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Notes scribbled on my cocktail napkin
3/30/05
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paraphrase NHRA's TV host Marty Reid, "Let's put a period on
the Bruton Smith affair." No matter what the outcome between
Mr. O.B. Smith and the NHRA, there is little doubt that that the
whole affair has delivered some benefit to drag racing.
First, thanks to Mr. Smith taking his pursuit of the sanctioning
body public, NHRA is most likely perceived by Corporate America
and the general motorsports world as being a much bigger player
than they previously may have thought. I'll bet that after Mr. Smith
went public with his desire to buy the sanctioning body, a lot of
corporate executives and marketing types changed their minds about
how they perceived the NHRA. They're probably asking themselves,
"If Bruton sees enough value in drag racing to want to buy
the premier sanctioning body then there might be something I'm missing."
Perhaps they might reconsider spending three million bucks to sponsor
a Fuel team or much less to sponsor a premier Pro Stock team rather
than backing a premier NASCAR "Cup" team, which by all
accounts will cost them between $18 and $20,000,000 a year!
From all the statements I've read, including those attributed to
Wally Parks, the NHRA is not for sale, but if it ever were to come
on the market I have to think that Mr. Smith's supposedly failed
attempt to buy it has now raised the purchase price.
Mr. Smith's run at buying the NHRA has raised more questions than
it has answered. Primary for me is the question of who does own
the sanctioning body now and, more importantly, who will own the
sanctioning body after Mr. Parks passes. Wouldn't it be better for
the sport if Mr. Parks could do what the only other man who could
be considered his peer in the automobile sanctioning body business,
Bill France Sr., has done and name a successor, thus ensuring a
smooth transition and continuity in the future for the sport?
And now, a few random thoughts.
I always thought that the prices for food at NHRA events were outrageous
until I saw a menu for a recent NASCAR event. Check out these prices:
$4.00 for a bottle of water, $6.00 for a dog and a mind-boggling
$12.00 for a margarita in a plastic cup! Those prices make buying
pit food at an NHRA event a downright bargain. Who the hell can
pay that kind of money for pit food after buying a $100 NASCAR ticket?
How about those NHRA Pro Mod fans? On Saturday night at Gainesville
at least two-thirds of the crowd that watched the fuel session sat
through the following alcohol qualifying session in order to see
the first round of AMS/TLR eliminations. And NHRA says these cars
don't bring in fans? Puhleeze.
I know that NHRA is doing everything they can to make the Top Fuel
and Funny Car classes safer, but after watching at least part of
two National events from the bleachers with the paying customers,
I saw something that really disturbed me. After a while many fans
weren't paying attention to the action on the track. I saw fans
only getting really excited when a big number came up on the boards.
In a way it reminded me of a NASCAR race where the fans just kind
of wait for a big wreck to entertain them until the last 20 laps
of the race. I don't know if there is a solution for this, but drag
racing didn't use to be like that.
After two races of sitting in the grandstands struggling to hear
the dulcet tones of Bob Frey and the rest of the NHRA announcing
staff give me a little information about the racing, I'm beginning
to think the hot tip would be for NHRA to start selling throw-away
FM radios and headsets. I'm going to try it the next race I go to.
I think that fans are getting tired of paying a premium price for
a seat at some NHRA's National event tracks and being forced to
sit on aluminum bleacher seats.
I miss Bernie Partridge and his announcing malaprops. He was drag
racing's version of Yogi Berra. My favorite example was when he
was talking about a pro team that was struggling and reportedly
said, "Those boys are beating their heads against a dead horse."
Some days I know just what he was trying to say.
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