Adding expertise on a board is not necessarily sinister.
Dale, keep in mind that both the continued employment and salary of the existing members as well as that of these added members is totally controlled by these board members only. Not by any stockholders, not by any private owners, just the board members themselves.
Unlike most non-profits, with that 80's vote the NHRA eliminated any ability by its members to remove board members if they were not performing well.
This is not a healthy situation, as the wide majority of both for profit and non-profit companies generally have some mechanism by which poorly performing board members can be removed, and this is an important and necessary function to keep companies from getting run into the ground by poor management.
The current NHRA board pulled a fast one on its members by eliminating this important safety valve with the 80's vote they held.
The NHRA board is essentially now a "closed club" and I'm sure the general rule of action is "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". It would be very unlikely that they would bring in any additional board members that would shake things up, very likely they were carefully selected members that already had close contacts with this "closed club" and will strengthen it against any possible attack from the outside world.
Chris, just to help clarify this situation, I'm not one guy alone with a crackpot conspiracy theory on this stuff. For better or worse (mostly worse) its just the way it is. I've had several contacts from current NHRA members, a couple from pro teams, who have interacted with me on this topic and have filled in some historical things I didn't know, but nobody has disputed any of the statements I have written regarding ownership and operation of the NHRA.
One contact, a current NHRA member who wishes to remain anonymous, did go in to his own pocket to fund an initial look at the situation by a nationally known legal authority on non-profit companies. I'm not comfortable giving any details on what the attorney said, but the overall summary was that the NHRA was likely on shakey ground in several areas. The 80's vote they conducted that removed members voting rights was one area and multiple aspects of the way that they are currently operating the NHRA as "business league" were additional shakey areas. Unfortunately this member didn't have the funds to continue any legal actions, but the overall message was clear that it may be possible for NHRA members to regain the board member voting rights they once had.
Its important for members to understand this. The current board members do not own the NHRA, no one does, its a free-standing non-profit organization.
By its own mandate it must do a good job of providing a safe drag racing environment for its members.
If its not doing a good job at this, there is a legal precident for the NHRA members to take action to restore the voting rights that were removed from them and use those rights to replace the current board members.
