Volume IX, Issue 6, Page 16

How much has the cost of racing your Top Fuel team increased each year?

FL: In the two years I’ve owned a team the cost of racing a Top Fuel car has increased at about a quarter of a million dollars a year and the purses have remained the same since I started racing as a team owner. There is just no purse out there for what the team owners are investing; the purses are totally inadequate compared to what it costs to race. It costs more every year to just park your rigs. 

With your sponsorship of the sportsman series and the brand awareness that you get with the sportsmen, do you feel the sportsman sponsorship is a better buy for you than if you were to just sponsor a pro team? 

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FL: Bear in mind that we get an hour TV show on our own for the sportsman series. Out of every national event, we get an hour of Lucas Oil sportsmen show. It's our show and it's pretty much top alcohol cars, so we're the big duck on that. We also get a lot of things that you see on the pro show; some of those things come with the sponsorship of the sportsmen cars.

How did you find out about the proposed sale of NHRA’s Pro Assets? What do you think will happen now?

FL: I got a call from Tom Compton right after they did it. I’ve got enough sense to know that those guys aren't going to make that big of an investment and not make any changes and maybe they take it on to something bigger and better and maybe it will be good for everybody, I don’t know. I think there comes a point where it costs more to run a Top Fuel car than the sponsorship will support. I don't know what their (NHRA/HDP) plans are. Obviously they might change the prices of everything. I have no idea what will happen. I know for sure now that POWERade is no longer a part of NHRA (once the sale goes through).

Did you have any idea this deal was about to happen? Did they talk to you at all before you got the call from Tom Compton?

FL: No, they didn't talk to me at all.

We keep hearing that the proposed sale will help take NHRA drag racing to the “next level.” Actually Billy Meyer said that in about 1985 or '86 when he tried to buy NHRA; that was his buzz word. What do you think the next level is?

FL: I don't know what they could be talking about. Obviously, they've got some daydream of some kind about live TV. Because NHRA drag racing is more popular now with some extremely close races. NHRA drag racing needs better TV and exposure. Last year some NHRA races weren’t broadcast until around midnight. They (NHRA) need to do something about that, they need a better TV package. We (Lucas Oil) almost pulled out of drag racing because the TV broadcast was so bad. I was ready to take everything out when, lo and behold, NASCAR left ESPN and moved to prime-time and that left a hole in ESPN’s content and the NHRA filled that hole. That was their salvation in my opinion. We stayed with the NHRA then, but now it’s starting to regress again.

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