Mopar Action Versus Popular Hot Rodding (Gromer v. Hunkins)

[SuperBuickGuy]

Man, how easy it is for the armchair quarterbacks to call out the guys who are doing the real work!! Speedzter, where the hell is YOUR magazine and what kind of circulation does it get??

After spending a little time with guys like Hunkins and Dulcich, holy CRAP do I not envy their jobs whatsoever!! and even Freiburger for that matter. At Engine Masters, hang out with Hunkins and Dulcich and listen to how many god damn whiners come bitching to them about everything from rules to "why aren't there more XX brand cars featured!"

At Bonneville this year, some asshole came right up to Freiburger and started shouting at him for "promising" to feature his car (from PowerTour, gee, never woulda guessed it from that crowd) and never doing it... the guy was a total prick, it took a lot for me to keep my mouth shut on that one. Pro Lawn Chair assholes anyways...

I'll end with a simple THANK YOU GUYS! because events like Engine Masters and Drag Week kick ass. Oh and for the record I enjoyed Engine Masters more than Drag Week this year. Racing engines on dynos is fun because, as our fearless leader Danny Miller once said, "Engine Masters eliminates the Pesky Drivers!"

x2

since when do magazines have to be PC?

I certainly understand the need for affirmative action so that Mopars can compete (after all, - hint moplovers this is humor - why would they need a spokesperson out there demanding equal coverage if they could actual run something more than their original air and their mouths?).

[LORENSWIFE]

x2

since when do magazines have to be PC?

I certainly understand the need for affirmative action so that Mopars can compete (after all, - hint moplovers this is humor - why would they need a spokesperson out there demanding equal coverage if they could actual run something more than their original air and their mouths?).

Good job Superbuick This guy seems pissed....



Love back attcha Mr. Hunkins!

[SuperBuickGuy]

Good job Superbuick This guy seems pissed....
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Love back attcha Mr. Hunkins!

meh.... looks like a little guy

[dieselgeek]

Hey now, I resemble that remark. You seem to have a low opinion of anyone on PT.

That's a pretty large stretch to say I have a problem with "Anyone on powertour" but it does exemplify my point quite a bit. For your information, the only ones I have a problem with are the ones who whine like babies if you don't kiss the ground their lawnchairs are parked on.

[Ron Ward]

Waaaaaay back in the day, I enjoyed Cars Illustrated and High Performance Mopar for the writings of Gromer, E-Booger and Tony DeFeo. I appreciated the fact these guys took a working man's approach to hotrodding and didn't fold to the latest trend or the sponsors money. They told it like it was, took jabs at the establishment and had a sense of humor. They knew how to turn their own wrenches, how to use a Hollander Parts Interchange and how to install a cam without a degree wheel. They also didn't take an American automotive icon like Project X and ruin it.



Ron

[TheSilverBuick]

Loren & Gail: You guys rule! And so do you, Bob!

Keep up the good work Johnny! A Buick was even featured recently

[Scott Liggett]

The humor and not taking this so seriously has been MIA for a while in most of the mags. I miss the fun.

[Johnny Hunkins]

Ron, I too appreciated the working man's approach that Cars Illustrated took 25 years ago, so there's no daylight between us on that account. Some of those old issues I still dust off and read to remind me why I got into this gig. Nevertheless, you're way off base in assuming all magazine editors outside of Gromer's tiny fiefdom are nothing more than lackeys for advertisers. It's true that ad salespeople are endlessly trying to rope us into editorial commitments, but let me make it clear in no uncertain terms that the editorial staffs of Source Interlink are beholden to nobody when it comes to editorial content. Let me assure you we are fighting the good fight here. You know this better than most, as you were privy to the insider disagreements between myself and a certain racing organization that at one time used to advertised in PHR. It cost us money, but we made the right call for our readers.

I'll also reinforce what you said that Project X is indeed an icon of our industry. It hasn't been ruined by any yardstick you care to measure it by--it's only been improved. We recently drove it on a 700-mile roadtrip in September, and it's a blast. Not only does Mopar Action not have anything remotely equivalent, they never will, no matter how many stories Gromer writes about blowing up rental cars with nitrous, or street racing press cars on the streets of Brooklyn.

I can show you how to play that Strat too. School is in session, bro.

[Stich496]

I think most mags need to get a head check, news flash, economy sucks, moneys tight, junk yard is king..used C/L AND EGAY scores.
"but let me make it clear in no uncertain terms that the editorial staffs of Source Interlink are beholden to nobody when it comes to editorial content"
you might have to drop some standards to get to the agv. guys budgets..
perfect feature cars are great and all but. most just don't have the beans to build that..
as far as project X , it maynot be ruined, but it's not the X most grew to love..
keep truck'n

[38P]

Stats for "hunk's posse" to spin

Loren & Gail: You guys rule! And so do you, Bob!

Geek and Bob observed that Popular Hot Rodding is a business based on PAID CIRCULATION. PAID CIRCULATION is, of course, a valid measure of actual readers "voting" with their subscription and newsstand dollars.

