Jeff Wolf on "Force Hood's absence, lawsuit hurt NHRA"

[none]

Bruce,

I don’t know what business you are in but it doesn’t really matter. One of the oldest rules of success is “Don’t hire a $10 guy to do a $2 job” And the reverse is true as well. Do you want a minimum wage guy running a 120 million dollar a year corporation? Do you have any idea what Tom was hired to do? The board had specific goals in mind when Tom took over and he has met and is exceeding them. The organization is stronger now than it was then. In any position I have ever held or hired someone for, expectations and goals are set out and there is a reward for achievement. If I do a good job, I get a raise or a bonus. If I increase productivity, I get a reward. If I hire a salesman I want him to make a million dollars a year. Because if he does, he is making me money as well.

There are about five of you guys that are keeping these threads running and you have convinced yourselves that you have your finger on the pulse, but the reality is that the VAST majority think Tom and his team have done and are doing a good job.

One last thing, will someone please cough up the evidence that shows Dallas putting in only an hour a week? It’s like the Bentley thing. Somebody heard it somewhere and now you are convinced that it must be true. It’s a crock.

Alan

Once Again, I am speaking strictly for myself. I am NOT the NHRA spokesman.

 

[none]

Hey! Just like you don't like being painted as the "NHRA", I sure most of us don't like being lumped together either...

Hey Chris,

If you never mention the fictious (sp) Bentley, you won't be in that lump-LOL

And yes, I defend the company that I believe in, I would guess that if your company was being falsely attacked you would do the same,

Alan

 

[Raconteur]

One last thing, will someone please cough up the evidence that shows Dallas putting in only an hour a week? It’s like the Bentley thing. Somebody heard it somewhere and now you are convinced that it must be true. It’s a crock.

Alan, the year in question is 2008, and the NHRA Federal Tax Return shows that Dallas Gardner worked 10 hours per week.

 

[none]

Thank You Darr,

That's ten times more than is being reported.

Alan

 

[Raconteur]

So everyone can check the real story before posting:

2004 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2005 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2006 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2007 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2008 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2009 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

All in Drag Racing Online...

 

[Paul]

These guys (the board members) really think they own the NHRA, I guess they've been pushing that BS and members have been swallowing it long enough that they now even believe it themselves, look at the quote from the article regarding the 2009 return:

"One NHRA executive asked me privately why my readers and the racers were interested in their tax return and did I think it was any of their business?"

 

[clwill]

That's ten times more than is being reported.

Really? The complaint letter says 10 hours a week.

Whatever it says, Alan, you're going to have a tough sell getting people to believe that someone being paid $650/hour (Dallas) is worth it. I understand that executive help is worth that, and many times that in some cases. But your average racer, who is struggling to pay for a new fuel pump is going to have a tough time understanding that sitting on NHRA's board for an hour could have paid for it.

And your comment about Compton exceeding his goals and objectives is a good one... perhaps. Perhaps if the organization and its "members" knew what his goals/objectives were, they might agree? Perhaps it would help if the organization's board operated a little more openly, with annual reports on the state of the sport, openness about their goals for the sport, more than a simulated "sportsman racers council" for input, that kind of thing?

I get the feeling that this is largely a communication problem. If the NHRA board, and Tom Compton in particular, were far more visible, far more open, far more genuinely interested in what the racers (pro and amateur) have to say, this would all blow over. 90% of people problems are communication problems, the NHRA board could fix a lot by communicating a lot better with the people they rely on to keep it going.

 

[Nunz]

I also think there are many things that the NHRA could do much better. But, it seems to me that too many people are wanting to see the downfall of the NHRA, as if suddenly all would be right with drag racing. As far as Compton goes, the guy's running a 100+Mil a year company, who cares if he drives a Bentley?

 

[BigDaddyB]

So everyone can check the real story before posting:

2004 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2005 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2006 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2007 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2008 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

2009 NHRA Federal Tax Return Form 990

All in Drag Racing Online...

