Warning on contingency wraps

[BigBlockBill]

Originally Posted by HR9121

I just saw on the nosey network (Facebook) that Jeff Longhany was denied contingency claims after his Orlando win because his stickers on his wrap were not legal size. C'mon man!

Rules is rules and are printed in plain English to be followed or ignored at your own peril.

[herbjr]

Originally Posted by BigBlockBill

Rules is rules and are printed in plain English to be followed or ignored at your own peril.

So a car that was in 3 finals last year winning a divisional and a national, and 9 finals total paid no problem, had 5 decals that weren't part of the wrap and they wouldn't pay on it either why is all at once a problem?

[tstickff]

Honestly I thought the wrap was a good idea, maybe all these BS decals don’t all fit on everyone’s car perfectly, with the wrap it can be tailored to the size of your car, organized nicely, and custom fit. Some of these decals are big, ugly, and god forbid you try to peel some of these off with a decent paint job! Some of us take pride in how these cars look and are particular on how decals look, some don’t care about this stuff but I think most do.

Tim Stickles

[Robin Lawrence]

My thoughts, as I once was responsible for the contingency program where I worked. As a racer I appreciate the recognition and support that the manufacturers provide with contingency programs.
As a business these programs are not actually cost effective these days. Like certain types of advertising there are much better ways to spend marketing $$$ with better results.
I pushed for payouts on our newest offerings. Hopefully motivating racers to upgrade or step up to later designs. Carburetors are a good example.

On the subject of this thread, A contingency program is an agreement that is made between the sanctioning body and the company wishing to post. There are specific requirements that are spelled out in the agreement. Some will ask for proof of purchase. Some specify no stacking of stickers on multiple postings from the same company. Nearly all require you to use a specific size decal for the item posted.

Several years ago I had a racer contact me because NHRA rejected their claim because the decal was on a wrap and it was "re sized" It was a about half the size of the decal that was specified in the contingency agreement.

The car owner was upset because NHRA had rejected the claim and our contingency administrator had followed protocol and not paid the claim.

I ended up getting a call from the owner of the team. I congratulated him for the win, I thanked him for using our product. I then asked if he would like us to pay him half the payout since that was the amount that they had reduced the decal. As a business man he understood the position I was in. The re sizing of all the contingency decals really made the car look great! It made the main sponsor logo on the doors standout as it wasn't crowded with little stickers. At the end of the day the sponsor is paying for that specific sticker and logo.
The gentleman I had talked with agreed to install our full size required sticker and we paid then claim. I had another team do the same a few years later and the process was repeated. Our people were happy and the racers understood.
It wasn't the wrap that was the problem, it was the re sized decal.

[Craig Porter]

I appreciate the companies that post and pay us ! If I had a company that post I would want the decal to be the proper size for my product . We need to follow the rules before the program is gone .

[HR9121]

Robin I can appreciate where you're coming from on this and your point of view is certainly from someone who has dealt with this firsthand. Rules are rules most definitely and hopefully since NHRA is being so diligent these days maybe they will apply this to some real meaningful stuff as well. I don't think we're talking halfsize decals but nonetheless they were undersized.
Now that they are being so careful about the contingency program maybe they can get the checks out more promptly. Last time I collected contingency it took months and alot of emails to get my money. It really wasn't about the money but the principal of it you know since I was careful to have the proper size decals lol. I didn't start this thread as much as a bitch session but as a warning since I know quite a few have been using the wraps hopefully this will save someone else a few pennies. Myself personally I have some body work coming up and I think I will be going clean afterwards.

[Rich Biebel]

I raced for many many years and can tell you first hand the contingency program is a hollow shell of what it once was.

Do what they require and that's your only chance at collecting

I won't go into a rant about why the program is what it is today but trust me it was far better in the golden era.....

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Craig Porter

I appreciate the companies that post and pay us ! If I had a company that post I would want the decal to be the proper size for my product . We need to follow the rules before the program is gone .

Hi Craig
This is so very true.
Several decades ago, when there was maybe a half dozen Nat's a year, guys like Duffy and Hooker Headers would run full size ads in ND ,with pictures , of the award winners.
Now ,with a race every other week, and with the status of the current Ragster, it just doesn't happen anymore.
So, now that we have very few spectators at Divs , fuel crazed fans at the Nats that don't even stay in the stands for Pro /Stock, I don't see very much value in the NHRA shakedown, I mean program.
So, yes..Follow the rules and hope for the best in the future

[Crisco]

Chase @ Accelerated Graphics told me that wraps were fine if the decal was the correct size per the original decal. His wraps are like this.

When I paid contingency for NHRA @ Nitroplate (miss those days), I didn't wait on NHRA to send me the info. I looked at DRC every Sunday night, made my list of W/RU and Monday morning we were writing checks....with approved decal of course. :-)