Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

They used to have the stat about how much prize money each driver had collected, but they don't do that anymore. Anyone know where to find it?

I've been keeping track of A Main earnings this year, based on the purse they report in their race recaps:

Top 10 through Castrol:

Thanks dsc1600, it's something I always liked to track on the WOO site. It's a shame some of the guys can't get better sponsorship, but times are tough. With some more sponsor funding, you'd think that someone like Kemenah would be able to bring in a lot more prize money.

Goes to show you how big Knoxville is. Brown has raced with them no more than 15 times and is 10th in money earned because of his 2nd place at Knoxville. Lucas Wolfe has raced with them all year and hasn't won as much as Brown.

The above doesn't include tow money which after 50 or so races is at least up to $25k per member team.

maybe todd quiring, kasey kahne, and tony stewart should by the WoO since they pretty much take most the money anyways. they wouldnt have to pay near as much out theyd just have to pay there drivers there share and put the rest back in there pocket. since Donny, Sammy, Craig, Steve are winning a good variety of the races.

It would be nice to know the specifics of some of the contracts these guys run under. I know it is none of our business, just out of curiosity. Do the majority run for percentage of the winnings? Or, do they get a set salary plus a small percentage of the winnings? Of course I am talking about contracted drivers, not those that own their own teams. How much money do some of these bigger sponsors put into this and how much money does that allow a driver like Donny Schatz to put into his own pocket at the end of any given year? Just curious is all.

Even with nearly $335,000 in prize $ earned by Schatz, take out his take (probably 40% (due to % differences when you win and don't win) and the car has GROSSED $201,000.

Figure they spend a MINIMUM of $2000 a night (I've heard this figure is closer to $3000 for the Outlaw teams) on maintenence, tires, fuel, pit passes and with a 70 race schedule they will spend $140,000 for the season. So they are down to $61,000

Figure in fuel for the hauler, hotels, and any budget busters like Blown Engines or crashes and that $61,000 disappears quick.

And you still have to pay the crew guys (I think they have 2 or 3 full timers on Schatz car plus Jimmy Carr and the guys in Indiana). Plus the big overhead costs like the shop, haulers, etc..

I guess what I'm saying is NO ONE is making any $$, not even the top dogs. Take away the fact that Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne have a reach to sponsors that no other team owner does (which probably is $1,000,000 / year per car) and its AMAZING that they have the Kemenah's, Rose's and Wolfe's even out on the tour.

Tod Quiring owns Sammy's car and sponsors Dollansky.

Tod OWNS Big Game Tree Stands, so he is the car owner AND the Sponsor. Except for some product support, Tod supplies ALL of the $$ to Sammy's Team and he writes a check to Dollansky.

Sammy has stated multiple times that they evaluate at the end of every month whether or not to stay out on the tour because it costs so much and he is showing Tod how to spend LESS money than he ever has following the tour (and they are still evaluating monthly).

The ONLY teams with big $$$ sponsors covering the bills are the TSR and KKR teams. The rest are lucky enough to live week to week and are more than likely in debt to their eyeballs. Heck, if they are all making $$ then why was Jason Sides so up in arms over his point fund $$ from last year (hint: without that $$ for the winter you can't replenish stock, refresh engines, and buy equipment for the next season without taking it out of living expense $$).

The drivers that have no stake in the teams they drive for (Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Saldana, Darrah, Sweet, Swindell) are probably making a pretty good living based off their % of winnings, but what about guys like Kemenah (who owns the team and drives) Wolfe and Rose. No way they are making $$, they are more than likely losing $$$ daily and just hoping that a sponsor comes along before they have to file for bankruptcy and we never see them race again.

Clearly not everyone is spending what the KKR/TSR/Big Game teams do. Wolfe has stated his team spends 1/5th what those teams do.

They all run chevies now which are so cheap and superior... doesn't even really matter how much they've won.

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

I did recently hear Tony Stewart say in an interview(I can't remember though what the interview was) that the sponsors on the sprint cars are not specifically sponsoring the sprint cars, their names are put on the sprint cars as a throw in to the sponsorship as a whole as a way to, so called, sweetin the pot, when they are talking to these potential sponsors and trying to get them to invest sponsorship money in Tony Stewart. I would say that KK sponsorships are the same way except for the new Cody Darrah sponsorship with Sure Point Medical as that press release simply states they are sponsoring the #4 KKR sprint car team in a multiple year deal. Otherwise Kasey has had Red Bull and Great Clips and Budweiser as his Nascar sponsorship. From what I understand these large money Nascar sponsorships give a set amount of money to Tony or Kasey and they can spend it as they wish to put the name out there and they choose to also put it into sprint car racing and put the sponsor on the sprint car and not just the Nascar's.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

Minthess, if you signed up for match.com I think that the compatiblity matcher would actually line you up on a date with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

let's not forget t-shirt sales. half a mil a year for sales is not uncommon, cash is king eh?

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

what do the shirts cost the driver $8-$12 and the sell them for $20-$25 so at the high end of price and the at $12 cost and selling them for $20 they make $800 for every 100 shirts which im guessing guys like Sammy, Steve, Donny, Joey sell more then that at the nationals. and i'm guessing Darrah, Wolfe, and Kemenah sell their share in PA

I heard that Darrah and Larson sold over $30000.00 at the Nationals out of Darrah's trailer. And it must be doing well yet as Darrah's twitter states he has the trailer along for the west coast run.

Kemenah doesn't have shirts this year. I'm still sporting the UUI shirt from years back.

Kind of off topic but not really, I thought since Wolfe wasnt really doing all that great, he was dropping from the tour and just racing locally. Does anyone know if he got better funding, or what is going on there, since were on the topic of how much it cost to run, travel and how much to win. I know Lucas is nowhere near what Schatz and them are, so was just curious

I remember watching an interview with Kenny Schrader many years after he had left the Hendricks car in NASCAR. He stated that he still had a personal appereance contract with Budweiser. It first started when he was driving the Bud car with Hendricks, but even after he lost his ride with Hendricks that he kept the personal apperance contract with Bud.

I am wondering if this is how Tony and Kasey fund their race teams. It would make sense that Tony and Kasey would be able to charge a premium dollar figure. It would also make sense that if they were tying it into their sprint car teams that could charge more.