NHRA tax return 2009: The returns are in
By Jeff Burk

The NHRA’s 2009 tax returns are now public record and in the musical sense you’d have to say that last year’s record is a solid, gut bucket Blues number as opposed to the normal upbeat Rock and Roll tune the NHRA’s has been releasing the last five years or so.

In 2009 the NHRA remained at over $100,000,000 in annual revenues. That’s the good news. The bad news is that NHRA revenues dropped from just under $122,000,000 in 2008 to just a tick over $108,000,000 in 2009! That a $14,000,000 drop. To put it in drag racing terms, it has about the same effect on the NHRA as did the NHRA forcing Pro Mod teams that use superchargers to reduce their overdrive from 20% over crankshaft speed to 14% over crank speed. Both the racers and the NHRA will have to develop a new combination to return to their previous performance. Somehow in 2009 NHRA management had to find a way to make do with around $14,000,000 fewer dollars than they had in ‘08. And I’m guessing they had a similar problem in 2010. So, let’s take a peek at some of the spending numbers for 2009 compared to 2008 found in NHRA’s tax returns for those years.

In 2009 the NHRA Board of Directors were paid just about $1,750,000 and in 2008 that total was just about the same at just a tick over $1,750,000. It should be noted that all of the board members had their pay reduced in 2009. NHRA president Tom Compton took about a 10% pay cut, as did the rest of the members of the Board and other execs. Tom Compton and the rest of his staff deserve some praise for that move.

The exception to that trend was the senior director of sales and business development, John Siragusa. His salary went up to about $423,000 in 2009 from $356.000 in 2008 because he worked his tail off and sold more.

In an effort to improve the bottom line for the company, total salaries dropped from $20 million plus in 2008 to $17 million plus in 2009.

In 2008 ticket sales revenue was $52 million and in 2009 the number dropped to just $42 million. Membership dues in ’08 amounted to $4,557,000 in 2008; in 2009 that number was down slightly to $4,400,000.

The National Dragster, which has long been a cash cow for the NHRA, took a big hit with revenues dropping from a reported $8.5 million in 2008 to $6.7 million in 2009.

As we all did in 2009, the NHRA had to tighten its belt. Almost every line item on the 2009 NHRA return showed the results of Tom Compton’s successful cost-cutting measures to compensate for the decline in attendance, advertising revenue and sponsorships for the NHRA.

One NHRA executive asked me privately why my readers and the racers were interested in their tax return and did I think it was any of their business? I replied, “When you force competitors and team members to join the NHRA and they send the sanctioning body around $4,000,000 at year with no control over what is done with that money, I think they have a right to know where their dues are being spent.”

I hope you agree.

Holy shoepolish, Mopac, you have a serious axe to grind.

As far as the seatbelt webbing is concerned, a lot of it is made by Ancra Intl., they have a plant in Erlanger, KY that weaves miles of the stuff. Maybe they have a plant in China, too, I don't know, I think they are out of Australia.

Does anybody on here remember the old childhood fairy tale,,"The Goose that layed the Golden egg"???? This all reminds me of it. The seat-belt BS aside,,this is why I always hated NHRA. I raced at their tracks because they were the only show in town. It is ALL ABOUT money/greed. NHRA is no different than alot of other sports and their lust for MONEY. Major League Baseball comes to mind. My parents were retired and spent their winters in Florida. They were big baseball fans and attended the spring training camp games. They could not take ANYTHING into the stadium. In the past, they had taken a sandwich or something with them to eat while watching the game. They started checking for these items and my mother was "caught- RED-HANDED" with a box of Cracker Jacks in her purse!!!!! I laughed when I was told the story, but can see the theory behind the rule...if you go in,,you WILL buy something and we WILL make MONEY on you. Pretty much the same with the races. One time in around '81, my six-packer (lunch bucket) cooler was checked as I was going into the Springnationals at Columbus. I had 4 Cokes and 2 beers in it. The Sheriff said "NO WAY YOU CAN TAKE BEER IN HERE!!" I said I can see dozens of people drinking beer right behind you?? He said, they are in,,,you're NOT.
I laughed.,,I got ya',,I have to buy in there HUH? He says YES. Then asks what Im going to do about the beer,,I guess I'll just drink it before I go in!! DON'T LET ME SEE YOU DO THAT OR I'LL ARREST YOU FOR OPEN CONTAINER IN PUBLIC!! I asked about the guys laughing at me on the other side of the chain link fence..he says do what you like. I tossed them in the trash drum,,beside a HUGE pile of beer cans. MONEY MONEY

