[Greg Hill]

Originally Posted by Tony Curcio

There is no way this can ever turn out well for racers if the IRS rules that NHRA is not eligible to be a non-profit.

At best, NHRA would be forced to begin paying tax on funds from operations, which will increase costs by 35%, and those costs will be passed along to YOU. How is that good?

And that's only a best-case scenario. The IRS can impute back taxes for as far back as the statute of limitations allows, which could be 7 or even 10 years in some cases. Plus penalties and interest. The organization would either have to shut down, sell out, or seek new capital from a public offering, if the market will support it. None of these are good choices.

A publicly traded entity must, by law, maximize profit for its shareholders, or face lawsuits. The hard truth is that the national events generate piles of cash from spectator and sponsor revenue. The back-gate from sportsman racing is a small fraction of the total.

A for-profit NHRA may have no choice but reduce or eliminate sportsman racing. Not because it loses money, but because the resources can be used more profitably on professional categories. This would certainly be the case if it was owned by a publicly traded corporation.

Some of you think a sportsman-only, combo-racing organization would be preferable. But I can tell you without fear of contradiction that the quality race tracks that were built in the 1990's could never have been funded if they didn't have the prospect of a cash producing NHRA national event to show the bankers and investors. And say goodbye to sponsorships that underwrite some of the pro-sportsman operations in full.

Worst of all, they might have to close down. And to shut it down would be absolutely criminal. Garlits, Prudhomme, Muldowney, Jenkins, Sox, Nicholson- all NHRA legends- 50+ years of history and tradition could be lost, all because some cranky, short-sighted individual thinks Dallas Gardner and Tom Compton make too much money. You'll wish that was your biggest problem.

No one knows how this will turn out and I can assure you there are other things that could happen than what you outlined. How about maybe we end up with our voting rights back.
Then the members can elect a board who can hire management who will run the organization in a responsible and fair way.