Steve Page and Jason Fiorito have NHRA national events scheduled one week apart this summer, but they couldn’t have a more different expectation.

Page, president of California’s Sonoma Raceway, and Fiorito, his counterpart at Pacific Raceways, near Seattle, simply are unsure whether stay-at-home orders in their respective West Coast states will be lifted and common sense will permit their Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour dates to take place.     

Page talks of challenges, struggles, and a “psychological hangover” from the global calamity caused by coronavirus. He says he’s “a universal optimist, also a realist. I’m looking at the calendar, and there are going to be some significant challenges that will present themselves in sticking with our original, current date. That doesn’t mean we can’t make it happen. I’m just being realistic that have to be mindful of alternatives.”

Fiorito certainly is aware of his challenges and hard-to-enact tasks. But by contrast, he speaks about spending money and “forging forward” and uses phrases such as ‘Hey, let’s do whatever we can to get these things in the books’ and ‘Let’s get movin’.’ He claims that “we as track operators are inherent gamblers and inherent optimists. Otherwise, none of us would be doing what we’re doing.”

Or, as Page joked, “Jason cheered you up and I was the bummer.” But the truth is that at least until the NHRA announces Monday, May 4 its intentions for the remainder of the 2020 schedule, neither fully has a clue whether he’ll host an event or what restrictions (and possible revenue losses) those races might bring.

“We’re all waiting for our respective governors to tell us what is and isn’t acceptable. We’re forging ahead, knowing that our race is on FOX Network and not FS1. We’re one of the few live-covered events on Sunday,” Fiorito said. “And we’ve got crews working on grandstand replacements. And we’re coming up with contingency plans in case there are still social-distancing protocols in place, in terms of shuffling seating arrangements in the grandstands around to accommodate that. We don’t expect that we would be even close to a sellout if we’re able to put on the event. So I think we can accommodate social distancing.

Both the Sonoma and Seattle races are unsponsored. The California event is slotted for July 24-26, and the Northwest Nationals is set to follow July 31-Aug. 2.

“The NHRA is planning on hosting the event,” Fiorito said. “It’s never been contingent on title sponsorship. Putting on the Series is what’s most important to everybody this year, including the competitors. So we’re just hanging tough, and we’re spending money right now, forging forward in anticipation of putting on the event. And we’re all cautiously optimistic that by the end of July, the beginning of August, that restrictions will be lifted enough that we can host it.”

Fiorito said he is impressed with the NHRA’s handling of the complex situation and senses a can-do spirit from the officials with whom he has been working.

“From our interactions with the NHRA, I think the NHRA is willing to be flexible and creative in terms of following an ever-moving target when it comes to state-by-state and nationally what’s going to be allowed. I think there’s an open dialog between the NHRA and PRO, and there’s an open dialog between the NHRA and each individual track on how we can get as many events in this year as possible. That’s the feeling we’re getting. But we have only our interaction with them on which to base this. But they seem to be optimistic about the potential of getting events in and flexible in terms of how those events are structured – with no definitive decisions made on anything, because we don’t know what the individual states are going to do. It’s just the way it is,” he said.

“But actually, I’ve been pretty impressed. I’ve been pretty frustrated along the way at certain points in time with our sport in general, but I’m relatively impressed with the level of communication and the level of anticipated flexibility and optimism that’s going on in the discussions. Right now, I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to host an event in some way, shape, or form and be able to employ some social distancing. Are we going to knock the numbers out of the park on attendance numbers this year? No – from a fear standpoint, a regulatory standpoint, and a socially responsible plan on how we can host that event and continue to flatten the curve [of virus cases],” Fiorito said.   

State, local governments control timelines

Page said the Sonoma race hasn’t been canceled or postponed. But he is at the mercy of Sonoma County and state restrictions: “Whichever is the more strict is what we’re required to follow.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week announced a four-stage plan to ease restrictions in his state, but live sporting events is low in priority. It’s part of his Stage 3 blueprint, and Newsom said California is "weeks, not months, away from making meaningful modifications," starting with Stage 1. Newsom has said he has no timetable for when the back-to-work plan will start or how quickly it will move through its stages. Sonoma County’s shelter-in-place rules are in effect until May 3 at this point but Page said he’s hearing the county Health Department will extend the directive through the end of May.

“Our NHRA event is not until July, but it’s increasingly unlikely that a gathering of that nature is going to be practical,” Page said. “And you have government directives, then you have people in the state who have said, ‘Don’t get close to anybody for a couple of months’ suddenly being invited to sit next to thousands of strangers in a grandstand. I think that the psychological hangover from this is going to make it challenging to put on an event of that nature in the near-term.”

