NHRA threatens ADRL, HRP with loss of sanction and race!

DRO has learned that on Tuesday, Feb. 24, the NHRA technical department’s Don Taylor called ADRL president Kenny Nowling to inform him that if the ADRL did not comply with a rule change concerning the maximum nitromethane percentage that could be burned in a injected nitro engine combination for an ADRL Pro Extreme car, the ADRL would lose the ASO status with the NHRA and would not be able to stage ADRL events at NHRA-sanctioned race tracks, including the season opener scheduled to begin in just nine days at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, TX. This information came directly from ADRL president Kenny Nowling.

DRO contacted Seth Angel at Houston Raceway Park and Mr. Angel told DRO Editor Jeff Burk that he had a similar conversation with NHRA VP Graham Light in which Light told Angel that if the ADRL was not in compliance with the NHRA mandate ADRL would lose its ASO status with the NHRA and would not be allowed to stage events at NHRA-sanctioned tracks.

Angel told DRO that “I told Graham that it would be a financial and public relations nightmare for Houston Raceway Park to cancel this race with this short of notice. It would do irreparable damage to our relationship with our fans and sponsors in the area.”

Angel told DRO that he was going to have the ADRL event regardless.
“We have distributed around a million free tickets to this race. What would I tell our fans when they showed up at our track next weekend with a ticket in their hands expecting to see a race? This race will go on as scheduled regardless of what the NHRA says or does.

We want to emphasize that our organization and the family are loyal to the NHRA and want to continue to have a good relationship with the NHRA but the actions they are threatening us with are simply unacceptable.

Angel continued, “We are going to have the ADRL race March 6-7 and then we will have to see what happens then with the NHRA and Houston Raceway Park.”

The NHRA has its own national event scheduled for HRP on March 26-29. Would that date be in peril if the NHRA stripped HRP of its NHRA sanctioning? Direct all calls to the NHRA or the ADRL please. [2/25/2009]

found this on Houston Area Racing message board, originly posted from Drag Racing Online (DRO)...thought it was some interesting info.

I got my belly full of NHRA years back, and got a flash back a while back when Jay raced the stocker..

jack

Maybe HRP will tell NHRA where to go. Make a top notch IHRA facilty. Then we possibly could have a bracket finals in Houston.

according to the story on the HRP message board, Seth Angel told them (NHRA), the show will go weather they liked it or not!!

I say way to go Seth, If all the NHRA tracks that have ADRL races told NHRA to stick it, maybe all the heads in La La land would think twice before costing one of their nat'l event tracks several hundred thousand dollars in loses.

Jack

(this is the artical that was originaly posted on Drag Racing online)


Just when you think the NHRA is getting to be a little bit less arrogant and self aggrandizing, they do something that shows that they really haven’t changed much at all -- and still evidently believe that they have control of all drag racing. I heard from ADRL president Kenny Nowling that the NHRA called him last night (Feb. 24) to inform him that unless he changed his rules regarding the nitro percentage allowed for the ADRL Pro Extreme class they would revoke the ADRL ASO status and not allow the ADRL to race at the five NHRA national event tracks that are scheduled to have ADRL events in 2009.
***********************************************************
The absolutely worst part of the NHRA decision, from an ethical and business standpoint, is that the opening ADRL event at Houston is less than ten days away -- ten days! Racers, fans, sponsors, track owners, and the sanctioning body have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting the race and building cars and the NHRA waits until this moment to take this kind of action. And some of you write me and ask me why I’m so hard on the NHRA at times. This is the perfect example why.

Jack , On another level this same scenario went on at Bandimere Raceway in Colorado August 3rd and 4th at the Western Conference Finals in 2001 . The country was split in half between West and East . 30 Days before the event an agreement was made with div. 4 and NHRA California . The lawyers had agreed a month before and changed from parent pressure just less than an hour b4 first round . It was the Most unorganized shiftless determination of how an event could be run and had the emotions of children and parents who supported these folks all year giving us a new agenda run from folks a few hundred miles away . When all the whining parents got their way NHRA stood strong and changed the rules on the fly . Get used to it Jack . It's " Home Sweet Home " . HAMMER

To hell with that!

NHRA probably stands to lose more than it stands to gain.

NHRA has control over NHRA.
They do NOT control the ADRL.

They do not control HRP.

now unless NHRA wants to pony up about 15 million dollars to purchase HRP and another 15 million dollars to purchase the ADRL, then they probably should keep their nose in their own sandbox.

I dont recall any ADRL drivers getting killed in the last 3 years..
Maybe NHRA could learn a few things from the ADRL.

