James Finch, a successful team owner in the Busch Series, estimates his costs for running the series more than doubled in 2001. These days, Finch says, it takes a minimum of $3.5 million to run a full Busch Series schedule-a figure that would have supported a full Winston Cup effort just a few years ago.
Purses, meanwhile, haven't risen accordingly. That's a common complaint among racers at all levels of the sport, but with the growth cycle the sport has enjoyed in recent years, more growth in purses would seem forthcoming.
"We're killing the sponsors asking for so much money, especially on the Busch Grand National level," says Finch, who owns the No. 1 Yellow Freight System team. "It's time for NASCAR to put some money in the purse. I think there's money there for that. I mean, you go to a Saturday-night dirt race that's paying $50,000 to win. Then I win (a Busch Series race with driver Jimmy Spencer) at Richmond, Virginia, the other night and get $18,000. My tire bill was $12,000."
Some teams folded under the economic weight, while others scaled back, creating short fields at several events in 2001.
The Craftsman Truck Series, on the other hand, has a better grip on expenses, limiting teams to four sets of tires per event, requiring teams to start the race on tires they use during qualifying and permitting teams to change just two tires, rather than four, under caution. Plus, travel expenses are limited by holding most events over the course of one or two days. Sponsorships for the full Truck Series schedule run slightly more than half of what the Busch Series requires for a full run, putting a Truck Series sponsorship in the $2 million to $3 million range.
What the Truck Series lacks, however, is a clear-cut identity. As the stepchild of Winston Cup and Busch, the series has never quite carved a niche for itself in motorsports. Is it a companion series to be run with the other two at larger venues? Or is it a stand-alone series suited more for short tracks like South Boston and Mesa Marin? Crowds have been sporadic, good at some venues, embarrassingly low at others.
As the 2001 season drew to a close, the future of the Truck Series was even murkier due to an uncertain television situation. By early October, ESPN, which televised the 2001 events, had not made its intentions clear for televising the 2002 schedule.
Safety/Public RelationsIf NASCAR had the opportunity to learn anything from the Dale Earnhardt tragedy, it is this: A new NASCAR-one complete with an unprecedented TV package, new public scrutiny and increased stature within the sporting world-requires a new method of dealing with major issues and conducting public relations.
Earnhardt's death and the subsequent nationwide outpouring of grief drew attention from all major news outlets, both print and broadcast. Business will now be conducted from under a microscope, whether the NASCAR hierarchy likes it that way or not.
Wheeler says that, "Overall I think they've had some very, very difficult things to handle this year, and I think they've learned a lot. I think they're getting a maturity about them that's going to serve us well going forward."
To its credit, the sanctioning body took steps soon after the Earnhardt crash to upgrade its public relations department, moving Darlington Raceway's Jim Hunter to Daytona Beach as vice president for corporate communications, and making other additions to the communications department.
"As NASCAR grew in recent years, there was somewhat of a disconnect between NASCAR and traditional motorsports media," says Hunter, a motorsports veteran. "We needed to re-establish that connection. The motorsports media has been one of the primary reasons for NASCAR's continued growth throughout the years. We were looking to bring on board people who have a passion for our industry, the same kind of passion it has always taken to move the sport forward. And we believe we've found them."