Espn

[Floyd Gomez]

Originally Posted by GarysZ24

Add Super Street to that, and count me in Floyd! How about it X-Tech Man, are you getting any closer with your ideal???

Sorry Gary didn't mean to forget Super Street.

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Tony Janes

Here is the big problem with this thread. The show is not geared to drag racers it is for the drag race fan and there is a big difference. Just for the sake of argument there are ten thousand drag racers and the program is has an audience of two hundred thousand, the drag racers are 5% of the audience. I would say that ESPN would not be interested in the opinion of the ten thousand drag racers.

Sad but true are your thoughts Tony, which enhances my wishing that I (or one of us class racers), could be even .10 as rich as "The Donald", or "Ted Turner" (plus why I hope that Terry can get support with big bucks to give us guys a new outlet for tv exposure, by the new REAL SPORTSMAN sanctioning body/organization), so we can let the pro/alcoholic racers have ESPN, and we can have a network for us (and the fans that actually stay in the stands to watch us as well)... It worked for the "Pinks" show with the "Speed Channel", it can work for us too!

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Floyd Gomez

Sorry Gary didn't mean to forget Super Street.

No Problem Floyd, I knew you meant well bud...hey there's a pretty cool drag strip with that name, over in good ol'e Louisiana (at least the "No Problem" part heh, heh...).

[Floyd Gomez]

Originally Posted by Tony Janes

Here is the big problem with this thread. The show is not geared to drag racers it is for the drag race fan and there is a big difference. Just for the sake of argument there are ten thousand drag racers and the program is has an audience of two hundred thousand, the drag racers are 5% of the audience. I would say that ESPN would not be interested in the opinion of the ten thousand drag racers.

Tony here is where NHRA has dropped the ball. The average sportsman racer at a National event spends 600.00 with entry fees, crew fees and misc. expenses paid to NHRA. With an average car count of 384 total TRUE sportsman racers that is a profit of $230400.00. The average paying fan count is 10 to 20 thousand. With the new $10.00 fan relief prices that is a profit of 200000.00. And believe it or not there are still plenty fans that leave the stands after Pro-Stock and head to the sportsman pits. This is where I see a reall benefit for Speed Channel or SpikeTv. NHRA claims that sportsman class is a loser but if you look at the payout and freebies to the Pros that is where they lose money.

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Floyd Gomez

Tony here is where NHRA has dropped the ball. The average sportsman racer at a National event spends 600.00 with entry fees, crew fees and misc. expenses paid to NHRA. With an average car count of 384 total TRUE sportsman racers that is a profit of $230400.00. The average paying fan count is 10 to 20 thousand. With the new $10.00 fan relief prices that is a profit of 200000.00. And believe it or not there are still plenty fans that leave the stands after Pro-Stock and head to the sportsman pits. This is where I see a reall benefit for Speed Channel or SpikeTv. NHRA claims that sportsman class is a loser but if you look at the payout and freebies to the Pros that is where they lose money.

Floyd,

Although I said that Tony's thoughts were sad but true, I like yours better, and feel based on the amount of fans in the stands for Pinks All Out race shows, that we "COULD" have a real benefit for either Speed Channel, or Spike Tv. I just hope we can somehow attract those two tv networks to our kind of racing to prove it...

The shows are basically produced by NHRA who then buys time from ESPN. It is a contractual deal that depending on what they pay is whether are can or are able to preempt or be preempted and what time slot they get. The money to pay for the time comes from the sponsors of the show. IHRA does the same thing with their shows on Speed which are not that great either. Pinks has the same deal but with slightly better production.

I have access to first class production facilities if somebody has the money or the sponsors I am all ears. In other words if you have the money I have the means to make it happen. Of course you would have to have NHRA’s permission to tape and show their product so figure on writing them a check as well. I think a sportsman show could be a real money maker if presented right, the problem is getting it started.

Jackie McCracken

Disclaimer/Guarantee:
My opinions are my opinions and are not anybody else’s opinions either living or dead. Any similarity of opinion, thought process, or idea with anyone else either living or dead is merely coincidence and should not be construed as anything else…

[mcink]

Originally Posted by GarysZ24

Floyd,

Although I said that Tony's thoughts were sad but true, I like yours better, and feel based on the amount of fans in the stands for Pinks All Out race shows, that we "COULD" have a real benefit for either Speed Channel, or Spike Tv. I just hope we can somehow attract those two tv networks to our kind of racing to prove it...

As I mentioned prior, this all sounds good, but comparing Stock, Super Stock, and Competition
eliminators to PINKS ALL OUT is a mistake. I believe the reason it does as well as it does, is that they
show some of the wilder stuff (wheelies, crashes, etc) and then pick a group of cars that run ET's very close to each other, and run it off.

This way, they have heads up racing, and the winner wins (unless you all of sudden go too fast).

Unfortunately, as we all know, the classes I've mentioned are not as simple as that.

They (PINKS) has also figured out that a field of rear engine big block Chevy dragsters isn't
a very good show, so they pick an ET range that has a great variety of cars, but can still run heads up.

I would love to see these eliminator cars racing on national tv, but the handicap starts, breakouts, and CIC penalties will be the hardest sell, as it is very hard to explain to the average Joe.

Am I missing something here?

[Tony Janes]

You hit the nail on the head

mcink,

yes, you are missing something... heads up has nothing to do with it...

Jackie McCracken

Disclaimer/Guarantee:
My opinions are my opinions and are not anybody else’s opinions either living or dead. Any similarity of opinion, thought process, or idea with anyone else either living or dead is merely coincidence and should not be construed as anything else…

[Chris1529]

I think Tony Janes said it best when he said the show is for the fans.
How many of us are really fans? I would suspect that not too many of us would go to a drag race if we didn't have a car, or go with someone that has a car.

Just like the NASCAR shows, they have their cut-a-way cars and all their tech explanations.
But after watching it for a while, people get bored with it. After all, fans don't need tire shake, or reaction time, or clutch adjustment, or tire stagger, or splitter, or whatever explained to them on a weekly basis. so the only thing I think is that the networks think they have to keep this up to give knowledge to new fans, but in reality they are driving away the fans who already have seen some races and just don't want to hear things explained every week. I can hardly stand to watch NHRA or IHRA on TV. It is almost always taped anyway, so whey spend 3 or 4 hours watching something that could be shown in a half hour, or something that is already hours old. I think they would be better off to show live qualifying for a couple hours on Fri evening or saturday. I mean show all the action for two hours... not show two top fuels run, and then break away to talk to ashley-force hood doing her nails for two minutes till the next pair are ready to run.
Personally, I think qualifying is alot more enjoyable to watch than eliminations.