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The latest update as of March 16, 2009
Time to turn up the volume a little... just a little for now, and apply a few well-chosen words to a few issues. Let's start with an easy target: the IHRA, move on to the latest sponsorship loss, and finish with something really out of left field.
No, there isn't anything really loud and nasty here, but give me time, as it's been quite a while since I let loose with a syllabic salvo that hit really hard. For those sort of tour-de-farces, just stay tuned as we know that sooner or later it's gonna happen. Until then, see what we've come up with for today.
Gimme an "I".... an "H".... an "R".... an "A".. and what's that spell?
These days, your guess is as good as mine, as I really don't know where this four-decade- old
sanctioning body is headed. In case you hadn't noticed, or just wrote it off as a bad
joke, Live Nation sold the IHRA as part of a package of motorsport businesses to Feld
Entertainment - the owner of the Ringling Bros.- Barnum & Bailey circus last September.
It was bad enough that a rock conert (among other endeavours) promotion company owned a drag
racing association, but to sold off to the circus. Words nearly fail me.
Nearly, but not quite, as it's going to provide a continuing source of editorial comment, much like George "Dubya" Bush did to stand-up comedians and late-night talk show hosts for the past eight years. Likewise, the IHRA situation will provide much fodder for my rants on a regular basis. From the sublime to the ridiculous? Only time will tell.
To show the esteem the IHRA is held in by Feld, here's an example: when I visited the Feld Entertainment website and looked at their "Productions" page, and kept scrolling down to find a link or listing of the IHRA/NitroJam property... and finally found it in the tenth, yes TENTH, position on the list, below the Supercross and FMX cycle racing, and only just above another motocross series and a rodeo.
For an organization that's been through some serious ups and downs over the years, this has got the makings of a new low as the circus clowns are truly running this as just another gimmicky freak show. If you do visit the Feld website, You may notice a rather prominently displayed link to the "Litigation Information Center" on their Press Room page. This outfit has as much legal trouble as they have properties to promote. Not the best situation for the longterm success of any business, especially these days.
Just where the IHRA is headed with the Feld group calling the shots... if they are calling the shots, is anyone's guess. The ringmasters may have a hands-off approach in store for their drag racing business and let the current management, which is still in place and still led by Aaron Polburn, run things as they see fit.
There's a big however lurking in the wings though, as the lack of a series sponsor for the national event series or any of the point funds, with the exception of what is essentially a racer-funded points fund for the Pro Stock cars, has got to cast a very large cloud over the health of the national series. Combined with the subtraction of the Nitro and Alcohol Funny Car categories from the schedule, you've got most of the ingredients to concoct a serious disaster of a season, unlike anything they've experienced since the short and seriously ill-fated 1988 "Reign of Error" by the motivational marvel, Billy "Waco Willie" Meyer.
Before we leave this subject for now, I've got to ask the IHRA webmaster what is the true title of their next national event: the 37th annual Spring Nationals (as bannered on the NitroJam homepage, or the 39th annual as the event logo proclaims. A small detail, but nonetheless one that a nitpicker like me revels in writing about.
File this under "You Could See It Coming (all the way from Belgium)". After 30 very successful years together, Budweiser and Bernstein will part company at the end of this season. Through the transition from Funny Car to Top Fuel and from father Kenny to son Brandon, the marketing partnership became one of the most successful and longest lasting in the history of motorsports. And now it's over.
So who's to blame? There's a variety of reasons, not all of them related to the current economic crisis afflicting the entire world, especially in the areas deemed expendable when the bean-counters take over the decision-making processes at so many companies. Especially the big international players like InBev that purchased Anheuser-Busch recently. From their distant headquarters in Belgium, the InBev management has decided to chop many of the sponsorship and marketing agreements as soon as contractually possible.
Other factors at play in this decision have to be the fact that the agreement has run for a very long time, has provided as many benefits as can probably be gleaned from it and is past the point of diminishing returns. And in the "what have you done for us lately" department, the win-loss record of the Budweiser car hasn't exactly been stellar since Brandon took over the driving chores.
That said, the team has been on a bit of an upswing this season, with two semi-final and one final round appearance in the first three events. And this is coming with a major changing of the guard in the crew, with Tim and Kim Richards turning the tuning duties over to Rob Flynn. The car is running well and keeping the Bud name in the limelight, but it's probably a case of too little, too late, if, and this is a big IF, the end of the Budweiser agreement is in any way performance related.
While the King Racing braintrust is obviously hard at work on securing a new backer for 2010, it remains to be seen if even the mightiest (or one of the mightiest) operations in drag racing can stay in the race to the championship next year.
And Now For Something Completely Different:
In a complete change of pace for Northern Thunder, and to show that we don't
have a completely blinkered view of the automotive world, I've got to say I
was impressed and a little surprised at the number of 1000+ horsepower cars
that have been rolling off the "production lines" recently.
The Province newspaper's Nigel Matthews, an acknowledged expert in the field of classic, esoteric and collectible cars, recently penned an article built around a Top Ten list of these automotive freaks. Check it out at: "Top 10 most powerful cars in the world".
And if you want to join this exclusive club for quite a bit less money, consider buying a Dodge Viper and having Hennessey Performance Engineering boost it to 1000 HP, or if you're so inclined and your wallet can handle it, go all the way to 1200 HP and cruise the Mission Raceway Park quarter-mile at a verifiable 9.75 - 148 pace. Check it out.
And if you're just looking for a little extra oomph from your Chrysler 300, Charger or new Challenger, they've got a variety of packages ranging up to a super or turbocharged 725+ HP available. One of these days I've just got to go down there (Houston, Texas) and see if my "old" 2006 Charger R/T could benefit from a little bit of go-faster.
PS: To see yesterday's update/rant/blog, click here. And if you want to see where this week's worth of words started, check out last Friday's posting.