MovieChat Forums > Days of Thunder (1990) Discussion > How much do NASCAR drivers earn?

How much do NASCAR drivers earn?

posted 17 years ago by Joker-26
9 replies | jump to latest

So what kind of money do the drivers earn and is it true that all the cars are equal in performance?

[–] Mustang_371 17 years ago

Most cars are equal, but sets of rules that Nascar puts forward. But each team has its own areas to can improve. Be it afew more HP from the motor or how the team build the body to get through the corner/air.

With regards to earnings, Jimmie Johnson the 2007 Champ Winner earned: $7,646,421 in race winnings.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/11/30/champions.week.day.5.jjohnson/index.html

[–] Wiscomptin 17 years ago

Cars are as equal as possible, but obviously the higher funded teams (Hendrick with Gordon and Johnson) can output a better car through aerodynamics, camber angles, computer simulations, etc.

As for how much they earn, yes Jimmie Johnson earned 7.6 million in race winnings, however anywhere from 80-95% of that money goes to the race team. Does this mean Johnson is poor? Absolutly not! His primary sponsor, Lowes, gives him money in eight figures each year, not counting Kobalt tools or Snap-on or the other 13 or so sponsors he has. I will put it this way, if you are on top of the NASCAR world as far as finishing races and winning championships, you are probubly making more money than 99.5% of proffesional athletes. The only ones who make more are your A-Rods, Roger Clemens (haha what a bust that was), and of course your soccer superstars like Beckham (haha again what a bust that was) Ronney and Ronaldhino. However, if you use Dale Junior who hasent had a good season in 4 years, his popularity and with the loyalty in the sport, he probubly makes money comparible to A-Rod and other elite athletes. I once read a statistic explaining how many beers Budweisser would have to sell to pay off Dale Junior and the number was astounding. However what was more astounding was they actually sold that ammount, quite easily

[–] Shayk1951 15 years ago

Jagrfan, you also have endorsement deals from the sale of caps, jackets, etc. which the drivers receive part of the money for that too.

[–] crashdummy1188 17 years ago

Nascar drivers do quite well, although unlike other professional athletes the contracts are never disclosed to the public. A while back there was a lawsuit and a couple of drivers contracts were revealed. They were guys who would probably finish around 30th in the final standings. They were making a base salary of around 200K + 30-40% of winnings + 30-40% of merchandising. My guess would be that a back of the pack Nascar driver makes around 800K, while a mid pack driver would make around 2million. The top Nascar drivers also receive endorsements from companies just like other pro sports figures. Dale Jr and Jeff Gordon are two of the highest grossing sports figures in the country.

[–] Mississippi20 17 years ago

Cars are as equal as possible, but obviously the higher funded teams (Hendrick with Gordon and Johnson) can output a better car through aerodynamics, camber angles, computer simulations, etc.

This can be a misleading statement to people who aren't familiar with NASCAR.

Teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Penske Racing are all huge, multi-million dollar businesses, and I don't think there is much of a disparity among NASCAR's top teams.

Just because a driver is in a Hendrick car - that is far from gauranteed success.

Perhaps the biggest factor in success is the handling of the racecar, and that has a lot to do with how talented the crew chief is, and how well communication is between driver and crew chief. It is much more of a team sport than most people realize.......so from that angle, are all the cars equal and only the driver's abilities determine success? Definitely not.

I think what makes a good driver is his ability to get the most out of the car. If all the car is capable of is 20th place.....it doesn't matter if Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, or Jeff Gordon is driving it, that car won't finish better than 20th. What makes it difficult to judge a driver, is that a driver might do an exceptional job driving that car to a 20th place finish, but nobody will give him any credit because all they see is the result.

As for salaries, drivers get a base contract and a percentage of their prize winnings. The rest goes to the team owner. Of course, the better the driver, the bigger the contract.

Forbes listed Jeff Gordon #46 among the top 100 celebrities with an annual income of $23.4 million. But of course, as a superstar, he gets a big chunk of that from merchandising, personal sponsorship deals, etc.

[–] jasonscottcarter 17 years ago

It would be curious to know what a drive like Tony Stewart gets as far as his base salary a year from Gibbs Racing.

I remember a few years back Mike Bliss was sueing for his base salary after he was released from Hass Racing. I think it was around $500,000, and he wasn't racing for a good team.

[–] Topher88 16 years ago

The base salaries of NASCAR drivers are not public. Typically a race car driver received 40% of the winnings and a percentage of merchandise sales, in addition to the base salary.

NASCAR drivers aren't unionized like players in baseball, football, hockey and basketball. Because of this they don't enjoy some of the benefits of unionized players in other sports like salary disclosure (a key method players in other sports use to drive up individual salaries). However, they also enjoy far more freedom of movement than players in other sports. Drivers can and often do jump from team to team depending on the quality of the ride in question. Just a few seasons ago former champion Kurt Busch stunned the racing world when he left the well funded #97 Roush racing team to join the #2 Penske Dodge.

[–] Mississippi20 16 years ago

...which then created a rippling effect when Jamie McMurray essentially did the same thing when he asked to leave his contract with Ganassi one year early to fill the vacancy at Roush Racing.

And McMurray's mighty struggles only support my earlier point that racing for a "top tier" team far from gaurantees success. McMurray had huge expectations going into Roush. He was better with Ganassi.

[–] zmncar24 15 years ago

According to one of my teachers at school (Al Cretsinger, who has crew chiefed for Buddy Baker, Jimmy Spencer, among others), a driver typically makes 40-45% of what is listed as his race earnings. That depends on the contract with the team, of course. Then sponsors, appearances, tv spots, bonuses, and probably many other things add to their earnings.