Bill, you make some interesting points. I'm not sure you can lay the entire blame for the ways things have developed squarely at the feet of Glendora.
Harry Truman said it best: "The buck stops HERE."
Sure, Kenny Bernstein, John Force and DSR (among countless others) injected their own systems and M.O.'s into the mix, but did NHRA ever have the BALLS to "Man up" to the situation, and with a modicum of foresight, say, "No, we're not going to allow multi-car teams into the sport, nor will we allow Funny Car bodies that owe their shapes to a wind tunnel, rather than the OEM profiles they are supposedly patterned after, into competition."
Or, "PRO Stock engines must be based on production, assembly-line blocks, and ditto, the heads." "NO 'DRCE' or phoney-baloney "HEMI" designs that never came on a production "stock" car."
NHRA was in a position to do that, but chose not to.
They are proving, currently, with their iron fist, that they ABSOLUTELY CAN dictate what is and is not legal, with this last round of so-called "parity" they are dishing out in Pro Mod, with regard to engine sizes, car weights, and turbocharger specifications, even to the extent of dictating a "spec" turbocharger from a specific manufacturer (that cannot be modified.)
The "modern" NHRA ruling faction that this sport exists under, has always had that ability.
How is it then, that the sad, expensive, un-sustainable direction that drag racing has found itself in, can be the fault of ANYONE ELSE BUT NHRA???
They have built a financial "empire" that is run by suits who have never been down a drag strip in a race car, have NO experience in spotting trends and significant changes in the way things are done with regard to HOW that might change the sport, aand yet they think this thing will run itself???
Nope; sorry David... it's THEIR FAULT. Only THEY could have stopped the onslaught of multiple factors that have put the sport in the considerable decline it's in. But they didn't know HOW, and won't listen to outside advice (their paranoia trumps everything!) so I have to think it really IS their fault.
Insofar as the "no place to race" comment attributed to me, I have to clarify that: There's no place for ME to race that is "thanks to NHRA." I can take my bracket car (won't fit ANY NHRA Class) to a variety of non-sanctioned tracks here in Arkansas (no NHRA strips in this state) and have fun driving down the strip, but it's no thanks to NHRA.
That's not a part of my argument though; I never should have implied that.
W,J, said, "Auto racing at the professional level has become "Engineeing Entertainment."
So it has; but the blame for that lies, as you so aptly put it, squarely at the feet of the powers that be in Glendora, I think. It didn't have to be that way... but it is. An educated and forward-thinking managerial staff could have prevented a lot of it... but those people just weren't there. We got lawyers and finacial statisticians, instead.
Now, look at it...