NHRA Please Read

[Sally McBride]

After refusing to pay the double-priced chassis certification fees to NHRA, I decided to start asking some questions. Like, why the rush to raise the fees on the general racing public? Most businesses will notify their customers of price increases. So, why did NHRA double-up? Ever been desperate at a casino? You know the term, double-up to catch up cause you’re loosing you’re *****! Sources (current & recently released employees of NHRA) have informed me that NHRA is in a terrible CASH FLOW CRUNCH. With spectator and contestant entries down by over 30% this year, and after the terrible Pomona event, cash flow has been terrible (according to sources). NHRA just eliminated the position formerly held in Division-4 by Dale House, after cutting everyone’s salary by 10%.

Contingency sponsor revenues to NHRA (and the racers) are down big time. The Big Three automotive manufacturers can’t use the stimulus $$$ to dole out to the likes of NHRA or others (note… Fun Ford Weekend (based in Denham Springs, Louisiana) is no longer in business with the pullout of Ford sponsorship $$$).

In short, the Gravy Train no longer runs to Glendora. Instead of looking for ways to make it easier for racers to compete at NHRA tracks, the mis-managers decided to suck what they could out of those that they could get it from (like bracket racers & sportsmen racers). It appears that their acts of desperation are not going to translate into a winning hand. My family has three bracket racers that are NHRA members until their membership and competition numbers expire. After their licenses are done, we are done with NHRA.

My two brothers have been racing since the 80’s. My boyfriend joined them six years ago. We plan our family outings around drag racing so much, that when we make plans, it’s like, we’ll go to Momma’s house this weekend, if it rains and we can’t go racing.

We are not “big-time” racers… just “small-time” people who work 40-hour jobs to support our families and our love for drag racing. We bitch about having to change out perfectly good seat belts every two years, and now we learned that NHRA gets $$$ from the seat belt manufacturers to “enforce” the seat belt rule (otherwise known as “contingency” payments to NHRA). It is not a safety issue, it is a $$$ issue. If helmets are good for 5 years, why not seat belts?

I hope someone from NHRA will read this post. Are you paying attention? If you want to make more money, YOU NEED MORE CUSTOMERS! Want more customers? THEN MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO PLAY IN YOUR BALL PARK! Instead of charging $69 for membership and national dragster, make it $30 and cut the Dragster issues to every two weeks, or once a month. Instead of $150 for a chassis inspection, go back to $75 (that =’s $25 a year). Instead of competition numbers at $100 for two years, go to $40. Lord knows that it can’t cost you more than $5 to keypunch, print, and mail a competition license number card. Once it is in the computer, renewals don’t take a “real person” to administer the process.

And finally, do away with forcing contestants to pre-register in order to race. Let’s see how stupid can one be… A Baton Rouge racer (Keith Veal) shows up a few weeks ago with $300 cash in his hand to race the Houston event in Super Street. It was his first national event ever and he did not know that he could not pay at the gate like he has done at divisional races the past several years. So you guys really showed him. Ya’ll sent him packing instead of accepting his $300, even though you only had 37 entries in Super Street, and none in Super Stock. Turning this one car away cost NHRA $300, but ya’ll showed him good, didn’t ya’ll? (Bunch of idiots) I can hear Mr. Graham “Dim” Light muttering, “What a dumb ***** (while looking into a mirror), imagine him driving 4 hours and trying to race here without pre-registering”. Well ya’ll showed Keith alright. Ya’ll showed him the door, and ya’ll showed him how stupid ya’ll are when it comes to money, and ya’ll showed another customer away for good.

So if NHRA wants to take in extra cash, all they have to do is reduce their “fees” and open national events to all of the sportsmen categories, including Top Dragster and Top Sportsman. Houston had a total of 232 sportsman entries that competed in the same categories as the 520+ that were in Belle Rose a week earlier. That means almost 300 racers (that’s more than ½) didn’t make the short drive to Houston from Belle Rose. If an “open gate” was available, and only 200 of the 300 Belle Rose racers showed up with $300 cash in their hands, NHRA could have banked another $60,000. Hell, that’s equal to an extra $75 of certification fees on 800 cars! NHRA officials need to look in the mirror, and repeat after me, “What a dumb *****...What a dumb a$$”.

