Ever since the PRO meeting was held on Saturday morning of the Las Vegas NHRA race, I've been reading reports on the Internet, including in chat rooms, and hearing comments on TV, about what went on at that meeting, and I can tell you I am disappointed with all the comments.

Although I am not an official spokesperson for PRO, I feel, as a new member of the organization, I must speak out. First, those comments are mostly inaccurate. Second, I was at the meeting. And, because I was there, I am going to attempt to clarify a lot of the issues that both journalists, who were not in attendance, and fans, who also were not in attendance, have been erroneously analyzing.

Larry Dixon, Bob Tasca and I were brought into PRO last year and we've been trying to sit back and see exactly what was going on and take everything as it came. PRO brought us in to get a different viewpoint than some of the members have had. Dixon and I are the only non-owner/driver members. Tasca falls into the owner/driver category.

Ever since the PRO meeting was held on Saturday morning of the Las Vegas NHRA race, I've been reading reports on the Internet, including in chat rooms, and hearing comments on TV, about what went on at that meeting, and I can tell you I am disappointed with all the comments.

Although I am not an official spokesperson for PRO, I feel, as a new member of the organization, I must speak out. First, those comments are mostly inaccurate. Second, I was at the meeting. And, because I was there, I am going to attempt to clarify a lot of the issues that both journalists, who were not in attendance, and fans, who also were not in attendance, have been erroneously analyzing.

Larry Dixon, Bob Tasca and I were brought into PRO last year and we've been trying to sit back and see exactly what was going on and take everything as it came. PRO brought us in to get a different viewpoint than some of the members have had. Dixon and I are the only non-owner/driver members. Tasca falls into the owner/driver category.

For the record, the PRO officers are V. Gaines, Vice President, and Warren Johnson, Secretary.
 
The Board of Directors is made up of: Kenny Bernstein, Ron Capps, Larry Dixon, V. Gaines, Warren Johnson, Connie Kalitta, Bill Miller, Don Schumacher, Bob Tasca III, Bob Vandergriff, Sr. and Tim Wilkerson.
 
And now that we're involved with the PRO and especially after this last meeting which dealt with four-wide racing, it's hard to read things on the Internet, hear things on TV, knowing the true facts, then hear/see the reports out there that aren't even close to factual.

After the Vegas meeting, NHRA made an announcement saying that NHRA would again be competing four-wide during a points race at Zmax Dragway in 2010. I can tell you from being in that meeting, which included Tom Compton and Graham Light and PRO members, that PRO had a huge, huge part in the decision-making process to go forward with the second four-wide race in 2011.

We agreed to do the race in Charlotte, but there had to be some things that had to be addressed and fixed.

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There were several different, very important, points that the PRO board has wanted to express to the NHRA. The unfortunate part is that when the inaugural four-wide race was announced the communication between PRO and NHRA wasn't there. And I think that both NHRA and PRO have learned that we can help each other a lot more. We wanted to help them when this first race was announced, but that didn't happen. I think it would have helped things go a lot smoother.

Since then, each group has learned that it's never too late to fix things. At the Vegas meeting, in order for PRO to agree to have a four-wide race in 2010, PRO compromised with the NHRA on one major point, and that was to put a stop to any talk of a four-wide race in Vegas. That's not going to happen.

There were several other issues that PRO felt needed to be resolved with the NHRA . When the meeting was over they were all on the same page. There had been some confusion, based on perhaps some interviews with Bruton Smith, that Concord and Vegas would hold four-wide races during the Countdown. But, after the meeting, some compromises were made to run one four-wide race in 2010 and not during the Countdown.

That was important because we wanted to approach the second four-wide race with a discussion of how to improve it.

The second issue discussed was how to improve the staging process. Before that first event, PRO tried to talk with NHRA and Graham Light about that, but by that time it was a little too late. At this meeting, we opened an even stronger avenue of communication with NHRA, Compton and Light, and they have been very open to us.

We feel now that drivers will be comfortable with the adjustments that will be made to the Christmas Tree based on what we talked about at the meeting. It was something that needed to be fixed, and NHRA promised to work on making improvements with PRO.

The third important issue discussed was the television coverage. Most PRO members felt the coverage of the four-wide race was not good for the sponsors, not good for the spectators, and not good for the viewers at home. The NHRA agreed to work with ESPN on improving the coverage.

Basically, you couldn't tell whose car was whose when you ran four-wide. Sponsor identification was almost non-existent because of the wide camera angles necessary to cover all four lanes.

At that meeting, NHRA and PRO agreed to work together to improve the sport, in many ways. And, in my opinion, that is a major step forward in improving all areas of NHRA drag racing.

I want to point out that there have been many issues over the years that PRO has been extremely instrumental in resolving, but no credit has ever been taken by the organization.

At this last meeting, there was Connie Kalitta, Kenny Bernstein, Tim Wilkerson, Warren Johnson, Bill Miller and Don Schumacher. Everyone of these guys is very passionate about our sport. And for PRO to have invited Tasca, Dixon and me to join PRO was a huge, huge achievement for us drivers to have a say in these matters, and a win-win situation for everyone. PRO is made up primarily of team owners. I think they now welcome the drivers' perspective.

I don't think I've ever felt better than when Connie Kalitta stood up at the meeting at the end of last year to say he's really happy that PRO brought in Tasca, Dixon and me, and that we could really help with the board.

And, having sat through a few meetings already, I can tell you there is so much more that goes on, and so many things that PRO has been instrumental in resolving that people were not aware of.

It's ever-evolving. PRO regularly discusses the safety at each race track we go to, the rules and possible rules changes.

The fact that Tom Compton and Graham Light are attending PRO meetings is huge. However, I was a little disappointed with the NHRA press release that was issued after that last meeting in Vegas. It didn't really say a whole lot. I was also disappointed with the press conference led by Compton that followed. Not to mention my disappointment with Mike Dunn on the ESPN2 coverage saying that PRO had back-pedaled once NHRA came out with the decision to run four-wide again. Not true.

And I think the lack of real information in that release and press conference is what prompted so many inaccurate statements on the Internet about NHRA returning to four-wide racing in Concord next March.  

For that reason, I wanted to step up and say I can tell you first hand how involved and how major a factor PRO was in the decision making to run four-wide again. It was unanimous among PRO members and NHRA. And Tom Compton got up the end of that meeting and delivered some great points on ways to make those issues better.

The list of issues that PRO has resolved over the years is pretty extensive:

* PRO and the NHRA worked tirelessly  to determine that the 1000-foot racing was definitely a necessary step toward safety in the sport.

* PRO has been very instrumental in working to get purse increases that NHRA announced in 2009.

* There was a fee for hazardous waste removal at each event that NHRA was asking the teams to pay, which was going to start in Gainesville this year. PRO sent a letter to NHRA on this subject and, in response to that letter, NHRA acquired a sponsor to cover the costs.

* And there are many more. PRO has been very productive in getting changes made at certain tracks to improve safety.

It's important to note that John Force wanted to be present at that meeting, and we all had to give approval for him to be there. It was an important enough meeting on the PRO side that John asked to be involved. Of course we let him in.

There's two sides to every story, and before the journalists, chat rooms and other participants decide to voice their opinions based on lack of knowledge and presumption, they should take the time to research the true facts. They are out there. Just ask me.

Ron Capps
Driver, NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing

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