No subject I bring up about the NHRA management team brings more vitriolic responses than when I talk to racers and manufacturers about using the NHRA midway.  At this year’s Winternationals our reporters found there were a lot fewer booths on the midway. Evidently many of the manufacturers  that once grudgingly paid the NHRA “vig” to be on the midway have had enough. I’ve been told that the NHRA invited manufacturers and others to a meeting after the Winternationals to find out what NHRA could do to get them to come back. Seems to me those folks have been telling anyone who would listen at the NHRA for years what they could do with the Midway.

I suggest NHRA  start by treating the manufacturers and businesses left on the  midway as partners and not just renters that provide the NHRA with a profit.

The manufacturers that still do display on the midway could help the cause by offering  new and popular parts at a discounted price good only on  the midway during the race.  They should also use their advertising to let their customers know that they can get things at the midway they can’t get anyplace else.  Both JEGS and Summit could send trailers to national events stocked with as many parts as they can and sell direct to their customers.

Fans and racers would have to get used to being able to actually shop for speed parts and services on the midway at NHRA events and that could take some time, but if the NHRA truly wants to turn the midway around they must change their current philosophy of taxing their racers and partners on the midway to fill their coffers.

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Is the Nostalgia Funny Car movement basically a  West Coast deal? I believe that it is. The fact is that for the last seven years I’ve had a Nostalgia Funny Car-only series here in the Midwest with a limited number of cars. The question is why? The answer is not so clear. The DRO series pays better than the Heritage Series. The IHRA series pays much more than the DRO series. At many DRO  races last year including the Tulsa event we had just five cars.

Last year the “new” IHRA made Nostalgia Funny Car a pro class, adopted the basic Heritage Series rules and put up a $50,000 purse per event  plus a $100,000 series points fund. Still at times the IHRA  had some trouble attracting more than 10 cars per event. The opening IHRA race of this season at Tucson attracted only 10 cars despite the fact that race paid $10,000 to win, a $100,000 points fund and free admission at a track just 400 miles from the LA basin,  where most of the Nostalgia Funny cars in the US are located.

Yet the two races at Bakersfield (March Meet and California Funny Car Reunion) will attract 30-35 Nostalgia Funny Car teams that will pay entry fees, parking fees and buy crew pit passes.

In all probability the issue here is, as always, MONEY.  A majority of the teams west of the Mississippi are probably based within a couple hundred miles of Bakersfield and can race at that track four or five times a year. The fact seems to be that no one can pay enough -- whether it is $5,000 or $10,000 to win -- for the West Coast teams to spend the money to travel to the Midwest or East Coast more than once a year,  and who can blame them?

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I’m convinced that in its prime the “Pinks” TV broadcasts probably had the same Nielsen numbers that the current “Street Outlaws” reality show carries currently (2.5). I’m also convinced that most of the people who watched the “Pinks” show when it was on the air are now watching the “Street Outlaws” shows these days and a vast majority of those viewers have never bought a ticket to either an NHRA or IHRA national event and don’t watch those sanctioning bodies’ TV coverage of their races.

I think until the basic broadcast and content of the coverage of NHRA drag races changes radically those broadcasts will never have more than a .5- 1.0 Nielsen rating and I don’t believe live broadcasts will change that. With four or five NHRA national events being “live” broadcasts this year we’ll soon find out if that brings race fans in any significant numbers to watch real NHRA drag racing.

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I recently saw an official NHRA letter written to a racer working for or connected with the reality TV show “Street Outlaws” (the letter is in 1320 notes). The gist of the letter is that the TV show and its theme represents everything that the NHRA opposes and that anyone working with or for the show could and would have their competition license revoked.

While there is sure to be some blowback from people who believe  that the NHRA is overstepping its authority and cannot tell anyone where they can and cannot work, I would remind them that: 1)  Racing with the NHRA, IHRA, or PDRA isn’t a God-given right, it is a privilege and 2) The subject of the letter isn’t being told not to work for the production company but that if he is working for the production company he can’t race with the NHRA; it is his or her choice and there is always the IHRA.