[Bruce Noland]

This could be one of those carrot and stick deals. The carrot for the Sportsman racers is the supposed funding of our side of the sport for 25 years. Although none of us know what the sport will look like this time next year. That is where the stick comes in.

It's hard to believe that much will improve for the Sportsman racers when you review Tom Compton's record. I think it is fair to say that his enhancements have diminished our over all enjoyment of the sport. In short, he came to NHRA to boost the Pro's and increase the value of the organization. Did he do it? I don't think so. He should have left the Pro Stock Trucks alone and let them run their course instead of blasting them off the program

100 mil sounds like a lot but the HDP folks do get a lot of security when they take over ownership of the tracks. Not enough to cover the whole 100 mil but enough to make the deal work for them. The troubling part for me is - what happens if these guys decide they aren't getting enough bang for their buck or some new regualtion puts the Nitro cars out of business and the HDP folks decide to shut down the operation. I'm sure the HDP folks have had a good risk assessment team look this over, but what happens to the tracks if they do shut down? Shopping malls and townhouses that's what!

This is a very risky deal from a Sportsman racers point of view. This sale represents a donkey that can not be put back in the bottle if it goes south. Yeah maybe NHRA.org will have first right of refusal on the tracks but the money will be tied up in funding the Sportsman and the retirement accounts of all the NHRA executives. To me it looks as though Tom and Co. have done all they can for better or worse and decided to bail and to ride the donkey as far as it will take them; which may not be very far. But it's not that big a deal to them because the 100 mil has helped fund their retirement accounts. Just my two cents worth. And I am entitled to my two cents worth.