Just Wondering …Are there contractual issues in the Coca-Cola company’s sponsorship of the NHRA TV broadcast that precludes any sportsman coverage on the TV shows? I would think that Coca-Cola ad execs would love to expose their Full Throttle product to the fans of the sportsman classes.

Just Wondering …If Tom Compton were to take the Dallas Gardner route and the board allowed him to retire with the same $300-400,000 annual stipend for life that Mr. Gardner enjoys, who would get Compton’s old job and who would decide?

Just Wondering …About Tom Compton still. Did you know that the NHRA pres makes over $300,000 a year more than the president of these United States?

Just Wondering …How I could have misread the landscape so badly? As I’m writing this there are about 40 nitro teams --almost 50 if you count the nostalgia AA/FC and AA/FD teams -- on the grounds at Pomona. Way more than I or any of the supposed experts I talked to thought would show up. The AA/FD and AA/FC are all running for free tickets and around 25% of the pro nitro cars won’t qualify. Doesn’t this prove what the NHRA has thought all along, that the issue really isn’t money?

Just Wondering …It’s a sure thing that Ford’s new Mustang factory hot rods will be racing in the Stock classes at the Winternationals. Will the Mopar racers have their new Challengers at the Fairgrounds? I sure hope so.

Just Wondering …Will the exorbitant prices of track food and beverages that Pomona is famous for get a little recession adjustment downward? 

Just Wondering …With the sale of their Motorsports complex in Memphis, which included two oval tracks, a road course and the dragstrip for a bargain price of just $10,000,000, could Dover Entertainment’s similar complex of Gateway International near St. Louis be up for sale too?

Just Wondering …Could the Al-Anabi group step in at the last moment and bail out the NHRA Pro Mod series? With the withdrawal of the BrakeSafe group they appear to be the only folks around with the ability to spend $650,000-$700,000 on the series without requiring a return on investment. Reports have the NHRA giving the Pro Mod racers a week to put a deal together or the NHRA Pro Mod experiment is ovah!

Just Wondering …Why is it that the NHRA still isn’t setting records for 1,000 feet in Top Fuel and Funny Car? It isn’t fair to the teams, fans, sponsors, and especially the racers. It’s almost a dead certainty that Top Fuel and Funny Car aren’t going back to a quarter mile anytime soon.

Just Wondering …Am I the only one who noticed that the track at the Winternationals still had major wet spots in the shutdown area for pro qualifying? That’s a safe track?

Just Wondering …Does anyone still seriously believe that there is a major fan base of drag racing fans that are also hard-core NASCAR fans that will buy tickets for drag races?

Just Wondering …If the NHRA Pro Mod exhibition series is indeed dead and Pro Stock will no longer be the second fastest doorslammer class, will that benefit the NHRA Pro Stock class as far as fans and sponsorships?

Just Wondering …How do the race teams, manufacturers, and the sport itself benefit from the NHRA awarding monopolies that prevent companies like Monster Energy Drink (Budweiser), Mickey Thompson Tires, and the Air Force from participation? Especially considering the fact that after Monster was forced to leave the NHRA they took their sponsorship money to NASCAR. Same deal with the other military services, who have been forced to take their budgets to NASCAR.