Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Gantz
To answer the question in the title of this thread... No matter what Force has done in racing, it's racing that made NHRA and Force. Wally Parks stumbled upon an undiscovered addiction and did a good job developing it.
Force has been smart enough and entrepreneurial enough to take advantage .Even if NHRA has put too many eggs in the Force basket, NHRA will survive despite itself. Racing is bigger than NHRA and/or Force.
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NHRA survived the retirement of Garlits, Prudhomme, Glidden and every other star. It will survive the loss of Force--and his organization if he shuts it all down after he retires.
Hard to tell what NHRA will look like in the future though. It could be sold, split, or just continue as it has. The people in charge have to be careful with the gimmicks and enhancements that the marketing and TV "experts" are trying to use to attract the "casual" fan. They are in danger of jumping the shark like NASCAR has and alienating the hardcore people.
The legacy sportsman classes are mostly populated by old guys. I don't see a strategy to attract young people to those classes. A good start would be to stop treating them like a redheaded step child, stop trying to squeeze every nickle they can out of them and pay some damn money. There were 700 people who showed up, and paid thousands in entry fees to race for big money last weekend - and it's happening other places almost every weekend. I'm not saying they have to pay $1.1m or even $100k, but c'mon guys. Look at where your GOAT sportsman guys are going.
I hope they figure it out, stop trying to be all things to all people and avoid ending up being the next IHRA.