The IRS and NHRA, you gotta see this.

[billy leber]

Originally Posted by Wade_Owens

Terry, I have great respect for you, as well as many others on this board. You guys were fortunate enough to have lived the heyday, I was not. You guys have made 1000's of passes to my 100's. But, I built my car to travel with and compete, not to sit in the garage. If I had 30 years of Stock Eliminator racing under my belt, I may feel the same way. I dont agree with the increases, double standards, afhs as well as several other things. I'm not going to bracket race locally and I dont have the IHRA alternative at this moment.

If NHRA is operating illegally, we, the racers, can only hope for the best of what will happen. I dont want them to fold, pass on more increases, etc. But, I do want to race and will continue to as money allows.

You can see where I'm coming from, cant ya?

Wade O

Well said Wade. I dont know who Terry is but as he likes to say X2.

[Greg Hill]

All of you need to read this complaint and understand it. NHRA has been operating with no accountability to anyone over the last 30 years. They have all those high salaries because they pay themselves whatever they want to because they decide to. That being said the big money is on the expense side of the ledger. If you look at tax returns you will notice that expenses mirror revenue. In other words as revenue goes up so do expenses and as revenue goes down so do expenses. Some of that would be normal because some expenses are variable, however most of their costs are fixed and don't change that much from year to year.

Taking a look at their expenses for 2008 a couple of things really jump out. The first is office expense at $15,747,739. Now that doesn't include any salaries or rent or even IT. What in the hell could you spend 15 mil on in office expense? Another is $4,046,243 on travel. Other expenses are around 10 mil. Salaries, wages and benefits are around 20 mil. Advertising and promotions is 24 mil. The big question is who benefits from all this money? How about the 3.3 mil in insurance costs that's only about 2.75% of their operating expenses?

This whole deal reminds me of one of those fund raising groups that call you up raising money for police or firemen that when you check into them uses 90% of what they collect for expenses and only 10% goes to the people they are supposedly raising money for. They are not using the money they make for the good of our sport but for their own personal gain.

[Herbie Null]

Originally Posted by billy leber

Well said Wade. I dont know who Terry is but as he likes to say X2.

I agree with you Billy, Well said Wade. X3

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Wade_Owens

Terry, I have great respect for you, as well as many others on this board. You guys were fortunate enough to have lived the heyday, I was not. You guys have made 1000's of passes to my 100's. But, I built my car to travel with and compete, not to sit in the garage. If I had 30 years of Stock Eliminator racing under my belt, I may feel the same way. I dont agree with the increases, double standards, afhs as well as several other things. I'm not going to bracket race locally and I dont have the IHRA alternative at this moment.

If NHRA is operating illegally, we, the racers, can only hope for the best of what will happen. I dont want them to fold, pass on more increases, etc. But, I do want to race and will continue to as money allows.

You can see where I'm coming from, cant ya?

Wade O

Agreed 1000% but something must change for the better soon. We wont live forever. The only thing the people in charge care about is the $$$$$ they get (not earn). I can only imagine the kind of income they make but it dosent really affect me and I dont care if they just treated the sportsman racer a little better. Are you and the rest of the guys who commented on this thread happy with the way you are treated at a NHRA event and the payouts you recieve for all that you put into running the events? Im retired now making big money isnt in my future. Im comfortable After all these years why havent they increased the pay outs a little more for the little guys than the small increases they throw out? The NHRA can afford it thats for sure. Do you know how little even the tech guys like Travis make for all the effort they put out during an event ? Not enough thats for sure. They do it for the love of the sport and guys like you. I dont know who is filing the IRS complaint but it should have been done right after Wally Park's funeral. Good luck this year in your racing. You haved raise the "Bar" with the 283 guys. Im impressed !

[John Kelley]

Originally Posted by Toby Lang

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

That is what I was thinking !!! :-)

[Marvin Robinson]

Well, I hope this is not an opening of Pandora's box..... I would certainly like to see better practices on behalf of the Sportsman Racer from NHRA, but I wonder if this lawsuit will turn things in that direction, or have unintended consequences for all of us.

The Salaries quoted do seem excessive, but I don't buy for one minute that Dallas and Graham work 1 hour a week. Anyone who has run any type of organization larger than 5 people knows that the principal people involved put in many times the effort and hours that you would think they do, to make things happen. Having said that, 700K, 400K or more, may be excessive compensation for what they do, I don't profess to know enough about what kind of time & effort they actually expend, and whether the salary for those positions is justified. I DO know that I'm not real happy with how they have addressed (or failed to address) many issues on the part of the Non-Professional racer.