Darr,

You know these tax returns might be somebody's cup of tea. All the more power to them for doing the detective work. I think if there was more transparency. What's wrong with an annual report to the membership. What is wrong with Mr. Compton coming forth with a letter to the membership that states the highs and lows and where need to concentrate our efforts in making it bigger, greater and happier. I quite sure everybody for or against the current leadership would like hear something in regard to the NHRA. Problem is nobody has been asking any questions. Nobody has been forth coming telling any truthes.

 

[clwill]

As far as Compton goes, the guy's running a 100+Mil a year company, who cares if he drives a Bentley?

He doesn't drive a Bentley! He took a ride in a wealthy racer's Bentley a couple of years ago, people saw him, and POOF, he suddenly drives a Bentley. Dear God, people LET IT GO!

 

[BigDaddyB]

Bruce,

I don’t know what business you are in but it doesn’t really matter. One of the oldest rules of success is “Don’t hire a $10 guy to do a $2 job” And the reverse is true as well. Do you want a minimum wage guy running a 120 million dollar a year corporation? Do you have any idea what Tom was hired to do? The board had specific goals in mind when Tom took over and he has met and is exceeding them. The organization is stronger now than it was then. In any position I have ever held or hired someone for, expectations and goals are set out and there is a reward for achievement. If I do a good job, I get a raise or a bonus. If I increase productivity, I get a reward. If I hire a salesman I want him to make a million dollars a year. Because if he does, he is making me money as well.

There are about five of you guys that are keeping these threads running and you have convinced yourselves that you have your finger on the pulse, but the reality is that the VAST majority think Tom and his team have done and are doing a good job.

One last thing, will someone please cough up the evidence that shows Dallas putting in only an hour a week? It’s like the Bentley thing. Somebody heard it somewhere and now you are convinced that it must be true. It’s a crock.

Alan

Once Again, I am speaking strictly for myself. I am NOT the NHRA spokesman.

Alan,

I'm not knew to the leadership game. I was a Tank Commander on M1A1 Tank, Master Gunner which probably has no meaning to you. Never once did I get on my tank an brief my crew on what the object was, how we were going to achieve the objective, where was, and how we were going to get there. Being a Master Gunner you plan the tank gunnery program for the Battalion/Squadron. The planning encompasses all the basic combat skills, basic gunnery skills, advanced gunnery skills, and conducting a live fire qualification for every tank in your unit. This plan is distrubuted to all people in that unit. After all that has been completed an afrter actions report generated so that learn from your mistake and revel in your successes. Leadership is making sure that everybody is engaged, informed, and prepared to accomplish the mission. Just like you if do not tell your people what your goals, provide them the necessary tools to accomplish the goal, and provide with time to accomplish the goal. We had saying in the military Piss Poor Planning Provides for Poor Performance. If the leader cannot communicate to his audience what is going on in Past, Present, and Future he is doomed to failure.

 

[BigDaddyB]

Alan,

I'm not knew to the leadership game. I was a Tank Commander on M1A1 Tank, Master Gunner which probably has no meaning to you. Never once did I get on my tank an brief my crew on what the object was, how we were going to achieve the objective, where was, and how we were going to get there. Being a Master Gunner you plan the tank gunnery program for the Battalion/Squadron. The planning encompasses all the basic combat skills, basic gunnery skills, advanced gunnery skills, and conducting a live fire qualification for every tank in your unit. This plan is distrubuted to all people in that unit. After all that has been completed an afrter actions report generated so that learn from your mistake and revel in your successes. Leadership is making sure that everybody is engaged, informed, and prepared to accomplish the mission. Just like you if do not tell your people what your goals, provide them the necessary tools to accomplish the goal, and provide with time to accomplish the goal. We had saying in the military Piss Poor Planning Provides for Poor Performance. If the leader cannot communicate to his audience what is going on in Past, Present, and Future he is doomed to failure.

Alan,

You say the vast majority of members believe that the current leadership group is doing a bang up job I would offer this if there is any document out there that documents the accomplishments and progress besides a tax return tell where I can find it. If we are going just the by word of somebody then I have some oceanfront property in Arizona I have for sale with a beautiful view of California Island.

