I left that meeting on the way to the airport in Washington, DC. Understand that I flew in, had that meeting in the afternoon and flew directly back to Qatar – a 13-hour flight – that night. On my cab ride back to the airport (in Washington) I tried reaching out to Tommy Lipar but was unsuccessful. I reached Dave Wood and explained exactly the situation. He had always given me great advice and to this day is one of the people in the world I love and respect the most. Dave asked me my feeling on how long the National Guard sponsorship – which we had to renew every year – would or would not last. I wasn’t 100% certain.

His words to me and I’ll never forget them – with his passion for drag racing and his deep pockets, his resources – he said, “the Sheikh will carry the American Drag Racing League a lot further up the mountain than the National Guard will, so if it’s a decision for 2010 between the Sheikh and the National Guard, I think we should explore the idea of going with the Sheikh.”

So that’s what we did. We started negotiating at that point, at the end of 2009 going into 2010, knowing full well that once I informed the National Guard that we were negotiating for Al-Anabi or its holding company or whoever – basically Sheikh al Thani, -- to buy the American Drag Racing League that they (the National Guard) were done at that point.

I called Sheikh Khalid from the same cab I called Dave Wood from. I told him exactly what had transpired. I told him word for word what the representative from the National Guard had said to me, and his words were – and I remember this verbatim – “F*ck those racists. Whatever they were going to pay you, I’ll pay you. Or I’ll buy the ADRL and we’ll fund it. Whatever they were going to pay, just don’t worry about it. Just get back to Qatar.”

I got on an airplane and went back to Qatar. We negotiated. At some point Dave Wood, Tommy Lipar and myself met in New York City with Chris Rodi from the Woods Oviatt Gilman law firm in New York state, and Sheikh Khalid’s barrister from London who handled a lot of his personal and legal transaction in business and finance, Puvanesan Kay. I don’t recall if Don Greenbaum {the Sheikh’s lawyer in NYC] was at that meeting or not. It occurs to me that Mike Castellana might have been at the meeting as well. Regardless, the figures that were being discussed were north of $12 million for the American Drag Racing League, based on our growth and our business plan and so forth.

:So the Sheikh expressed interest in buying the ADRL right from the start?

KN: Absolutely, absolutely. After that negotiation went back and forth, back and forth, it became apparent that they weren’t going to pay nearly that much.

Right before the season started -- I’d have to look at the calendar but the Duke-Butler championship game was on – the negotiations had drug on into the start of the season. Myself, JR Todd, Alex Hosler, Don Greenbaum, and a few other people from the Sheikh’s entourage were in the Mandarin Oriental in the penthouse suite in New York. After the game was over and the others had dispersed, the Sheikh and I stayed and played Pro Evolution Soccer on the PS3 for a couple of hours, had some cocktails and ate some spaghetti Bolognese. A short time after, one of the Sheikh’s entourage brought in a rolling suitcase and began to stack a large amount of cash on the coffee table in front of us. It was told to me that is was $3M and that was all he was going to pay for the American Drag Racing League and what I was able to get Dave and Tommy to take for their share was completely up to me. That was what he was willing to pay for the ADRL.

I called Dave and Tommy, who both said this (sale) has all got to be done on the books; we’re not taking cash, which I was in agreement with. (The Sheikh) said take the cash or leave it, this is the deal. I want the American Drag Racing League and it’s got to be paid in cash or it’s not going to be paid at all.

At that point we were kind of over a barrel because the National Guard hadn’t signed back up and even if it (their commitment) ended up being $3-4 million, we just about had to sell because Dave and Tommy – even after we were able to secure almost $4M in sponsorship the year before through the National Guard and others for a 10-race drag racing series – weren’t willing to put the millions necessary back in to keep the ADRL going to 2010. And no one can blame then, including myself.

DRO:  So how was the deal finally put together?

KN After everything went back and forth over the following weeks they (Al-Anabi Racing) eventually said they would give us $1M cash and Dave and Tommy – and it was a difficult call for me to make because at that point we all knew some mistakes had been made on our parts during the negotiation process. I can’t prove it, but I believe in my heart that this was the plan from Day One: to get the National Guard out so we were solely dependent on them so they could get the American Drag Racing League at a much more affordable, let’s say, rate. Which is exactly what ended up happening.

DRO: So how did the sale actually happen and what was your part?

KN: To make the deal happen I signed my 25% (ownership of the ADRL) over to Dave and Tommy at some point in the coming days.

DRO: So what was your reward for signing over your 25% of the ADRL?

KN. Well, I was supposed to get a much bigger salary to be the CEO of the new ADRL.