Noaxe to grind, cgall, but after 42 years with the NHRA and the direction it has been going since particularlly the 90's. But really since the days of the elimination of modified, I am just sick of paying, paying and paying. Only to see literally nothing in return. Everything I have posted is public record or from other sites with names of posters. Maybe the NHRA needs this "wake up call"!

Mopac, I agree Sponsors/Big Companys/501-3c. The word (NON-PROFIT) Is it really Non Profit? I want that salary, 1 day a week....

I will keep racing IHRA & Others. NHRA is out of my league.

you can read the complaint filed with the IRS

http://www.dragracingonline.com/analysis/images/nhra%20complaint%201-13-11.pdf

Nothing to see,it's 2011 anybody can do it.LOL

It's 1/4 AZZ clowns.
And it is easy if you pull you head out of 1969!!!!!!!!!!
Joe Dirt called and is wanting his Van back.

If you are involved in drag racing on any level, you should be glad NHRA exists, warts and all. And government interference is that last thing you would want. We know what happens when they get involved in something. Don't you think a strong organization, that provides rules and guidelines that are consistent across the country, is beneficial? Do you think the tree, the track, the classes, the rules, being different at every track would be a good thing?
Any discussion about NHRA always comes back to the seat belt rule. How long has this been in effect? Aren't we over it yet? Do you know why that rule came to be? Do some research. When anyone complains about the seat belt rule, I stop paying attention. It's old...really. Find something important to gripe about, like why they took M*A*S*H off the air.
Safety rules are driven by the insurance companies and the lawyers. If it were not possible to obtain insurance, racing as we know would cease to exist. Simple as that.
Like I've said before, they have plenty of room to improve in many areas. But they are the reason drag racing is where it is today.

Quote:

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Doug(plasticfantastic) is my driver and I do what ever it takes to
keep him safe.... BUT I really dont buy into the
2 year seat belt thing.... lets say you get out
10 times a year... thats 20 days of racing and the
belts are shot... to me that should be up to the
inspection guys at the track... if they arent frayed
they should be fine for a 5 year period... as for the
non profit... I dont buy that... my opinion if you
want your company as non profit there should be laws
saying NO ONE can make more than 200K in that company
.......JMO

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Wondering if it's more a UV ray issue which we can't see the damage done aside from fading. Car sitting outside for 2 years baking in the sun could in theory rot the belts; especially in desert southwest. Suspect 2 years is to CYA everyone. I'm in the aviation industry and we "time change" a multitude of parts that are perfectly serviceable all in the interest of public safety. The intent is to change or overhaul the parts before they enter a known window of potential failure. Over time (often in terms of years), these requirements are either shortened or lengthened as data is collected.

P.S. we do NOT change seat belts every 2 years on the aircraft i've worked on (visual inspection only)

Here's another read on this. Check it out. matt http://sidragway.com/

While I do not agree with the 2 year rule, I am pretty sure it was brought about by someone getting sued. Too many things in this country are brought about by frivilous lawsuits or the threat of one.

We have a lot of safety protocols at work that are just plain dumb, but were brought about by people sitting in offices worrying about how to limit company liability in case of an accident that may never happen anyway.

You guys can always cut some of the sting of changing belts by selling them to dirt racers. Those guys will buy them because they don't have a time limit on them.

All this is about is somebody hiding behind their attorney and trying to rat out the NHRA by having an inflammatory letter sent to the IRS - Whoop-Dee-Doo - if the person behind this has the stones why not come out and lay it down in public - are they afraid to reveal their identity?? NHRA has some issues no doubt but being chicken little ain't gonna get it done - until you are the voice of the membership and air the laundry and demand changes it ain't gonna happen. Oh and SFI stands for Something Force Invented!