UPDATED 08-28-2009 - As they say in football, upon further review it turns out that John Force Racing did nothing wrong in their recent testing and car swaps prior to the race in Reading.  I regret having accused the NHRA of appearing to show favoritism to Force, but the fault for my error lies directly with the sanctioning organization itself.

The wording of the rule as issued by Graham Light’s Competition Department varies slightly from the wording in the press release regarding the test ban policy which was disseminated by the Media Department.  Light has apparently accepted the responsibility for this error, which resulted in a media-wide assault on the organization.

Despite the hours we spend digging to get the truth for our articles there are numerous instances in which we’re forced by circumstances to accept the word of the sanctioning organization as expressed in the press releases they distribute.  One such circumstance is obviously technical areas regarding rules, points and record procedures and how races are conducted.  We assume that the information we receive through formal channels, and that which appears on NHRA official sites, to be accurate and the final word on those topics.  The wording of the release as distributed by the sanctioning organization resulted in many of us believing that some sort of behind-the-scenes maneuvering took place to allow the JFR testing, and that now appears to be untrue.

I WAS WRONG

UPDATED 08-28-2009 - As they say in football, upon further review it turns out that John Force Racing did nothing wrong in their recent testing and car swaps prior to the race in Reading.  I regret having accused the NHRA of appearing to show favoritism to Force, but the fault for my error lies directly with the sanctioning organization itself.

The wording of the rule as issued by Graham Light’s Competition Department varies slightly from the wording in the press release regarding the test ban policy which was disseminated by the Media Department.  Light has apparently accepted the responsibility for this error, which resulted in a media-wide assault on the organization.

Despite the hours we spend digging to get the truth for our articles there are numerous instances in which we’re forced by circumstances to accept the word of the sanctioning organization as expressed in the press releases they distribute.  One such circumstance is obviously technical areas regarding rules, points and record procedures and how races are conducted.  We assume that the information we receive through formal channels, and that which appears on NHRA official sites, to be accurate and the final word on those topics.  The wording of the release as distributed by the sanctioning organization resulted in many of us believing that some sort of behind-the-scenes maneuvering took place to allow the JFR testing, and that now appears to be untrue.

That the testing resulted in widespread displeasure has been obvious, for the majority of competitors and fans believed the press release.  While team owners did, in fact, receive an e-mail copy of the “real” testing ban policy, the press release received wider distribution and exposure, convincing some competitors that it, and not the official rule, was the final word on the subject.  All Force appears to have done is find the loophole he needed, and took advantage of it.  As one prominent racer told us, requesting anonymity, “I wish John hadn’t done that.  He didn’t break the letter of the rule, but he certainly broke the spirit of it, and it’s created a lot of headaches.”

There are questions we’re still unable to answer, such as, Why did the Competition Department not completely check the wording of the release generated by the Media Department before it was distributed?  Or, once the error was discovered why didn’t the Competition Department point out the mistake to the Media Department and ask them to issue a retraction of the first release while issuing a new one?

Are errors like this commonplace?  Judge for yourself, but a message to the media distributed just yesterday included the “news” that the 2009 Full Throttle season began in Phoenix, not Pomona.  The Winternationals is still the beginning of the new season, but errors like this result in widespread confusion and sometimes, misinformation being widely circulated and believed.  Suppose newspaper reporters, seeing yesterday’s missive, reported in this morning’s papers that the Pomona race in February appears to have been erased from the schedule?  That would have forced the Media Department to immediately put out yet another release, a release that might have hit reporter’s desk too late to repair the damage.

Just so we’re clear on things, I have no regrets nor am I retracting in any way anything else that appeared in that Up Front column.  I stand behind the April, 2008 column, my comments about the lack of “special” races, full quarter mile drag racing, the fiscal gouging of the Sportsman racers and my lack of faith in the NHRA management team.




THE MESS THAT IS THE NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION

On April 24, 2008 an editorial under my byline appeared in this publication titled “It’s Time For A Complete Housecleaning At NHRA .”  If you didn’t read it then, maybe you’ll find the time to do so now.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t report the reaction to having called for radical changes in the management of the NHRA.  I received supportive e-mails from people I hadn’t heard from in more than a decade.  A journalist who has little use for me wrote, “It had to be said.”  The phone rang steadily for about two weeks with supportive calls.  Online chat rooms evidenced overwhelming support.

The NHRA was, as you may well imagine, not in agreement with what I wrote.  Tom Compton refused to acknowledge my existence for almost a year, and even now barely speaks to me.  I’m sure this piece will do nothing to enhance our relationship.  Other NHRA executives have acted similarly.  One assured me they’d received dozens of e-mails decrying my words, but never offered to share those missives with me.