POSTED 2/27 ON CompetitionPlus



Written by CompetitionPlus
Friday, 27 February 2009
ADRL President Issues Challenge/Compromise to the NHRA in ASO Controversy …

Don’t issue a challenge unless you’re prepared to receive one in return.

The NHRA contacted ADRL President Kenny Nowling earlier this week with an ultimatum ordering him to hold injected nitro percentage to the same rule as the NHRA’s standard for the combination or risk losing their Alternative Sanctioning Organization [ASO] status at NHRA sanctioned tracks.

Houston Raceway Park, site of the season-opening ADRL event next weekend, was also reportedly threatened with the loss of their NHRA sanction just a month before their NHRA national event if they allow the ADRL cars to run outside of their established injected nitro maximum.

Last night Nowling fired back with a challenge of his own.

“I’ll ban nitro from the ADRL period if they’ll [NHRA] stop running past 660 feet and killing my heroes,” Nowling said when contacted by CompetitionPlus.com. “I offered that to them. If it’s such a concern and I’m such a %$#&*) danger to everybody I’ll quit nitro today. It’s not about anything but everyone being held to the same standard.”

Nowling declines to discuss the details of the behind-the-scenes skirmish. The NHRA, through a company spokesperson, has declined to speak at this moment but will address the controversy in the days to come.

“At the end of the day, our safety record is impeccable but we are not invincible,” Nowling continued.

Nowling’s anger over the issue can be traced to drag racing fatalities in the last half-decade, one that happened in the same year he founded the ADRL on the premise of drag racing on an eighth-mile race course.

“The hardest thing I ever had to do in my professional career and it had nothing to do with planning events, distributing tickets or selling t-shirts – it was in eulogizing Steve Engle and holding his wife as she cried and knowing d*** well if I had done a better job on convincing him to run the ADRL than to run that other $%^& he’d still be alive today,” Nowling said, discussing the Pro Modified driver who died this past fall, the result of injuries sustained at an NHRA event.

“He might have [passed away] but it wouldn’t have had anything to do with a drag strip. Call S.F.I. – velocity and speed, that’s what is killing people in all forms of motorsports. I’ve reduced our velocity by only running half of the distance.

“It scared the hell out of me to think what these cars are capable of and after watching the Shakedown at E’town [An outlaw Pro Modified event] and Dave Hance is a great guy and he’s got a great event, but it scares me to death to see the speeds those Pro Extreme cars are running and the weights in which they are doing it at.

“I can tell you this today. If the ADRL ever runs an event past 660 feet you can rest assured there will be a different name on my office door.”

Another inspiration in his defiance of the standard 1000 or 1320 feet stems from an interchange with his impressionable young child.

“After my son came to me when he lost his favorite driver Darrell Russell, and on top of that watching it happen, he gathered the courage to get back into watching the sport and who would he fall in love with but Eric Medlin,” Nowling explained. “When I was told of Eric’s accident, I left the office with tears in my eyes and headed home to tell him.

“You know what he told me? I’m not going to pick favorites any more because they die. I don’t think the NHRA is to blame for those deaths but I do believe that if you are going to allow them to run those kinds of speeds and ET’s, there’s a certain responsibility you have to take.”

That’s why Nowling is as adamant about racing to the eighth-mile as he says the NHRA is about enforcing their nitro restrictions. He can’t help but wonder if other underlying factors have inspired their decisions.

“All we want to do is run our company,” Nowling said. “The ADRL is a Texas-based, limited liability company that pays its taxes and abides by the laws of the Unites States of America and has the proper insurance as required to run our business. What the NHRA thinks … what the IHRA thinks or anybody else, I couldn’t care less about.

“Ask yourself this. Is it any coincidence that none of the other sanctioning bodies approached me about an ASO for the entire year of 2005 or before. I didn’t even know what the acronym stood for. In 2006 after we blew the fences off of Rockingham Dragway then everyone is climbing up my a** about being an AS-whatever?”

Nowling has issued the following compromise to the NHRA regarding the ASO situation.

“I will ban nitro tomorrow if the NHRA and IHRA start racing to the eighth-mile,” Nowling said candidly.

I grabbed this off Houston Area Racing today..

WAITING GAME FOR NHRA/ADRL SKIRMISH

Written by Bobby Bennett
Tuesday, 03 March 2009
NHRA Expected to Hand Down Missive Today Regarding ASO Controversy …

ADRL President Kenny Nowling wants to be crystal clear regarding his comments made last week and today on CompetitionPlus.com.

He doesn’t believe the NHRA is directly responsible for causing the death of any racer he mentioned in the article. Nowling apologizes if his comments were taken out of context.

