MOD11RACER
06-23-2012, 12:50 AM
Craig,
I am in receipt of your email regarding the purse for the Town Fair Tire 100 NASCAR Whelen Modified race here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 14th.
Here are a couple of points I want to share with you.
1) NASCAR, through its sanctioning agreements with its respective tracks, sets the purse for all NASCAR regional and national touring series races including its Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series events, which have also seen decreases in purses the past two years. NASCAR has done a good job of working with each of its equity holders (tracks, teams/participants, etc.) in recognizing the difficult economic challenges (including declining ticket sales) we all face, including some cost reduction in various areas for everyone involved.
2) The posted awards for the Town Fair Tire 100 at NHMS is the still the LARGEST purse posted for the 2012 NASCAR Whelen Modified Series season. It’s also approximately double what the average purse is for the series!
3) To help reduce the cost to competitors/participants, we have reduced the NHMS schedule by one full day to help decrease some expenses for hotels, food, etc. NASCAR also asked for the 10-minute break after 50 laps to help reduce the amount of crew needed to service a car during a pit stop, again cutting some expense.
4) Also note the 2012 purse has been restructured to where there are actual increases in prize money for most positions from eighth to 28th.
In closing, I am an avid supporter of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series, especially here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We work hard here to promote the series and its participants (including positioning in our TV/Radio ads; extensive PR events and media interviews). In addition, we have made a serious contribution to the series. Last year we spent $455,495 for three races and this year we will spend more than $300,00 for two events. That’s more than $750,000 in just two years!
I appreciate your input and passion for our sport and look forward to hosting you here for the Town Fair Tire 100.
Jerry Gappens
Executive Vice President and General Manager
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
MY Response:
Bottom line is a $17,000 cash purse cut.
This is the smallest payout in the history of a Modified race @ Loudon for 100 laps.
Shame on you for letting this happen to the best race of the weekend. We will not be at Loudon for the racing on that weekend. I know you have to pay the Nationwide and Cup cars to start and park and taking money away from this great division helps you with that. With agreeing to cut the purse yourself and NASCAR are killing the Modified division and next year you will be lucky to have 16 Mod's entered at Loudon. Ten teams will be closing down after the 2012 season. This is confirmed.The Modified team owners are sick and tired of being treated like this after all thy have given to the sport. I would hope you would drop the Modified's from your race program in 2013 so maybe they can race somewhere else and not incur the enormous expense it is to run a track like Loudon.
I don't know why you would want to alienate another fan base to go along with the deteriorating fan base you already have.
Every time I hear Jerry Gappens say that he loves the Modified's it makes me sick. Every word is a lie. You need to treat the little guy a lot better than this.
Craig A. Gabriele
I am in receipt of your email regarding the purse for the Town Fair Tire 100 NASCAR Whelen Modified race here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 14th.
Here are a couple of points I want to share with you.
1) NASCAR, through its sanctioning agreements with its respective tracks, sets the purse for all NASCAR regional and national touring series races including its Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series events, which have also seen decreases in purses the past two years. NASCAR has done a good job of working with each of its equity holders (tracks, teams/participants, etc.) in recognizing the difficult economic challenges (including declining ticket sales) we all face, including some cost reduction in various areas for everyone involved.
2) The posted awards for the Town Fair Tire 100 at NHMS is the still the LARGEST purse posted for the 2012 NASCAR Whelen Modified Series season. It’s also approximately double what the average purse is for the series!
3) To help reduce the cost to competitors/participants, we have reduced the NHMS schedule by one full day to help decrease some expenses for hotels, food, etc. NASCAR also asked for the 10-minute break after 50 laps to help reduce the amount of crew needed to service a car during a pit stop, again cutting some expense.
4) Also note the 2012 purse has been restructured to where there are actual increases in prize money for most positions from eighth to 28th.
In closing, I am an avid supporter of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series, especially here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We work hard here to promote the series and its participants (including positioning in our TV/Radio ads; extensive PR events and media interviews). In addition, we have made a serious contribution to the series. Last year we spent $455,495 for three races and this year we will spend more than $300,00 for two events. That’s more than $750,000 in just two years!
I appreciate your input and passion for our sport and look forward to hosting you here for the Town Fair Tire 100.
Jerry Gappens
Executive Vice President and General Manager
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
MY Response:
Bottom line is a $17,000 cash purse cut.
This is the smallest payout in the history of a Modified race @ Loudon for 100 laps.
Shame on you for letting this happen to the best race of the weekend. We will not be at Loudon for the racing on that weekend. I know you have to pay the Nationwide and Cup cars to start and park and taking money away from this great division helps you with that. With agreeing to cut the purse yourself and NASCAR are killing the Modified division and next year you will be lucky to have 16 Mod's entered at Loudon. Ten teams will be closing down after the 2012 season. This is confirmed.The Modified team owners are sick and tired of being treated like this after all thy have given to the sport. I would hope you would drop the Modified's from your race program in 2013 so maybe they can race somewhere else and not incur the enormous expense it is to run a track like Loudon.
I don't know why you would want to alienate another fan base to go along with the deteriorating fan base you already have.
Every time I hear Jerry Gappens say that he loves the Modified's it makes me sick. Every word is a lie. You need to treat the little guy a lot better than this.
Craig A. Gabriele