The seventh paragraph of that editorial begins, While the existing management group at the National Hot Rod Association will quickly tell you otherwise, the number of disenchanted racers, sponsors and fans is on the increase.  That was true then, and is even more so 16 months later.  There are almost too many major issues that NHRA’s management has bungled to even list them all – but we’ll try.

Last year’s U.S. Smokeless Showdown for Funny Cars was the last such race to highlight the U.S. Nationals.  There will be no Showdown this year, creating a significant hole in what is – or was – drag racing’s most prestigious event, to say nothing of the significant loss of revenue the erstwhile participants would have earned. The Top Fuel Classic, last sponsored by the Technicoat Cowboys, two of drag racing’s staunchest supporters, ended its run in 2008.  Technicoat could have easily continued their backing of the event, even in these troubled financial times, but declined to do so, quietly relating to friends their intense displeasure with the way they felt NHRA failed to support the program.  We can’t cite chapter and verse as to why U.S. Tobacco bolted, but we’ve consistently heard the same tune of displeasure with NHRA, this from individuals with very close ties to the company.

These programs cost in the neighborhood of $400,000 annually – a rather small amount even in these tough times, when it comes to programs with the potential of generating year-long exposure, yet the vaunted NHRA Marketing Department has failed miserably in obtaining new sponsors.  An NHRA executive told this writer “You don’t get much bang for the buck with those deals,” which is not only no explanation at all, it flies in the face of the way in which NHRA attempts to sell those promotions.  There is sufficient “bang for the buck” with both special race programs, but only if the NHRA provides active, aggressive support, something previous supporters appear to feel never happened.

Probably to avoid further embarrassment, events that had gone on uninterrupted since 1982 and 1985 were simply excised for the 2008 and 2009 NHRA Media Guides.  Maybe the theory is “If it’s not in the Media Guide, it never happened.”  More likely the explanation is that the Media Department didn’t want to have to explain why the events were no longer taking place.

What’s also no longer taking place is full quarter mile drag racing for the nitro burners.  This is not going to be an essay about safety, speeds or anything related.  It’s simply this:  Drag racing has more than a half century of quarter mile history, and even NHRA executives have admitted they’ve received more hate mail over 1,000 foot racing than anything they’ve ever done.  With the brilliant minds behind the running of these cars it would seem as if finding some sort of mechanical solution to slowing the cars could have been quickly found and instituted, but instead months have gone by with little action – other than concepts that are widely dismissed as hugely expensive – or just plain foolish.

Despite calls from this and numerous other publications, both online and on paper, to return to quarter mile racing, this issue remains unresolved.  Worse yet, the Media Department continues to put out pre-race media packages listing individual track records – quarter mile track records.  How ridiculous does the organization appear when a newspaper reporter asks why every Top Fuel or Funny Car qualifier has run considerably quicker than the listed records?

Just as we’ve previously called for quarter mile racing, this and numerous other publications have also called for points and records to be awarded for 1,000 foot efforts, but NHRA refuses to do this for fear that the fans will see this as an admission that we’ll never go back to the full quarter mile.  Compounding things for the fans is a distinct lack of educational effort.  Very few fans know what a good 1,000 foot elapsed time is, so oftentimes, after a blistering pass that should have the fans cheering, they’re sitting on their hands, confused.

Despite a very obvious decline in Sportsman entries at the national events as well as some Lucas Oil points meets, the NHRA further endeared themselves to their base by announcing an increase in fees for those classes in early April of this year.  That produced a firestorm of anger, which was dutifully reported by this and other publications – and completely ignored by the NHRA.  It would have been humorous had the increases not been so ill-conceived and poorly timed.  It was as if the organization was saying, “We giveth with the right hand, and taketh away with the left.”  In other words, we’ll provide some discount tickets to the national events (which we applaud the organization for having done), but make up for those losses by forcing our most loyal customers to make up the difference.  If anyone doubts that, despite public pronouncements to the contrary, NHRA’s management doesn’t sometimes operate under the unspoken concept of “We can do anything we want to the Sportsman because they’re not only powerless, they’ll do anything to race,” you simply haven’t been paying attention.  Some Sportsman are fighting back the only way they can – by declining to enter NHRA national events.

If the NHRA management team – most of whom are highly paid for doing little more than damaging the integrity of the sport the rest of us have devoted our lives to and love deeply – thinks incidents like these will simply be forgotten, they’re sadly mistaken.  Racers, fans – and sponsors -- never forget.  A management team that truly understood the endeavor they were charged with advancing wouldn’t have allowed these things to have happened in the first place.  But this management team continues to prove one thing:  They have no clue.

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