And he said, “Well, things have got to happen here.” Things weren’t going well, not necessarily at the race track, but with the people that currently owned the track, and things weren’t going the way he thought it should be. I said I don’t want to get involved in anything until you get that issue resolved. So I didn’t hear anything from him for a while and the next conversation I had was that the Iowa guys bought out the Illinois guys and they now have the control and want to work something out with us. Again I said I can’t, I can’t buy the track. We met a couple times after that and came up with this management plan that allows us the opportunity to purchase the track over a multi-year period with our company furnishing the management. We have 100% control of the facility. It was the only way I could do it because I couldn’t go in and be somebody’s puppet, especially somebody’s puppet that doesn’t know how to run the business.
How difficult is it going to be making the transition from operating and overseeing one dragstrip then two and now three?
Gardner: First of all, it wouldn’t be possible without the right people. Our whole program is structured around building a base of very good people that know the business and how we do business. The business model that I came up with isn’t completed at this point, but the whole idea is that with multiple facilities we can do things involving all three tracks that are financially more beneficial for each individual track. The obvious benefits for the racers and sponsors with three tracks is that you can coordinate schedules, sponsors, point series and so on. It makes a lot more sense than each track fighting the other. I believe we have the best interests of the racers and the sport in mind regarding just about everything we do.
Can you be a little more specific about how you’ll oversee the three tracks?
Gardner: Well, an example will be getting track sponsors. Now when I talk about track sponsorship, I’m talking about three tracks. They might chose to only sponsor one track, but I bring all three to the table. That creates a profit opportunity for all three tracks that we need to exercise. One of the programs I have in mind is to have an association that oversees all three tracks that will be more like a clearinghouse for the tracks for racers, sponsors and fans. We’ll have a website where people can go to obtain information about any of the tracks. We’ll have a forum for them to ask questions, express opinions, get schedules and a variety of other things. It will be a kind of free membership organization, not a sanctioning body. We’re in the process of developing that.
One big change you’ve made was to make the NHRA the sanctioning body for all three of your tracks. What caused you to change Cordova and your other tracks over to NHRA?
Gardner: This is a long answer. I’ve been a scholarship IHRA supporter and the reason was that I believed in their program, which, when Bill Bader was at the helm, was multi-
faceted with national events, spectators, sponsors, and sportsman racers all being equally important to Bill. He developed the Summit Super Series, which is something he worked on for years at Norwalk even before he bought the IHRA.
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I believe in his model of doing business, how he treated his customers and his sportsman racers -- still do. When Bill departed IHRA, I felt obviously that Skooter and all those people still at the IHRA would continue in that direction. However, over time Bader’s way of doing business was eroded away. The corporate thing has become bigger than the racing thing at IHRA.
How do you think Bill Bader feels about what has happened to the IHRA?
Gardner: Recently I called Bill on the phone and during the conversation I asked, “Bill, what is biggest mistake you’ve made in your life?” He said selling the IHRA to Clear Channel because it killed his dream of what could be accomplished with the IHRA.
Did you meet with Aaron Polburn or Skooter Peaco before you changed sanctioning organizations?
Gardner: I went to an IHRA national event last year to meet with them because I felt things weren’t right. I sat down with Aaron and Skooter and talked about the concerns that I had. Aaron talked for about 20 minutes about how much the IHRA’s national events were growing, how much the back gate was growing, how much nitro funny car was growing. Those issues means nothing to my racers, it means nothing to my race tracks. I asked him about Jr. Nationals and his comment was, “Do we still do those?”
