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DRO: The size of the payoffs in NHRA is always a sore point with racers. Could you talk about that issue?

TC: You have to remember the economics in racing is never going to be helped by the purse structure, especially at the sportsman level. The economic situation in racing is never going to be changed by purses, even at the professional level. Purse money is not enough to finance a team on the tour and it never, ever will be.

We are going to pay nearly $700,000 (at the Winternationals) in purse money and that's pretty significant. That's hard money, money that has to be made either by ticket sales or some other means; that isn't contingency money that is so-called hard money.

We've been looking into giving the Sportsman racers a $50-$100 raise in prize money across the board, but when we started adding up how much more that would increase the amount of money we would have to pay, if we increased the pay of everyone who got to the money rounds, we realized we just couldn't do it. It doesn't sound like much until you actually do the math, then you realize it is a lot.

DRO: One last question. There has been a lot of speculation about the SFX takeover of IHRA. Would you comment on that?

TC: NHRA will continue to push forward its initiatives which we believe are paying immediate dividends in terms of television viewership, fan attendance and sponsor interest. We will continue to establish a strong relationship with our media partner, ESPN and ESPN2, work with our sponsor base to develop marketing programs to directly reach our fan base and maintain our commitment to grassroots racing programs.