Truth in Announcing

War Stories with Scott Kalitta

Common Misconceptions about Nitrous Oxide

Clutch University - Part 4

Sorting out Torque Converter Confusion -Part 3

Project Muscle – Piecing it all together

Super Stock Pontiac Diehard – John Clegg

Beadlock Wheels as explained by John D.

Tin Top Titles

Top Tin Titles Photo Gallery

World Drag Racing League?

The I-Card – Results delivered quickly

Ted Jones and the Inside Drag Racing Success

Interview with Tim Richards

Same Day Coverage – NHRA Chicago

Photo Gallery – NHRA Chicago

Same Day Coverage – AMS Pro Mods – Chicago

Same Day Coverage – IHRA Grand Bend

Photo Gallery – IHRA Grand Bend

Same Day Coverage – NHRA Columbus

NHRA Commerce

NHRA Commerce Photo Gallery

NSCA – Cecil County

NSCA Cecil County – Photo Gallery

NHRA – Bristol

NHRA – Bristol Photo Gallery

NHRA – AMS Bristol

NHRA – AMS Bristol Photo Gallery

We recently caught up with Bader on the eve of the IHRA ACDelco Nationals and he took the time to answer a few questions that have been floating around.

CP - Been a tough week for rumors, huh?

BB - It hasn’t been all that bad. We did have an onslaught of calls to our office regarding the hearsay that was floating around suggesting that we were going to a one-day format and booked-in shows, effectively doing away with open competition. That’s exactly why we issued a statement this weekend, to try and stop the negative talk that has surfaced.

CP - Are the rumors of you leaving the IHRA at Clear Channel’s request true? What’s your current relationship with Clear Channel?

BB - Clear Channel is as excited and supportive as they ever have been. They have taken the most interest that we’ve ever seen. They are great to work with. They care about what we’re doing. They came out in strength at our first two events this season. They have resources and enhancements that we don’t have available to work with. We are all in the same family. We are all part of the same team. We’re a division of Clear Channel and an important one. We have a lot of future potential in the works. Clear Channel wouldn’t be putting the time and effort into us that they are if they weren’t happy.

CP - So you’re saying that you have the support that you have always longed for from Clear Channel?

BB - They’ve always supported us. They just hadn’t been as visible or proactive. They just left me alone. The management at the Aurora, Ill., office didn’t want to meddle with what I was doing. I wanted their help in this sport because they had tremendous experience at putting on shows…365,000 of them a year. We are just 54 of those including our divisional races. We certainly have gotten caught up over the years of doing what we do every week that we didn't often look outside of that. They bring new ideas and a lot of supporting cast from the Aurora office.

I want it to be very clear that IHRA is Clear Channel. We are on the same team and we are the same company. There two offices, one in Aurora and one in Ohio.

CP - In the early days of Clear Channel’s involvement, did it bother you that they hadn’t been as proactive?

BB - Yes, it did. It really did. It took me a while to grasp the idea that they would give me as much lateral movement as I needed to get the job done. I had a lot of flexibility. Not from a standpoint of management, but in the way our system was working.

CP - Was the whole goal with the restructure of management earlier this year intended to take pressure off of you?

BB - Sure, it was. We started making those moves last November. It is now just starting to work. The machine is well oiled. You can see it in the attitude of the staff. We are as excited now as we were when we first took over in the late-Nineties. Now we have some clear cut structure, goals and a path to reach those goals. I have delegated authority to some of those various department heads to take care of those duties. I am now looking at tomorrow. For the first time, I’m not spending all of my time handling the day-to-day operations as much as I am handling the year-in and year out operations. Right now, for the first time in six years since I have been here, I am looking ahead to next year and the year after. I now have the time and luxury to develop a three-year plan and then a five year plan of where we want to be. There’s no question that we are going to make changes. We’ve made more changes to our show in five years than the NHRA has made in five decades. Look at the number of class changes that we’ve made in five years. Look at the changes they’ve made in 50 years. Look at the amount of tinkering with the program that we’ve done to improve our product. Please understand that the IHRA purse exceeds the back gate by double-digits…like two and three times. So if you’re going to pay that purse and it is going to go up…then we need front gate money to pay the back gate purse. That’s where event sponsor money comes in. We need to focus on all three entities - the racers, the spectator and the sponsor who sells his wares to the people we market to. You can’t forget the track operator, either. We need to put butts in the seats. When we don’t do that, the sponsors will leave. If there’s no one to market their product to, the sponsors will not be here. No matter how much people like our dislike us, our job is to fill the stands. That’s my job.

CP - You’ve made it known that you reserve the right to make changes to the program to improve the quality and profitability of the program. One of the rumors suggested that Clear Channel was going to do away with open competition and go to a booked-in, one-day show…

BB - We are sticking with our open competition show as I stated in my press release issued this week. We’ll continue to do our Night of Fire events where we book in a couple of jets and wheelstanders as a compliment to our national series. We do this for the smaller venues that cannot handle a national event, but are capable of a specialty event. It makes us more valuable to our tracks. We are at 96 tracks now. These are insurance carrying and officially sanctioned IHRA facilities. We just recently signed another one. Our goal is to bring 100 by the end of June. Right now, we are within four of attaining our goal. We’ve even joked if we get 99 that we’d go out and buy a track to make it 100. We only had about 30 when we took over and to be within striking distance of 100 is quite an increase. That brings with it racers…back gate support…contingency support…new readers for Drag Review…to think we are not going to do anything to not help those tracks would be very much incorrect thinking. That will not change the Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series as we know it. Will we make adjustments? Yes we will. We will continue to look for new and innovative ways to put butts in the seats. We will do what we have to do.

CP - Are you still having fun doing this and how long do you plan to do it?

BB - There’s a new challenge to doing this. I’ve never had the luxury before of just being able to focus on putting butts in the seats. I always had to worry about the other details. Now we have some damn good people running those details. I feel that we have the best team that the IHRA has ever had before in its 34 years. I let them do their jobs. I have the ability to now sit in the grandstands and see what the fans like and dislike. I’ve learned more in the last two races than I ever have. I used to do that at Norwalk but I haven't been able to do it since buying the IHRA. I am able to spend more time in the pits and I’m also able to devote more time to sponsorships than ever before. That started the middle or last season, but it manifested itself really in November.

CP - So where do you think these rumors started?

BB - I have a pretty good idea…but I won’t go on the record with it.

CP - What do you think the next rumors will be?

BB - I don’t think there will be any. I think once we get past Virginia that will end. I think it was all driven by the Pro Modified problem. I know it was.