Nhra strikes again - must read for stk/ss at ned nat event

[Don Kennedy]

Some Issues that may need to be discussed with NHRA are :
The Purse.
Stacking early.
National event quotas.
Tech Procedures.
Track Prep( which lately has been good.)
Run order Super Stock needs to run after Super Comp then track prep will be easier as super comp burns thru the line.
Entry fees .

?? anyone else has some issues needed to be solved or at least discussed feel free to list them

my email address is donkennedy1@cox.net .Phone number is 602-284-6240

[Alan Roehrich]

Don, I disagree. I think the current management at NHRA, and especially the bean counters controlling the decisions with the money, have zero regard for sportsman drag racing. The only thing they have the slightest regard for is the short term bottom line. Further, they are firmly convinced, with no small amount of help from the racers, that the sportsman racers will take whatever NHRA feels like giving them, and keep right on paying for it.

Are there good people within NHRA who do care, and do want to do what is right for sportsman drag racers? Sure. But they have no decision making power, and precious little influence with those who do. Further, upper management and the bean counters would just as soon see any friends we do have within the organization gone. You need only witness the way they treat those people, and how very few are left.

[Don Kennedy]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

Don, I disagree. I think the current management at NHRA, and especially the bean counters controlling the decisions with the money, have zero regard for sportsman drag racing. The only thing they have the slightest regard for is the short term bottom line. Further, they are firmly convinced, with no small amount of help from the racers, that the sportsman racers will take whatever NHRA feels like giving them, and keep right on paying for it.

Are there good people within NHRA who do care, and do want to do what is right for sportsman drag racers? Sure. But they have no decision making power, and precious little influence with those who do. Further, upper management and the bean counters would just as soon see any friends we do have within the organization gone. You need only witness the way they treat those people, and how very few are left.

Alan : not sure your assessment of NHRA is really accurate > If I were a bean counter and I did not know about Drag racing and I figured out that the sportsman racer brings in appx 3 to 4 million dollars a year or more it would be hard as a bean counter to not see the value of that money coming in especially if it goes away

[Lenny5160]

Originally Posted by Don Kennedy

Alan : not sure your assessment of NHRA is really accurate > If I were a bean counter and I did not know about Drag racing and I figured out that the sportsman racer brings in appx 3 to 4 million dollars a year or more it would be hard as a bean counter to not see the value of that money coming in especially if it goes away

The problem is that it appears the money brought in by Sportsman drag racing is the ONLY reason NHRA has any regard for it.

Nothing they do impacts the car counts in a meaningful way, so everything must be good, right?

[Don Kennedy]

Originally Posted by Lenny5160

The problem is that it appears the money brought in by Sportsman drag racing is the ONLY reason NHRA has any regard for it.

Nothing they do impacts the car counts in a meaningful way, so everything must be good, right?

One way to look at the
issues is NHRA is a Business, and most of the time to a drag racer our racing is a Hobby, there has to be a fine line that all can live with and succeed. this is hard to do in some instances.

[Alan Roehrich]

Don, I have considerable respect for your opinion, and admire your optimism a great deal.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm still on the path to building or buying a stocker, I'm still working on stuff for my best friend and partner, as well as other people. I have no desire to see the sport I love dearly continue to circle the drain. My goal in life, at 53, is to be like my hero, Jimmy Bridges, and be doing this when I'm well into my seventies and beyond.

That being said, I've crunched the numbers myself, and while we do spend a ton of money with NHRA, I also realize that reality and the long term view often have very little bearing on the modern business plan in America, which is most often based on short term short sighted goals and gains, regardless of the long term.

Even with my love of the sport, and my decision to make every effort to continue, I will not fool myself into believing that NHRA wants us, likes us, and cares about us. To be honest, we're a lot like an abused spouse. We want to believe things will get better, but most often it ends badly.

I do this because I love it. I love my friends, who are family to me, the racers like the Hills, the Welfels, the Walther, the Maggarts, the Tuetons, the Helms family, the Mattinglys, and dozens of others, the staff, Travis Miller, Dave Ley, Bill Floyd, and a dozen others. I plan to keep doing it. I may not keep doing it with NHRA. I plan to build a cool car that I love, a traditional stocker, that will be competitive, even without a soft factor, so whether or not NHRA tanks, or gets rid of us, I'll have a keeper that I'll enjoy.

The flip side is that NHRA has had ample opportunities over the years to improve the lot of the racers. They have chosen to do otherwise every single time. Higher entry fees, more fees, more hassles, worse treatment, they're run off the sponsors. The purse has effectively dropped 75% when you look at contingency payout too.

And if you think they're not inviting these other classes as a way of shopping for a replacement for our classes, you need to take off your rose colored glasses.