At the end of the racing season NHRA and NOPI made a joint announcement about the future of Sport Compact racing that, from the general reaction of the competitors, was not well received. 

 

In truth, Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com has heard rumors of a possible legal action that was to have apparently been taken along the lines of the one instituted and ultimately settled by the NHRA Pro Stock Truck competitors.  

At the end of the racing season NHRA and NOPI made a joint announcement about the future of Sport Compact racing that, from the general reaction of the competitors, was not well received.  In truth, Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com has heard rumors of a possible legal action that was to have apparently been taken along the lines of the one instituted and ultimately settled by the NHRA Pro Stock Truck competitors.  From the tone of the following announcement from the NHRA on November 21st, it’s apparent that the sanctioning body must have received a considerable amount of negative feedback from the Sport Compact racing community, and has reacted accordingly. 

The following is the complete text of the press release short of the usual paragraphs at the announcement’s conclusion regarding the makeup of NHRA and NOPI:

GLENDORA, CA 11/21/07  Following up on its announcements at the 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, NHRA ands NOPI have further clarified NHRA’s role, specific to racing operations, at “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned by NHRA” events.

“We believe the announcement earlier this month is a logical step for sport compact drag racing,” said Gary Darcy, senior vice president of sales and marketing, NHRA.  “We wanted, along with Michael Meyers and his team at NOPI, to clarify NHRA’s position to reassure the racers of our continued involvement in sport compact racing.”

Among the points include:

At “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned by NHRA” events, the competition will be conducted under NHRA’s rules and procedures with NHRA race and tech officials on-site at those events.

NHRA will write the “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned by NHRA” Rulebook with input from NOPI.

The NHRA Tech Committee will remain in place to oversee all rules and rule changes at “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned by NHRA” events.

At minimum, NHRA will have a race official and tech official at each “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned buy NHRA” event.

NHRA’s race official will have final jurisdiction over all on-track and competition questions and activities.

NHRA’s safety guidelines will be in place at “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned by NHRA” events.

NHRA will calculate and award championship points at “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned by NHRA” events.

As in years past, certain classes of racers will be required to be an NHRA Sport Compact member to receive points towards a championship.  In addition, certain classes of racers must have a current NHRA license.

Questions regarding NHRA’s role specific to the “NOPI Drag Racing Series sanction by NHRA” events can be sent via e-mail to Gary Raasch at graash@nhra.com.  As announced, NOPI will continue to run events at non-NHRA member tracks.  Those events will not be under the supervision and guidance of NHRA and competitors will not earn championship points at those events.  Questions regarding NOPI should be sent via e-mail to Glen Woods at glennw@nopi.com.

The capitalization of the words “Sport Compact” or lack thereof is as those words appear in the release.

Interestingly, from the gist of this release it’s doesn’t appear as if the NHRA plans to have a truly major presence at these events.  Further, since some of the events will be contested at non-NHRA sanctioned facilities at which no championship points will be awarded, we’re forced to wonder how much competitor support those events might attract.

As a possible indication of where the Sport Compact series is in terms of competitor interest, when those cars appeared as part of the NHRA POWERade Series the turnout was often anemic.  For example, at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, the largest and most prestigious event of the year, only four Pro RWD entries appeared along with just six Pro FWD machines.