NASCAR, ladder, Salaries, budgets, etc

[schitarella]

Hi i'm interested (just for the hell of knowing) of how Nascar drivers get their drives in the top rank... I've followed F1 racing for many years and a very basic ladder is- karts, F3, GP2, F1 with the driver bringing the cash all of the way even into F1...

In Nascar, generally when and where do drivers get picked up from (at what level- Busch, Midgets, AC regional racing, etc)? Do any drivers bring cash to race in Sprint Cup? How many drivers bring budget to racing in Trucks and Busch and how much would a driver bring to race a season in either? What about some of the other series like the ARCA in teams of budgets and is it all mainly brought in by the driver?

Do guys running in Busch and Trucks get paid to do so and if so what sort of figures are we talking? Would a top ranking Busch driver make more than a mid-level Sprint driver (i know some drivers do both events but if someone can shed some light on it this would be cool to know).

any more interesting facts on the behind the scenes workings of Nascar would be good reading.

Thanks

[jonesi]

Originally Posted by schitarella

Hi i'm interested (just for the hell of knowing) of how Nascar drivers get their drives in the top rank... I've followed F1 racing for many years and a very basic ladder is- karts, F3, GP2, F1 with the driver bringing the cash all of the way even into F1...

In Nascar, generally when and where do drivers get picked up from (at what level- Busch, Midgets, AC regional racing, etc)? Do any drivers bring cash to race in Sprint Cup? How many drivers bring budget to racing in Trucks and Busch and how much would a driver bring to race a season in either? What about some of the other series like the ARCA in teams of budgets and is it all mainly brought in by the driver?

Do guys running in Busch and Trucks get paid to do so and if so what sort of figures are we talking? Would a top ranking Busch driver make more than a mid-level Sprint driver (i know some drivers do both events but if someone can shed some light on it this would be cool to know).

any more interesting facts on the behind the scenes workings of Nascar would be good reading.

Thanks

You CAN get there, from anywhere, but Plan A would probably be: karts, local short track, regional Nascar, then ABC Arca, Busch (now Nationwide) Cup. Trucks are a slight side step turning into a seniors/never quite made it tour. Plan B would be a parallel open wheel equivalent that a bunch of current drivers took, (J Gordon, Stewart, Newman, etc): karts, local short track, midgets, sprints, Silver Crown then ABC in some form. Plan C is probably anything else: Roadracing, off road, 2 wheel, etc.

In Nascar there's isn't much outright ride buying as much as the ability to find/develop/bring/keep happy sponsors is considered a necessary job skill. There will always be a grey area on what is ridebuy vs sponsorship. If you dad's company sponsors you it's a ridebuy. If your dad's golfing buddy's company sponsors you is it realy sponsorship?

Don't know about salary, but as far as race prize money goes: Winning Busch car just barely gets more than last place Cup car (a couple of years ago it wasn't even that much) Typical Busch payout is $60k down to $20k per car, Truck $25k down to $12k. Cup about $250k down to $60k. Drivers get about 30-40% of that. Prize money tends to be about 25% of what a driver earns with salary, t-shirt sales, endorsements etc making up the rest.

If you can find a link to the Nemechek & Marlin lawsuits against Ginn Racing it has a breakdown on what they were to be paid. Usually this stuff is secret.

[Thunder1]

Try this link has some info of interest

Zoink Forum Link Removed!

