This is essentially the same message that I posted over in the .90 forum:
I have an idea...how about Tom Compton takes a reduction in salary from $700,000/year to something a little more reasonable so that all of us sportsman racers don't have to take it in the *****? With 23 national events and assuming approximately 100 cars per class in S/S & Stk, you end up with about 5,000 total S/S & Stk. competitors at NHRA national events. If Tom Compton reduced his salary from $700,000 to a VERY HEALTHY $450,000, we could reduce the insurance surcharge by $50 per entry to $40.
Now, if we could get Mr. "I work 10 hours per week for NHRA" Dallas Gardner to reduce his yearly salary from $325,000 to $200,000, we could reduce the insurance surcharge another $25 per entry to $15. I know it might be a little much to ask a guy who only works 10 hours per week to reduce his yearly salary to a paltry $200,000 per year, but to me it seems that the circumstances may warrant the sacrifice.
Oh, and let's not forget Graham Light ($325,000), John Siragusa ($425,000), Peter Clifford ($375,000), Gary Darcy ($375,000), and Glen Gray ($300,000). Asking them to each take a $25,000/year reduction in salary would not only eliminate the remaining $15 of the insurance surcharge, but with the surplus we could actually reduce the entry fee by $10/each as well.
http://www.dragracingonline.com/anal...ge-4-Large.gif
I won't include the few other paupers on the above list as clearly they're just scraping by with their $225,000 - $250,000 annual salaries, and we couldn't possibly ask them to to reduce their compensation from a not-for-profit company.
My guess is that Mr. Compton is looking to buy himself a new Aston Martin V12 Vantage, and can't quite figure out how he can justify the purchase to his wife. So, raise the insurance surcharge $35 (about a 60% increase) and BINGO! Instant $175,000 from the S/S & Stk. racers to pay for the Vantage.
I can't believe all you guys who are just shrugging it off and saying, "Eh, who cares...it's only an extra $35 per entry, and that's a drop in the bucket compared to what I pay to race at one of these events." Though that may be true (it's only going to be about a 3.5% increase for the TOTAL cost to attend one of these events, assuming you're only bringing one car), what NHRA is doing is the 2011 version of nickel and dime-ing us to death. Where does it all end?