I think this is true. Look how hard SEMA had to work to keep Obama's EPA at bay. If SEMA hadn't been around the EPA would have made it illegal to change a muffler clamp on your car.
Now that I'm old I can say this. This discussion has been going on for decades. Racing seems to go through cyclical periods. Hot one year, cold the next. But the misconception here is that many think the health of drag racing is entirely based on "How many cars or how many people are coming to the national events?" There are only 24 national events. And those are geared toward the few who chose to run them and/or chase points, or the few that chose to go watch. It costs a fortune to attend them because the local hotels and everyone else bends the racers and fans over when racing is in town. I think NASCAR is feeling it worse than NHRA. There are tracks that are actually bulldozing grand stands because the optics of a complete section of empty grandstands covered by football field size tarps looks bad. It's happening at Daytona, Richmond and Dover. They are calling it "Right-Sizing" of facilities.
Just remember this. Every weekend there are races all across the country. There are more niche organizations now more than ever. I can build a 6 second altered and find a 6 second altered group to run with. I can build a nitro funny car and find a group of nitro funny cars to race with. Look how crowded Bakersfield is when they run. I can race a pro mod car on the west coast and find a pro mod association to run with. But these groups don't get the coverage the big show does. Unless you follow them you don't even know they exist. And no track is going to survive on one national event per year. They rely on the weekly racers and niche organizations like these to keep the gates open.
Back when I was bracket racing at OCIR and Irwindale we, as racers, were not race fans so we avoided national events. We would race the weekend before and the weekend after, and we might show up for one qualifying day at the big show but that was it. We weren't that interested in the crowds and standing around watching because we were more interested in our own stuff.
Bottom line is, even if the big show folded drag racing would still survive and the companies that provide products and services would still survive. Few manufacturers rely on 17 TF cars and 19 funny cars to stay in business. It's the thousands of independent racers that buy parts through places like Jegs and Summit that keeps them alive.
