Im very fortunate to know of a world champion in the area where im from. He told me the in's-and-out's of being a salaried driver. From the previous post, you guys are exactly right. There are different avenues of a full factory ride that's salaried. R&D, tech, Q's and A's departments, engineering, materials ( proline rubber tire contents, etc...), and other venues alike within a corporation. There is also a BIG incentive for endorsements such as name recognition on product lines. Kinwald is probably the most famous for this. Having his name on buggies, motors ( dirtinator's and alike ), pinions, and other items that trinity carries. The performance at a big race is really important also. I remember talking to my friend about his pay for performance at a race, and from what I remember, for a world championship event, he was promised $XX,XXX to show-up, $XX,XXX to make the top ten, and $XX,XXX to take home the win. Well, he showed up, but he couldn't pull it off. I have another friend who is sponsored by Team Associated for the past 10 years. We were at his beautiful home in northern california having a BBQ. We both went into his kitchen and he said, " Man Roger, could you beleive that I bought this new home racing rc cars ? " My response, " I beleive ya bro. "
The comment made earlier about Hara. Yeah, I believe he's getting paid $100,000 for racing rc cars, and he's probably getting paid more for endorsements ( the atushi hara line of esc and other products ). I remember seeing a " Pioneer " decal on Masami's ride for 1 year. I wonder how much he got for that 1 year contract from pioneer ?