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MILLER: The cost of doing business

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emailBy Robin Miller | March 22, 2021 10:26 AM

The most popular subject in The Mailbag, excluding when are we going back to Cleveland, MIS, Milwaukee or Fontana, is the cost to field a competitive IndyCar in 2021. And luckily I found an old budget proposal from 1994 to give us a little perspective on how much things have changed.

In 1974, a big crew was three of four full-timers, with some weekend warriors occasionally thrown in for 500-milers. Bill Finley, the jack-of-all-trades who built his Indy cars from scratch in the garage behind his house, only had John Barnes on the payroll, son Tom getting an allowance and apprenticeship learning to do everything, Howie Ferland as a machinist extraordinaire, then Shorty, Tex and the New Yorkers volunteering at the race track.

But by 1994 everything was bigger, more layered and a lot more expensive as CART was expanding its horizons to Australia, and street and road courses were as prevalent – and popular – as ovals. Engineers were starting to get a foothold on teams, and specialists had replaced the mechanics that could rebuild a corner, help assemble an engine or troubleshoot a chassis.

As the teams expanded so did budgets, and IndyCars were suddenly big business.

So, thanks to a couple of teams (one big one and one medium-sized) sharing some pertinent information, we’re going to show what’s transpired in almost three decades.
1994 2021 Chief mechanic $57,200 $75,000 – $90,000 Data engineer $75,000 $65,000 – $80,000 Race engineer $125,000 $125,000 – $300,000 Gearbox mechanic $45,000 $60,000 – $80,000 Lead mechanic $46,000 $55,000 – $75,000 Fabricator $40,000 $60,000 – $80,000 Team manager $50,000 $120,000 – $250,000 Mechanic $40,000 $35,000 – $60,000 Truck driver $36,000 $50,000 – $60,000 Driver $1,000,000-$6,000,000 $250,000 – $2,000,000 A top driver like Al Unser Jr didn’t come cheap in 1994, but sponsorships were large enough to sustain those salaries. Motorsport Images

Teams travel 12 to 15 crew members per entry: a team manager, chief engineer, two support engineers, crew chief, chassis mechanics, sub-assembly mechanic, bodywork specialist, transmission specialist, electronics/IT, strategist, truck drivers and public relations person. Some truckies are also part of the pit crew, and team managers double as strategists.

A full-time employee of most teams works 12 months with full benefits, a 401K, two weeks paid vacation and a shared performance bonus.