Open Wheel in America... unique sports phenomenon

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Is there any other professional sport out there where the athlete has to PAY to participate? Can you imagine NFL players or Tiger Woods having to go out and find sponsors in order to play ?

[CCFanatic]

You have to play when you join the PGA if you do not win the qualifying tournaments to get your PGA Card. Many tennis players have their sponsors pay for their tournament entry fees. Pro poker players have to pay part of the buy in to the tournaments. Okay poker is not a sport, but ESPN gives it enough TV time to thnk that. Pro Bowlers have to pay for their entry fees. Rodeo cowboys have to pay entry fees, and any injury costs that occur. Marathon runners have to pay for their entry fees. Most individual sports have at least an entry fee. Most do not have sponsors to pay them to hawk a product, but to also pay for everythign else. To pay entry fees, pay for equipment.

[hoxymoron]

The cost of equipping a single driver in IRL with vehicles alone has to be staggering. TV revenues compared to NFL and purses , compared to PGA are paltry;ergo ,sponsorship for cars and drivers. I think the reason they have car cams is to show static images of sponsor logos on the cars because you don't get a good "billboard" effect when the billboard is moving at 225+ MPH.

[SkidCarrera]

Is there any other professional sport out there where the athlete has to PAY to participate? Can you imagine NFL players or Tiger Woods having to go out and find sponsors in order to play ?

That's the most ridiculous thread starter I've ever seen!

The fact that a golf ball and clubs cost less to buy than a racing car is obvious to a 3 year-old.

18 months later, that same 3 year-old would be able to grasp the concept that a golf ball and clubs cost less to operate than a racing car.

Your point?

[Chris R]

Racing has always been a sport of the reasonably wealthy. With very few but notable exceptions, not many people have earned a living on driving alone until recent years... I think some of the ealy stars like Tommy Milton and Jimmy Murphy did pretty well for themselves - but I do not think it was until the late 1970's that drivers really started making money just for driving....

Even today - the top tier F-1 drivers are well paid - but the lower level are ride buyers. Fundamentally, NASCAR is not that much different - the lower end of the field still has lots of drivers who find thier own sponsorship (which pretty much makes them ride-buyers)...

AOWR is a little worse than the rest right now - but this is the way it has alway been and always will be in a sport as expensive as racing....

[CCFanatic]

He is getting at that in AOWR that you have to pay for everything even though you are at the pro level. You buy your drive. Unlike Nascar of F1, where most drivers get paid and only a few are buy drivers. Or footballers or cricket players who get paid by their teams for their servies. Or being a pro golfer like Tiger Woods, were you pay entry fees, but you make so much on winnings that those fees are moot. Or being a pro dirtbike rider or road racer, like Rossi or Carmichael where you get paid by a team to race.

CC and the iRL are series where if you have the bigger paycheck you seem to get that seat. Only a few drivers are actually getting a paycheck to race, besdie signing a check to the team each weekend. Buddy Rice in the IRL pays the team to race. AJ the 4th and Matsuura are paying to race in the IRL. Same in CC with drivers like Philippe and Domingeuz paying there way instead of teams paying them.

[Alexamateo]

CCF aside from Matsuura, who was the Super Aguri driver befor Mutah, I am unaware of any driver besides Scott Sharp who brought their own sponsors and shopped for teams as it were. I'd be curious where your info came from.

[CCFanatic]

Roger Yasukawa was the first driver I can come up with from my head who came with big money sponsors. Roger who is a LA born driver of Japanese parents, brought Panasonic, and the company remained with Super Aguri, but paid for Matsuura out of Honda's and Panasonic's orders to have a Japanese driver to represent a Japanese company.

Buddy race and his D&R deal sounds alot like a buy ride, now that he is an A1GP driver, his major sponsor all season. Very fishy, as his 2007 preformances in the IRL, are not worthy of a A1GP deal, or many other racing deals. Sarah Fisher was not brought to D&R with ARMCO already on the car with another driver in the seat. She was brought in with ARMCO with a seat that had not driver in it before Kentuckey 2006. Most teams who came to the IRL in 2003 can technically be called buy teams, as they left CC with the pullout of Honda and Toyota, so it was more than those teams believing CC was dead, but just as much of a financial gain for the teams. Scheckter's deal with Vision relied on Joost to help fund his season as Vision is visably an underfunded group, even thought being headed by the League's founder.

My info came from paying attention and for one time being a fan of the IRL. Now I just stay aside and watch how both series work. Read forums, read magazine article. Read press releases. Go to races and talk to drivers, well the one's who think they are not better than everyone else.

[Alexamateo]

Again I don't see anyone other than Matsuura who is tied only to the sponsor's money a la Tristan Gommendy (if the check doesn't clear they're gone). Some have personal sponsors, (Sharp, Patrick) but who is hired only because they bring a check?

Rice was hired before A1GP came on, Schecter didn't bring Joost, Fisher was hired before AAMCO became her sponsor. Even Panasonic's condition of a Japanese driver is not the same because it's not the driver's personal sponsor driving the decision. Ethanol has to have an American driver, but Simmons and Hunter-Reay were picked by the teams.

[Alexamateo]

The problem is the model being used at this level of racing. Traditionally, the teams line up the sponsorship and then hire the most qualified driver they can. Now the decision is based on who brings sponsorship to the team. In and of itself, that's not a bad thing necessarily, but it tends to lead to a lack of continuity on drivers and that is a bad thing. The problem here is that AGR is hiring Mutoh not based on his driving skills but because of his sponsorship. Mutoh was widely believed to be replacing Matsuura this year, but at Panther, not with the top ride in the series. For me this is a problem, because although I believe Mutoh is a driver that merits a ride, I don't think he merits being chosen to replace the defending champion and Indy 500 winner.

[FerrrariF1]

That's the most ridiculous thread starter I've ever seen!

The fact that a golf ball and clubs cost less to buy than a racing car is obvious to a 3 year-old.

18 months later, that same 3 year-old would be able to grasp the concept that a golf ball and clubs cost less to operate than a racing car.

Your point?

What about the traveling expenses, entry fees, hotel or motorhome costs, food and they also have to pay for their own health insurance etc. It is a little bit more expensive that a pair of shoes and balls. Plus they have to qualify to the tournament to even get paid. If they miss the cut they go home with zero buckaroos. They also have to pay their caddy which is usually theor own personal one so there are all his expenses, salary plus cut of the action. They usually bring along their wife and sometimes children which of course adds costs.

[call_me_andrew]

Is there any other professional sport out there where the athlete has to PAY to participate? Can you imagine NFL players or Tiger Woods having to go out and find sponsors in order to play ?

Wreckless optimism, thy name is ChicagocrewIRL.

[Easy Drifter]

Hockey is not cheap, especially for goalies, until you reach at least Jr. B. Many thousands are spent on equipment, ice rental, registration and travel. Until you make the NHL you do not make big bucks. Very few do. In Canada there probably are at least a 1,000 kids playing organized hockey for every one in Karts.
It is not as expensive a racing but the chances of making the NHL are probably about the same as making racing a decent paying proposition. Yes you can make a living in the minors but you had better like busses.

[Wraith]

The Golden Age of the American Racing Car has a comment on this, where a driver from the "Ancient" Era said that back then, no driver was foolish enough to think they'd get rich from racing, and that "only Mr. Hulman's not wanting to squeeze money from his race gave us a chance for a purse like Indianapolis'."

The more advanced the cars, the more expensive; classic motor racing.