However, he doesn’t apologize for challenging the NHRA through refusing to adhere to the [Alternative Sanctioning Organization] agreement; an agreement used to allow non-NHRA events to be contested on their sanctioned tracks. He believes that by signing this agreement it opens up his series to be controlled by what he deems to be a “rival” series.

A reported missive is expected to be handed down today from the NHRA’s legal department ordering him to comply with the ASO procedures or face his host tracks losing their sanction if they host his events.

Sources indicate that neither side is budging days before the ADRL is set to open their season at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.

“I spoke with them [NHRA] yesterday and my position going forward is that we are in compliance with our insurance company and the laws that govern the United States of America and we’re not interested in being an ASO on any level,” Nowling said, when contacted by CompetitionPlus.com.

“I’m not trying to buck the system but the fact of the matter is; can you name one other company who lets a direct competitor dictate how they do business? The NHRA would never sign an agreement letting another series dictate to them how they set their rules and how they run their business.”

Nowling told CompetitionPlus.com that NHRA sanctioned tracks will contest the ADRL events regardless of what order is handed down from the NHRA. That assurance excludes one track, National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio, a facility owned by the NHRA.

“If the NHRA doesn’t want us to hold a race in Columbus, then we will relocate to a track that does,” Nowling added. “The other tracks are independently-owned facilities that we have agreements with. I’ve been given assurances that our dates are not in jeopardy. If any of the tracks decide they don’t want to have one, then we’ll just have to move.”

A source close to the NHRA told CompetitionPlus.com that the NHRA requires the various race series who stage events on their sanctioned tracks to submit their rulebooks in October of the previous season and likewise sign the ASO agreement.

Nowling said he submitted a copy of the ADRL rulebook last week at the request of the NHRA officials.

Prior to that he had been sent a letter from the NHRA dated January 22, 2009 requesting that he sign the agreement and submit a copy of the rulebook.

Nowling didn’t receive the letter until mid-February due to the combination of the letter being delivered to an old address and the ADRL President being outside of the country on business.

The NHRA responded to the ADRL rulebook and subsequently ordered Nowling to reduce his nitromethane percentage to 50% on the injected nitro doorslammer and resubmit the rulebook by February 26, 2009.

Nowling said the rules will not be changed.


The IHRA, who also sanctioned tracks, has said they follow the lead of the NHRA in this particular situation.

Jerry Archambeault, Vice President of NHRA Public Relations and Communications, says the sanctioning body is not ready to comment on the situation between the NHRA and ADRL. He did confirm that talks are ongoing behind the scenes but would not discuss the contents of those conversations. Likewise he couldn’t say if there was to be an edict handed down on Tuesday, as rumored.

Archambeault said the NHRA plans to address the situation with the media in the near future.

Nowling believes the NHRA’s next move should be in getting back to running their business and allowing him to run his.

“I don’t know what their next move is but I know I have an agreement with Houston Raceway Park and the Angel family has assured me that the event will take place,” Nowling added. “Short of a court order that says otherwise, which we would fight vigorously, we are finishing up our details and my team, as we speak, is headed to Baytown.

Got this from houstonarearacing.com this morning


From Dragracingonline.com

ADRL and NHRA in Turf War
By Jeff Burk

It has never been a secret that the NHRA jealously guards its status as the premier drag racing sanctioning body in the world. It is also not a secret that the organization has a history of trying to destroy anyone or anything that they perceive as a threat to them.

So it should come as no surprise to anyone that once the NHRA management perceived Kenny Nowling’s fledgling ADRL as a threat to their pre-eminence they began to use their not small influence and power to make it harder for the ADRL to operate on NHRA-owned and -sanctioned tracks.

For example, just a couple of years ago, when the ADRL was still holding races at smaller eighth-mile tracks in Texas such as Houston International and Texas Raceway near Dallas, the NHRA sent letters and emails to the operators of those tracks just a few days before their ADRL events were to begin telling them that if they ran the events the tracks could or would lose their NHRA sanction.

I personally witnessed this. I also personally witnessed the owners of those tracks refuse to buckle under to the NHRA and stage those races despite the possibility of losing their sanction. In both cases the races went on and the tracks stayed in the NHRA family. Once the NHRA granted the ADRL the coveted ASO (Associate Sanctioning Organization) status the parties seemed to have an uneasy truce. The ADRL was granted ASO status once it complied with the NHRA’s safety and insurance requirements, and adhered to the NHRA’s rules for their classes.

