Sponsorship trouble NHRA/Coke

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/nhra-sues-coca-cola-pulling-023900607.html

Uh-oh...

YEP mello-yellow contact was till 2023 , see ya in court

Who to replace them ?
Winston ?
Seriously , it is going to have to be someone from the " adult " end of the pool...............booze or tobacco...........to come anywhere near the kinds of dollars a national sponsorship should generate.
Weed ?
Taking them to court is the last kiss.
If I know my major corporations at all , they tend to have long memories and a real reluctance to admit they were wrong or forgive a perceived slight.

Perhaps they need the money to make another donation to BLM ?

Before you know it, will be a landscape of booked in shows and no prep

This is fascinating! I can't wait to see which group of billionaires wins...

This.

Geico is pulling their motorcycle race team sponsorships for 2021. Hopefully this isn't a trend of motorsports money drying up.

It used to be that a return on their sponsorship dollars was enough.
Sometimes an intangible like goodwill was enough.
But at the end of the day , they are selling a product.
Nowhere is it implied that there is a responsibility to the customer.
The share holder ?
That's different.
But recently , there is a social component to their largess.......targeting causes and issues that they feel will shine a positive light on their efforts.
or so they would have us believe............though I still think cash is king and if there is no return ,there will be no investment.
Regardless , if there isn't some form payback for their sponsorship dollars , the teat will go dry.
I do see the Coke move as exploiting Covid to enhance the bottom line , but they will try to do it with an all inclusive smile of tolerance and love. LOLOLOLOL

Sounds like Camping World is very interested.

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nhr...possible-nhra-sponsor-replace-coca-cola/

Tobacco? Really? How much tobacco advertising do you see since the 70’s???

That would be a nice fit I think.
The $$$ is the final arbitrator in these deals , and I get the feeling that NHRA would be just as happy with a band aid as a long term fix.
I really don't know how deep the Camping World pockets are , but I am fairly certain that they aren't Coca-Cola deep.

It has been outlawed.
I know that.
Hence the " seriously " modifier.
The next sentence is an allusion to the amounts required to float the NHRA boat.

2020, the year that keeps on giving.

tobacco advertising, Confederate flag: banned, it's immoral
Currently favored by NASCAR: people burning police stations

I'm not a huge NHRA fan as a whole and feel a lot of their requirements are a money grab. This past weekend at Bowling Green's Moparty event my buddy took his Super Pro Dart that runs 5.70's. After his his first pass they pull him aside and ask if his chassis is certified? It wasn't so they told him to slow it down or get it certified. It just so happened that for $235 a NHRA tech guy could certify it on the spot, which he did. The rub is not so much that they made him get a cert on his chassis, but they didn't ask about or look at his belts, helmet, flywheel, trans case, window net or a license. He doesn't have a license, his case and flywheel are out of date. So the chassis cert was nothing more than a money grab. This kind of stuff is why NMCA and similar events is gaining in popularity.

I know the history and understand what the NHRA has done for drag racing but IMHO it has turned from grass roots racing to a money grab focused on the Pro classes.

Slow it down and save $235 he had a choice, how did he pass tech? Chassis cert and tech are different things

Easier said than done, this is a bracket car that has lived in the in the 5.7-80's for years. They didn't ask or look at anything other than the chassis cert.

That was NOT an NHRA tech person. That was an NMCA tech person. Was it a white dart with glass front end? I was in tech when he was getting his chassis cert.

No offense, but he's lucky they didn't look too hard or he would have been loading up and going home.

Very uncertain times

If you read a tech card before you sign it you will find you are responsible for having the proper safety equipment. After all they aren’t paid baby sitters.

$235? Around here they charge $350

I paid $400 to have the guy come to my house, and certify mine. You show up at a track that goes 7 tenths under the limit, without all the proper "money grab" requirements, and you are lucky they didn't tell you to just go home.

You got to love the current NHRA management logic - you are a "not for profit" organization so you need sponsor dollars to exist - your major sponsor breaks the contract early for probably for some legit business reason. I am sure Coke does not want the bad press but they made the decision to cancel. For NHRA to file legal action is just ridiculous and detrimental to their existence - all that does is make securing new sponsorship much more difficult. They should have just issued a press release thanking Coke for the good times etc... I think all this pretty much confirms NHRA is filing bankruptcy later this year - stick a fork in it - it's done!

