NHRA...What If?

In a world of complete uncertainty, what would drag racing look like if NHRA was to cancel the 2020 season and not have the revenue to continue in 2021?

This is a question that I have been asking myself lately regarding the biggest sanctioning body in all of motorsports. It’s the most frightening “what if” imaginable at this point. If the NHRA were to actually pull the plug on the 2020 season, would they have the ability in 2021 to even have a season? What would racing look like if we actually lost NHRA though?

While this is something that I hope in my lifetime never happens, I have already seen plenty this year that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. So, let’s ponder for a moment all the “what ifs” in this scenario. Let’s also not forget that the NHRA is deemed a “Not for profit” organization as well.

NHRA is more than just a national event organization that puts on 20-some events a season. They are also an organization that helps provide insurance and direction to their member tracks. They are the organization that brings in Fortune 500 companies for sponsorships and advertising. NHRA is always the organization that outlines what rules should be and is usually at the forefront of implementing new safety regulations.

So what would happen if all of it went away? The first thing that you must look at is the events disappearing and the economic destruction that would occur in the communities that the NHRA has national events in and around. The hotels, restaurants, retail locations, gas stations, etc. would all be dramatically affected. Once you get past that part of it, you look at all the people that would be out of work. Hundreds upon hundreds of people would lose their income. Whether it is within the organization, or the trickle-down from there to the teams, vendors, etc.

Moving forward from those two big factors would be the devastation at the local level. If your track is an NHRA member track, there are benefits that come along with that, which usually includes some type of insurance. Let’s face it, most insurance carriers would never want the liability of a race track on their books, and if they did the premiums would be through the roof. Premiums that a lot of track owners could not afford, and could force closures. There go more jobs and fewer places to race.

Rules are something that should always be inforced and they are what separates life and death most of the time. Well, NHRA has a lot to do with the rules that you see regarding safety, etc. Now imagine there is no standardized base of safety rules for people to follow. How would most tracks protect themselves, their fans, and most importantly, their racers? Would every track just come up with a random ruleset and the racers would have a different set for every track that they go to? Can you imagine the mess that would make?

The NHRA, love them or hate them, has been the one constant in drag racing for almost 70 years. That means for almost 70 years we in the drag racing community have had an organization to look to for safety guidance and many other things that they offer. Since 1951 the NHRA has stuck by Wally Parks "create order from chaos" thought process. 70 years of progress gone by the wayside?

So what is the purpose of pointing all this out and making everything think about this? The reason that I decided to discuss this is so that we can all see how important NHRA really is. I don’t always agree with what they do, but I do certainly understand their importance. There are times when I think they are completely out of touch with the reality of drag racing, and numerous other things, but their importance to the motorsports industry in immeasurable right now.

I certainly don’t ever want to see NHRA go the way of other organizations, and that is why it’s important to continue to support not only our local tracks but the NHRA as well. So the next time we think that drag racing and the industry would be better without NHRA, I want you to think about the big picture and what we lose if they were to ever go away.