Well the 2012 racing season has started…..without us. The Winternationals has come and gone and here we sit at home. Not because we wanted to, not because we lacked the ambition and energy to get the car ready. It’s really much simpler than that. MONEY. This is a subject that I hate more than anything else in my world. I feel as though I dwell on and harp over this one particular subject more than it could possibly ever deserve. It depresses me.
I find it amazing how much the non-racing community overlooks the fact that money makes more decisions about who is actually racing and who isn‘t. It’s not a matter of desire, it’s a matter of money. Do people truly think Don Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein lost their desire to race? Nope, they lost the funding. There is a cliché about drag racing- “if you want to make a small fortune drag racing just start out with a large fortune”.
I had a very good friend mention on face book how we had missed the race- he said it as though I had somehow forgotten the dates. Forget the Winternationals? No way, won’t happen. I am sure what he doesn’t understand is the financial side of the issue.
The winter is one of the worst times of the year for the lower funded teams. While the demands for money are fewer because we aren’t actually paying to go racing on the other hand this is the time of the year when everything has to be recertified. Under the guise of safety there are thousands of dollars of ‘recertifications’ that are due every year. Some are every two years and some are every three years. Things like the helmet, fire suit, seat belts, transmission blanket, clutch, bell housing, blower restraint, lower engine restraint, blower, and the chassis all have to be sent back to the manufacturer and inspected and certified.
Recerts are only a small part of the off-season expenses. My friends who race in T/F tell me their costs are about 100K per weekend. The first time I heard that figure it started the automatic accounting feature in my head- “Hmmmm……16 spark plugs…..10 gallons of nitro?……4 or 5 clutch discs…. I couldn’t come up with 100K for 5-8 runs for one event. Thankfully one of the more patient crew chiefs explained it to me. They total up the costs for the entire season and simply divide it by the number of weekends they race. So under that formula it means it costs 2.2 million a year to race a top fuel dragster. We are back to making small fortunes out of large ones again. I think now I see why Don Prudhomme retired. If a sponsor isn’t picking up that tab how long do you think his retirement nest egg is going to last?
Clint Thompson, a very good friend of mine shared a spread sheet with me a few years ago that detailed maintenance and replacement schedules for the various parts in the race car. It was a very valuable piece of information that I try to adhere to. His schedule showed that parts like valve springs and crankshafts were expected to last a certain number of runs. It factored in the costs of the parts new and divided them by their life expectancy. With this schedule I could actually figure out what my costs on a per run basis. Not the simple formula the top fuel guys use but nevertheless a number that still told me one thing- without sponsor help I couldn’t really afford to do this right. Now here is the key word right. A crankshaft should really be replaced every 25 runs, connecting rod s should be replaced every 15-18 runs if a person is going to do this right. Maybe Frank Manzo replaces his crankshafts every 25 runs, I bet he does because no doubt about it-he does it right.
His record shows that.
How do the lesser funded teams compete? They stretch that replacement schedule out. Maybe those connecting rods are going to have to stay in the motor for 20-22 runs? That 25 run crankshaft becomes a 35 or 40 run crankshaft. They hope those parts can handle that and maybe they run the car just a little softer? That has been the story of my top alcohol racing career. I have always had a pretty good idea of what it takes to run fast. And the fact of the matter is that it takes money. It takes good parts, new parts, fresh parts and more importantly it takes a willingness to lean on those parts. To push them hard enough to make the car run the number.
Does this mean that the lesser funded teams can’t compete? No way. We can compete, we just have to be smarter. There are teams out there who don’t bring boat loads of money to the track. Look at Joey Severance- he and his father are a pair of my heroes. They compete without tons of sponsor help. They are the kind of racers that keep guys like me coming to the track. I look at their success and it inspires me to keep trying. Thanks Joey and Joey
I find it amazing how much the non-racing community overlooks the fact that money makes more decisions about who is actually racing and who isn‘t. It’s not a matter of desire, it’s a matter of money. Do people truly think Don Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein lost their desire to race? Nope, they lost the funding. There is a cliché about drag racing- “if you want to make a small fortune drag racing just start out with a large fortune”.
I had a very good friend mention on face book how we had missed the race- he said it as though I had somehow forgotten the dates. Forget the Winternationals? No way, won’t happen. I am sure what he doesn’t understand is the financial side of the issue.
The winter is one of the worst times of the year for the lower funded teams. While the demands for money are fewer because we aren’t actually paying to go racing on the other hand this is the time of the year when everything has to be recertified. Under the guise of safety there are thousands of dollars of ‘recertifications’ that are due every year. Some are every two years and some are every three years. Things like the helmet, fire suit, seat belts, transmission blanket, clutch, bell housing, blower restraint, lower engine restraint, blower, and the chassis all have to be sent back to the manufacturer and inspected and certified.
Recerts are only a small part of the off-season expenses. My friends who race in T/F tell me their costs are about 100K per weekend. The first time I heard that figure it started the automatic accounting feature in my head- “Hmmmm……16 spark plugs…..10 gallons of nitro?……4 or 5 clutch discs…. I couldn’t come up with 100K for 5-8 runs for one event. Thankfully one of the more patient crew chiefs explained it to me. They total up the costs for the entire season and simply divide it by the number of weekends they race. So under that formula it means it costs 2.2 million a year to race a top fuel dragster. We are back to making small fortunes out of large ones again. I think now I see why Don Prudhomme retired. If a sponsor isn’t picking up that tab how long do you think his retirement nest egg is going to last?
Clint Thompson, a very good friend of mine shared a spread sheet with me a few years ago that detailed maintenance and replacement schedules for the various parts in the race car. It was a very valuable piece of information that I try to adhere to. His schedule showed that parts like valve springs and crankshafts were expected to last a certain number of runs. It factored in the costs of the parts new and divided them by their life expectancy. With this schedule I could actually figure out what my costs on a per run basis. Not the simple formula the top fuel guys use but nevertheless a number that still told me one thing- without sponsor help I couldn’t really afford to do this right. Now here is the key word right. A crankshaft should really be replaced every 25 runs, connecting rod s should be replaced every 15-18 runs if a person is going to do this right. Maybe Frank Manzo replaces his crankshafts every 25 runs, I bet he does because no doubt about it-he does it right.
His record shows that.
How do the lesser funded teams compete? They stretch that replacement schedule out. Maybe those connecting rods are going to have to stay in the motor for 20-22 runs? That 25 run crankshaft becomes a 35 or 40 run crankshaft. They hope those parts can handle that and maybe they run the car just a little softer? That has been the story of my top alcohol racing career. I have always had a pretty good idea of what it takes to run fast. And the fact of the matter is that it takes money. It takes good parts, new parts, fresh parts and more importantly it takes a willingness to lean on those parts. To push them hard enough to make the car run the number.
Does this mean that the lesser funded teams can’t compete? No way. We can compete, we just have to be smarter. There are teams out there who don’t bring boat loads of money to the track. Look at Joey Severance- he and his father are a pair of my heroes. They compete without tons of sponsor help. They are the kind of racers that keep guys like me coming to the track. I look at their success and it inspires me to keep trying. Thanks Joey and Joey
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