Bruton Smith’s announcement of a new drag strip may do more for the exposure of drag racing than the entire Countdown to the Championship in the general media. With the majority of the motorsports press focused 24/7 on NASCAR, why not have a big national event in the new center of racing, Charlotte, NC?
When the Pomona, Indy and Gainesville luxury boxes were being planned and hurriedly built, did Tom Compton and the NHRA Board already know of the pending sale to HD Partners Acquisition Corp. while completing a company-wide pre-sale inventory of NHRA assets? Didn’t the value of those boxes add to the value of the NHRA?
How long before Bruton Smith’s SMI takes possession of the facilities at Indy, Gainesville, Atlanta, Columbus and Pomona to expand his management properties and grow SMI stockholder equity?
Does POWERade or their advertising agency know how annoyingly awful the Asian woman bodybuilder TV commercial really is and how much the average consumer tunes it out? Cheap production, and weak advertising creative work and execution do not sustain a year of repetitive over-airing. Or does Coca-Cola even care since their investment in
NHRA Drag Racing is such a minimal segment of the overall ad budget? Selling off the title rights to NHRA competition at bargain prices does have a price for the spectator and fan too. We can only hope that Eddy Hartenstein has a much better business sense and connections than Tom Compton and Gary Darcy.
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Note to Coca-Cola marketing: You know how cheaply you can get exposure for your multitude of smaller brands through drag racing. Please consider throwing another bone to NHRA and specifically some of the race teams whose drivers, like trained monkeys, dutifully put on the hat and chug the POWERade brand on the top end for the ESPN2 cameras. Where are their SAG residuals?
How long before the PRO demands much better purses and larger year-end payout from the new for-profit NHRA?
Is NHRA really thinking of changing the Friday night qualifying session? Don’t the spectators deserve a spectacular show, more than a few whining Pros who can’t duplicate their performances in the heat of the day?
I don’t remember Don Garlits or Shirley Muldowney using the phrase “a level playing field” when they were winning races and championships in much worse track conditions than we have at today’s pimped racetracks.
Could drag racing as we know it survive without Forrest and Charlotte Lucas and Evan Knoll? How is it that motorsports must go with hat in hand to support our racing addictions?
Are there now enough potential tire sales in the professional ranks to warrant the entry of Mickey Thompson and Hoosier in developing a high-speed nitro tire, as they are now doing in Pro Stock? See, competition is good!
Why is it that NHRA does utilize a rev-limiter and won’t allow traction control for the professional nitro classes? That’s the one piece of tradition NHRA seems to cling to and would make a significant improvement to the show.
Instead of fielding feel-good Top Fuel dragster paint scheme tributes to POW’s and MIA’s, how about picking up the tab including hospitality for surviving military veterans at key national events. That’d show some real support to the vets who’ve served our country, regardless of the war or conflict. Let them in the gates for free.
How great would it be to have Shirley Muldowney and Don Garlits as owners of NHRA professional nitro teams today racing against Kalitta, Prudhomme, Bernstein and
the like?
