I guess $$$$ TALK

Did Alan Johnson SELL OUT our US ARMY and DSR? What do you think?
This is just a question boys and girls. Please read the NHRA.com article in detail.

 

No. he wasnt working for free overthere either.
I say good for him!

 

Good Luck Alan...

It's called business. He is doing what he feels that he must do for himself. DSR will find a replacemen, money talks and bull_ _ _ t walks.
Good luck Alan.

 

What kind of crap is that?

 

It purely sounds like a business decision by Alan. He's got the opportunity to be a part owner in a two car team and jumped at the chance.
Good luck Alan and now maybe we may see more than a "one car field" in top fuel.

 

Al Anabi

I don't know much about Al-Anabi, but they had their name on about 1/3 of the Slo Mod cars at the US Nationals. Seems strange that someone would enter the sport with so much $$$ being thrown around. Seems as though this guy has a legit story, with infinitely deep pockets, but we've seen a lot of those people (on the surface anyway), come and go in the sport in the past few years with CMKX (Casavant) and Torco (Knoll).

 

I was in Qatar 2 weeks ago, trust me, he HAS the money.
He could buy Bruton Smith.

 

t howell

say Tom, while you're there....throw your name in for some $$...LOL.hurry home Bud. we miss ya.

 

Let's be realistic here!
Al-Anabi, and most any other entity from Qatar is "oil rich" and can finance anything their heart desires. Have you seen the infrastructure improvements that are going on in their country? They realized that spending billions will return them "mega-billions".
I think they have also realized that the top pro teams in drag racing are actually "making money" at this.
The Qatar groups have so much capital that if it works, ..... "great". If it doesn't, "well whats a few million to test this market?".
As much as we are going to hate to see it, it is happening! Toyota is now a dominate figure in NASCAR. We have Toyota sponsered funny cars in NHRA. We are all happy that we have companies that are willing to put money into the sport.
Then, .......... we want to bitch that "we are getting screwed! These foreign companies are trying to take over our racing world".
I don't like to see where it is going, but understand that it is money that drives this sport. Whoever has the most will drive it where ever it wants to go!!

 

That is somewhat along the lines I was thinking.
This used to be an American DRAG RACING sport. I am "old school".
DSR was not my favorite team but they did represent us (the USA) I thought, through the US ARMY and so I thought did their entire team and I was proud of that. How do our fighting and non fighting soldiers overseas feel now that follow drag racing on the Internet????? What are we doing to ourselves and our sport?
"Don" I am sure paid very well and that is why he has a winning team. Now you can tell me to "GET REAL" and get with the times but I am too old to get bought and owned. Maybe I just don't see things clearly anymore but I am RED WHITE and BLUE and I don't need to see clear to see that. I will wish Alan good luck, but I for one will not be one of his fans. Just my .02 American cents.

 

Big Changes

If everything we hear about this Sheikh is true, this is game changing money coming into drag racing. This isn't a wealthy, self-made, multi-millionaire business man looking to dip his toe into a hobby. This fella, it it's all true, can bring undreampt of resources to his team without any risk whatsoever to his finanical empire or loyalty to corporate America. This is infinite money for a team and, possibly, not good for the overall health of the sport. This kind of money isn't just spent on parts and testing, it sucks up the best and brightest in every function and raises the price for everyone in the game.

I would contest that this is different than a Toyota, Honda, or any other corporate body entering any racing picture. At the end of the day, they want to win to sell more of what they make and, arugably, they need competitors and a healthy sanctioning body to help them accomplish their goals. At the end of the day, this Sheikh will have none of that loyalty, to the consumer, corporate America, or the sanctioning body.

With a weak sanctioning body like NHRA, they won't be able to govern the costs of this sport. They've proven completely ineffective at doing this over the years. And, for a sport that has negative payback relative to performance costs ($10K + per run in nitro), it's ripe for a dominant financial backer to squash those that can't keep up financially.

This will be very interesting to watch this play out. I hope I'm wrong and this kind of money and participation by a new team will boost the NHRA and the sport of drag racing.

 

Wonder if that was his black Rolls Royce sitting in the pits today

looked a little nicer than a Bentley we know

 

man lets be real. already there is negitive bullshit about ally babba i dont know guy for real show me one person that really loves the sport and wants to own are drive a car from top alcohol to top fuel that wouldnt take a check from this guy and buy the best stuff out there and turner i just hope i wouldnt get killed getting to the bank with the check are all that cash ( lol )and my phone didnt get shut off to keep me from ordering parts

 

It really doesn't matter what you and I think about this issue. Money trumps everything and the guy could own NHRA if he wanted and I wouldn't rule it out sometime in the future. I don't think anyone at NHRA would loose any sleep over accepting some of that oil money!

 

That's the point that I was trying to make. I don't like the direction it is taking, but have no power to change it. I often call things like this "The Golden Rule" ............... "The man with the gold makes the rules"

 

God forbid top fuel becomes a rich mans sport.

 

THINK ABOUT THIS.

The "US NATIONALS" at "Indy" could become the Qatar Nationals ?

 

its never going to be just good ol' boys doing this like it was back in the begining and thats ashame its been hard to race for a long time without the money and that is what i hate about the whole deal to many good racers cant afford to do it anymore

 

someone said something about how the soldiers feel about this that follow drag racing overseas? do they realize that DSR only has US Army all over everything because they get a paycheck? its all well and good to have pride about it being an ARMY car, but its only an ARMY car because DSR gets paid for it to be that way. if tampax came and gave him a check, the car would be pink and have a string hanging off the back. hell, i know i would do the same. i would be sponsored by the gay coalition of america and wear rainbow shirts if they gave me enough money. its just business people. just business.

 

Look at the bright side, At least the money is comeing back to the U.S.A. He knows how to run fast AND he knows how to blow shit up.