Edwards & Young Racing – Seattle & Kent, WA.

NHRA tax return for 2008 indicates a good year – 2009 numbers bound to be worse – By Jeff Burk – Posted 21 Dec 09

Despite the significant increase in NHRA membership fees this year, suddenly their publication, National Dragster, has shrunk in physical size and thickness.  This also impacts the ad space for those using the publication as a sales tool.

What does NHRA say?  Well, you have to really search for it!  Scroll down on this NHRA.com page you will see how excited they are about the “new look” at:

http://www.nhra.com/blog/dragster-insider/2009/10/13/the-new-national-dragster,-phase-1-in-living-color/

Update 1 July 2009:

Well sports fans, the other shoe has dropped !  Last year to renew my competition number it was $25.  This year it is $50 for one year.  Couple that with the membership fee of $69 – required for a competition number – it now costs $119 annually to have a NHRA competition number. Few of you probably remember the days when a NHRA competition number was a minimal fee, with no membership required !

Sorry, but I just don’t believe the NHRA is subsidizing the Sportsman racer to keep our local bracket racing program going. In fact I believe it is the Sportsman racer that is keeping NHRA afloat through these tough economic times!
 
Roger Young

18 Mar 2009: I just got my NHRA membership renewal, and those fees have increased from $64 in 2008, to $69 today.

So much for NHRA holding down the costs to their members. While five bucks doesn’t sound like much, it is over a 7% increase for being allowed to be a member of NHRA.  Multiply that by the thousands of members across the nation and that is a significant amount of revenue to NHRA, provided their membership hasn’t been shrinking.

Your thoughts?

Roger Young

NHRA announces changes to competition fees – NHRA – 8 Apr 09
We attempted to warn you on March 18th, now its official, they are raising fees across the board! – Roger Young

Reply from NHRA:

27 Apr 09

We appreciate your email and acknowledge your disappointment in the recent announcement. NHRA has seen a dramatic increase in legal costs, insurance costs, and operational costs over the last decade, yet most of these fees have not been raised in more than a decade. NHRA has made every effort to keep fees flat, despite these rising costs. Because of our commitment to sportsman racing, NHRA has funded these rising costs all these years but must pass a portion of these costs on to the sportsman racers.

We assure you that it was a very difficult decision to raise these fees. In most cases, it represents a $60 annual increase for an individual racer. When amortized over the length of an average schedule, the increase only equates to a few dollars more per event. We understand the economic times we are in as it has a direct impact on all areas of NHRA’s business and, as a result, led to the need to increase fees. These increases will assist us in being able to continue to provide premier racing programs at the national, divisional and local level. In addition, the recent profitability of the organization will allow NHRA to weather the economy we are currently faced with.

Again, we appreciate your note and wanted you to know that it was read and acknowledged.

Jerry Archambeault

NHRA

Related articles:

Up Front: The Mess That Is The National Hot Rod Association by Jon Asher – Torco Racing Fuel’s Competition Plus.com – August 24, 2009

“…Despite a very obvious decline in Sportsman entries at the national events as well as some Lucas Oil points meets, the NHRA further endeared themselves to their base by announcing an increase in fees for those classes in early April of this year.  That produced a firestorm of anger, which was dutifully reported by this and other publications – and completely ignored by the NHRA.  It would have been humorous had the increases not been so ill-conceived and poorly timed.  It was as if the organization was saying, ‘We giveth with the right hand, and taketh away with the left.’  In other words, we’ll provide some discount tickets to the national events (which we applaud the organization for having done), but make up for those losses by forcing our most loyal customers to make up the difference.  If anyone doubts that, despite public pronouncements to the contrary, NHRA’s management doesn’t sometimes operate under the unspoken concept of ‘We can do anything we want to the Sportsman because they’re not only powerless, they’ll do anything to race,’ you simply haven’t been paying attention.  Some Sportsman are fighting back the only way they can – be declining to enter NHRA national events…”