| By the Numbers
By Jeff Burk
10/21/04
In the December 2004 issue of Racer magazine
well-respected drag racing writer and photographer
Jon Asher penned a story on the NHRA which
was on some points complementary and on other
points not so complementary towards that sanctioning
body. One of the items that Asher included
in his story was the salaries of the NHRA Board
of Directors in 2001.
One very interesting item in Asher's story
was the listing of the 2001 salaries for the
following NHRA officers: Tom Compton (President)
$491,729; Peter Clifford (Executive Vice President/General
Manager) $251,528 and Dallas Gardner (Board
Chairman) $311,412.
As a card carrying member of the National
Hot Rod Association (I'm number 384975), I
decided to look into the salary story a little
deeper and obtained a copy of NHRA's tax form
990. That's the document that a 501(c) Corporation,
which the NHRA is, files annually as a tax
exempt corporation. By federal law this document
must be available to the general public upon
request.
The 2002 form, which wasn't released until
November 17, 2003, showed that in 2002 Tom
Compton received a raise of $70,689 to make
his salary a tidy $562,408; Peter Clifford
got a raise of $77, 639 to $329,167and Dallas
Gardner (who on the form is listed as a part-time
employee) received a raise of $180,510 that
put his salary at $491,844. The total salaries
paid to the officers and directors at NHRA
in 2002 amounted to $1,880,841.
If the above numbers have piqued your interest,
then here are a few more that should really
get you going. The following are all figures
from the NHRA 2002 form 990.
The total revenue for the year was $96,696,467.
(Yes, that's 96 million dollars.)
The total long-term debt (some of which came
due in 2003 and 2004) was $11,843,352. That
debt was incurred in part by a nearly $4.5
million loan collateralized on an asset listed
as RADCO Inc.; a $4 million plus loan on the
assets of Atlanta Dragway; and two other loans
of over $1 million each with various NHRA properties
listed as collateral.
- Total ticket sales revenue for the season
was $42,437,128.
- NHRA membership dues generated just over
$4,000,000 in 2002.
- NHRA salaries, other than those listed
above, amounted to $11,893.979.
- NHRA had contract labor costs that exceeded
$2 million.
- NHRA paid over $22 million in prize monies
during the 2002 season.
- Television production costs amounted to
over $8 million.
- The sanctioning body paid out over $5 million
for advertising their events.
- Insurance for all their events cost the
NHRA $1,876,009 in 2002.
There is much more information in the publicly
available tax form but the figures we have
printed here will give the readers and the
members of NHRA some idea where the money goes.
There are three important things to remember,
though, about these figures:
- 2002 was a pretty good year for NHRA in
regards to attendance and weather so the
races and associated assets like National
Dragster publications and other NHRA properties
generated a lot of income. On the other hand,
2003 was a total disaster weather-wise so
expect that NHRA's numbers will be considerably
less impressive for that year.
- The salaries for presidents, VP's and board
members of most companies in Corporate America
that generate close to $100 million per year
are probably more than what their counterparts
at NHRA are getting.
- In the 2003 season, NHRA reduced their
number of employees and drastically cut back
on spending so, again, the numbers to run
NHRA for the 2003 season could be considerably
different.
These documents are available to the general
public and we present them here because we think
you have a right to see the information. Make
of them what you will.
What do
you think? Send your email to response@dragracingonline.com.
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