 

[Paul]

I get the feeling that this is largely a communication problem. If the NHRA board, and Tom Compton in particular, were far more visible, far more open, far more genuinely interested in what the racers (pro and amateur) have to say, this would all blow over. 90% of people problems are communication problems, the NHRA board could fix a lot by communicating a lot better with the people they rely on to keep it going.

I think Chris makes a very strong point here about how the current boards lack of communcation with the NHRA members causes significant problems.

The current board acts as though they have no responsibility at all to even make an effort to engage in this kind of communication (see the quote in my last post).

I believe they not only have the responsibility to actively engage in this kind of communication, but also to use the membership input that comes back to direct their decisions for the NHRA, that's the way the organization was designed to work.

 

[Nunz]

Eeeeasy Christopher. My point was more, "who cares what he drives?", rather than substantiating a Bentley. BTW, is is a Bentley GT? I like those...

 

[clwill]

Eeeeasy Christopher. My point was more, "who cares what he drives?", rather than substantiating a Bentley. BTW, is is a Bentley GT? I like those...

Sorry, but as Alan notes the whole Bentley thing is WAY old.

I like the Bentley GT too...

 

[BigDaddyB]

Who is the Chief Financial Officer, Who signs the tax returns, who prepares the returns, and finally has there ever been any internal audits to make sure employee's don't have their hands in the cookie jar. Most t $100 million dollar companies I know of have an accounting professional in their organization to properly account for the money brought in, standardize all accounting methods used, install audit controls to stop fraud, waste and abuse, and be the man in charge when issues of where money is spent, who spends the money, why it was spent, and signs the annual report and tax returns. This is business 101.

 

[NHRADeuce]

Alan,

I'm not knew to the leadership game. I was a Tank Commander on M1A1 Tank, Master Gunner which probably has no meaning to you. Never once did I get on my tank an brief my crew on what the object was, how we were going to achieve the objective, where was, and how we were going to get there. Being a Master Gunner you plan the tank gunnery program for the Battalion/Squadron. The planning encompasses all the basic combat skills, basic gunnery skills, advanced gunnery skills, and conducting a live fire qualification for every tank in your unit. This plan is distrubuted to all people in that unit. After all that has been completed an afrter actions report generated so that learn from your mistake and revel in your successes. Leadership is making sure that everybody is engaged, informed, and prepared to accomplish the mission. Just like you if do not tell your people what your goals, provide them the necessary tools to accomplish the goal, and provide with time to accomplish the goal. We had saying in the military Piss Poor Planning Provides for Poor Performance. If the leader cannot communicate to his audience what is going on in Past, Present, and Future he is doomed to failure.

NHRA has an annual employee meeting where this kind of thing is discussed. You don't seriously believe that a $100M+ a year company gets by with no plan?

Who is the Chief Financial Officer, Who signs the tax returns, who prepares the returns, and finally has there ever been any internal audits to make sure employee's don't have their hands in the cookie jar. Most t $100 million dollar companies I know of have an accounting professional in their organization to properly account for the money brought in, standardize all accounting methods used, install audit controls to stop fraud, waste and abuse, and be the man in charge when issues of where money is spent, who spends the money, why it was spent, and signs the annual report and tax returns. This is business 101.

Peter Clifford was CFO, but apparently he has a new title. I'll go out on a limb and say that he is still the one in charge of the purse strings. NHRA has an entire accounting department like any other company that size. What makes you think they don't?

 

[vonB]

B...There are about five of you guys that are keeping these threads running and you have convinced yourselves that you have your finger on the pulse, but the reality is that the VAST majority think Tom and his team have done and are doing a good job.
...

Alan
...

What is the source of that statistic?...I do know that at one time ( around the 70's) the NHRA was very unprofessional in its internal business environment. Undeniably it is more sophisticated now, however without accountability, it is impossible to argue that it is as good as it should be. It is still easy to show examples of knee jerk decision making and PR that is not on the level of professional sports management.