He said, “We haven’t officially pulled the plug. We’re talking to the NHRA all the time. They have a larger challenge of trying to juggle all the events on their calendar and find homes for them. So I would say we’re staying open to the idea that it might be postponed until later in the year when the conditions would be more favorable. But we really couldn’t say when that would be. We still show the event on our calendar. I’m just trying to be realistic about the factors beyond our control that may interfere with that.

“What NHRA is struggling with is what we’re struggling with, what everybody in the country is struggling with. The most challenging environment to be in is one of uncertainty, where you don’t know and you can’t predict what’s going to happen a month from now. It just means that you move forward with a long list of contingencies and as conditions dictate, you cross Contingencies A, B, and C off your list and move on to D, E, and F,” Page said. “This year is challenging for everybody. As much as we enjoy what we do, and as much as we want to provide a good event for our fans, we are a small piece of a very big world that is struggling with this.”

Because of his technology center initiative at the Seattle-area racetrack, Fiorito has developed a friendly working relationship with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee throughout the past couple of years. But that doesn’t get him any brownie points with the politician who in mid-April announced a Western States Pact with Newsom and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to play follow-the-leader regarding this health-centered disaster.

The governors of Nevada (Steve Sisolak) and Colorado (Jared Polis) have joined their Democrat colleagues in this so-called “shared vision,” science-dictated approach. Democrat governors in the Northeast states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania have declared a similar alignment, and a bi-partisan but predominantly Democrat Midwest bloc of governors from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have thrown in together (Indiana’s Eric  Holcomb and Ohio’s Mike DeWine are Republicans). That means emergency regulations in nine of the 14 states the NHRA is poised to visit during its current revised schedule are controlled by groupthink.

Nevertheless, Fiorito has been lobbying Inslee’s office in Washington State about the economic boost that could come with activating motorsports-industry businesses, including his racetrack.

“We are dealing with Jay’s office,” he said of Inslee. “He’s pretty tight-lipped about what any time frame will be beyond what he’s putting out to the public – which is that we need to start seeing there’s a decline [in virus cases]. There needs to be a two-week decline in cases before he institutes Phase One. Entertainment will be included in Phase Two, then spectator events probably in Phase Three. But he is offering no definitive timeline on when any of those phases will start beyond Phase One, which is after a two-week decline in cases in the state.”

Fiorito said the decline as of last Sunday “had not started, according to his office.” The usual reply from the governor’s office, he said, is: “Well, we’re going to do the socially responsible thing while protecting lives with the understanding that the economy needs to open up. We can’t trade the economy for lives, and this will all be based on science.” Fiorito’s reaction? “You go, ‘OK, thank you very much for the recording.’”

But the Pacific Raceways boss said, “We have worked well with his office in the past. We’re also talking to his office about participant-driven events. And so is our entire industry up here in the Pacific Northwest. [With] the participant-driven events, like our weekly drag-racing series and our club events on the road course, we are more likened to a golf course than we are the [Major League Baseball] Mariners’ stadium. We have 320 acres, and we can space our pit spots far enough apart, and we can limit the number of people in a pit spot to those who already live with each other. Most of our drag racers come as a family. Those folks are living under the same roof, anyways. If you give them a pit stall and then give two pit stalls in between pit stalls, we can socially distance and accommodate much more than 50 or 100 people on the property and host those events.

“We do have an industry discussion going with the governor’s office and our local elected officials on how to reopen participant-driven events in a socially responsible manner. And I think we’re making some progress there,” Fiorito said. “And our industry is unique, right? – because if you open up a golf course, you’re really only opening up the green fees at that golf course. If you open up a racetrack, you’re positively affecting a hundred businesses for each one of us: tire shops, speed shops, safety-gear [companies]. We’ve got such a huge, positive economic footprint when you open up a racetrack that the bang for your buck is large when you re-engage our industry – unlike many other industries that are myopic when you focus on just that business. We have a pretty sizeable footprint negatively when you shut us down, positively when you open us up. We’re making that argument, as well.”

 

Southeast Gassers promoter Quain Stott sounds off following the third forced postponement of his series. He says a big-time double standard when a mall and Walmart can open but not a drag strip. #dragracingnews - https://t.co/vJ22XdPT6j pic.twitter.com/5PM2lFQYxz

— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) April 29, 2020

 

 

Vibes from Glendora positive

The Northwest Nationals traditionally is an unheralded No. 14 of 24 in the Mello Yello Series order. But Fiorito’s race could be in the heart of  - or at the top of – the order now. Wherever it is, he said he’s preparing to get rocking.

“What we see and what our interaction with the NHRA indicates is that they are willing to be really flexible and, I think, are working with PRO, coming up with contingency plans for rescheduling events,” he said. “Ours would be tough to reschedule. I shouldn’t say tough to reschedule – we could be flexible, but because of the TV schedule, our race is really important to both the competitors and the NHRA because of the exposure that FOX Network gives them. So we’re sensing a level of importance with our event that is coming from the NHRA and the competitors that mirrors what we’re feeling, which is ‘Hey, let’s do whatever we can to get these things in the books.’ 

