Drag Illustrated Issue 111, July 2016 | Page 79

PHOTO: NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER TOP FUEL TITAN Alan Johnson has been involved in the upper echelon of Top Fuel racing since the 1990s as a crew chief, team owner, and parts manufacturer. While his aggressive tuning calls have resulted in numerous career-bests for clients Brittany Force and Steve Torrence this season, his stance on the state of drag racing is reserved and optimistic. on FOX on a Sunday afternoon. That’s going to be a game changer. LP: I believe our spectator base i s growing, but I’m genuinely concerned with car counts. That’s July 2016 something that I’ve been working on – trying to change the rules from only allowing owners to field four cars in each category and trying to address the cost that is involved with running these cars. I’m seeing the growth firsthand, though, because I’m hearing more people than ever tell me it’s their first time at a drag race. I’ve been out here for so long, and I swear I’ve never heard it so much. JS: Donald Long has done a great job with the radial stuff. He keeps it fresh and exciting. He builds rivalries, creates buzz and that’s what great promoters do. In my opinion, Donald is a great promoter. That being said, he has two races a year, and it’s certainly a little easier to promote two races a year versus 10 or 24. It’s a little bit different deal. SJ: I think for sure the NHRA fan base is up. Part of it is the way they’re hustling the show. Fans enjoy going to watch NHRA because they pretty much stick to a schedule. If they say they’re going to get done at six o’clock, they’re going to be getting done at six o’clock. I think attendance is up in a lot of stuff. Donald’s race is unique and I try not to compare it to other people because he’s only got two of ‘em a year. He does an awesome, wonderful job at what he does. He packs the place and I love it – those are probably my favorite two races. It’s hard to compare that to any series that has a lot of races, though. If Donald Long had 12 or 24 races a year, it wouldn’t be like that. I’m not saying he couldn’t pack it like an NHRA event, but there can’t be the cars because the people who run it can’t afford to fix them that often, and the fans that travel from around the world to come are not going to come 12 times. That’s a bit of a rare species. PDRA attendance is struggling right now, and I don’t know exactly why that is. I think it’s the best spectator show in drag racing. The last two races I had in this series were decided by ten-thousandths-of-a-second combined. You can’t get better racing. We just have to do a better job of getting people to come watch. Where do you think drag racing stands, currently, as a marketing platform for corporate America? Be it individual team sponsorship, event sponsorship or series involvement – do you think the value or return on investment as a drag racing sponsor is increasing? AJ: Well, that gets a little bit deeper because there are so many places for corporations to spend their advertising dollars right now. You’ve got companies that utilize highly targeted advertising through social media – directly targeting the customer they want – versus out here where it’s kind of a shotgun thing where we’re after this entire 18 to 49 demographic. And although we’re really strong with that, it’s still that entire demographic versus a direct marketing strategy. So, we have a little bit of uphill battle there because I think we’re a little bit behind in the social media realm. But the NHRA and its teams are focused on that, and I think eventually we’ll get caught up. I’m genuinely excited about where we’re headed. RC: I think the value has been there, but it’s getting better. All motorsports series have faced DragIllustrated.com | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 79