Let’s give credit where credit due. For at least the last five years under Tom Compton’s guidance the NHRA has turned from a business that wasn’t making any discernable profit to one that averages about $5 million in profits annually -- and that was after Compton and the board (except for Dallas Gardner) got their annual raises.

But times have changed, and with the economy tanking, fewer and fewer pro class teams are able to bring in corporate sponsorship. In fact, some corporations are cutting back their non-race car related programs with the NHRA. In many cases those corporate suites in those trick new towers aren’t being paid for by the large corporations. I think the same will hold true for expensive reserved seats.

Here is a little factoid to back up my thoughts: For the first time in history the Super Bowl is lowering the cost of its cheapest seat from $700 to $500 and, as of the 29th of January, the game isn’t a sell out! GM and FedEx withdrew their Super Bowl advertising. The cost of some seats at the Daytona 500 has been cut by nearly 50 percent to increase ticket sales. NHRA and the track owners would have to be complete fools to actually believe that they are not going to lose ticket sales this year.

So, I am going to suggest that if professional drag racing as we know it is going to survive, the suits in Glendora and Norwalk are going to have to make a paradigm shift in the way they do business.

The NHRA has already made an admirable step in the right direction by offering a limited number of cheaper tickets, free entry for children under 12 and one free day for those men and women in uniform. But I believe they must go even further.

The first thing they must do is become more racer-friendly with the sportsman racers by running all sportsman classes at every event. If they need to have smaller qualified fields, so be it. If all of the sportsman classes are allowed compete for a spot at every national event I guarantee there will be a more paying spectators to the races consisting of the family and friends of the sportsman racers competing at that race. More sportsman could bring back some of the major manufacturers who have left the NHRA/IHRA for other series where they feel they are wanted and needed.

Secondly, give all of the classes from top to bottom a cash raise. The NHRA and IHRA have already given their pro classes a raise, so why not do the same for the sportsman classes? I believe that both the NHRA and IHRA in these tough economic times are going to have to subsidize their racers even more than ever.

Why does the NHRA have to carry over $5,000,000 or so in profits each year? I don’t mind the management getting a yearly raise, especially if the company shows a profit, but what is wrong with $1,000,000 in profit and spend the other $4,000,000 on the racers? After all, is there anyone -- like stockholders or a bank -- that Tom Compton or Peter Clifford have to answer to if the NHRA delivers “only” a million bucks in profit in 2010? I don’t think so.

What I am suggesting is this. Go ahead and give the NHRA suits raises if the company makes a profit. They would have earned that. But then take about 90 percent of the profit after the raises and re-invest it in the racers. Raise the professional purse structure by another million; increase the sportsman cash payout (not the contingency) by a million bucks. Cut the cost to the manufacturers for midway space so they can afford to come back and service the racers.

I’m further saying that at least for the foreseeable future the NHRA ought to quit looking at the racers, whether pro or sportsman, as an asset to be monetized. The NHRA has made a lot of profit over the last five years thanks in part to the both the pro and sportsman racers bringing Fortune 500 companies to the sport, and in many cases these sponsors ended up spending money with the NHRA as well.

The racers have also been paying to play. That was all good when Corporate America was flush with disposable income and could afford $3-5 million to sponsor NHRA teams and $20-25 million for NASCAR teams. But that time is past and the NHRA, which was incorporated as a charitable organization, ought to start acting like one until this crisis passes.

Because my feeling is that if the NHRA management isn’t careful, there might not be an NHRA that will support a presidential salary of over $700,000 a year and a Chairman of the Board who makes over $300,000 a year for one-hour work a week. No money, no fuel teams, no entertainment and no fans equals no raises, no profit .

It’s either that or just start re-arranging the deck chairs until the ship hits the iceberg. It’s really up to Tom Compton and his advisors. Nobody can force him, not even Force.