Outlaw/HL teams are $8-10K to drop the door on any given race night. The $6K he quotes is probably in line with a regional team. In 1986, it was $200 per day to run the Outlaws per an owner on that tour back then.

Scelzi makes a great point, on how the car needs to pay for some of the gap that the sponsors don't cover. This is where I see the divide between the wing and non wing teams. The wing teams race for bigger purses, which can cover those gaps. They have national branded sponsors as well, so their gaps are much smaller than most Some of the best wing teams will make money or breakeven regardless of the performance on the track.

I've heard some people say those wing guys are stupid and just waste their money to letter trailers and mules...etc.... Maybe its not and there is value in it? If there wasn't value they wouldn't do it, right? They seem to have it figured out. Get more Corporate money, race for more money...etc

I would assume the top tier non wing teams are $3-5K to drop the door on any given race night. Probably closer to $5k on the top 5 teams. This is why the purses in USAC have needed to increase from front to back to cover those gaps for these teams. By year end, some of these teams are on tired motors, running used tires.etc, trying to finish the year.

Non wing only has one national branded sponsor, NOS. So the gaps these teams have are much wider unless they cut down the outflow of expense, which means they are less competitive. If the owner is independently wealthy and wants to spend and needs a tax write off then they can hold status quo.

It comes in all shapes in sizes. It's truly the "circle of life" in the racing world.