So let's see how "Pop Rod" has faired. The U.S. Postal Service makes this easy by requiring magazines to annually certify (under threat of jail time and fines) their PAID CIRCULATION numbers and other data:

Back when "Pop Rod" was more of a balanced, "real world," general interest hot rodding magazine, it used to post these average monthly PAID CIRCULATION numbers:

1987: 242,046 (Source: PHR, Jan. 1988 )
1988: 248,767 (Source: PHR, Jan. 1989)
1989: 236,649 (Source: PHR, Jan. 1990)
1990: 225,141 (Source: PHR, Jan. 1991)
1991: 214,770 (Source: PHR, Jan. 1992) (Note: The U.S. was in an economic recession after the Gulf War)
1992: 205,483 (Source: PHR, Jan. 1993)
1993: 202,546 (Source: PHR, Jan. 1994)
1995: 208,999 (Source: PHR, Dec. 1995)

Although there was a slight downward trend, "Pop Rod's" PAID CIRCULATION numbers for each year were more than 200,000.

Fast forward to the emergence of the big-budget pro-touring "captivity" of PHR:

2003: 172,469 (Source: PHR, Jan. 2004)(Note: this is near the beginning of Mr. Hunkins tenure at Editor)
2011: 107,299 (Source: Current issue of PHR)

IN SHORT, POPULAR HOT RODDING MAGAZINE HAS LOST ROUGHLY 38 PERCENT OF ITS PAID CIRCULATION DURING THE HUNKINS ERA. It's down nearly 50 percent from when its editorial content was more balanced and "real world."

"Hunk's Posse" will undoubtedly respond with various excuses for the decline. . . competition from the internet . . . corporate shuffles . . . the Source Interlink bankruptcy . . . the "Great Recession" . . . . So by way of comparison, let's look at Hot Rod's reported average monthly PAID CIRCULATION numbers for the same time period:

2003: 723,248
2011: 649,181

HOT ROD ONLY LOST APPROXIMATELY TEN PERCENT OF ITS PAID CIRCULATION WHILE FACING THE VERY SAME HEADWINDS. Ironically, despite a much better sales performance than PHR, Rob Kinnan's pounding the pavement . . . .

Hunkins didn't start up his own magazine. He was spotted with the advantages and tradition of a well-established magazine, started in 1962, and with a huge list of subscribers. It's hard to say that what's resulted is all that good from an objective business standpoint, notwithstanding the uncritical celebrity worship of Mr. Hunkins' adoring fan club at Bangshift. Losing more than ONE-THIRD of your customers in less than a decade is not success by any measure.

Ron Ward said that "Pop Rod" ruined the iconic "Project X." But it could be argued that the real icon ruined in the Hunkins big-budget, pro-touring era is POPULAR HOT RODDING MAGAZINE itself. "Pop Rod" just isn't that "popular" anymore.

Response? (Try to come up with something other than personal attacks, sucking up, and sycophantic hero worship . . . "School" is INDEED "in session, [B]ro.")

[BigBlockMopar]

I think I need an aspirin.

I guess I'm a bit lost here, but what was your point again with all this?
What are you trying to achieve with this topic anyway?

[dieselgeek]

All that awesome data but no factoring for how the economy, and internet, and any other factors have affected print media circulation ? Speedy's sauce is weak this morning.

[38P]

Weak sauce?

All that awesome data but no factoring for how the economy, and internet, and any other factors have affected print media circulation ? Speedy's sauce is weak this morning.

Did you miss the part comparing Hot Rod's PAID CIRCULATION over the same period as "POP ROD's" nearly 40% decline?

HRM only lost about 10% while facing "the economy, the internet" and the VERY SAME "OTHER FACTORS" as Hunkins' dying shell of a formerly great general-interest rodding magazine.

We frequently hear anecdotes (including by others in this thread) about how the big Cali mags have "lost touch" with the little guy, "real world" builds, and grassroots tech. And we all know that DF's legend was mostly made by his honest focus on accessible "everyman" builds and unpretentious style. A reasonable interpretation of the PAID CIRCULATION data is these anecdotal reports from former customers correlate with actual sales declines.

Sorry if you think that's "weak sauce." But in the real business world, such sales comparisons are often relied upon to assess the performance of a business unit.

Geek respsoned just as I predicted . . . thin excuses and personal attacks . . . so sad.

[38P]

I think I need an aspirin.

I guess I'm a bit lost here, but what was your point again with all this?
What are you trying to achieve with this topic anyway?

Sorry you're lost.

Executive summary: Intially the thread was pointing out the "call out" by Mopar Action's Cliff Gromer over Mr. Hunkins' comments about why there aren't very many modified Mopars in Popular Hot Rodding Magazine.

However, the self-serving responses of Mr. Hunkins and his gang of star-struck sycophants have prompted a slight shift to whether PHR under Hunkins' highly-exclusive leadership is actually successful.

PHR is losing paid circulation faster than other "big" multi-brand hot rodding magazines. And one of the causes is Hunkins' excessive focus on unrealistic, big-budget, pro-quality "Pro Touring" cars to the exclusion of balance and "real word" content that apparently "fail" to meet his lofty standards.

[TheSilverBuick]

Isn't that the different magazine's buisness model though? A mag for the high end stuff (PHR), a mag closer to the everyday man (HR), and a mag for the broke bottom scrapers that work with what they have (CC)? That's my take on it anyways, the reason Johnny is picky is because he is suppose(?) to be, looking for the best. And as beaten down earlier in this thread, it seems decently porportional to original sales and slightly modified by restoration numbers of the vehicle makes/models.

We frequently hear anecdotes (including by others in this thread) about how the big Cali mags have "lost touch" with the little guy, "real world" builds, and grassroots tech. And we all know that DF's legend was mostly made by his honest focus on accessible "everyman" builds and unpretentious style.

Isn't it like asking for a cadillac at a cavilier's price? The average man still wants to see the expensive car even when they can't afford it.