It’s a Catch-22 situation. And the politest thing NHRA Funny Car racer and two-car nitro team owner Terry Haddock can say about it is it’s absurd.

He made the cut Saturday for the Nevada Nationals at Las Vegas in his fourth and final qualifying opportunity. But after the day’s activity was finished, he learned the NHRA disqualified his decisive pass, consequently bumping him from Sunday’s eliminations. Jeff Arend replaced him as the No. 16 starter.

“We got screwed. I don't know what you can and can't say. There's no grownups left in the room. So when you say the facts of what the truth is, it doesn't seem to matter,” Haddock said Sunday morning at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Josh Peterson, the sanctioning body’s vice-president of racing administration, said the reason for the disqualification was a “technical infraction.” One of the body latches on the front of his car had come off, and the decision, Haddock was told, was safety-related.

Haddock, who said he was unaware of the issue from inside in the cockpit of his car at the starting line, contended that the official starter – who was aware of the problem with the latch – gave him the thumbs-up, signaling that he was cleared to make the run.   

“We did a burnout. We backed up. And when the [crew] guy went to shut the body after the burnout, one of the body latches pulled out. Well, when the body latch pulled out, he actually went to stick it back in. And then one of the other guys said, ‘If it comes out and gets under a tire, somebody gets killed, someone gets hurt.’ So I wasn't aware that this was even happening. It happened so quick,” Haddock said. “The starter saw it, pointed at it, my guys, whatever they did with it, and then the starter gave my guys a thumbs up afterwards.

“So they let me go. And the frustrating part is later they say, ‘OK. The rulebook says you have to have two body latches. It's a safety thing,’” he said.

Haddock said, “I understand safety . . . and for how many years did Funny Cars only have one body latch and it was never an issue? So saying it's a safety issue is bull---t. Saying it's a rule, that's another thing. And I'm fine with that. But I'm unaware of what's going on in the car. If the starter gives my guys a thumbs up, the starter is the last guy in charge up there. If NHRA doesn't have someone that has intelligence up there to stop something that they deem unsafe, what are we doing here?

“You're expecting professionalism from me,” he said. “Where's it on the other side? So in a professional world, if you're expecting me to accept the consequences, OK, you didn't have two body latches, but who's accepting the consequences that you let me run?”

The decision cut Haddock’s expected paycheck in half.

“At this race, if you make more qualifying attempts and qualify, first-round loser money is $13,000, which isn't near enough money, but it is a step that way. So we're grateful for that. Well, because they disallowed my run, now, I'm bumped back to 19, which is $6,500,” he said.

The Temple, Texas-based businessman’s position is that he believes he did his part to provide entertainment value but once the sanctioning body got what it wanted, his shelf life had expired.

“I made all four qualifying attempts. I made the show. The fans are here for a show. They got to have their show. They're looking for the drama, the excitement: Who's going to bump who? Who's going to do what? Can he make it down the racetrack? Can he do this? Can he do that? So they capitalize on all of that, and then two hours later, they come over to me and say, ‘We got some bad news. Your run is disallowed.’ But they got their show. So I went and spent money with you.

“Now, I wasn't aware of the situation, and if I was, I would have yelled and screamed until my guy jammed that thing [latch] in the damn hole and we would have ran this car, but then they would have said, ‘Oh, you did something unsafe because your body latch could fall out.’ So there was a no-win,” he said.

“At the end of the day, if NHRA doesn't have a professional on the starting line, they can deem something safe unsafe, good, bad. If you're telling me you're worried about me killing people, in the real world, you let me do it. So now I'm sitting here with no money, scratching my head how I'm going to pay the bills,” Haddock said.

“I work my ass off to keep being out here. We do this because we love it. I bring all these people [crew members] out here. Everybody works hard. Everybody's off from work. This isn't no big-dollar thing,” Haddock said. “And now I'm sitting here going, ‘How am I going to pay the nitro bill for making four runs?’ And is that fair?

“They're happy to have me fill in the field when they have no cars,” Haddock, who also fields a Top Fuel entry, said. “But here I am. And again, I understand rules. I'm a reasonable guy, but if you're going to tell me that we have to be grownups and professional, where's the professional? He's the official starter. He's a guy with some credibility, right? So why if he saw something dangerous . . . [have the car shut off? Instead, he said,] ‘Sorry. Run it.’

“You got your whole show out of it – big interviews, the whole thing, the drama, the excitement, everything that the sport needs. And then he kicked me in the b---s two hours later,” Haddock said.

“You know, I don't know what to think of all of this,” he said, “because we should be all working together to move forward, right? If you want the sport to grow, you need to grow with it.” He said that won’t happen “if you're over here doing stupid s--t to the teams that are trying to make this thing grow. I don't see a line of new people out there trying to get into NHRA drag racing. We've got my son going to start driving soon. He might be the future of this. Why am I doing it? If you don't want me here, just say, ‘Stay home.’ Save me the money. But this is dumb.

He reiterated that he understands that “a rule is a rule” and said, “I wasn't aware of it, of the latch being broken. And had I been, I'd have said, ‘Jam that thing in the freaking hole. We're going to run this car. But then that would have been a bad decision. As a racer, as a competitor, as a tuner or anything you want to say, if the man holding the starter button tells me it's OK, it must be okay. Or that man shouldn't be holding the button – because if you're sitting there, saying I'm doing something dangerous. It just doesn't make sense. But what's crazy is you're asking for professionalism from me, but not from you. You're asking for consequences from me, but not from you. It's bulls—t,” Haddock said.

He said he had planned to go to the season finale at Pomona, Calif., in two weeks but had to wonder Sunday morning, “What do I do? We've already bought plane tickets. We buy hotels ahead of time to save money. So do I throw all that money away? We're out here trying to court sponsors and grow this thing. For what? But you also realize when you make me look like a d---head to the whole world, like I'm breaking rules and doing s—t, how does that show that the sanctioning body gives a crap that you want us here? Do you want us to grow? Because I bet you they didn't get on the TV and say, ‘Our starter let him go anyway.’

“The whole thing is just getting me madder the more I think about it. And I'm trying to be a grown up about it, but sometimes it's really hard. You know what I mean?” Haddock said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”