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OMG! I can't believe this. So now NUTSCAR is going to create a SS/Pension/Union/Diversity/Wealth Redistibution/Retirement (<--Anybody get the pun? Re TIRE ment) Fund!?

Can money be allotted to help retired drivers? NASCAR is a billion-dollar industry filled with wealthy team owners, deep-pocketed sponsors and a number of millionaire drivers, all directed by the ultra-rich France family. The only folks who seem not to have done well from their involvement in NASCAR are retired drivers. Instead, a number of them need financial help in their everyday lives, especially with medical expenses. But there is no fund to provide such help. There should be. And the idea has some high-profile supporters.
"I think that would be a positive thing," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., the perennial choice of fans as NASCAR's most popular driver.
"I'm in favor of giving back to our sport," said Jimmie Johnson, six-time Sprint Cup champion.
NASCAR drivers at all levels - Sprint Cup, Nationwide, World Camping Truck, K&N Pro Series - are independent contractors. They make the best deal they can with an owner and hope they eventually hit the big time. That has worked well for such veteran drivers as Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt and Carl Edwards. And it seems to have worked well for some of the younger, established drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch.
But there are drivers in all series who struggle to survive competitively, which means they also struggle to survive financially. Their short-term needs are difficult to meet. They'd rather not think about the long term. "I certainly think any retired athlete needs some sort of benefits package or a fund or something for guys who end up on the less fortunate side of things," said Greg Biffle, who is in the midst of a solid career on the Sprint Cup circuit. "I'm in favor of it. We see a lot of players in all sports that end up on hard times."
As for funding it, Biffle said, "Man, I am not a financial guy whatsoever." There is ample money available. NASCAR is completing a 10-year, $4.8 billon television contract. Next year, it begins a 10-year, $8.2 billion television contract. As little as 10% of the new deal would provide more money for a driver's fund than was in the initial concussion proposal between the NFL and its retired players.
There are sponsor dollars generated by NASCAR. If teams contributed a small percentage of that money each year to a pool for retired or disabled drivers in need, fewer retired or disabled drivers would be in need. NASCAR's leadership has done remarkable things to make a dangerous sport as safe as possible. But without drivers, there are no TV contracts, no fans in the stands and no one buying high-priced souvenirs. "There's a little bit of a responsibility on everybody's part, not just the sport as a whole, but the drivers that are currently having the success they're having, myself included," Earnhardt said. "I'm sure it wouldn't be too tall a challenge to put something together. And if it's run properly and managed properly, it could be a huge assist to all those guys who are struggling, especially when you get older and the medical bills start piling up on you. Yeah, I think it would be a great thing."(Richmond Times Dispatch)(9-7-2014)

< /shaking head and walking away >

NASCAR considers changes to its souvenir business: On Thursday, just as NASCAR teams were arriving at RIR for tonight's race that will complete the field for the series' championship-deciding Chase for the Sprint Cup, business executives were meeting at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla., to hash out the future of the sport's at-the-track souvenir business. Sales of T-shirts, caps, jackets, miniature die-cast cars and other racing souvenirs - once a robust revenue stream for NASCAR, its tracks and teams - have lagged as NASCAR race attendance has diminished and fans have grown more reluctant to spend. As a result, stock car racing's leaders are contemplating changes to the on-site merchandising of apparel and other souvenirs. "We are working with the industry through a robust process," Blake Davidson, NASCAR's vice president of licensing and consumer products, said Friday. He declined to provide details but said "we are pleased with the progress we have made in identifying next steps."
For decades, strolling "Souvenir Row" has been part of a race fan's day at the track. Week after week more than 20 haulers line up end-to-end outside the track, forming a gantlet of retail outlets. Each trailer is rigged to open as a sales counter where fans can buy goods emblazoned with images of a driver, his car and his sponsors. After two decades of growth, the souvenir business cooled sharply in an era of recession and a belabored recovery. In June, Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reported that sales dropped from more than $2 billion in 2008 to $1 billion in 2010. Insiders say the decline has continued.

Just like everything else since the zer0 stole the election

In 2009, Motorsports Authentics, NASCAR's official trackside vendor, had to renegotiate its licensing agreements with race teams to avoid bankruptcy, according to a filing that year with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company - a subsidiary of International Speedway Corp., which owns a dozen major speedways including RIR and Daytona International Speedway - dodged bankruptcy by transforming itself into a trimmed-down business, shedding more than half its 400 employees by 2010. But even for a streamlined operation, having more than 20 trucks logging tens of thousands of miles to keep up with NASCAR's 36-race, coast-to-coast schedule is a costly endeavor. This year, NASCAR and Motorsports Authentics are looking for a change to the merchandising model. The revenue split is expected to say the same - 15% to the tracks, 10% to NASCAR teams and drivers, the rest to Motorsports Authentics. But officials have talked about switching from trucks to tents, possibly a compound of circus-scale tents shared by race-team merchandisers.
Earlier this year, NASCAR invited interested parties to submit proposals for a new approach to souvenir sales. NASCAR President Mike Helton said the number of responses was "in the teens, if not 20." If all goes according to NASCAR's plan, the new model will be ready to implement by the middle of next season.(in part from the Richmond Times Dispatch)(9-6-2014)