---MARCH MADNESS OF A DIFFERENT VARIETY, NHRA LOSING ITS GRIP ON REALITY---
NHRA has done a lot of really stupid things over the years but asking three-time world champion Larry Dixon to remove a sponsor sticker because it promoted an event at a non-NHRA track is pretty damn asinine.
There are so many reasons this was a poor decision by Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Graham Light. First of all, let's think about the show NHRA currently presents to its fans. For a pricey $74 a head, fans attending this weekend's Gatornationals get to watch 15 Top Fuel dragsters compete for the trophy. That's the same number of dragsters that showed up at the first two races of the season. A full field, of course, requires 16 entries, so fans have yet to see that this year.
Racing for the first time as a team owner/driver, Dixon managed to make it out to this event with a little help from Lucas Oil and Cordova International Raceway, the offending group he was forced to remove from his car. The rest of his expenses, in fact the majority of his expenses, are coming out of his own pocket.
Longtime fans will remember that Dixon started as a crew guy and worked his way into the driver's seat of Don "the Snake" Prudhomme's dragster. He wasn't born rich and hasn't become wealthy as a driver. He's racing because he loves the sport, and his sponsors and fans love his passion.
The sticker he was forced to remove promoted the 64th annual World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova, which takes place Aug. 25-27, and therefore does not conflict with any NHRA national event. Cordova is an IHRA track, the sticking point of this whole deal.
"Once upon a time, like back in the '70s, there was a big rivalry between NHRA and IHRA," Dixon said. "But that was 40-plus years ago. The IHRA is sportsman only this year. They are running zero pro categories. The World Series deal is a one-off spectator show. I can't understand how the NHRA can feel threatened in any way by this deal."
Ironically, and in a delicious twist of fate, the stink raised by the laughable insecurities of NHRA has given the World Series of Drag Racing way more publicity than it would have received if nothing had ever been said. Several major news outlets have picked up the story, making NHRA look utterly pathetic for forcing Dixon's hand.
Peter Clifford and staff, please listen to the fans -- worry about things that directly affect the product you are selling and leave the racers to raise the funding they need to keep this circus tent up. You are the King Kong of drag racing. This event isn't going to affect your bottom line in any way. You have incomplete pro fields, for goodness sake. If Dixon wasn't here you'd have 14 dragsters. Please let common sense prevail.
Rob Geiger