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12/12/03
Alky classes not invited to
NHRA's SPORTSnationals
here's a very old joke about a boss who didn't have the stomach
to tell an employee that he was being fired just before a
holiday, so he had an office party with a buffet and invited
all his employees, including the one he was going to fire.
When it was time to eat, the boss said, "Everyone who works
here please get in line for the buffet...uh, stay where you
are Johnson."
The NHRA has just announced that they will hold the SPORTSnationals April 23-25 at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, LA. Six classes in the Lucas Oil Series will participate: Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Street.
After finding out that the event won't include the premier sportsman classes of Top Alcohol Dragster or Funny Car, some NHRA sportsman racers are probably feeling like Johnson and wondering what they did wrong. NHRA is resurrecting the SPORTSnationals, which was last run in 1986, and they aren't going to get an invitation to the party.
But before you alky racers start thinking about forming a lynching party for whoever made the decision, let me give you a little information that may explain why the top two Sportsman classes were excluded from this event.
As usual it's all about the "Benjamins" -- the cash, the old bottom-line. First, the folks at No Problem Raceway are financing this NHRA national event race. At all other NHRA national events, the track owners and NHRA share the expenses and the profit.
The track management at No Problem Raceway is assuming all of the risk for this event. That means they will spend all of the money to promote the event, be responsible for paying all of the help, paying out the prize money and, if everything goes perfectly, not lose their shirt when the event is over and the bean counters do the books.
So, here is the problem. The event is going to have every
sportsman class that NHRA offers except the alky classes.
They're going to have class run-offs, record runs, pay championship
points (except Super Street), and a national event purse.
Grade points won't be required to get an entry, so everyone
can come to this party.
This is where the money monster rears its ugly head. The purse required to pay all of the classes excluding the alky classes is $52,000. If the track added 16-car fields of alky dragsters and funny cars the purse for those two classes by themselves would be at least $73,200. So, for the remote possibility that they might add 32 cars to their race, the track would have to more than double their investment. To be sure some of that cost would be offset by entry fees but in my opinion not enough for the financial risk to the promoter.
I talked with NHRA's Director of Sportsman Racing & Member Tracks, Len Imbrogno, who is absolutely responsible for the resurrection of the NHRA SPORTSnationals. He has made it a priority since going to work for NHRA to bring a national event for Sportsman racers back to the schedule. He told me that if this race is successful then the format could change, the tracks could add more classes, and there might even be more than one National event for sportsman racers during a calendar year.
Everything will hinge somewhat on how successful this event is. The track management at No Problem Raceway has worked out a SS/AA heads-up race similar to the one held at Indy every year. They've also worked out a deal with some Pro Stock bike and car teams to make exhibition laps at this , which should increase spectator numbers.
In the end the decision to exclude the alcohol classes from the SPORTSnationals was strictly based on dollars. In some ways the alky racers themselves are to blame for their exclusion from this event. They have lobbied long and hard to get their purses jacked up and succeeded. Unfortunately, they also have priced themselves out of the price range of many promoters.
If this event attracts enough entries and spectators for the track owners to get a return on the dollars they are gambling on this race, then maybe the format will change. One thing is certain: like it or not, having a SPORTSnationals event that doesn't include all of the Sportsman classes sends a message. I'm just not sure what it is and whom it is aimed at.
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