InnerView:

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

By Jeff Burk.
Photos by James Drew and Jeff Burk.

Tom Compton is the president of NHRA. He is only the third man to hold that position in the 50-year history of the National Hot Rod Association. Mr. Compton served as a VP in the organization for six years before being named to the position by the board of directors just over a year ago. During his time as the president, Compton has presided over some of the tumultuous times in NHRA history, including the first layoffs in the history of the sanctioning body and a shake-up of NHRA's top management. At this year's edition of the NHRA Winternationals Tom Compton sat down with DRO editor/publisher Jeff Burk for an extensive interview. A few follow-up questions were answered in April, which accounts for some time discrepancies.

DRO: Tom, could you give us a little background on yourself?

Tom Compton: I'm married with two beautiful girls, Rachel, 5, and Nicole, 7. I've been living in the L.A. area for the last 20 years since I graduated from UCLA. I went to college at UCLA and USC and I have a Master's degree in International Finance.

Before coming to NHRA I worked for Heron Communications. They are a video entertainment company with four video divisions, which include sports programming, theatrical, movies in Spanish language, and a children's company. My first job there was to help start up the sports programming company and the children's company. I worked my way up there from business manager on the start-ups to director of strategic planning for the whole company.

DRO: How did you end up at NHRA?

TC: Through an unlikely chain of events I found out about this "accounting" job at NHRA. At first I didn't apply because I'm not an accountant; then I heard that there were people at NHRA who were disappointed I hadn't sent my resume. I found out through some conversations that the position they wanted filled would be as the first Chief Financial Officer in NHRA history and it was a position that involved just about every business and operation aspect of the NHRA. That got my interest and I applied for and got the job.

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