A MILLION HERE,
A MILLION THERE

7/8/05

f there is a million dollar purse increase for NHRA Professionals in 2006, I’d like to suggest that at least our marquee nitro purse be raised by $600,000 to a cool Million. On second thought, make it a Million for Funny Cars too!

There’s obviously money on the table, so why not bump all the nitro cars to a respectable payout, one that would get the attention of Sports Illustrated and the mainstream sports media. I doubt that NHRA realizes that the meager size of the current championship payout fund continues to contribute to the media’s perception of drag racing as second-rate.

IRL pays a million dollars, the Champ Car series a million and forget about NASCAR; at season’s end every driver who finishes in the NASCAR Top 10 will receive a point-fund payout of at least $1 million, with the Nextel Cup champion receiving more than $5 million. In addition, even the 11th-place driver in the NASCAR standings will receive a $250,000 bonus, more than half of what the Top Fuel or Funny Car Champion will pocket.

ADVERTISEMENT

There’s a lot of hungry mouths to feed in the NHRA corporate budget, as evidenced by the 2002 and 2003 Official Tax returns. However, by disrespecting our Pros and the sport of drag racing with comparatively paltry payouts the sanctioning body is limiting acceptance in the national, non-motorsports media eyes.

On the other hand, do the Pro’s really need a raise when so few professional Top Fuel teams show up for the $101,000 put on the table by George Howard? The excuses ran rampant... the dog ate my nitro, everybody on the team needs time off, could be a lousy track, it’s only an 1/8 mile and so on and so on. The truth is the BIG owners have become fat and lazy-- unless maybe NHRA asked them to boycott the Rocket City Nationals. Ah, conspiracy theories.

Funny that some of the NASCAR stars still run local short tracks for fun, because they are racers first. You can’t make a lot of money running at I-55 Speedway in Pevely, MO, but the big drivers show up on occasion and don’t bitch about the purse. Tony Stewart is a regular at Irwindale Raceway’s traditional Turkey Night sprint car event; again it’s not about the money.

Just for fun, here’s a hypothetical situation. Don Schumacher puts a little sign on the employee bulletin board that reads; “Want to have some fun? Gathering volunteers to take George Howard’s $101,000 at Huntsville over 4th of July weekend. No pay, purse split equally among winning crew. DSR will supply competitive chassis, engines, transporter and all necessary hardware, but caution you will probably have the time of your racing life and bragging rights.” Do you think there’d be any takers?

GIRL POWER

So will Danica Patrick become the Shirley Muldowney of the Indy Racing League? Who knows, but as evidenced by the recent IRL race at Kansas Speedway, the packed crowd was compelled to watch the feminine phenom take the pole in qualifying and end up with a 9th place finish. Are Shirley and Danica on the same page? Yes, both are women who have their shit together. Arguably both have or had the best ride in their respective divisions, and God-given natural talent. Women drivers past and present, there’s plenty for the American public to attach themselves to.