Thread: Did anyone else notice?

Tweet

John Force got championship number 16?

He and his daughter were setting records for et and speed last weekend!

The Boss 500 is finally showing promise and Ford is ending sponsorship.. what timing!

Maybe FoMoCo just needed to get his attention.....

HMmmm..we'll see what happens during the off season..

Originally Posted by 34_40

HMmmm..we'll see what happens during the off season..

Yeah, I wasn't being serious. Ford's made it pretty clear that they're going to push money into the amateur ranks as opposed to the big boys. That said, they've been doing well world wide, so who's to say they can't do both....

Yep... they haven't been shy about their intentions.
But it's hard to fathom that they would bail when the rewards are so close after all the effort and money spent in the project.

Who knows? It'll be good to see some of the "amateurs" get some funding for a change too!

Allegedly a big announcement coming from Ford after the first of the year about their new sponsorship/contingency programs for 2014... Roush's son has been doing some road racing and a lot of R&D on parts that Roush is developing for the cars that run the twisty tracks. Also, they have the new Coyote engine available in a few different setups for drag racing and a new heads-up class for most anything running one of these engines!!!! Rumors around NHRA that contingency payouts might come down to the Divisional races level!!!!

As for John Force, what a phenomenal event to win Funny Car Championship #16!!!! and take his daughter out in the final round at Vegas doing it!! No mercy when you race at that level I guess! I doubt Force Racing would have had a lot of trouble grabbing new sponsors, but #16 probably made the task a lot easier!!!! John hinted at 3 new sponsors in a Vegas interview, suspect there could be some sort of announcement at Pomona, or for sure after the first of the year! The old fart sure isn't doing bad for an ex-truck driver anyway, he just might make it as a Pro Racer!!!!!

"old age and treachery will................................" you know the old saying. Good on the ol' man.

There's no reason the NHRA guys won't be going down a similar path the NASCAR guys have...........multiple sponsors to get through a season, the days of a single sponsors colors being on a car for the whole season are probably numbered. The cost for the sponsor has just gotten too high to justify based on the likely measurable return.

From an old marketing guys point of view it seems sponsors are getting smarter about how/where they allocate ad dollars. It used to be the standard was "how many eyes" which translated into whatever form of "get your name out in front of as many people as you can". Targeting was a matter of, for example, if you sell cars, advertise where car people go. In the digital world it's getting more sophisticated. They can get more and better feedback on both the number of people, and the all important demographics along with motivations. It's given the notion of targeted marketing a much sharper point. The old ways were much more of a crapshoot, but that's the best they knew how to do. Times are a changin'.

Force!! Toyota? Ugh!!

I was just at the dr's. office and in the waiting room was a road & track type magazine, as I'm reading I notice an interview with John Force, it was from earlier this summer but they were asking him about Ford departure. He didn't blame them at all really but he did say that NHRA has got to step up and do a better job for the sponsors, he mentioned the 3 rain-outs and he mentioned they (nhra) got bumped by ESPN by a soccer game and a little league game! Not to mention so many of the televised races are on so late in the day.

He also mentioned that Ford said it was "crowded!" Between his cars, Tasca and Wilkerson... I couldn't believe that is "crowded" but that's what he said!?!?!?

So now it's only Toyota and Chryslers left in the Pro ranks of NHRA.. oh well. It was nice while it lasted. I had hoped for more with Larry Morgan but it wasn't to be I guess.

And you didn't mention the delays caused by tennis matches and anything else Espn throws in. It was much better on TNN and it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if Fox took over.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

And you didn't mention the delays caused by tennis matches and anything else Espn throws in. It was much better on TNN and it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if Fox took over.

I didn't want to belabor the point! NHRA isn't important to espn as there isn't anyone in the stands or in front of the tv. Even NASCAR can no longer fill the stands so it is falling to the back burner also.

Wonder why those stands are so empty. I'm pretty sure I know. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Babyburr

Wonder why those stands are so empty. I'm pretty sure I know. What do you think?

Well, I know what I think.. things like hotel costs, gas costs, food and then track entrance w\pit passes.. it gets costly!

That's why it was nice to be able to keep up on TV. Remember Steve Evans on "NHRA Today"? that was another way to keep up but "they" didn't "sell it" and didn't get the sponsors support, so that went away.

Those are some of my ideas, so share yours! It's just bench racin' now...

Costs more to go watch these days than it did to race back in my days----------sponsorship then was oil and maybe some champion spark plugs------------

if a ford is in it i`m watching .. whether it be boat racing .drag racing . tractor pulling .or lawn mower racing .. i bleed ford blue .. as soon as larry morgan got beat i switched to something else .. i enjoyed IHRA pro stock .. ford ruled but it died .. i think there is too much drag racing now .. one event a month would be plenty .. and it could go year round .. and i would like to see a 24 car field .. and kill pro mod .. no need for it .. just like the silly nascar truck racing series ...