The second was the downsizing and consolidation of the NHRA Sportsman divisions.

Third was that the NMCA/NMRA not only saved the NHRA’s ill-fated ”Unleashed” program but enlarged their own national event race calendar to eighteen events for the 2012 season, making the ProMedia series the second largest drag racing sanctioning body in the world.

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Any driver or car owner that bitches about the NHRA’s well thought out decision to require even more of their competitors to have an approved head and neck device should remember that the forward speed that killed Dale Earnhardt when it impacted the wall at Daytona was estimated at around 30 mph! Remember that the car was basically sliding sideways when it hit the wall.

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Speaking of the NHRA, with their diminishing fan, TV viewer, and racer base, and subsequent loss of revenue, when are the suits going to realize that in order to attract more fans and more of the fans’ and racers’ hard-earned dollars they are going to have to (1) find a way to make the races more exciting and (2) attract more sportsman to their events to increase the “back gate” take? One thing is sure, the package the NHRA is currently selling isn’t filling the grandstands at races like the U.S. Nationals, Charlotte, E-town, and others. Something has to change and soon.

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How is it that while the NHRA tax returns from 2008 to 2010 indicate that gross revenues for the NHRA has dropped every year, the gross income of the NHRA executives and “key employees” remains basically the same and in some case more? According to the 2010 NHRA tax return, the gross pay of Tom Compton, Peter Clifford, Graham Light, Gary Darcy, Linda Louis, and Jerry Archambeault all increased significantly over their 2009 total compensation. Between 2008 and 2010 the NHRA’s gross revenues decreased from $122,000,000+ in 2008 to $104,000,000+ in 2010.

To be fair, many NHRA execs, including Tom Compton, were paid less in 2010 than in 2008 years, but still the executive branch of the NHRA has taken more than $3,500,000 in wages out of the NHRA every year beginning from 2008 to 2010. As my old dad would say, “Liars often figure but figures never lie.”

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I believe that the combination of the ADRL reducing the winner’s payout in their top classes like Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous and Outlaw Pro Stock from $10,000 in 2011 to $7,000 in 2012, a drastically reduced points fund, and the fact that all teams will now pay an entry fee will have an effect on the numbers of high-profile teams that will travel to ADRL races in 2012.

But don’t get me wrong, I also think that the purse and points payout cuts as well as charging an entry fee was something that absolutely had to happen for the series to survive.

ADRL race fans will probably see fewer “stars” than they have in the past in the PX and PN classes, but the Pro Stock fields will be stronger than ever since the ADRL events remain the only national series with a pro class for  Mountain-Motored Pro Stocks. 

The ADRL in 2012 is not only going to charge racers of every class a fee to race, but their fans will now have to buy a daily ticket as well as pay a  daily parking fee. Since (to date) the ADRL has announced no major corporate sponsors, it would appear that their success could still depend on Sheikh Khalid Al Thani’s financial support.

The 2012 posted purse alone for each ADRL race is around $150,000 ($1,500,000 total for the season). That means that if the ADRL is going to be self-supporting it will have to generate (through fees, sponsorships and ticket sales) more than $1.500,000 in profit this year just to cover the posted purse. How they will fund the points series, pay for track rental, and make payroll in addition to the purse remains an unanswered question.