I could be wrong, but I thought his press release was rather telling. I think that Force guarantees a certain amount of fan interaction and feedback on his contracts. That's how he gets good, long term contracts for sponsorship. Since the schedule was shortened, and a day was eliminated from every remaining race, Force knows he can't fulfill his end of the contracts.
Force seems like an "old school" racer, similar to Prudhomme, Glidden and Warren Johnson. They wouldn't spend their own money to go racing. Think about it, for Kalitta, Schumacher and Torrence racing is a hobby, not their job. For Force, his main source of income is his racing company. Why would any good businessman spend his money to go to work with no chance of earning it back? Without racing, he is still spending his own money to keep his teams employed and working toward next year. Think about this, Tony Schumacher sat out all of last year because he didn't have a sponsor. Why would Force spend the money he's earned over his lifetime to go racing this year?
As to whether or not Force will race again, who knows? However, John will still be at the track for every race with the teams he has. He might hire a new driver for his car, but he will still be the one giving the interviews.
I do think that part of this decision is because of the virus. John is 71 years old and he's overweight. That puts him in a high risk group. I would be a bit surprised if he wasn't a bit worried about going out and contracting the virus. I don't think he would regret dying in a funny car crash/explosion. However, I'm pretty sure he would regret dying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a ventilator.
Didn't care enough to search anything, I was just saying I bet it's more of a health issue than a 100% money issue.
Like I said, none of our business, just taking a guess.
I still think he's worth more than that?? A “Racer” SPECULATING”
Yeah, I’ll step up n support my local tracks. Last couple years I’d record the NHRA races and fast forward thru the John Force show to watch some of the races on the track. Free country n I’ll voice my opinion......
Crickets Crickets.......I think the average racer guy really doesn’t give a Fuck about John Force....he’s had his spot light n is old. It’s the small tracks that matter as far as surviving to keep the racing movement growing. Majority of the NHRA race promoters are white color types run and that’s a turn off. The majority of NHRA racers are well off people’s n they’ll run there until they go broke. The Blue Color types count their $ n make the races that make sense to them these days. Kinda a pick your battles type of thing. Not everyone runs NHRA events but they plan accordingly for local events. Everyone is replaceable......
I think it's as simple as - his cost structure to run all the teams is so high, it depends on the full season sponsor money and full season purse money potential. With a limited schedule, and unknown actual event schedule... he did not want to lose millions of personal money.
I see the same thing with a few tracks... obviously very high operating costs and they were depending on national event with fans.... so shut the whole thing down. At the same time, some tracks with lower operating costs are open on a limited bases for some smaller events. I'm not looking into it any deeper than - Force has built a giant operation that takes a fortune to operate... and 2020 isn't going to provide that fortune. I think the remaining events are certainly in flux also. That has to make it very difficult to plan for or get sponsor commitments.
After the US Nationals at Indy labor day weekend, I look for a NHRA press release stating the remainder of the season is cancelled. Or if any more are run, it will be at Indy track.
At this point, I believe most people don't really care if there's a final or not. NHRA better hope and pray for a good covid immunization drug and get it damn fast.
On a side note for the local side of things.....Local drag strip street night had a very big gathering n the local Dirt Tracks seem to be doing ok staying within the “ guidelines “ of the states requirements. Maybe there’s hope after all??
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