IHRA Contingency

[mcaruso]

Originally Posted by 442OLDS

I might be wrong,but I think the contingency sponsors put up the contingency money and the sanctioning bodies get to keep the money that isn't claimed.For example,if someone was to win a race with a particular brand of slicks,then the other companies that are posting contingency would not have a contingency winner in that class at that race.There is no way for somebody to win a race using three different brands of tires.Instead of just not paying the contingency,the money is paid directly to NHRA/IHRA.They post money in every class at every race whether somebody uses their product or not.That is the way it was explained to me years ago.

Unless somethings changed, that is not the case @ all.

Back in 2000 I was sponsored by an RV dealership that was a contingency sponsor, & all they had to do was pay IHRA an administrative fee (back then, I think it was $2,500 for a divisional program) & then pay the posting only to the racer as long as the racer met the criteria.

I'm sure that administrative fee has gone up over the years & I'm quite sure it's probaly even more if they wanna post for Nationals also. I'de also be willing to bet that NHRA's admin fee is even more than IHRA's.

So that being said, I think a lot of company's are looking to trim some fat wherever they can & that NHRA & IHRA administrative fee sticks out like a sore thumb!

I believe the future is gonna be registering directly with the companys! Some company's having been doing it this way for years already.

I'de say just my $.02, but I guess I rambled on more like $.25

[Tim Irwin]

The admin fee charged by the sanctioning bodies is used to manage their respective programs. it covers advertisment, credentials, ( when I handled it at IHRA I gave sponsors enough credentials to make up for the admin fees they paid) midway space and labor to police the program to name a few. The sponsors handle the payouts directly to the racers. IHRA has no minimum payout but NHRA does. What that meant was if your minimum payout is 15K per product and you only pay out to racers 11K, you owe NHRA 3K. What that does is make sure a sponsor posts for as many classes as possible. Some sponsors will try to come in and post for 1 class and expect all of the priveliges that the sponsors that a sponsor that posts for all classes. Granted there are some products that don't fit in all classes. in those cases a sponsor may choose to pay "decal only postings" to keep from paying NHRA the balance. You would honestly be surprised how many guys try and take advantage of the system. the 2 percent that do make it for the 98 percent that follow the rules. the rules are simple. Run thr product and the decals. And return any information the company might need to register you as a racer that qualifys to recieve contingency. You'll see more sponsors asking the racers to fill out information cards and return them to the sponsor to qualify them for contingency. All because a few can't follow the rules.

Remember that our country is going through hard economic times, that includes some of the sponsors that have been so good to us when times were good. please remember to thank them for their support, past and present.