I think the current NHRA program that delivers more affordable ticket prices to fans will grow as this country’s financial crisis does. If there are lots of empty seats at Gainesville, where they have had monster crowds in past years, look for more and more seats at all NHRA national events to be sold at the $20 level. A stadium full of $20 ticket buyers is always better and more profitable than a stadium with a couple of thousand $50 ticket holders.  That shouldn’t be that hard of a lesson to learn.

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I’ve been watching the sportsman car count over the last half-dozen races and there is no question the numbers are down. Now, with the paradigm shift in NHRA policy that allowed a three-year contract with Roger Burgess for the Pro Mod exhibition series, and the drastic pullback by corporate sponsors both on the NHRA Midway and with the pro teams which were major revenue sources for the NHRA, they are going to be forced to look for other revenue streams.

I’m betting the NHRA will start looking at the back gate once again for the money. There is no doubt that  sportsman racers are finding that it takes fewer grade points now to enter NHRA national events, and I’ll bet you’re going to see the trend of fewer sportsman classes being at Nationals get reversed. The industry needs as many sportsman racers as they can get, and the NHRA dream of basically a professional class and corporate advertising-driven series will have to wait until the economy turns around.

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Timing really is everything, especially in racing. Tom Compton and his crew, responding to pressure from the racers and the public after posting serious profits for the last three or four years, announced during the season last year that they were adding a million bucks to the professional class purses. The chances of that raise being implemented today are zero. As I said, timing is everything.

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I’m happy for those Pro Mod racers who worked so long and hard to make the NHRA Pro Mod series a reality. They overcame some stiff odds to make it happen and they all deserve high praise indeed!
I do, however, have some questions and observations on this unique-in-the-history-of-drag racing program.

Despite the fact that there is a three-year commitment from the NHRA and Roger Burgess to support the series, despite the fact that they are going to get their own hospitality area in the nitro pits, despite the fact they will be subject to NHRA rules and regulations, the NHRA press release made a very big point to use the words “exhibition series” when referring to Pro Mod.

This series is in its seventh consecutive year of competition at NHRA national events and most of the teams spend the same kind of money on these cars that the NHRA Pro Stockers spend on theirs. Why can’t the NHRA just acknowledge that this is a pro class with a limited schedule like the Pro Stock Bikes and be done with it? Even though the PM teams are going to have to pay $1,000 to race.