[dbochan]

Originally Posted by Jason Oldfield

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 100 cars per class in S/G & S/C, add in another 400 competitors for S/St for 6 national events, and you end up with about 5,000 total S/C, S/G and S/St 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 Super Class 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?

Jason,
It should end with the "NHRA" members having a say again in what happens with the organizations direction. We have chosen to join the NHRA and pay dues to it in the form of membership, licensing fees and chassis certifications as well as supporting the tracks by racing but we have no say or vote. Here is an interesting article written back in 2004.

http://www.dragracingonline.com/burksblast/vi_11-2.html

Since that article was written, it looks like salaries have gone up (+25% for the president ) since 2002 ( I don't think cost of living inceases are needed above $650,000/year) and the situation for the sportsman racer (35,000+ licensed members) continues to get worse.

Below is a quote directly from the NHRA website ,
"Keeping with Parks' original philosophy, President Tom Compton guides the sport and assures that safety and technological improvements will remain a top priority. Progressive changes will help NHRA continue to fulfill its leadership role in the motorsports world well into the future. NHRA will protect and further the best interests of the sport, constantly lobbying for beneficial safety and insurance legislation for auto enthusiasts.
Participation on and off the track has made the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series one of the most popular forms of racing, reaching thousands of fans, members, and sponsors a quarter-mile at a time." "http://www.nhra.com/nhra101/about.aspx"

From all of the posts and comments on this thread, It looks like the best interests of the sport of NHRA drag racing including our safety is in the hands of a man and a board of directors that the members have not voted for and do not wish to have speak for them any longer. Until the bylaws of the non profit 501(c) NHRA are changed back to allow the members to vote for the directors of the organization (changed by a vote in 1981), we will have nothing to do but complain to deaf ears. Sounds a lot like our situation with our governments current political system except we freely choose to renew our membership in the NHRA and subject ourselves to things we dont a'gree with in order to continue to participate in a sport we all love!!

Just my .02¢
David