ANHRA MEDIA TRANSCRIPT: AN INTERVIEW WITH DALLAS GARDNER AND PETER CLIFFORD

(Teleconference conducted July 1, 2015, with several members of the press)

THE MODERATOR: I would like to welcome the media members we have joining us today on the teleconference call and want to thank you for your interest in NHRA and for taking time to join us this afternoon to hear from NHRA's Chairman of the Board, Dallas Gardner, and our new President, Peter Clifford. Dallas and Peter will each offer some opening remarks and then we'll open the lines for the media to ask questions. Mr. Gardner, the floor is yours. 

DALLAS GARDNER: Thank you. I see a few familiar names on the list here, so welcome and thanks for everybody that's calling in. I think you've all received the release that has gone out today, and I'd like to comment on that first. As you all know, Tom Compton has retired. Tom had spent 22 years with the organization, and the last 15 as president, and we really wish Tom well. Tom did a really good job for NHRA. He was very instrumental in a lot of the issues and getting through the tough economic times that we had to go through in this country, and we wish Tom well. As a board, when we then do our due diligence to find a new president, we first have to take a look at what's required of that person, and when you look at NHRA, how multifaceted we are, and I know that most of us, it evolves around these 24 Mello Yello national events, but there's so much more to the organization. We have an affiliation of 128 racetracks out there that run some 3,000 events every year, and it's week in, week out stuff. That's the stuff that Wally Parks founded NHRA for, places to race and safe places to race. We're involved in track ownership. We own a few racetracks, so we do know something about operating racetracks. 

And when you go through all of these things to try to find somebody that really is familiar with, and this is not going to be an on the job training session, we looked to Peter Clifford. Peter in his tenure at NHRA has been the CFO, chief financial officer, executive VP and general manager, and what that means is that basically Peter has had his hands on everything that goes on at NHRA for a period of time and at all levels, so he's intimately familiar with all of the positives, negatives, and he definitely … we felt like he had been groomed for this position, and it's a natural for him, and we're very happy to have Peter and think that Peter is going to be the guy that can take the Association to the next level. He's enthusiastic. He understands the issues. 

I will at this point let Peter say a few words.

PETER CLIFFORD: Thank you, Dallas. First of all, it's a privilege to be named the President of the NHRA, and I don't take that privilege lightly. I'd like to thank Dallas and the rest of the board for having the faith in me to take on the role. NHRA is an exceptional company with a team that's beyond motivated. They're devoted, and NHRA is a rarity because we have an incredibly skilled and hard working team, not only in this office in Glendora but also in the field, at the racetracks, divisions, and everywhere we operate in the U.S. That's what makes this a place I look forward to coming to every single day. Over the last couple months, the leadership team at NHRA has worked on a number of initiatives, and we're eager to roll them out over the next couple of months, and I'd like to lay them out for you right now, and with each one of these there's going to be a series of announcements hopefully that come out over the coming weeks and months. 

First, improved television. We understand from a lot of our constituents that we need to address some of the issues facing television, and we have some exciting announcements to come on that in short order. 

Second, increase Sportsman participation and support our member tracks. At the heart of our pyramid, and we look at the sport as a pyramid, we have our Mello Yello Series on the top, at the base is all our Sportsman racing, and we know we need to develop more Sportsman racing going forward, and we have a plan to do that.

No. 3, expanding marketing partnerships or better known as sponsorships. We're going to be adding more resources to this area, and we're going to have some announcements on that, as well. 

No. 4, expand media coverage. We want to make sure we get the coverage that we deserve as the No. 2 motorsports property in the country, and we have a plan in place to do that. We're going to be adding some resources, and we're excited about that, as well. 

No. 5, improved competition at national events. 

No. 6, which is certainly impacted by the first five, new fan development, and last but not least because obviously new fan development is extremely important to us. Our goal is to get more people exposed to our sport in order to increase participation and to add fans. 

As most of you know, we have the most powerful sensory experience on the planet, period. It's the original extreme sport. 

Finally, I know for those of you that know me, it's not my style to lead you on, but we do have many exciting announcements around the corner, so please stay tuned.