Yes, nice car and so is the guy who owns it. The tech guy may be working for NMCA but apparently he's qualified to do NHRA chassis certs. My buddy was at BG two weeks ago and ran their weekly bracket program with no issues.

As I previous posted, I understand the safety requirements on theses cars and without any tech there would be a lot of death traps on the track. I still say it was a money grab, cert the chassis, collect the money and don't ask about anything else. They got some extra cash, my buddy got to race and made his money back several times over, all is good.

In the end it is what it is.

I have no issues with any technical requirements for my car. My gripe is that seat belts don't wear out in a couple years, my car sits in a trailer sunlight is not an issue. And is not an issue for 99% of most cars. It was just done so the seat belt manufactures had enough business to pay their insurance bills. Helmet dates the same deal.

And I don't mind getting my chassis certified, or wearing a hot heavy fire suit. But if you really want to make cars safer, do a once a year or so good technical inspection, put a sticker on the car and let people race. When I say a good technical inspection, check things like brakes, ball joints, front end alignment, tire dates of manufacture, etc. To tell you the truth it kind of makes me mad when I fill out the card and go to tech and the guy looks at the seat belt date, and says it's good, how the hell does he know it's good? I like when a good tech guy looks over the car makes suggestions and compliments me on my work.

I agree about the whole tech thing. My local tracks don't really look for crap. There's guys running 6.20s in the 1/8 with roll bars, open face helmets, so I'm sure they don't have any of the extra stuff needed either. Now 6.40 is supposed to be the cut off for 10.00 in the 1/4 and granted it typically takes a mid 6.30ish to run a 9.99, but they will tell some to slow their car down, while they let others continue to go faster than that. Not to mention some guys in Mod/Pro have a delay box IN their car when running Mod/Pro. I know what my junk needs and yes my CSR trans shield is past its expiration date, but its on the car along with all the other stuff I need to run the 10.70s I run. I even put a diaper on the car, not because I need it, but for my own sake in case something happens. Some of the cars I see run are down right scary. Had a guy a few years ago roll a mid 11's sec mustang. He got all kinds of stupid loose around the 1/8 mile. When I went to look at the car as they were loading it up the cords were showing on the slicks.... Basic checks by the tech guys would be greatly appreciated by many racers. If a racer has an issue and gets mad, it's for their own safety and safety of others, get over it.

I race almost every weekend tech is strict at my local track a lot of people especially test and tuners complain but the rules are there for the racers own good. Yes some rules are nuts like the two year seat belt expiration but thats the rule so we have to abide by it. I run 11.50 index and recently raced at two tracks not my home track and I can't believe how many cars competing in the class have no roll bars, sure the rules say 11.49 and faster roll bar required but most of the cars are fully capable of going much faster, I guess as long as the dial is 11.50 they think its ok. NHRA is wasting their time trying to sue Coke I guess the NHRA suits see their huge/ overpaid salaries in jeopardy and have to try and do something to protect them, do they really think Coke didn't go over this with their legal team before they canceled the contract.

I am sure the contract was for a full race season each year at all the major cities around the country for maximum product exposure but with all the cancellations and several the races just being held at Indy do you blame Coke for dropping the sponsorship deal.

NHRA got sued by and was force to change it's non profit status in CA years ago for having more money in their accounts at the end of more than one year to operate the next year.
I've race at NHRA national and divisional races since 1973 when almost every major automotive manufacturer of after market parts had race reps at the events and offer contingency money for winning and running their stickers, they would pay you after sending in the required paper work from NHRA showing you won and had the required decals on your car. Those company had set a budget for paying and kept what they didn't pay out at the end of the year.
Around 1976 NHRA decided to take over paying out that money and made those company that decided to stay with them on that new program pay them the entire amount budgeted for the pay outs, any money left over at the end of the year NHRA put into their general fund for operating and paying expenses the next year. About 80% of those sponsors drop out
Don't talk to me about NHRA being a legit non profit , especially when they are paying their top executives big wages and bonuses to keep their non profit status intact
I think of them this way, if you have to be bit by a snake do you want it to be a Rattlesnake or a King snake

This Weeks NHRA Insider Podcast touches on this some and was a good listen.