Touring sanctioning bodies like the Goodguys, the Super Chevy Show, and the Outlaw Fuel Altered Association -- all three of which have classes for cars that burn between 20% and 100% nitromethane -- have all been granted ASO status. Over the years these traveling road shows and the NHRA have co-existed mainly, many people believe, because on their best day none of the above sanctioning bodies have attracted enough racers, fans, TV audience or, most importantly, big-budget, corporate sponsorships to be a serious threat to the NHRA’s position as Numero Uno in the world of drag racing.

There can be no doubt, despite their feigned lack of interest in the ADRL, that NHRA sees a threat from that sanctioning body that they haven’t felt since the late Wally Parks and Dallas Gardner opened up their pocket books and race schedule to make sure that the Billy Meyer-owned IHRA couldn’t sanction any track that might be big enough to sustain an NHRA national event. Suddenly track owners who previously couldn’t get a call back from the NHRA were getting visits and national events.

Since its inception five years ago, Kenny Nowling and the talented people he has surrounded himself with have elevated the ADRL to the point that it has become the second most influential sanctioning body in drag racing. It has its own in-house magazine, tech department and sales staff, and will soon have its own one-hour TV show on the Versus Network with a Sunday time slot. The ADRL has attracted several major sponsors including the National Guard as a title rights holder.

The fact that ADRL races are drawing one-day crowds equal to or in some cases larger than those the NHRA attracts at the same venues. At least that is what the owners/promoters of venues such as Houston, Rockingham, and other tracks have said.

Now, evidently the NHRA has decided to go after the ADRL again. The NHRA, Houston Raceway Park and the ADRL are currently involved in a nasty fight concerning the ADRL season opener this weekend, March 6-7.

The issue is that apparently the NHRA woke up one morning and discovered that the ADRL allows nitro-injected powerplants burning a 94% load in the tank in their Pro Extreme class, and they seriously object to that. They want to limit the nitro percentage to a mix of 50%. Interestingly, the ADRL rule book has contained the rule for half a year or more. The fact is that the NHRA allows other series to race cars with up to 100% nitro (for example, fuel altered and AA/FC on the quarter mile), but they evidently think a state-of-the-art doorslammer limited to 94% on an eighth-mile track isn’t safe burning more than a 50% nitro/fuel mixture.
Over the last 55 years or so the NHRA has been able to leverage the fact that its national event races were the most profitable race that tracks like the Motorplex, HRP, Englishtown could have during a season. There weren’t any races that challenged the NHRA in terms of gross and profit, so that allowed the NHRA to dictate and control the tracks because the track owners couldn’t afford to lose the prestige and revenue that an NHRA race brought.

Over the years the NHRA has proven over and over that as a company they always put the racers safety before making a profit or putting on a race, right? So, putting the ADRL race at Houston in peril isn’t out of character for them, is it?

So why the grief? Maybe they suddenly realized that what the ADRL is going to offer its fans is a real, old-school, Nitro Funny Car. The ADRL fans, many of whom get their very first taste of drag racing at an ADRL race, are going to see and hear a real Nitro Funny Car with flames on a free ticket. For years Nitro Funny Cars have been an NHRA asset that major market fans could only see at an NHRA event. If the NHRA allow the ADRL have their version of Nitro Funny Cars, they lose that exclusivity.

But times are changing. Many tracks are owned by publicly traded corporations that demand a bigger yearly profit and have no particular loyalty to the NHRA. Many tracks on the NHRA national event schedule have full-time, year-round staffs and all the costs that come from that. That means those tracks need to stage as many unique and profitable races during the year as they can. Some track operators have simply ignored NHRA’s attempt to control their business and, so far, the NHRA apparently has not pressed the point.

So, if Houston Raceway Park has its ADRL race despite NHRA’s threatened sanctions, will the NHRA circus show up three weeks later for its race without a problem? Can the NHRA afford to lose a track and market such as Houston to make a point? You can bet that if the NHRA revokes the ADRL’s ASO privileges but allows the race to go on and then allows HRP to hold the NHRA national event, their power over the member tracks will be done.

In recent times no “alternative” sanctioning body has ever challenged the NHRA and lived to tell about it. But no sanctioning body in the history of drag racing (aside from the current NHRA) has had extremely wealthy owners like the ADRL does; owners who are willing and able to fight the NHRA in court if necessary. The last thing the NHRA needs is another loss and out-of-court settlement like they had with the Pro Stock Truck owners and Darrell Russell’s widow.

I hope and believe that in the end the management of the NHRA and the ADRL will find a way to resolve their issues so that no one loses face. The NHRA has got to come to grips with the idea that they are no longer all-powerful and that the sport needs series like the ADRL, Super Chevy Show, NMCA, and a strong Pro Mod series to survive and thrive. The NHRA isn’t NASCAR and can’t save drag racing by itself.