VMP PLAYS THE WAITING GAME
Bryan Pierce is playing the waiting game and hanging in the balance is the future of the drag strip he manages. The general manager for Virginia Motorsports Park, an NHRA-sanctioned Full Throttle Drag Racing Series national event host facility located in Dinwiddie, Va., is waiting to receive the final answer on whether or not the NHRA plans to renew his contract for 2010 and beyond.
“We have an ongoing contract right now,” Pierce said. “And, we are waiting on it to be renewed.”
Uncertainty Surrounds 2010 And Beyond …
Bryan Pierce is playing the waiting game and hanging in the balance is the future of the drag strip he manages.
The general manager for Virginia Motorsports Park, an NHRA-sanctioned Full Throttle Drag Racing Series national event host facility located in Dinwiddie, Va., is waiting to receive the final answer on whether or not the NHRA plans to renew his contract for 2010 and beyond.
“We have an ongoing contract right now,” Pierce said. “And, we are waiting on it to be renewed.”
Pierce told CompetitionPlus.com that he would like to think that his contract will be renewed for 2010.
“The contract we signed is in terms and it’s up for renewal this year,” Pierce added. “We are in negotiations, presently.”
VMP signed the first term of the 20-year contract in 2005 with events contracted for 2006 through 2009. If the NHRA exercised their contract option the event will remain on the schedule until 2013 when the next renewal option comes into play.
The terms and options are standard operating procedure for the NHRA and their national event facilities according to a source inside the NHRA. Each contract option is handled on a case-by-case basis.
CompetitionPlus.com learned that Maple Grove Raceway’s was another track whose contract was up for renewal following this year’s event. That contract has already been renewed.
Jerry Archambeault, Communications Director for the NHRA, told CompetitionPlus.com that it’s the company’s policy to keep contract details confidential. He declined to discuss whether or not VMP will be on the schedule for 2010.
“We haven’t released our schedule at this time,” said Archambeault. “Until we do, everything is rumor and speculation at this time. There is nothing more that we can add at this time. We should have our schedule soon.”
I don’t want to lose it, They [NHRA] didn’t give me an idea of what it would take to keep it. At least not yet, they haven’t. - VMP GM Bryan Pierce
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There is growing speculation that if VMP is scratched from the schedule for 2010 that a second date will be awarded to zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C., with early May as a possible date.
Officials from zMax Dragway are remaining mum on their 2010 plans and have not returned phone calls regarding this subject.
Should VMP lose their national event date, it would be a huge blow for the facility, who prior to their NHRA return in 2006, made improvements costing up to $1.6 million just to procure their place on the NHRA schedule. The improvements, according to Pierce, included resurfacing the track to 1,320 feet, putting in a special compound for television and the improved catch-net facility.
It is possible the NHRA’s reluctance to renew their option could have everything to do with the economically depressed region that the race track is located in. According to the Petersburg [Va.] Progress-Index, unemployment in the region reached a two-decade high, pushing the jobless rate to double in 2009 what it was the year before. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Virginia unemployment was the highest it had been in 13 years.
The NHRA declines to share the actual attendance figures for any of the events, but Pierce told CompetitionPlus.com the 2006 event attendance was up over the event run in 2000, the final year before the track signed a five year agreement to carry IHRA sanction. In 2006 and 2007, weather plagued the events, with one of the two races being rescheduled. Last season was off, some believe, because of the sluggish economy heading into the Presidential elections.
Then there’s always the possibility that with Smith’s ownership of four tracks on the tour and his ability to sell out zMax Dragway last September for the NHRA Carolinas Nationals, that his clout could force the NHRA to award an additional date to zMax Dragway at the expense of Virginia Motorsports Park.
That has neither been confirmed, nor denied.
Pierce said his group has been in discussions with the NHRA but nothing has been settled yet. The topic of VMP losing their date, according to Pierce, has come up in discussions.
“I don’t want to lose it,” said Pierce, when asked what his reaction was to the suggestion by the NHRA. “They didn’t give me an idea of what it would take to keep it. At least not yet, they haven’t.”
The fact Pierce doesn't know what he has to do to gain a renewal on his contract could be the most telling of all. If you don't know what's broke, you certainly can't fix it.
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