Drag Racing Crowds Plummet

Drag racing suffered its first loss in crowd attendances since figures were first assembled, for the 1991-92 season. And the downturn has been a hefty one.

An ANDRA press release accompanying the release of the figures, stated "Inclement weather conditions have contributed to a reduction in the annual spectator attendance totals for ANDRA drag racing. This year six major rounds of the championship were lost to rain and untenable conditions. A number of other events recorded smaller than average totals because of inclement weather.

"Drag racing still attracted three-quarters of a million people, with 766,211 fans being attracted to events and demonstrations across Australia over the past 12 months.

"The figure represents a 24.6% decrease over the previous period.

"As well as the effect of the weather, the lack of any competition above the off-street level at Sydney's Eastern Creek facility has also had a negative effect on the totals.

"Despite the impact of this, ANDRA Championship Drag Racing continues to draw significant numbers of spectators to its major events, in particular the annual Australian Nationals at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway and the Konica Winternationals at Brisbane's beautiful Willowbank facility."

"This past year has been particularly difficult for all stakeholders in our sport," said ANDRA Marketing Consultant Mr. Vic Wood. "The difficult weather conditions have impacted heavily on our figures. Losing so many rounds of our series made it hard, and we were playing catch-up from very early in the season. We at ANDRA once again take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company and Mr. Bill McKenna (North Terrace Tyres) for their continued support and assistance with the survey."

ANDRA Chief Executive Officer Mr. Tony Thornton said: "Drag racing has enjoyed amazing growth over the past decade. It's not a surprise that the combination of bad weather, limited opportunities in the Sydney market and things like the low Australian dollar has generated a downturn. I don't think drag racing is alone in that. It is a great opportunity for us to prove again that our sport is progressive and popular."

Summary of national drag racing spectator attendance figures for the season July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998, including competition, off-street, closed road an demonstration:

Total attendance	766,211
Total expenditure on television advertising	$400,136
Total expenditure on radio advertising	$234,118
Total expenditure on press advertising	$79,202
Total expenditure on other promotions	$237,615
Total expenditure on all advertising	$951,071

To put the figures into perspective, these figures do not compare very well with figures for the 1993-1994 season.

Television advertising is down 35 percent, radio advertising is down 52 percent, press advertising is down 58 percent, and the crowd total is down 28 percent. The loss in crowd figures can be explained by the appalling run of luck with the weather in the past year, plus other factors such as Eastern Creek's situation, but pre-event publicity, spent before the impact of the weather, implies other forces are also at work.

The only ANDRA Division which showed a spectator increase over those for the 93-94 season ws Western Australia, which was up 13 percent.

written by David Cook from DRAGSTER Australia - page 10 - August 28, 1998 © DAVID COOK PUBLISHING PTY. LTD. 1998