We are aware that it has been suggested to ANDRA that a change to 7Mate may have increased the value of the television but this was rejected outright, which to us demonstrated a lack of understanding of the needs of the sport.

I would suggest that a better question would be are we getting value for money with the current investment in television and given the recent review of the ratings the answer would be firmly "No". 

What is important to understand is that the bulk of the funding for TV comes from the sportsman racers, a situation that I do not believe is in their best interest.

The contribution paid by all racers as part of their entry fees for the TV levy at the recent Fuchs Winternationals totaled $32,800, and of this $20,600 was collected from sportsman racers.

That money is better off back in racers' pockets than going to a second rate TV show.

As such, all three tracks have confirmed that effective immediately, all events where a TV levy has been imposed will have an immediate reduction in entry fees. No longer will we be pseudo tax collectors for ANDRA.

Q: You have said that part of your goals is to reduce costs across the board?

Wedlock: Where possible we want to bring about cost savings to all competitors and this is evident by the immediate reduction in entry fees. We will be considering additional measures to bring about savings to racers like we did at the recent Summit round run at Willowbank.

Q: What does ANDRA contribute to the track's events?

Wedlock: Let's put this in perspective. At the recent Fuchs Winternationals, ANDRA took its sanction fees, the license fees, the racer TV levy, and the track's TV levy. It had free signage for its sponsor Summit, took significant trade stall space for free, and took in $30,000 in merchandise sales.

On the other hand, the Willowbank board faced an expense bill in excess of $800,000 for the event and it carried 100% of the financial risk.

Yet, we have ANDRA wanting to tell us how to run our business and having zero financial input or risk…

We must remember, ANDRA's championship is simply a collection of successful events run by tracks around the country. ANDRA throws an umbrella over those events and claims them as its championship.

The venues schedule, fund, advertise and promote the events, taking all the financial risks along with the racers.

The tracks hold copyright to the major event names such as the Winternationals, Westernationals and Nitro Champs.

What we are proposing is a successful, promoted championship in its own right that will bring credibility and profitability back to the sport.