: Did you get to see the ADRL books from 2011-12 when you bought it back?

KN: No, and it didn’t matter at that point because we weren’t buying any of the debts. We were buying the intellectual property: the trademarks, the name, the website, the Facebook page, the Twitter account. That’s all we were buying back. So, instead of Gene Hector and Darrell Reid buying the ADRL for a million dollars and owning 50% and my partners and I owning 50%, as things went down my partners and I were going to own 100% and have a $300,000 debt that I could pay back over the course of the next few years.

: Was the X-DRL was a big factor in the Sheikh getting involved again with the ADRL after he sold it?

KN: Absolutely! Now it comes from Mitchell Scruggs and Roger Henson, “We’ve got to put these guys (X-DRL) out of business. They’re going to take our racers, they’re going to take our sponsors.”

At some point during that time leading up to the 2012 PRI Show, Jason Scruggs brokered a call between Sheikh Khalid and I. This is after the transaction had taken place. This was the first time Sheikh Khalid and I had spoken in over two years. Sheikh Khalid and I talked back and forth and exchanged apologies and agreed to let the past go and move forward. He urged me to come back over to Qatar and bring KJ (Nowling’s oldest son). “I want to see him. I want to see you and Jess. Come on over for a visit and we’ll discuss the ADRL and work out a sponsorship deal. I don’t need that $300,000. I’ll give it back to you in sponsorship.”

: This all went down after the 2012 PRI Show?

KN: Yes, this is after the 2012 PRI Show and after we had released our 2013 ADRL schedule. The X-DRL had released their schedule, purses and announced some sponsorships. My feeling was, based on their business model, that the X-DRL was always going to fail. And I said that to you [Jeff Burk], to Steve Earwood, to Jason Scruggs, Mitchell Scruggs, Roger Henson, and several racers as well. I said it to Sheikh Khalid, but none of them wanted to hear that, especially Sheikh Khalid. Every week we had discussions: “We’ve got to one-up the X-DRL, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that.”

: So what convinced Sheikh Khalid al Thani to come back to sponsoring the ADRL after he had bought it from you, Dave Wood and Tommy Lipar, and then sold it back to you and your partners?

KN: Jessica, KJ and I then flew to Qatar to visit Sheikh Khalid. A few days after arriving Jessica and I met with Sheikh Khalid in his tent at the Qatar Racing Club. He agreed to sponsor the 2013 ADRL Tour for $300,000 if we would change the purse structure and bring Pro Modified back (we had gotten rid of Pro Modified for 2013). We had restructured all the purses, we were going to add a little to the entry fees, and had the budget all worked out. If we didn’t park one spectator car or sell one piece of merchandise, based on entry fees we could cover our costs. Jack Switzer (the Nowlings’ partner in Fight Hard MMA) and I could potentially make some money and be able to pay back Mitchell Scruggs and Roger Henson a percentage of the money we owed them.

: Sheikh Khalid al Thani agreed to sponsor the ADRL through the Speedtech Nitrous Company, which he owned?

KN: Yes. When Jessica and I met with him, he said he wanted Speedtech to be the series sponsor in exchange for his $300,000 and bringing back Pro Modified. For me it was very emotional. It was (with) someone I considered a friend, who I had spent an inordinate amount of time with over the course of the previous several years. Somebody who had been kind to me and my family, and even though he ultimately didn’t do everything he said he was going to do, he still did a lot for me. I am eternally grateful for that. We put a press release together and agreed that it would be the Speedtech American Drag Racing League, and what the revised purses would be, based on Sheikh Khalid putting in $300,000 in sponsorship.

: Did you ever get that money?

KN: At that time all I continue to hear over and over and over from Mitchell Scruggs, from Roger Henson, from Jason Scruggs, from Sheikh Khalid was we’ve got to bury the X-DRL. In the meantime I’m like, well why don’t we take care of our obligations to the ADRL? I’m watching history repeat itself. I went to bed every night thinking I must be the dumbest f*cking human being on the face of the earth to have gotten right back on the same train that almost killed me once.

I was told the whole $300,000 would come before the season started. Not only did the $300,000 not come before the season started, no money came. Here we go again I thought. I’m like, “I’m not doing this again.” I’m telling Jason and Mitchell Scruggs and Roger Henson.

Then, to keep the series going and everything good in the eyes of the racing community, Mitchell Scruggs and Roger Henson were kind enough to lend us an additional $50,000. Sheikh Khalid’s money finally came, but it wasn’t $300,000, it was only $150,000. When I called and asked where the rest of the money was I was told repeatedly, “You’re going to get the rest, you’re going to get the rest, you’re going to get the rest.”