Atlanta dragway

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by Fireofficer74

So what do they sell next, Gainesville Dragway to make room for student housing?

Sounds like they are a for profit corporation.

Unless they build a new track in the Atlanta area.

Which isn't happening.

Down here there was thought to sell the union hall, there was a near riot during the meeting over the tax ramifications.

Actually they stated that they were going to take some of the revenue from the sale to upgrade Gainesville Raceway. Not sure if that is still the plan. I am sure the execs will pocket a good bit of that money. Its sad that we cant get better management of NHRA

[pmrphil]

Originally Posted by Mike Pearson

Actually they stated that they were going to take some of the revenue from the sale to upgrade Gainesville Raceway. Not sure if that is still the plan. I am sure the execs will pocket a good bit of that money. Its sad that we cant get better management of NHRA

And the key word in the statement is "some". Think about that.

[novassdude]

People need to remember Non-Profit does not mean they cannot make a profit. They have to or they will go out of business just like any organization. They are in their rights to take the money from the sale and invest it back into the organization. They are also allowed to keep a fund/carry over money for the future.

[matt82114]

Originally Posted by novassdude

People need to remember Non-Profit does not mean they cannot make a profit. They have to or they will go out of business just like any organization. They are in their rights to take the money from the sale and invest it back into the organization. They are also allowed to keep a fund/carry over money for the future.

Bingo. It's a business, not a charity. NHRA cut a lot of staff in 2020. Per Glen on a conference call, all the execs took a pay cut. Now what that means is not my business. I'm just happy to race.

It's also 1 track gone. A track that is costing more money than it's generating year after year. There's a very good chance NHRA will announce new tracks to host National events in 2022 or 2023.
Calm down. Change is OK. It's not the end of the world. See you in Atlanta.


Matt Hanley
Car Chief
Leverich Racing Top Fuel Dragster

[Greg Hill]

The difference between nhra and a true non profit, be it a charity or a non profit business, is that management should have the best interests of the organization as the main goal. The nhra is desperately trying to keep the fuel circus alive so management can continue to draw big salaries from the organization. Nhra should of moved from California to Indy 10 years ago. They have cut expenses at the level that affects sportsman racers much more than they have at the top. You could hire a top notch president in Indy for 200k. The management is living their nice SoCal lifestyle when almost all of their members and customers are east of the Rocky Mountains.

A true non profit business should be transparent to their members. When times are tough they should talk to their members and customers and do the things that would generate more support. Instead they are secretive and condescending. I would tell you that over the years nhra management has done tremendous harm to the organization. Think back. Eliminating Modified eliminator, pro stock truck, cutting the tech staff until there are not enough folks to work a National event or even a points race. My buddy Jim Schacter is right, they have no plan to make drag racing better, or increase participation or just make members and participants happy. They are sucking the *** of the fuel show until it gives out.

[matt82114]

Greg, I'll bite.


"The difference between nhra and a true non profit, be it a charity or a non profit business, is that management should have the best interests of the organization as the main goal" They do Greg. Think about it. If the 'organization' (NHRA) fails, the 'management' loses their jobs.


"The nhra is desperately trying to keep the fuel circus alive so management can continue to draw big salaries from the organization." That 'fuel circus' puts fans in the seats. It's why most fans show up to a National and skip a divisional or regional. Maybe you should buy a fuel car and see how much work this 'circus' demands. I assure you, it's a lot more than you're thinking. And what do you consider a 'big salary'?


"Nhra should of moved from California to Indy 10 years ago." I'm going to agree with you on this one. NHRA should move out of California ........ they already know this. And they already know Indy would be the best move.




"They have cut expenses at the level that affects sportsman racers much more than they have at the top." Please explain further. I don't quite understand what you're saying. I think I do, but I don't want to assume.



"The management is living their nice SoCal lifestyle when almost all of their members and customers are east of the Rocky Mountains." You'd be surprised at how average NHRA management is living in SoCal. Almost all of NHRA's members and customers are East of the Rocky Mountains? Really? Not sure about that one Greg.



