Spoiled Brats!

[Dan Bennett]

"Ever hear of any Racer trying to organize a "protest" of NHRA by not going to their races? Sure you have. Know why we don't? Because for every Racer who WILL stay home, 3 WILL show up because they KNOW that "if you're not there', I've got a better chance of winning that Wally"."


In my years of covering races - from the tower and sometimes from the staging lanes, starting line, or pits - I personally saw this happen at least twice.

One was a group of Pro Stock racers refusing to go down a very questionable track where there had been one crash and a couple of near misses. Graham Light adressed their concerns by telling them that if they chose not to run, he would have no problem still producing a full field. They knew he was right and all of them backed down.


IMO, our problem is that a lot don't realize that racers and Glendora are coming from totally different angles. I saw NHRA move to the maximize profit theory, where changes were made if a company was willing to pay. For example, look at HD in bikes and Barry Grant never being able to get his carbs legalized in PS. We people who've been around a long time remember when changes were made because it was the right thing to do.

Finally, the executives at the track keep a very close eye on the stands. When they fill for fuel and empty for most other classes, that's their metric for what paying customers (spectators) want to see. I can't count the times I was told that fuel was the show and everything else was just filler to avoid long delays between races. And yes, you racers here provide a huge chunk of money. But so do spectators at national events, and that's free money over and above the costs to run a race where there is little expense for their attendance.

But Billy is dead on. Through some shrewd decisions made years ago, NHRA was able to have a massive edge over any alternatives. Some of my work was done in the IHRA, and it was apparent that NHRA had locked in the best tracks in the country.

The most significant thing that's happened during the time I've been involved happened a long time ago and didn't seem all that big a deal at the time. It was when the proxies were sent out on a vote that essentially removed any power from the membership to have any say in how the nonprofit was run. And that is why even after decades of racing, watching, reporting, and writing I don't have even a ghost of an idea of how to make things better for the racers.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Dan Bennett

"Ever hear of any Racer trying to organize a "protest" of NHRA by not going to their races? Sure you have. Know why we don't? Because for every Racer who WILL stay home, 3 WILL show up because they KNOW that "if you're not there', I've got a better chance of winning that Wally"."

Ain't that attitude just a damned cryin' shame?


A Wally, at any cost, regardless of how many asterisks are next to it.


That's so different from true sportsman racing, and really, real racing, period. True sportsmen, and real racers, will wait for a competitor to make a quick repair, etc, and not even complain. I cannot imagine jumping to enter a race because a bunch of fellow racers were going to boycott it for a valid reason.

[TBear5033]

Originally Posted by Dan Bennett

The most significant thing that's happened during the time I've been involved happened a long time ago and didn't seem all that big a deal at the time. It was when the proxies were sent out on a vote that essentially removed any power from the membership to have any say in how the nonprofit was run. And that is why even after decades of racing, watching, reporting, and writing I don't have even a ghost of an idea of how to make things better for the racers.

Dan - might you recall when this occurred?

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by TBear5033

[/I]

Dan - might you recall when this occurred?

Early 1980s.

[4543]

Back when that vote was sent out none of us ever dreamed that NHRA would ever become what it has or that the sport would develop as it has. Sure wish I had the opportunity to do that vote over. Mike McMahan 2543 H/SA

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by 4543

Back when that vote was sent out none of us ever dreamed that NHRA would ever become what it has or that the sport would develop as it has. Sure wish I had the opportunity to do that vote over. Mike McMahan 2543 H/SA

But we can all bet that most of the people at NHRA who were responsible for that had the current level of control they have in mind.

[Billy Nees]

The only person that I could imagine being there at "that point in time" would be Dallas Gardner.

[L.Fite]

Kinda sad really...
Not what NHRA was created for, for sure.
Like all things, the money corrupted it...