MESA, Ariz. — The moment was rich.
But Ron Capps wasn’t.
Capps, the two-car NHRA team owner and Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee-in-waiting, had just recorded his 79th Funny Car victory and 80th overall.
Moreover, he and Top Fuel rookie Maddi Gordon shared the winners circle for the first time since she joined the organization in the offseason. And it all happened on the day her father, Doug Gordon, won the sportsman-level Top Alcohol Funny Car final there at Norwalk, Ohio.
Rather than revel in the remarkable moment, Capps became introspective and focused on the financial realities lurking behind the successes of team ownership.
“We’re going to make it. This helps. This will definitely help, two wins. But this is just — it means a ton, because I don’t have anything other than this. This is it,” he said. “I don’t have backing like the Kalittas [Kalitta Motorsports] and like the Forces [John Force Racing]. And I don’t have money that I can pull from. This is it.
“I’m a small business owner that never imagined I’d own a business — and I didn’t study business. [He studied software engineering in college.] So I am literally flying by the seat of my pants, but [I have] great people around me. And this helps immensely for paying bills, but we’ve got great partners that have really understood and helped me that are even small stickers on the car. They know who they are, and it’s really cool to have that kind of support, because if I don’t make it, I don’t make it. I’m done and I’m gone,” he said. “So this is literally everything my wife and I and our family have done.”
He even told that he had asked former boss/mentor Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, “Hey, man, you got any IndyCar buddies who want to invest in a drag-racing team and help a brother out?” (But Sam Schmidt said, “You don’t see many IndyCar team owners, because it’s hard.”)
That reaction was startling, but it underscored just how hard it is right now to procure sponsorship. It honestly isn’t easy in any series. The ask is massive – to modest Americans, at least – but the value of an NHRA sponsorship, around $4 million a season to be competitive, is much more reasonable, more budget-friendly, than deals in either IndyCar or NASCAR. That’s not an insult to any of those series. It’s just a fact. The return on investment is a greater value.
The demographics aren’t shabby. According to one driver’s marketing deck, NHRA fans are well-educated, own their homes, are extremely loyal to the series’ marketing partners, and enjoy the all-access format of engagement opportunities.
The NHRA averages 1.8 million viewers on FOX and FS1 and boasts 2.4 million social-media followers. (That might seem like pocket change to NASCAR, IndyCar, or assuredly F-1 partners. But to reach about two million eyeballs for a relatively small investment is a real value. Why doesn’t Corporate America give it a try and see if that doesn’t enhance their brands and their bottom lines?)
But the issue isn’t NHRA-specific – teams in all racing series face rising costs that in some cases have nothing to do with racing, hard-to-reach decision-makers (and hard to get a commitment once they’ve absorbed a pitch), and a request-weary corporate landscape. NASCAR has a revenue-sharing program. IndyCar doesn’t, per se. And the NHRA does not. So Capps’ predicament certainly is understandable.
The cost-reducing side of the equation is tricky, the revenue-generating side even tougher. But as NHRA team owner-drivers Antron Brown and Cruz Pedregon have said, the latter is what teams need to focus on instead of counting on the sanctioning body to cut expenses or increase purses.
So – it’s not enough to state the problem. Teams need some help with both saving and making money.
How about starting with reducing the schedule? It has featured as many as 24 races and is at 20 this season. What’s wrong with 18 to begin the process? (Drop the Countdown, return to the traditional championship hunt, and then maybe the end of the season really would draw more fans and media.)
Promote – promote – promote. Why else has the World Cup soccer tournament been such a success in the U.S.? It’s no secret soccer is not the national pastime. It’s no secret soccer is down toward the middle- to bottom-of-the-list when it comes to media attention and attendance.
Sports fans often are bandwagon folks. And that’s OK – they’re there and they’re paying attention. Call it shoving soccer down our throats or whipping people into a froth about a cool, “new” sport to latch onto – it has worked. Pay attention, drag racing.
Is the NHRA’s technical department doing everything it can to prevent engine explosions? Maybe it is, maybe not – it’s hard for a non-technical person to judge. But just asking. When an engine detonates, it can blow a body and a budget to smithereens. So an ounce of prevention can be worth a bank loan of cure.
Both NASCAR and IndyCar have had their share of trying to boost attendance. Back in the early 2000s, NASCAR floated the notion that drivers ought to put some effort into attracting fans. And Jimmie Johnson flat-out said it wasn’t his job to put people in the seats, because NASCAR has people it pays to do that. He argued that he was hired to drive a car, not perform marketing miracles. But four-time Funny Car champion Matt Hagan, who always has been willing to drum up support and even lately has been having some fun with outrageous apparel videos à la flashy NFL fashion plates, has encouraged fans to buy tickets and invite friends when the NHRA circus comes to town.
Funny Car racer Buddy Hull wrote in a recent CompetitionPlus.com commentary that social-media posters play a role, positive and negative, in the popularity of drag racing.
“Over the last several years, social media has become one of the biggest stages in drag racing. It gives teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans an incredible opportunity to connect with one another. It has helped introduce new people to our sport and allowed us to tell stories that were never possible before. But it has also become a place where too much of our attention is spent on conflict instead of celebration. On any given day, it’s easy to find public arguments, rumors, personal attacks, complaints about sponsorship, criticism of fellow competitors, or predictions that the sport is in decline. The question we should all ask ourselves is simple: What impression does that leave on someone discovering drag racing for the very first time? Or perhaps more importantly: What impression does it leave on the next company considering investing in our sport?”
NHRA observers like to talk about the sustainability of the sport. NASCAR and IndyCar never debate about their sport being shuttered. If that’s a worry in the drag-racing community, everyone can pitch in and toss out a lifesaver. And Ron Capps might be able to rest easier.
