The National Hot Rod Association is on a roll

It is a very different NHRA president Peter Clifford is governing over than what any of his predecessors, including Wally Parks, had to deal with. Owning or driving a car is no longer a rite of passage for the current generation. Detroit car manufacturers no longer consider the NHRA drag racing series something they must be involved with.

Until very recently the words ”sold out” were never uttered when referring to paid one-day attendance at an NHRA event. Then, in just over a year, NHRA national-event tracks at Houston, Charlotte, and Atlanta declared they had sold out of tickets for one day of their events. Right now my opinion is that the NHRA could be selling a bigger percentage of their available seats at some of their races than NASCAR is at some of their races.

This year at least two NHRA broadcasts on FS1 have drawn more than 1.3 million viewers and those numbers represent around a 200% increase over the previous year. There are published numbers in a respected industry magazine that show that for certain races the numbers of viewers of the Fox Sports 1 broadcasts for NHRA broadcasts has TRIPLED! FS1’s daily schedule is rife with re-runs of previous NHRA event broadcasts and it is not unusual for the NHRA to get 5-6 hours of air time during a weekday.

For just a “Benjamin” drag fans can receive a full season of live continuous feed of every minute the FS1 cameras are on, as well as the audio from the NHRA announce team. This package is a bargain for fans that can’t afford to travel. The package is especially good for fans of NHRA Pro Mods and Nitro Harleys since neither of those two NHRA exhibition classes get any coverage during the regular FS1 race broadcasts.

Thanks to FS1, the both the NHRA pro and sportsman classes are getting much more network airtime and subsequently more exposure to new fans than at any time in its history. I have no doubt that is driving the increased crowds some national event tracks have experienced. I’m also of the opinion that the Ken Adelson (NHRA VP - Executive Producer and Chief Content Officer) produced race and qualifying broadcasts have vastly improved. I prefer the slick and edited tape-delay shows over the live broadcasts myself.

Then there is a new policy instituted by Mr. Clifford and his management team, who have put together a presentation of their vision and plan for the NHRA’s future. I know for a fact that Clifford and other members of his management team have met with some of the most influential and successful CEO/owners of legacy drag racing companies involved to show them the plans. Several of the men who have attended the presentation came away very, very impressed with the presentation and the question and answer session that followed.

During the meetings Clifford seriously listened to the businessmen’s answers to the big question: what do you think is wrong with the NHRA and how would you solve the problems? In my more than than 40 years as a reporter covering the NHRA as a beat I’ve never heard of or witnessed anything like that happening before.

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