Economic trickles down into even the racing world.
Millions and Millions of dollars a year, what could you do with it? A lot of rich people like to put that money into racing. They spend millions of dollars on a one-foot by one-foot block on a side of a vehicle. With the way things are now a lot of teams are hurting because no one has any money to do this anymore. Michael Jordan has his own team and even he spends two to three million a year and he doesn’t even have a factory team.
Times are rough, there’s no denying that. Is it a good thing that teams are flaunting their money in hard times or should they just lay low for a while and seem more like the average Joe?
Should the big boys on the factory teams take it easy for a little and not spend as much on things that don’t really help them to win but just help them to make a name for themselves? They spend so much on TV spots, magazine and billboards. Some people think it’s flashy. Does it help or hinder us though? If you really think about it what they are doing is helping at the same time. With all the advertising and sponsors they have it really does help to spread the word on the sport and may bring more people to the sport, which may bring more money to the sport.
On of the great things about this sport is that lots of people use it as a get away. Many get away from all the bad things in their lives for a weekend by heading to the races. So when they see all the adds in the paper and in magazines it takes them back to that feeling of happiness, even if just for a moment. This alone is worth the money. If you make people happy how couldn’t they like what you are doing?
With the hard times though it makes it hard for the teams to operate the way they are use to. A lot of the money that the teams get from sponsors they use for their day-to-day operation. If they don’t have funds what is the sport to do. A lot of the teams are cutting back on some of the things that made them better on the race weekends. Some of them have been cutting back on how many tires they use. When they do this they hinder what the sport can be. If you cant afford to go out one more time or spend the money for the better tire how can you be the best?
The big teams need to take a hint from the privateer teams right now. They are at every weekend and manage to still go out and do the best with the things they have. Factory teams get a little spoiled and end up not using all the resources they are given. They use only some of the things they are given and the rest are just wasted. If they just manage what they have they could spend so much less and spend so much less of their sponsors money. They need to be more cost effective and only buy what they need not what they want. How can they get back to stable ground when they don’t try?
So what’s best for the sport bigger caps for the teams to have free reign over, or smaller spending habits and better management of the funds. We all know the answer but it’s just executing them that is going to be the problem.