 

[Gutte]

I don't post very much, I love to read and do research in my spare time since there's 2" of ice and it snows every 5 days here in Brownsburg. This IRS deal caught my attention. I love our freedom of speech, some comments are ridiculus, some informational, some flat out funny. Asa kid one thing stuck with me.....Hypothesis, Theory, and LAW. So in the last few weeks I've researched this 9 page letter, the lawyer who composed it, all the lawyer firm's members and associates,what cases they've been involved in and the IRS's outlook on Non-profit entities. I suggest some people do the same...Especially the ones who are paid to do research as their profession, those comments urk me the most. I came up with a possible 12 red flags in that 9 page letter, the least concern is compton's pay. There's 2 million not for profit companies that don't pay taxes, IRS doesn't provide manpower to oversee these 909 forms. In June of last year the IRS said they were going to start investigating 501 status entities. In research they basically were asking for the public to turn in any "suspected companies" so they can review their status. This sportsman racer did that. Whats scary is if/when this can of worms get's open how far does the IRS go? It states in the article about cash exchanging hands and it goes to NHRA, then to payouts, track compensation, sponser returns, etc. Will all racers that recieved winnings get scrutitnized? I don't think many dedicated pro/sportsman racers filed their racing winnings as non-profit. They filed them as income as a racing business and recieved winnings from a Non-Profit company(money laundering, hard to trace cash,no paper trail) really the least of my concerns is Compton's pay, Rienharts right, he's done a great job of organizing NHRA into its current form, but is it a business or a not for profit business league organization? I believe there will be a Re-organization, 501 status will change......Change is what concerns me, I am really worried about the sportsman racer, people who have/make the money will find away not the lose it, whatever little benefits a member has now will change. Thats what I took on Wolf's reference to Boardmembers to step down, start re-organizing now, for the benefit of the racer, that's what I believe Wally stood for.

 

[BigDaddyB]

I don't post very much, I love to read and do research in my spare time since there's 2" of ice and it snows every 5 days here in Brownsburg. This IRS deal caught my attention. I love our freedom of speech, some comments are ridiculus, some informational, some flat out funny. Asa kid one thing stuck with me.....Hypothesis, Theory, and LAW. So in the last few weeks I've researched this 9 page letter, the lawyer who composed it, all the lawyer firm's members and associates,what cases they've been involved in and the IRS's outlook on Non-profit entities. I suggest some people do the same...Especially the ones who are paid to do research as their profession, those comments urk me the most. I came up with a possible 12 red flags in that 9 page letter, the least concern is compton's pay. There's 2 million not for profit companies that don't pay taxes, IRS doesn't provide manpower to oversee these 909 forms. In June of last year the IRS said they were going to start investigating 501 status entities. In research they basically were asking for the public to turn in any "suspected companies" so they can review their status. This sportsman racer did that. Whats scary is if/when this can of worms get's open how far does the IRS go? It states in the article about cash exchanging hands and it goes to NHRA, then to payouts, track compensation, sponser returns, etc. Will all racers that recieved winnings get scrutitnized? I don't think many dedicated pro/sportsman racers filed their racing winnings as non-profit. They filed them as income as a racing business and recieved winnings from a Non-Profit company(money laundering, hard to trace cash,no paper trail) really the least of my concerns is Compton's pay, Rienharts right, he's done a great job of organizing NHRA into its current form, but is it a business or a not for profit business league organization? I believe there will be a Re-organization, 501 status will change......Change is what concerns me, I am really worried about the sportsman racer, people who have/make the money will find away not the lose it, whatever little benefits a member has now will change. Thats what I took on Wolf's reference to Boardmembers to step down, start re-organizing now, for the benefit of the racer, that's what I believe Wally stood for.

Jeremy,

I believew your are right when you assert that a person should do there research prior to making an opinion about this matter. You need to go to State of California, Coporations Code, Chapter 2 or 3, Coporation for Mutual Benefit, Section 7150-7153, now after reading the law, ask yourself is the NHRA in compliance with the state law. This law was enacted in 1980. So this not some law enacted in the 50's , 60's , 70's, which some would say has not revelance today's environment. I believe the way you start out is the way you finish up. If you're late on the tree, in all probably you will be late at the big end.