Agree, I don't know the particulars of the sanctioning requirements either....but AHRA and IHRA were no less sufficient in the past, so I don't know why they wouldn't be less than equal to NHRA now. It isn't clear in the article, and it does have that undertone of "conform or be cast out".
What doesn't make sense to me, and part of my issue with the article was
1. The website classified it as "breaking news' and "commentary". Op-Ed yes, clearly; breaking news, not even close to "news". That's a bad start.
2. There's no evidence cited by the author of people "rooting for the demise" of the NHRA, or that people regard the NHRA as "the enemy"? As such, it comes off as any criticism is equated with this "rooting for the demise" of it. I've never seen anyone on this board wishing for the "demise" of NHRA. The author should refer to something specific that was said and make the case from that.
3. Talking about 90 minute oil down cleanup and "grainy TV coverage; I remember them and don't see the connection to what his premise seems to be - people are rooting for the NHRA to go away, and we better "be careful". Technology would have advanced neither in spite of or because of the sanctioning body.
4. I don't understand the premise that the alternate sanctioning bodies are dependent on NHRA infrastructure to survive. For example, do cable and fiber optic networks rely on the power company's survival simply because they are hooked up to their utility poles? Maybe infrastructure was the wrong term. I don't know.
Maybe it was just poorly written. Maybe the author will clarify some of these things. I hope so. For example, how would the criticism of the countdown and wishing it would go away (something I feel safe to say a majority of the fans agree with) be undermining the sanctioning body to the point of "demise"? Or that NHRA is "the enemy"? Nobody I know or have seen here wants that or feels that way.
I'd suggest that, perhaps, in a roundabout way, it could be said that NHRA has a near monopoly on the sport and this in and of itself creates unique problems.
Eric, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. As a journalist with over 40 years of experience, I believe "the author" has earned the right to share my opinion as well. I have also been a member of this site since well before the 2006 join date, it has listed. I am just usually busy with that "website" called CompetitionPlus.com that has been in publication since 1999,
So to respond to your points.
1. The way our publication is set up... anything we post on our online magazine has to be classified as "Breaking News" for our format to be on the front page. Putting it merely in the commentaries side, just like our rumor mill section, will not allow it to be seen. I clearly know the difference.
2. I didn't cite one source because there are many, and I never said it was an overwhelming majority. I merely said, "if you wish for the demise of NHRA, here are some of the consequences." And if you recall in the commentary, I said, there is not enough of a sample size to know if IHRA could pick up the slack. I've watched the AHRA fall, and my beloved IHRA buried up on Pet Semetary more times than all the people combined in the Stephen King movies.
3. I'm glad you remember those days because I do, too. Those are all issues that were advanced over the years of sanctioning bodies. NHRA took it to the next level.
4. If you cannot see the ASO issue, and to compare it to the power company and fiber optic is not even close. No power and none of it matters anyway. NHRA tracks, and those ASO's lose the very assets that make an NHRA track one worth having an event at.
Maybe in your opinion is was poorly written. That's the great thing about America, you are entitled to that.
Just to clear up any misconceptions, my commentary had zero to do with Nitromater, because as I said earlier, I was one of the first five members of this website that came along a few years after we launched CompetitionPlus.com in September 1999. Maybe you know no one that feels that way, but in my vast reach in this drag racing world, I have seen different than you and all I wanted to say was merely, "Be careful of what you wish for... the consequences might not be so pleasant."
"The Author"
