NHRA PRESIDENT TOM COMPTON ON

NATIONAL TRAILRACEWAY, NORWALK

RACEWAY PARK AND THE FUTURE

COMPPLUS:  What precipitated the decision to go from National Trail, an NHRA owned facility, to one owned by a third party?

COMPTON:  You have to look at al factors in making this kind of decision.  The driving force of the decision is the physical location of the Norwalk track.  We feel it’s going to pull from a broader area in terms of population.  We’ll be into southern Michigan and up into Detroit while stilling hitting Columbus, we’ll still hit Pittsburgh, and, of course, the track’s in between Cleveland and Toledo, so we just think it’s going to optimize the coverage for the NHRA POWERade Series.

COMPPLUS:  What’s the planned future for National Trail Raceway?

COMPTON:  The plan is to keep it one of the most active sportsman tracks in the country.  We’ll have a Lucas Oil event there, the Jeg’s Sportsnationals, the Summit Series will still be there and a host of other events.  We’ll also have some of the street legal events.  It’s going to be a very active race track.  We plan on keeping it an NHRA track indefinitely.

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COMPPLUS:  So you have no plans on selling that facility?

COMPTON:  Absolutely none.  Let me emphasize that.  We are not selling National Trail Raceway.

COMPPLUS:  How long is your agreement with the Baders?

COMPTON:  I don’t usually get into those details, but I can tell you it’s a long term arrangement.

COMPPLUS:  You’ve visited this facility, so what do you think it needs to bring it up to NHRA specs in terms of hosting a national event?

COMPTON:  There are a number of things, but the first thing that comes to mind is a lot more paving in the pro pits, and more paving for the Nitro Alley manufacturers area.  Over the next three or four years they’re going to be making significant improvements to the facility.

COMPPLUS:  This is going to be a July 4th date, so is that the weekend before July 4th, or the one after?

COMPTON:  We haven’t announced a schedule yet.  We’ll do that on Wednesday.  Everything will make a lot more sense when we announce the schedule.           

We’re excited about this.  Norwalk Raceway Park has a long history up there and again, I think we’ll be able to get to markets we haven’t been able to reach in the past while still covering the Columbus markets.  The Baders have done a good job at NRP over trhe years, and we’re pleased to have them join the NHRA family.

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