Sally McBride
Denham Springs, Louisiana

[CFM]

Sources (current & recently released employees of NHRA) have informed me that NHRA is in a terrible CASH FLOW CRUNCH.


OH Bruton, got a minute.....

[Jim Wahl]

Good post girl! But as I stated in another post, they will not allow their bloated egos to listen to any of the "common folk". Jim

[X-TECH MAN]

Sally is right on.....you go girl !

[Jim Bailey]

Sally: you touched on one very important subject. " It's their Ballgame." ( It's their Ballpark, It's their rules, it's their Bat, it's their Ball, it's their Refs, and it's their Prices.) No one is holding a gun to anybodies head to go race NHRA. ( Except maybe in South Carolina.) If you don't want to race with NHRA ... DON'T. Plain and simple. Race IHRA, race local Brackets, don't race at all, go fishing, but for God's sake, EVERYONE, quit bitching about it. This is still America, and we still do have the right to choose. I will choose to race,( maybe not as often), Wherever, whenever, I want to, and my budget will allow. JB

[bobby]

I can't believe that they eliminated Dale's position. Is he still with NHRA? such a great person. Just was him at the Houston nat's. guess I should quit working for NHRA now, but they just gave me a pay raise, only b/c minimum wage went up.

[jimi]

Originally Posted by Jim Bailey

Sally: you touched on one very important subject. " It's their Ballgame." ( It's their Ballpark, It's their rules, it's their Bat, it's their Ball, it's their Refs, and it's their Prices.) No one is holding a gun to anybodies head to go race NHRA. ( Except maybe in South Carolina.) If you don't want to race with NHRA ... DON'T. Plain and simple. Race IHRA, race local Brackets, don't race at all, go fishing, but for God's sake, EVERYONE, quit bitching about it. This is still America, and we still do have the right to choose. I will choose to race,( maybe not as often), Wherever, whenever, I want to, and my budget will allow. JB

jim i have never met you , i have been told you are a stand up guy! but your attitude in regards to the ongoing situation that nhra has all spotsmen racers involved in sucks, you know nhra is running over all of us and instead of saying i will stick with my competitors and do something about it you just say to hell with it im here for me and everyone else can deal with it! as much as 8 years ago i can remember dan dvorak on these forums preaching to the quire about this coming down the pipe from nhra and everyone called him a freak told him he was crazy that nhra would nevere do anything intentionally to screw the sportsman racer! well dan was correct ! he has been correct since i first spoke with hi m in 1988! and has been on key since, just to let you know i have gone fishing no one is holding a gun to my head to go racing i just about plain quit because of the so called inhancements nhra has been providing me since 1994, i really got a taste in 2002 from graham light and co. in maple grove and to be honest things have just been going down hill with nhra since i have not raced much since then and i thank god that i have been able to sit back and watch what is going on instead of being blind with racing fever and not realizing what has been going on. im not holding a gun to your head to sway you, just making true statements about what i have seen since 1986 when i started, i know you have been at this along time like most of us , if something is not done now about nhra using the sportsman racer to pick up the tabs for there own incompetence ,we as stock, super stock or any other sportsman class racers are doomed ! and i would not be surprised with the most recent round of $ inhancements if we get written off completely somewhere down the road.


IF YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

[Greg Hill]

Jim, I guess a lot of us don't want to see the management of NHRA run it into the ground. They are making decisions based on short term greed and keeping their lifestyles the same without regard for what's in the long term interests of the organization. For myself I will not run any National events this year because of their actions.

[jimi]

Originally Posted by Greg Hill

Jim, I guess a lot of us don't want to see the management of NHRA run it into the ground. They are making decisions based on short term greed and keeping their lifestyles the same without regard for what's in the long term interests of the organization. For myself I will not run any National events this year because of their actions.

the last national i went to was the last september maple grove (2006 i think) i had a free entry from my uncle otherwise i would not have gone, not because of money either, i just cant stand the glendora road show/circus what a bunch of pompus a$$holes!

[keith ohanesian]

lol yup