. If it happens, with all the safety equipment around me, that’s the risk I take as a race car driver. But I’m not a daredevil. When you start seeing these deaths, absolutely, it’s an image issue.”
Force, the 14-time champion and sport’s biggest personality, added: “We live on the edge out here. My attorney said to me, ‘If you don’t want your kid hurt, don’t put her in a car.’ I call my attorney every week when there’s a situation. He says, ‘John, you’re living the world of the bull fight.’
“It used to be I felt like I was a hero. I thought I was Superman. This ice-water in your veins, that’s all urban legend, it’s all false. I’m just another guy. I worry sick over my kids. My job is to try to work with everybody to find a better and safer way. But it’s (danger) still going to be out there. IndyCar, NASCAR, Outlaw cars, we’re all in it. Families are going to suffer. Families are going to be hurt.
“It’s what we do for a living,” the Castrol Mustang man went on. “We’ve got to fight. We’ve got to be strong. It is a negative for NHRA. It’s sad we lose some in the process. I struggle, ‘Is it even worth it?’ I struggle with that every day. I lost Eric. I lost other friends. All I know is to keep trying to make it better.”
Tasca put the best bottom-line on it: “I don’t blame NHRA. We’re all in this together, racers included.”
Everyone in the pit lane should take heed.
The cliché is: Controversy sells. Not this time. The correct way – the only way – to move forward is for egos and differences to be set aside and for all involved to work together, to get going and fix what needs to be fixed.
Now, more than ever, it’s in the racers’ best interests – for physical and financial survival -- to get along.
Tensions have been running as high as revs lately in NHRA. I guess it’s to be expected considering the season has included: Two alcohol class driver fatalities, a spectator killed, a couple of Pro Stock track issues, and an economy sputtering like a Funny Car on six cylinders.
“I see the fighting on the starting line,” John Force said to me after the event that was anything but Speechless in Seattle. “I know they’re frustrated -- some Pro Stock guys and Warren Johnson’s statements about Ray Charles (being able to see bumps). He made a lot of people mad (Bob Tasca III and Jim Head, to name two), but he didn’t mean it that way.
RELATED STORY: PHILLIPS, SMITH FEUD REACHES NEW LEVEL
RELATED STORY: NITRO RACERS REACT TO WJ'S COMMENTS
Can’t we all just get along?
Tensions have been running as high as revs lately in NHRA. I guess it’s to be expected considering the season has included: Two alcohol class driver fatalities, a spectator killed, a couple of Pro Stock track issues, and an economy sputtering like a Funny Car on six cylinders.
“I see the fighting on the starting line,” John Force said to me after the event that was anything but Speechless in Seattle. “I know they’re frustrated -- some Pro Stock guys and Warren Johnson’s statements about Ray Charles (being able to see bumps). He made a lot of people mad (Bob Tasca III and Jim Head, to name two), but he didn’t mean it that way.
“Let’s start being a family again. We’re falling apart. I’ve worked too hard, spent too much money. I want to hold this thing together.”
I’ll take into account the legendary John-Being-John factor, but, still . . . Maybe the NHRA pit area community isn’t falling apart, but – politically speaking – they sure don’t give the impression of hanging together.
It’s a terrible time for disunity of purpose.
Before I get into the reasons for that, however, I have this counsel for Tom Compton: If you haven’t already done so, you – not Graham Light, not Jerry Archambeault – need to have a locked-door meeting with Michael Phillips and Matt Smith. Just the three of you. Deliver the following message: Settle your personal issues. The “or else” consequence should not be a NASCAResque joke of probation, not just a fine and loss of Full Throttle points, but SUSPENSION. Anyone who has watched a cable TV news show in the last month should understand the societal issue here and the clear and present danger this situation poses to NHRA’s proud heritage of diversity.
NHRA’s national image is under assault. Several weeks ago, during a network radio interview to discuss the three fatalities, one of the hosts said to me: “If this was any other sport, there would be a Congressional investigation.”
No doubt that was a pre-planned provocation. But it should have sent an unmistakable message to series executives, drivers, owners, sponsors and track operators: Your sport has a serious image problem -- one that certainly can impact already hurting ticket sales and corporate support.
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I did a lot of reporting on this last month for a long story in the Arizona Republic – commissioned by the sports editor since the fan death happened at Firebird International Raceway and alcohol dragster driver Mark Niver resided in Scottsdale. I came away troubled – too few seemed to see the flashing-red-light-alarm PR problem.
Some – including one of drag’s biggest names – declined to even talk about it. The impression that left with me, based on my own decades of image-management spin doctoring, was they wouldn’t explain and defend their sport at a time of peril.
Force, Jack Beckman and Tasca rightly understood the urgent need to proactively and honestly address the issue.
“Sponsors don’t like any of this – it’s negative,” admitted Force.
“When a competitor gets killed, the most devastating thing is we lose a friend, and a family loses a part of themselves,” explained Beckman, the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car driver. “That’s the worst thing.
“But does it hurt our image? Anybody that’s honest would have to say, ‘Of course.’”
Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang driver Tasca offered a real-life example.
“Someone very high level at Ford called me after Eric (Medlen) died and John almost died (2007 crash at Texas Motorplex). The person at Ford said, ‘Bob, let me make it very clear: We don’t sponsor daredevils. We sponsor race car drivers. If this sport turns into a daredevil sport, we’re out.’
“The message was: Get your act together. No one comes to see people die. I don’t get in my race car thinking I’m going to die. If it happens, with all the safety equipment around me, that’s the risk I take as a race car driver. But I’m not a daredevil. When you start seeing these deaths, absolutely, it’s an image issue.”
Force, the 14-time champion and sport’s biggest personality, added: “We live on the edge out here. My attorney said to me, ‘If you don’t want your kid hurt, don’t put her in a car.’ I call my attorney every week when there’s a situation. He says, ‘John, you’re living the world of the bull fight.’
“It used to be I felt like I was a hero. I thought I was Superman. This ice-water in your veins, that’s all urban legend, it’s all false. I’m just another guy. I worry sick over my kids. My job is to try to work with everybody to find a better and safer way. But it’s (danger) still going to be out there. IndyCar, NASCAR, Outlaw cars, we’re all in it. Families are going to suffer. Families are going to be hurt.
“It’s what we do for a living,” the Castrol Mustang man went on. “We’ve got to fight. We’ve got to be strong. It is a negative for NHRA. It’s sad we lose some in the process. I struggle, ‘Is it even worth it?’ I struggle with that every day. I lost Eric. I lost other friends. All I know is to keep trying to make it better.”
Tasca put the best bottom-line on it: “I don’t blame NHRA. We’re all in this together, racers included.”
Everyone in the pit lane should take heed.
The cliché is: Controversy sells. Not this time. The correct way – the only way – to move forward is for egos and differences to be set aside and for all involved to work together, to get going and fix what needs to be fixed.
Now, more than ever, it’s in the racers’ best interests – for physical and financial survival -- to get along.
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