[Michael Beard]

The Pros with the corporate sponsors likely have contracts requiring they race NHRA events. For those that don't, however, for both Pro and Sportsman alike, there are alternatives for many.

Some sanctioning bodies are self-important. Bader understood that sanctioning bodies had to be in the *service* industry, servicing their sponsors, fans, racers, and tracks. NHRA itself is not the show. Bader has also proven that many times, with John Force and a handful of other Nitro F/C's, jets, fireworks, etc, drawing over 40,000 fans for a single-day event. Fans will go whereever Force and the other big names go.

The track prep issue amazes me. From what the Vegas bracket racers say, the track staff does a phenomenal job, but NHRA had to do it their way. When Virginia Motorsports Park was IHRA, they slammed cars down the track with side-by-side racing all the time. NHRA gets the track back, does the track over, and it's slip-n-slide. IHRA's Jim Weinert oversaw grinding and prepping of Joliet several years ago just days before the NHRA national event there that saw most of the Pro records fall.