"A true non profit business should be transparent to their members." There's zero difference between a 'true non profit' and a 'non profit' business. They're the same thing. But a non profit business is allowed to profit. They're simply not using the profit to pay its members/shareholders. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n...ganization.asp


"When times are tough they should talk to their members and customers and do the things that would generate more support." They have. To us anyway. We never had conference calls with Glen, Jon, or Josh. Now we have one almost every month.




"Instead they are secretive and condescending." care to elaborate?




"I would tell you that over the years nhra management has done tremendous harm to the organization" You mean like having 4 events in Indy during the heart of the pandemic when nobody else was allowing fans? AND NHRA literally willing to lose BIG TIME on the first 3 of those just to keep the momentum of NHRA going? They lost their shirt on the Indy 1. They lost a ton on Indy 2. They lost some on Indy 3. They knew all of this was going to happen and yet they still did it. Did you happen to attend any of those races and show your support?
Our team did. And we did it knowing we were going to lose money. We did it to show NHRA our support. Because unlike you, we don't have any other sandbox to go play in. We literally don't have another organization offering what NHRA offers us.




"Think back. Eliminating Modified eliminator, pro stock truck" Things change. And it's not like the race cars disappeared. They simply got absorbed into comp eliminator. And some Modified eliminator cars could even race SS. I'm sure you already know this. Did you complain when NHRA added Top Dragster and Top Sportsman? Or the Factory Stock Showdown cars? Look how much better Pro Mod is than 20 years ago.




"cutting the tech staff until there are not enough folks to work a National event or even a points race" I feel like NHRA could have 10 tech officials at every race, and somehow that still wouldn't be enough to appease all the class racers. Maybe it would. I don't know. But you can't possibly think they'd still catch everything. Let's admit it, there's a lot of 'rule bending' and 'rule breaking' in class racing. Which is extremely pathetic in my opinion. NHRA still catches of few here and there. But you can't catch them all.

And why do most complain about there not being enough tech at a National, but not a division or regional?



"they have no plan to make drag racing better, or increase participation or just make members and participants happy." I 100% disagree with you on this. They're allowing the alcohol guys to go 4 wide in Vegas and Charlotte. Those guys are excited. Participation numbers have been dismal on the West Coast for years, increasing the quota won't do much. The sportman classes filled up in hours for the Gators. I'm sure those guys were 'happy' to go. And you only have so many hours in the day to run cars down the track. This participant is happy. As is many who just want to go race and have fun.



"They are sucking the *** of the fuel show until it gives out" You must have some inside knowledge that I don't know about. Please explain. They're not sucking the *** out of us what so ever. They're literally the ONLY ONES offering us a stage to show off what we can do. We're embracing it. But if the fuel show goes away, what's going to bring fans to the Nationals?





Matt Hanley
Car Chief
Leverich Racing Top Fuel

[Greg Hill]

Matt, it’s easy to see where your perspective comes from. Your signature says it all. What’s best for the few top fuel and funny car teams is not what’s best for the sportsman racers or drag racing in general. What’s the plan to grow drag racing? How is that being communicated? Why are sportsman racers excluded from policy discussions. Management at nhra has no one to hold them accountable. They appoint the board members and the board sets the salaries for management. The board decides on their own pay.

The whole business model is corrupt. No accountability and no consequences for doing things that benefit themselves or a small group or an individual. I’m not saying nhra hasn’t done a lot of good things over the years. The junior dragster program has been very successful and a bunch of youngsters are now adults with nhra race cars,but in the last 10 or 15 years the management has been unwilling to make changes to the sport to benefit most of their members. Purses are the same they were in 1990, and contingency money is a third of what is was then. When nhra received their charter and non profit status, their mission was clear; Safety, growing the sport and regulating drag racing, ie making the rules and regulations.

One last thing. Their job (management), is not just to keep nhra from going out of business but to do what’s in the best interests of members and drag racing in general. I would say that the best interests of the nhra members is what the management should be concerned with. Also the salaries of the top folks are still way too high when nhra has fired or cut back so many lower level people. They are way too top heavy.

[novassdude]

Matt just curios how many members hold top fuel licenses? Vs how many sportsmen members there are. NHRA was not founded to put on national events with nitro burning top fueler's. It was started for safety and to get racers off the streets. I guarantee you the guys they were trying to get off the street where not in top fuel cars.