The IRS and NHRA, you gotta see this.

[dart4forte]

Looks like a good ole boy operation. Looks like they may have some problems with the IRS. Doesn't look like a 501(C) organization to me

[JRyan]

All you have to do is read the first sentence to know what a crock this whole deal is.

"Two new members have been elected to the NHRA Board of Directors, longtime NASCAR executive Ken Clapp and high-profile Los Angeles attorney Michael C. Cohen".

"Elected"?? By whom? Maybe selected would have been a better term to use. But "elected" makes it looks more like the MEMBERS actually voted on these two ad-ons. Kinda like a democracy. Kinda like what's required by their organizational by-laws. No, I think they were HIRED as "little Dutch Boy's" to put their fingers in the dike.

By the way, did any of you MEMBERS get to vote on these two? I didn't, but then I quit giving them my money three years ago.

Jerry

[Lynn A McCarty]

I thought we uncovered several years ago on this forum that National Events was a for profit corp and that the points races and membership/Dragster was the only port nonprofit portion?

Sportsman racing rules and NMCA and other like type organizations are proving it. A good thing just cant be held down too long.

Too bad the US Class Nationals thing didnt last into multiple events per year. It must be a profitable venture or no one is going to do it. I was hoping Alex made tons of money so he would keep doing it. Profit is a requirement or NHRA wont exist so I hope they make tons of money. They must listen to their customers a bit more.

Many sportsmen racers are on the leading edge professional America not easily ignored or manipulated. I support NHRA making profit and hopefully reinvesting with a collaborative effort with sportsmen racers to further our sport. They have improved over the last few years, but we still have more to accomplish.

[Carl Weisinger]

Originally Posted by Toby Lang

Part of the complaint says that the NHRA compensation arrangements may be excessive.

As an example they use the 2006 compensation of Mr. Thomas Compton. In 2006 Mr. Compton was paid $712,317. They say the average compensation paid to CEOs at the ten largest trade associations was $642,447. So, Mr. Compton was paid 9.8% more than the average.

I don't know if the NHRA operates like a for-profit business or not, but Mr. Compton's salary doesn't seem that excessive to me when compared with the others. If he were making 30-50% more than the average I would say yes, that's excessive, but less than 10%?

Also, could it be possible that the anonymous client has the initials BN?


-Toby

Tom Compton made over $700,000 a year????? Dang,.... I bet there are some track operators that don't even make that much !! That's getting up there in hemi engine builder
territory !

[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.

[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.

[RJ Sledge]

Long time ago my Daddy ask me if I knew the difference between "a pig and a hog", being about 5 years old I had no clue. He then defined the difference to me,....."a pig gets fat......and a hog gets slaughtered" was his answer. If you think about it, that is just what happened with the higher ups at NHRA and I believe they are headed for the slaughter house door.

I hope that the innocent people that work hard everyday at NHRA do not suffer, but have very little compassion for the greedy ones.

There must be a better way to operate this organization than what we have been experiencing lately, I just hope that it not too late to do something about it.

Well said Greg Hill.

RJ

[joe176]

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.

I'd rather put mufflers on my car and drive it to car shows than give my hard earned money to a bunch of crooks if thats what this ends up being !!!

[Alan Roehrich]

I have to wonder why it is people are so convinced that sportsman racing cannot survive, and even thrive, without the pro circus. You know, to hear some people talk, you'd think that drag racing never even existed before the entire program was taken over by the multi million dollar chinese fire drill that is the professional circus freak show.

If nothing else, the marketing job NHRA has done on the average sportsman racer, selling him on the idea that he is nobody without the traveling pros, ranks right up there with Madoff, and the guys at Enron, you have to give them credit for that.

I mean, where would we be without some guy riding around shooting t-shirts into the stands with an air cannon, and getting people to run around in circles pouring sports drinks all over themselves until they get dizzy and puke? What would we do without that horrendous racket they call music blaring out of the speakers during all that down time, and the "announcer" screaming about the points standings? You know, maybe it would be completely impossible to actually race cars without all that added "mind numbing entertainment".

[Ed Wright]

But, how many paying spectators would there be? Sadly, nobody pays to watch us. Look in the stands when the fuel cars are done. Heck, hardly any of them watch Pro Stock. Nobody watches the Alky cars either. Even fewer the index cars, which I understand. :-)