Yeah, that brought a paying crowd. (add an eye roll emoji here) That was the equivalent of street racing on a drag strip for their own money. (I am a Stevie Jackson fan.)
Why would NHRA ever pay money like that unless they could get JFR, CFR and DSR to pay 50k additional per car entry to race? Pro golf does that.
DRO used to annually post NHRA's tax return since non-profit's tax returns are public record. The money collected vs. their expenses wasn't that out of line in comparison to other non-profits. Nor was the money so large that they should/could highly increase the purse. The return on that investment wouldn't make financial sense.
Besides, why would NHRA do that when they get all the cars they need for their "show". Yes, the nitro car counts were weak and NHRA slightly bumped their money to get it back to full fields.
But when Pro Mod badly wanted to be in the NHRA show, they had to find their own money to race for. Things like that bode badly for the Sportsman classes ever seeing much of a raise.
Apparently NHRA looked at their data and decided Pro Stock wasn't pulling their weight in spectator draw. Now Pro Stock has fewer races and NHRA's show and ticket sales apparently work just fine at the tracks without Pro Stock.
It's all about what brings value to the bottom line or NHRA will go the way of IHRA and AHRA. NHRA is smart to be careful in this financial climate and we do want them to stay around for a long, long time. Besides, Alan deserves a raise.