Although the vast majority of today's IndyCar
drivers make much more than your average "Person on the Street" does.
Their respective salaries are a mere pittance in comparison to other
professional athletes...
In what to Mwah, can only be described as one
further notch in Indy Cars unspoken plight of "The Split" and its longstanding
effects, it's pretty laughable how paltry today's current top flight IndyCar
drivers are paid, especially in comparison to the sport's other two top-tier
categories, i.e.; Formula 1 andNASCAR.
As its pretty amazing that IndyCar, which I
perceive as being far more dangerous than driving a 'RASSCAR
"Taxicab," although any form of racing is dangerous! Pays mere
fractions of what Americres' elite motosports series does, which No
Fenders 'Offical Photographer 'CARPETS
pointed out recently is due largely to
the Sponsorship disparity between the two sports.
Now I'm not implying that the average IndyCar
Pilot should be earning a comparable salary to Lewis Hamilton, as the 30yr old
Brit is one of F1's current Top-3
drivers, along with Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. As Vettel's rumoured
to being paid $34m for his first year at
Scuderia (Ferrari) with Fernando making $25m at McLaren Honda.
Although I've since read that Alonso's
currently the highest paid F1 Driver while last year's average Formula 1 salary
was estimated around North of $6.27m, albeit backmarker's make substantially
less, i.e.; Jules bianchi's $500,000 v Marussia F1 team-mate Max Chilton's
$200k, with Caterham's duo of Marcus Ericsson and "K-Squared," aka Kamui Kobayashi reportedly
making the paltry sum of $150k apiece; Huh?
Whilst originally I couldn't find any current
data for NASCAR's elite, where the creamed of the crop can make anywheres'
between $1-20m from a variety of sources, i.e.; salary, percentage of prize winnings and bonuses, which the top
drivers supplement nicely with personal endorsement deals and merchandise
sales. As surely Danica's (Patrick) were impressive, eh?
Forbes claimed that the sport's most popular
driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. made $28.2 million dollars for 2011-12 as NASCAR's
highest paid driver, while the rankings for 2013-14 once again feature 'lil 'E
on top with Danica slotting in nicely at No. 7.
Yet the racing landscape is littered with
aspiring drivers with untapped potential having seen their respective motorsports
dreams come 'N go. As one certain driver , forever idyllically known as that "DAMN
COOGAN!" recently came to mind.
As the Culver City California native first tried his hand unsuccessfully in
Formula 1, failing to qualify twice, at the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix aboard a
RAM Williams FW07 and then the following
year's United States GP West in a Tyrrell 010-Cosworth before switching
his focus to CART/IndyCar.
as Cogan made 116-starts between 1981-91 and
1993, with a lone victory at the '86 Phoenix race for Patrick Racing. While
making 12-starts in the Indy 500 with a career best finish at Mother Speedway
of runner-up (2nd) in '86 after being passed for the lead on a late race
restart by eventual winner Bobby Rahal! Along with fourth in his rookie event
in '81 and fifth in 1983, sandwiching the race he's most remembered for...
thus, taking
the plight of unheralded Californian
Kevin Cogan further into mind, IndyStar's Curty' Cavin excellently profiled him
recently during the Month 'O May;
Meanwhile, good
'Ol Max Mosley just cannot stand being outta the F1 limelight and has chimed in
by saying that today's gran Primo Pilotes' are paid too much!
Yet on the Flip-side, consider Professional
Football player Cam Newton, who's had less than stellar NFL Playoff results while
just inking a five year extension for a
reported $104m, with $67 million guaranteed after only one playoff victory to
date!
Meanwhile, A-L-L of Seattle holds its
collective breath over how much the Seahawks will pay Star QB Russell Wilson,
and more importantly when they'll wrap him up for the considerable future with
a new contract extension.
Alas, suddenly three time IndyCar series champion
Scott Dixon or HELL! Even three times Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves
accomplishments seem under-valued! And I think Will Power only earned a measly
million dollars (bonus) for winning the '14 IndyCar title, vs.
"Junior" (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) having failed to ever win NASCAR'S top
crown, whilst the reigning Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick reportedly made
$12m-plus...
GO FIGURE!
