A few racing questions, APBA/SBI
 

1. What is the purse structure, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, how much?

2. Do the teams make any money?

3. How much do sponsers pay? Is it a flat rate, percentage of costs, or other

4. What do you think it would take to make offshore racing more popular? Is it that the races are hard to see because they are usually far away from the crowd? Limited space for a large waterfront spectatorship?

I am courious because a friend of the family got a job working for a sponsor for a NASCAR team. He alone is being paid $250,000 per yr. I am not sure what he does, but it ain't much. He says a race car costs $8,000,000.00, and the crews also make tons of money.

I know NASCAR is 100 times more popular and that alone creates dollars. I think offshore racing is so exciting, I'd love to see it grow, and get more media coverage.

Lets just say that boat racing is not on the same level as NASCAR. It's like comparing apples and nuts.

In offshore racing if you got a sponsor to pay 10 grand a year you would be on top of the world.

We have races in Point Pleasant each summer and the admission is free. If we get 10,000 spectators, it's a lot. Compare that to the huge crowd of paying fans at a NASCAR event.

No, I am not comparing the two, I am just courious how offshore racing works.

Ken, Offshore racing is a rich man's hobby. One of the most expensive and definitely the most fun. Always has been and probable will continue to be. At least we all love it. Face it, a boat is far more expensive to race than a car. (Staying in the lower classes where anyone can race, not NASCAR where hired guns run the cars for the team owners)

Offshore had a major TV sponsor in the 80s when the sport was huge. HouseHold Finanace was the series sponsor and every race was televised.

The sport has a small dedicated following and everyone pays to participate. Volunteers spend money on the fuel they use on race day and the racers pay about $1000 per race between towing, fuel and entry fees. This is before hotels and broken parts.

Go run in 5 races this summer and tell me you didn't have the best summer of your life!

The question is, why is the sport not as popular as car racing. I'll let someone else take that one.

Purse money is between 75K and 100K for a national race. Break that down by 14+ classes and first second and third and you'll see that if the winnings pays for the expenses, you did great.

Getting the local sponsor to put up the 75 to 100K is the real trick. This summer, we may run our races with no purse and reduced entry fees because no sponsor wants to put up the big money, they don't feel that it pays off.

For whatever reason, offshore racing is something that needs to be "Discovered" by a marketing firm that knows how to package and sell it.

No comparison,
With Nascar,the track never changes,only track conditions.with Nascar you have a track,lots of stands,a schedule for the most part that is not written in pencil,and when you win you get paid in a big way.with boat racing you do not even get close to the outlay of cash if you win,not alot of corporate sponsors will even participate in boat racing for what ever reason I dont know,but I feel that a major reason there are two many people making the decisions for everyone,to many sanctioning bodies that have to many differant rules/written in pencil and not enforced properly.Boat racing is an awsome sport that needs to have one sanctioning body,one set of rules and a group of individuals that want to be on an even playing field and give the fans an exciting show.Boat racing unfortunatly will never be like nascar for the simple reason,to many followers of all the wrong leaders.

I don't know what percentage of people own boats, but 100% of the people own cars. They can watch nascar on tv then go out in their driveway and drive off in their own chevy- ford or dodge just like their favorite racers drive. Most people just do not relate to boats. They never will.



Just my opinion I could be wrong

you had better be careful talking about how much nascar people make,you never know when jeff gordons ex is watching!