What it said was from Jayski.com

Marlin, Nemechek file lawsuit against Ginn Racing, DEI Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek have sued Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. for alleged breaches of their contracts, which included a base salary of $1.2 million apiece. The separate suits, filed Sept. 7 in Cabarrus County, N.C., do not specify how much they have been paid or what they exactly are owed. Also suing Ginn and DEI are crew chiefs Richard "Slugger" Labbe and Peter Sospenzo. Ginn and DEI merged prior to the Indianapolis race in July, and Marlin and Nemechek found themselves without a place in the organization. The points of the #14 of Marlin ended up moving to the #15 of DEI with Paul Menard as the driver, while the #13 Nemechek team was eliminated. "Demand for payment has been made ..., but [Ginn and DEI] have failed and/or refused to pay all or any part," the complaints state. The contracts of both drivers and both crew chiefs were filed as part of the complaints and give an insight to what the current rate is for drivers. Both drivers joined the organization when it was MB2 Motorsports. Marlin began in 2006 with a base salary of $1.1 million, and that increased to $1.2 million for 2007. Nemechek started with MB2 in 2004 and received $900,000 for 2004, $1 million for 2005, $1.1 million for 2006 and $1.2 million for 2007. Both drivers got to keep 45% of their race winnings (Nemechek, who was 27th in points in 2006, had $4,099,914 million total in race winnings last year, while Marlin, 34th in points, had $3,248,034 million) and 33% of souvenir sales. Their bonus schedules were $50,000 per win, $25,000 for a top-five, $10,000 for a top-10 and $5,000 per pole. Winning a Cup title was worth a $500,000 bonus, while second through fifth in the final standings were worth $250,000; sixth through 10th were $150,000; 11th through 15th were $100,000 and 16th through 20th were $50,000. Each received a $500 per race travel allowance, a seat on the team plane and a hotel room for each race. They also got a personal car. They agreed to 50 hours of personal appearances for a sponsor plus two days for commercials or media events as well as unlimited track hospitality visits not to exceed 30 minutes in length. They were both responsible for their own insurance. There is a morals clause in each contract stating they "shall not associate with gamblers or other notorious characters; shall not use illegal drugs; and shall not consume alcoholic beverages except in moderation but in no event within eight hours prior to driving in a race or practice."
As far as the crew chiefs, Labbe, hired as the crew chief for Marlin in August 2006, and Sospenzo, hired as crew chief for Nemechek in October 2006, were earning $450,000 annual salaries. Labbe was guaranteed another $50,000 if his bonus money didn't reach that amount, while Sospenzo was guaranteed $25,000. Their bonuses were $20,000 for a win, $10,000 for second-fifth, $5,000 for sixth-10th, $2,500 for 11th-15th and $1,000 for a pole. A season championship was worth $100,000, second-fifth ($75,000) and sixth-10th were $50,000 for Labbe and sixth-12th were $50,000 for Sospenzo. They also got a personal vehicle as well as reimbursement for motorhome expenses. They agreed to make 10 away-from-the-track appearances. They also signed confidentiality agreements related to technical data and car setups. They also agreed that if they left they company, they would not attempt to hire any crew members for a year.

[mountainstar]

Drivers in Truck can make about $500k a year all in. Busch a bit more.

I have a few friends in the Nascar business. Salaries for mechanics, truck drivers and other staff are pretty good. They burn out pretty quick because they are on the road so much. Often times they'll work for a few years then take a sabbatical or get out completely.

[kelvin88]

Why doesn't Frank Kimmel move up from ARCA? Or has he?

[jonesi]

Originally Posted by kelvin88

Why doesn't Frank Kimmel move up from ARCA? Or has he?

He's made a few starts in Nascar. Don't know the answer but would guess at age 45 why move up? He's a big fish in a small pond, and 21 races nearer home probably sounds better than +30 with more travel.

[Sparky7]

Originally Posted by jonesi

He's made a few starts in Nascar. Don't know the answer but would guess at age 45 why move up? He's a big fish in a small pond, and 21 races nearer home probably sounds better than +30 with more travel.

Not only that. Some guys don't actually enjoy the rat race that is NASCAR especially at the Cup level.

[AGMedeiros]

Hi Guys. Im new in to the forum. And like this tread I would like to know How much money do you need to race in those series wich bring you up the ladder and get you in to Nascar Cup. Is the Prochalenger a good way to start?

Thanks

[schitarella]

thanks mountainstar, thunder and jonesi and everyone else for your reply they were all a nice insight,,, thanks

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by AGMedeiros

Hi Guys. Im new in to the forum. And like this tread I would like to know How much money do you need to race in those series wich bring you up the ladder and get you in to Nascar Cup. Is the Prochalenger a good way to start?

Thanks

How much do you have?

Are you looking to buy a ride or build your own team?

What is your back ground? How much racing experience do you have and in what? How old are you? Do you have a very wealthy family, or very successful business that can sponsor you on your rise up?

Rember the WINNIG PRIZE MONEY, if there is any, is split with the team. Which gets the largerst share. The driver is paid or brings the BIG sponsor to the team.