“I think the NHRA is being open and objective about what’s going on,” he said. “But the energy we’re sensing from the NHRA and the competitors is ‘Let’s get movin’.’”

As for Seattle’s spot in the schedule, Fiorito said, “I don’t want to brag too much about it. There are some people in some tough spots this year. We’ve been through some tough spots before. So I have empathy for them. If any of us as tracks get our event postponed until next year, it’s not pretty. So we’re going to do everything we can to host the event and at least honor the tickets that have been purchased.

“You get a gut feeling sometimes when people are waiting for that question: Is there a date after which they scrap the whole season? We have not heard word one about scrapping the whole season, nor have I felt that energy. I think everybody is focused on ‘When’s the date of the first event, then how do we reshuffle things to get as many events as we can in by the end of the season?’ That’s the energy that we’re sensing,” he said.

“Based on our observation of the timelines . . . Let’s just say that it’s a week out from the decline starting. That’s three weeks from now. That puts us into mid-May. Then we have May, June, July before our event happens. And a lot can happen in that time frame. Not that I think we’re going to have a vaccine by then, but we’re learning things every day about how this disease is transmitted.”

The bottom line for him, unlike for Page at Sonoma, is “I’m relatively optimistic that our event goes on.”

 

 

 

 

Spectator-less events feasible?

Especially based on NASCAR’s non-traditional resumption-of-racing model announced Wednesday, NHRA track operators have to question what their own events will look like. Fiorito and Page are no different – but their reactions are.

Fiorito said, “Our interaction with the NHRA to this point assumes the event is going to take place. What we’re trying to wrestle with is assuming the event takes place, how do we fit it in with state restrictions that may or may not be in place at that point? And so we’re just going through the exercise of if we needed to maintain six feet [of distance between fans] in our grandstands, how many spectators would that accommodate? How do we get people in and out of there and maintain some social distancing? What, if any, would be our ticket-sale cutoff to be able to maintain that social distancing? All of our focus is getting ready for the event and coming up with contingency plans based on what state restrictions may be. But we haven’t really started going down the route of ‘What happens if the event can’t take place?’ because that doesn’t seem to be where our conversations with NHRA are centered right now. We just need to focus on what it takes to put the event on, assuming there are still going to be some restrictions on crowd sizing and social distancing.”

Of course, each has to confront the possibility he would be asked or expected to host a race with no spectators. And that’s where Page balked.

“The challenge with an NHRA event is that a no-fans event doesn’t work economically – unlike our NASCAR race, which has a hefty TV rights fee,” Page said.

“For our drag race, the bulk of the revenue comes from spectator admissions and the money the spectators spend while they’re here. If you tried to put on a race with no spectators, then you’d have all of the expense and none of the income. That’s a model that just doesn’t work,” he said.

And Page has been down that road before, with the IndyCar Series. Sonoma Raceway – one of eight Bruton Smith-owned facilities – was on the open-wheel series’ schedule, just like it has been at four other sister tracks in the Smith era and still is at Texas Motor Speedway. But TV rights and revenue issues eroded the relationship. And that’s Page’s proof, if he really needed any, that a spectator-less race isn’t desirable.    

“We’re taking the long view on everything, but I’m just saying when you look at the overall economics of a spectator-less event, it’s a lot more challenging for an NHRA race than a NASCAR one. In IndyCar, the promoter does not receive TV rights [payment]. It’s challenging in the same way an NHRA race is. We parted ways with them after 2018, frankly, because the economics of it didn’t work. So you’re heavily reliant on the on-site revenue, admissions, and hospitality. We were not able to make the numbers work.”

Fiorito is well aware that an event with no fans would set him back financially, but the gambler in him weighed the risk and saw an advantage to staging a crowd-free race in these circumstances.

“You have to remember that although the NHRA’s TV model is pay-to-play at this point, it also is enormously important to their series sponsors. Although the TV production costs may exceed the TV advertising revenue, it is enormously important to the series sponsors. In a direct cost analysis of the event, spectators are enormously important. But I wouldn’t downplay the importance of the number of eyes watching the TV show,” Fiorito said. Those, he argued, “may greatly increase at the point where people are unable to show up to the event by either restriction or personal fear. Some people aren’t going to show up to a crowded stadium, regardless of whether it’s legal, because they are in high-risk groups or are immune-compromised or are elderly (which is a significant portion of our fans). So those numbers of eyes watching the TV show becomes more important to the series sponsors.

“So I think regardless of the direct cost of production, the number of eyes watching that are [key] for the series sponsor. If I’m Mello Yello, what do I want right now? I want my name in front of as many people as I can get,” Fiorito said.

