[Alan Roehrich]

Chuck, I was just clowning. Hell you have to laugh.

You are right though, the cost is rapidly becoming excessive. nearly every year, there's a new rule requiring more money spent. Fuel is up, oil is up, tires are up, insurance is up, and yet NHRA continues to raise various fees, and make new requirements. They add "services' you must pay for, such as "waste disposal".

Honestly, we all like to win, but to be honest, "return' doesn't figure into it that much, if it did, we'd go big money bracket racing. The truth is, for sportsman, 10 racers out of maybe 400 at a race are going to win or runner up. That's not even 5%, more like 2.5%. So it's about the cost to do it, not so much the return. Don't get me wrong, we load the car(s) and expect to win, every time we roll out of the driveway. But we also know the reality.

I think Fletcher said two years ago after the big contingency payout crash that his contingency payouts on a win dropped around 65%, from $15K to $5500. That's where the return is anyway. They've killed that and increased the cost every year since.

I've been down there helping a customer fill out the contingency sheet recently. I can say for a fact, NHRA is not spending squat on administering that program. There were maybe 4-5 NHRA staff people who were already there for other duties at the race dealing with contingency sheets. Knowing people who now pay, or did pay, and knowing what it costs, NHRA makes a killing on contingency programs, and it doesn't cost them that much. The racers and the companies who pay both get the shaft.