NEWS & ANALYSIS
NHRA Shows Major Profit in 2006
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As is our custom here at DRO, we have obtained the latest (2006) income tax returns for the National Hot Rod Association [as a not-for-profit organization, the tax returns are available to the public] and once again some of the information we gleaned from reading the returns was pretty interesting.
The first thing we noticed was that NHRA president Tom Compton’s salary has increased from $562,408 in 2002 to $677,489 in 2006. That amounts to about a 20 percent raise in salary for Mr. Compton in four years. Peter Clifford, executive VP and general manager, had about a 10% increase in salary over the same period going from $329,167 in 2002 to $365,490 in 2006.
Also worth noting is that total revenues during that same four-year period increased from approximately 96 million dollars in 2002 to over 114 million in 2006. Despite the public and racers perception that NHRA hasn’t raised their payout, the tax returns indicate just the opposite. In 2002 the NHRA paid out $22,459,071 in “prize money, trophies and awards”. In 2006 the NHRA paid out $23,394,481 in “prize money, trophies and awards”. That’s about a 4% increase.
One myth that that NHRA’s 2006 tax returns debunked when compared to their 2002 returns was that Tom Compton has been cutting back on employee expenses. He may indeed have done that but the figures show that contract labor costs in 2002 were $11,593,479 and in 2006 were $13,394,477.
There was another part of the company where more money was spent and that was monies paid and people added to the board of directors. In 2002 the five members on the board were paid $1,880,841 while with apparently seven members of the board in 2006 the compensation was $2,456,615.
We’ve scanned about a half-dozen pertinent pages from the 2006 NHRA tax return for your examination and education.