“NHRA gets exactly what’s going on, and they’re going to do whatever they can to keep their series sponsors happy, to keep PRO together, and to keep the race-team sponsors happy,” he said. “My gut tells me that the race-team sponsors associate more importance with the million people that are watching it on TV rather than the 30,000 people in the stadiums watching. Just the numbers dictate that. It’s enormously important to both race-teams sponsorship and series sponsorship to get this thing in the books and get it in front of the eyes watching on TV – which I think is going to greatly increase during this pandemic.

“There’s all sorts of contemplated and uncontemplated positive net results from hosting events,” he said. “Really, honestly, that’s what we’re in the business of doing: hosting events and taking care of series sponsors and race sponsors and fans. And I think there’s a way of doing it so that we can accommodate all.”

He said he recognizes that “the tracks may not all fall in line with that theory, if there are no ticket sales. I know that there are costs associated with putting on the event, whether there are fans there or not.”

 

 

 

No fans, but costs abound

In a no-fan scenario, Fiorito easily can name the costs a track operator still would incur:

Security – “You still have hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment on the property, and you have to secure the facility,” he said.

‘Opportunity costs’ – That’s a fancy phrase for lost revenue.

Track-prepping costs – Fiorito said, “It is a pretty expensive exercise for us to completely scrape the track for a fuel car, other than just your weekly stuff (where you fix some bald spots and spray some traction compound). It’s pretty significant.”

Shutdown before event – “Probably the biggest cost is shutting down for the entire week and a half before the event,” he said, and that’s in a normal year.

Support crew – “Depending on if you’ve got your sportsman classes running, which there’d be no reason not to if you’ve got folks running down the track, hosting a few hundred sportsman cars [and a full slate of Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle entrants, in some cases], is still a pretty big production,” he said.

Fiorito’s estimate? “You’re going to be in the $200,000 range of eating it if you didn’t sell any spectator tickets at all. And that would be a pretty significant expense to eat,” he said.

Ticket sales are wonderful, but the problem lies in a situation in which a track operator has to credit or refund the payments.

“If you scrap the event and don’t have any spectators show up, what do you do with essentially 50 percent of the tickets that you’ve already sold? We pre-sell close to 50 percent of the tickets, as do most tracks. So it’s an expensive endeavor not to host the event, because now you’re either crediting those guys for next year or you’re refunding the money – which is not an attractive deal either way,” he said.

“There’s huge expense with just putting off the event until next year, because all of us, when we pre-sell those tickets, use that revenue to get through the winter. So if you have to refund the money, it’s not just sitting in an account, waiting to be refunded. You’ve got to come up with it. And if you hold those tickets over into next year, essentially, you don’t sell any tickets over that winter because those are the folks who have pre-bought their tickets. And you’ve lost all the revenue you usually survive through the winter with, which is not an attractive deal. Either you have to refund the money you’ve already spent or you have to honor those tickets next year and give up the winter revenue. It’s not an attractive scenario. So all of us have an incentive to put on the event and honor at least the tickets sold,” he said. “And our property taxes click along without any regard to whether we have any revenue.”

Not everyone is a gambler like Fiorito. He said, “Our ticket sales have flatlined. There’s nobody taking the risk right now.”

He can’t gauge exactly what the crowds might be like when racing resumes full-bore.

Drag-racing fans, in general, are always gung-ho. But even if they’ve waited possibly up to three or four months for racing to return, they might not flood in like they used to, he figured. Some people will be reluctant to mingle with crowds, even with a government-granted green light to admit all the spectators as the race can draw.

“There’s going to be a pent-up demand to get out [of the house], and if you’re in an immune-compromised or high-risk group, there’s going to be some reticence to show up to a crowded stadium. So I think there’s going to be a bit of both.”

For Fiorito, for richer or poorer, the show needs to go on.

“We’ve weathered some storms before, and we’ll weather this one. But it’s not easy on tracks just to scrap an event. I have a huge empathy for those tracks that are going to have to endure that this year. I hope we’re not one of them. We’ll have to see, because over that we have no control. The governor’s going to tell us at some point whether we’ll able to have spectators. And we will have to deal with whatever decision that is,” he said.  

“All of us have to remain positive through this. We’re all enduring things that we never thought we’d be enduring this year. Never saw it comin’. Until I get hammered into submission, I continue to be optimistic that we’re going to come out of this with some semblance of a season this year, we’ll be able to crown champion, we’ll be able to keep our sponsors happy, we’ll be able to salvage something in terms of recognition for the sport, and we’ll come out of this thing next year hopefully with a vaccine and the ability to pack the stands next year with a continuum of activities so the sport just doesn’t go dormant for a year,” Fiorito said. “It would be tough to contemplate an entire season just disappearing. At this point, maybe naively, I refuse to accept that’s what’s going on.”