The salaries are only a small part of a larger problem... how well does the organization serve it's designated members (ALL of them, not just the pros), and what kind of relationship does it maintain with it's members, suppliers, affiliates and contractors? How well does it control it's expenses, and does it distribute it's services equitably and in a fiscally responsible manner?? Does it properly account for all of it's activities and finances??? How well this has been done in the past will have a direct bearing on the procession of events in this lawsuit, and the outcome(s) relative to the average racer. I hope for the best...

[FED 387]

I don't know if any of you have ever been thru an IRS audit but I have both personally and business wise---let me tell you "it ain't fun"---very very time consuming and believe me when they are finished they are gonna find "something" no matter how inconsequential it may seem to you it will not be overlooked and make their interpretation of it. I cannot begin to imagine what the IRS is gonna put a large operation like the NHRA thru in examining all of the expenses,deductions etc. and they are going to want straight answers then look at precedents that have been either allowed or disallowed in the past and before they then make a ruling on what they find-----As far as whistleblowers I am quite confidant that this law firm (Capland) is not just petitioning the IRS to come across as a bunch of jerks or to be vindictive in this case but they obviously have what they feel is "concrete information" regarding things that have been done in the past OR are continuing to be done that are not to be conducted or allowed under the guidelines set forth by the IRS regarding Non Profit entities.This lawfirm does/sees things like this everyday that's their business so I'm quite confidant that they feel that they have a "real good case" going forward otherwise they would not have taken the case or written their letter to the IRS. This is going to play out over a long period of time perhaps 6 months to a year or more before any final decision as to what the NHRA did wrong,what steps need to be taken to make sure that this does not occur in the future and finally whatever penalties are to be assessed either monetarily or whatever else they deem necessary. So do not try to 2nd guess what is going on here just settle in and go along for the long ride because this is gonna take some time to investigate. Comp

[Wade_Owens]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

Are you and the rest of the guys who commented on this thread happy with the way you are treated at a NHRA event and the payouts you recieve for all that you put into running the events?

No problems with the treatment.

We all know the story on payouts. I think this is similar to what happens in everyday life. We all want to better ourselves and make more money. We complain when some hotels or certain gas stations price gouge. Or we get a bad dose of Taco Bell. We still go back. I would love for the eliminator to pay more. So far, that hasnt affected me. I would love for class wins to pay more and the contingency payments be on time. I have about half the money in my stocker that I had in my Outlaw 10.5 car. The plus is, I dont change pistons every time I get home. Usually the stocker is still in one piece, so I feel like I've bettered myself. I could find a thousand things to gripe about, 999 of them wont be acted on. I prefer to spend the race weekend with friends and have a shot at the eliminator. I do this to spend time in the truck with my son and race at the track with my friends.
I do wish NHRA would listen more to the SRAC or send out some simple ballots for some issues before making them "law". If your not going to act on the counsels recommendations, (the racer's only voice at this time), then stop using them for scape goats and dismantle the group.
I know for a fact the tech guys love the S/SS portion of the sport. There is no other reason for sitting in 100 degree midwest heat, listening to us bitch about the(fill in the blank here).

See you guys soon,

Wade O

[Gary Smith]

Originally Posted by Marvin Robinson

Well, I hope this is not an opening of Pandora's box..... I would certainly like to see better practices on behalf of the Sportsman Racer from NHRA, but I wonder if this lawsuit will turn things in that direction, or have unintended consequences for all of us.

The Salaries quoted do seem excessive, but I don't buy for one minute that Dallas and Graham work 1 hour a week. Anyone who has run any type of organization larger than 5 people knows that the principal people involved put in many times the effort and hours that you would think they do, to make things happen. Having said that, 700K, 400K or more, may be excessive compensation for what they do, I don't profess to know enough about what kind of time & effort they actually expend, and whether the salary for those positions is justified. I DO know that I'm not real happy with how they have addressed (or failed to address) many issues on the part of the Non-Professional racer.

The salaries are only a small part of a larger problem... how well does the organization serve it's designated members (ALL of them, not just the pros), and what kind of relationship does it maintain with it's members, suppliers, affiliates and contractors? How well does it control it's expenses, and does it distribute it's services equitably and in a fiscally responsible manner?? Does it properly account for all of it's activities and finances??? How well this has been done in the past will have a direct bearing on the procession of events in this lawsuit, and the outcome(s) relative to the average racer. I hope for the best...

Statistics prove that any successful organization is always run by someone who truly loves and believes in the product/service they're providing. They reap the monetary rewards when their customers/clients are happy. But those who are motivated by money first, then the product/service suffers, ultimately driving away customers through dissatisfaction and sometimes animosity. All three of the top brass (Light, Gardner, and Compton) are about the money/opportunities over the love of what they do. The NHRA is a sick train and has been running on borrowed time and will derail unless someone knows how to turn it around.

[NWDragracing]

Just a great example of "Executive/White Collar" crimes...