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NO PAY RAISE FOR PROS?
Despite claiming to have increasing attendance
and adding new sponsors, NHRA has told their
Pro racers from Top Fuel down that no pay raises
are in their plans at least through the 2005
season. despite the fact that Tom Compton has
promised the Pro Stock racers a raise and that
the Top Fuel/Funny Car teams haven’t
had a purse raise in over four years.
DRO thinks that the reasons for this action
despite what racers and fans want to believe
is that the Company lost between 10-15 million
during the rain plagued 2003 season and that
they are still paying off the debt from that
season plus other debt left over from the pre-Tom
Compton era.
Here is one more fact to back up those assumptions. Dun & Bradstreet
just issued a revised credit report stating
that NHRA was very likely to not pay their
bills by the due date. DRO’s own experience
is that business today is pretty much done
that way everywhere, so if NHRA takes 50-60
days to pay that may be just a sign of the
times. But nevertheless ... [9-8-2004]
BRING ON THE FIREWORKS!
NOT THE PRO MODS!
If the U.S. Nationals proved one thing solidly
about how NHRA views Pro Mod it proved that
they don’t feel that the fans of the
class or the racers deserve much respect. The
sanctioning body cancelled two rounds of qualifying
for the exhibition cars, one Friday night and
one Saturday night. The Saturday night cancellation
was especially galling for the racers and fans.
Many fans vented their anger to the Pro Mod
racers in the pits.
DRO learned that the AMS Pro Mod spokesman
approached race director Graham Light about
running after the Top Fuel cars Saturday night
and that Light agreed to do so if those in
charge above him agreed. Unfortunately for
the fans and racers, the management did not.
Allegedly the reason given was that running
the qualifying session would keep the crowd
at the track past the advertised time of race
completion and the subsequent fireworks display.
It was Saturday night and the bars didn’t
close until three. It would have taken about
30-40 minutes to run the Pro Mod qualifying.
The Agent gives the NHRA management team an
F for this decision. [9-8-2004]
WHO’S RUNNING THE
RACE ON RACE DAY AT NHRA?
 Senior
VP Racing Operations Graham Light, you answer?
Wrong, Bunky. Most believe as in years
past that Graham Light (at left in the photo
with NHRA Director of Sportsman Racing & Member
Tracks, Len Imbrogno) and before him Steve
Gibbs have that responsibility, but that surely
isn’t the case these days. Marketing
honchos Gary Darcy and Glen Cromwell seem to
run the show these days, or at least have the
last say on scheduling and other pertinent
matters such as who does and doesn’t
run when the show gets stretched by oil downs
or natures whims. So, when you have a bitch
about classes being eliminated or postponed
don’t chew Mr. Light’s butt. Take
your complaint up the corporate ladder. . .but
you should probably call Mr. Light first. (Jeff
Burk photo) [9-8-2004]
SIX RACE DEAL FOR SS/AA
 The
Agent heard that NHRA and some of the SS/AA
racers who were at Indy for the Hemi Shootout
were talking seriously about a six-race series
similar to the current Pro Mod exhibition series.
Agent 1320 talked to Mopar’s nattily
dressed David Hakim at Indy, who suggested
that Mopar might—and he stressed the
word might—be interested in such a program
if a points chase ended up at Indy.
The Agent would pay to see such a series and
thinks plenty of other fans would too. Now,
if we can just find enough SS/A four-speed
Hemis for a shootout. (Jeff Burk Photo) [9-8-2004]
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