ARE THEY TRYING TO RUN THE FANS OFF?

Boy was this Blast (What are they thinking?) ever on the money! I'll tell you what they were thinking - $$$! The National Hot Rod Corporation -oops - Association's head honchos have never been so far out of touch with the actual SPORT than they are today. For years they have been pandering to sponsors and media at the cost of maintaining some semblance of connection to the people without whom everything they do would be meaningless - the racers and fans.

Without either of these two groups there would be no NHRA, no reason for sponsorship of events and corporate suites that go nearly empty or are populated by company staffers who probably don't have a clue what the boss gave them tickets to. CEOs in general are not drag nuts.

What befuddles me is why they think that they can treat the average fan or racer (and parts suppliers as in the case of Mr. Stange) as cavalierly as they do. Do they think that if they alienate us another set of customers is waiting in the wings to fill the void? Have they not noticed that more and more fans are turning to other types of drag racing such as nostalgia events and IHRA, where there seems to be much less emphasis on the business side of racing and a lot more attention paid to having fun. The reason they're called enthusiasts is because they get enthusiastic about RACING! I have yet to find a drag fan who gets worked up about all the sponsors or the profits NHRA makes.

Sure, racing at all professional levels (NASCAR, Open Wheel, F1, Drag Racing) has become very involved and expensive to produce and run. But a lesson should be learned by observing how elitist F1 has become (don't even think of going into the pits there unless you're a VIP) and how fan oriented NASCAR is. Those good ole boys know how their bread gets buttered!

The all-time best product in the world will be doomed to fail if there are no customers to buy it!

Mike Gamache
Montreal, Canada

WHERE'S THE LOVE?

Sounds to me like they are treating sponsors and suppliers by "corporate standards", cold and impersonal.

Tony Neu
Indiana

MORE STRANGENESS

Well said, Jeff. Thanks for having the courage to slam the suits at NHRA. You're my hero. I always have been for your writings! Right there with Asher! My other hero.

I too was told (my wife) Sarah and I couldn't sit in the empty seats either and had to go (along with Gordy Bonnin & plenty more) sit in the "cheap seats" (as I described them in Jr's. blog) where there were no speakers (except at the portapotties behind the stand, like the portapotties REALLY needed speakers?) and, as Bob said, all you could see was the tops of the cars.

I've probably only spent a couple million dollars with NHRA over the past 25 years, but it scares me to think what Stange has spent? Boy, was he mad! I had several nice long talks with him out the back of his pickup truck (nice seating for a man that's done what he's done for NHRA, huh?). At least we had bathrooms as I could smell them, right behind me.

Again, great job. Come to NASCARland someday and see how manufacturers
REALLY get "high rolled" like they should.

Tommy Johnson Sr.

P.S. The real losers were all the sportsmen that paid $250 for entry, then had to sit where they couldn't see the race going on that THEY paid for. My ticket was a free rateholder, so I didn't have much reason to complain (wouldn't done any good anyway, I've tried before). Come on Bruton!

THE CUSTOMER IS NUMBER ONE?

I can sympathize with Mr. Stange. The last couple of years I (as a racer) haven't been able to sit with my family in the reserved seats at Joliet. The racers tickets are general admission only, so we sit elbow to elbow on the small metal bleachers just east of the grandstands. (I found it a little obtuse that when necessary I could stand on the
starting line but couldn't sit in the grandstand 15 minutes later.) To upgrade you need to hike some distance around both grandstands to get to the ticket office to upgrade your ticket. I did so last year, but I didn't this year.

So, not only don't they (the NHRA) care about their sponsors but (Surprise, Surprise) they also don't care about the racers who spend most (In my case about all) of their disposable income to come and race at their facility. I,like Mr. Stange, find this even more difficult to swallow when the seating is only half full. But like Mr. Stange, I'll be back and I'll suffer their petty, narrow-minded greediness.

I too realize that the NHRA is in business to turn a profit, but part of that should include customer satisfaction and from my perspective it doesn't.

Please do not print my name or address as I still want to race at Joliet and occasionally at NHRA division races.

Name Withheld by Request