Is It Time For
Some New Soup?

1/9/04

ow about that NHRA/AT&T implosion? What the hell happened, anyway? Corporate America comes calling, and ends up running away as fast as a Top Fuel dragster! Their advertising agency even recommended they get involved with NHRA drag racing. For some reason -- and we will never know the real reason -- the deal did not get done. And all of us that weren't in the room are left scratching our heads and asking questions.

Having known a racer or two who thought they had deals with various companies, only to have their business dealings hindered by NHRA "requirements," I tend to look in NHRA's direction in affixing blame. One racer I know had a tentative deal with a company that intended to market an array of consumer services and/or products on-site at NHRA national events. When the company learned just how big a percentage of their gross NHRA demanded as the price of doing business on company soil, there went the deal. I have heard anecdotal evidence of any number of companies who have tried to come into NHRA drag racing, only to end discussions after becoming disgusted and frustrated with NHRA's methods and attitudes. Do I have proof that any of this is as I say it is? No. But I have heard too many stories, from too many men I respect to doubt the stories. Remember, without exception these are people whose biggest desire is to be involved in NHRA professional drag racing. If the people/companies involved had been successful in their negotiations with NHRA, drag racing would have been better off for it. Apparently, that has never been a big enough upside for NHRA.

Given the perceived difficulty in doing business with NHRA, maybe it's time for a new deal. I'm not calling for a change at the top of the corporate ladder, or any of the other rungs. One thing I don't do is call for people to lose their jobs, even if I think they aren't especially good at them. Rather, I think it may be time to add to the soup -- the Alphabet Soup. Years ago, some 1320 scribe likened the proliferation of drag racing sanctioning bodies to Alphabet soup. If you didn't like the way things were going, just put some more letters in the soup. Or so the theory went. Twenty or so years later, that practice is still in vogue. Just look at how many racing groups have come (and gone) in the last few years. Believe me, there is no shortage of racecars, in an endless variety, out there. And more often than not, someone has been willing to put a group together, hold a number of events and charge the American race fan a ticket price. For any number of reasons, most such efforts come and go in short order.

It takes deep pockets to start any business, and a drag race sanctioning body is no different. Is it possible to put a group in play that could challenge NHRA for market share, as the old AHRA was able to do in the early 1970's? If it is possible, it would take someone who understands how to build business relationships that are mutually beneficial. Maybe that's all it would take. It might even be desirable if that someone came from outside the world of drag racing. An outsider might be able to see that there is more than one way to do things, and thus not be hindered by all the marketing missteps in drag racing's past.

Given the number of companies and racers NHRA has managed to alienate over the years, I have to think starting a new group is indeed possible. You could probably get eight race title-rights sponsors on the disgruntled company angle alone! If the heads of the new group were truly interested in seeing that the companies and racers they might attract were able to make the alliance a profitable one, I think the companies and racers would beat a path to the new group's door. Racers mostly care about getting a halfway fair shake, competition wise, and a chance to generate enough ancillary income to race at a given level. Businesses are always looking for new markets and audiences to pitch their products to. They would prefer not to be bent over a barrel while doing so. Seems reasonable to me.