NHRA for sale?

I have been reading on other drag racing forums (I know, shame on me, sorry Will) that Bruton Smith (owner of Infineon Raceway, LVMS, Bristol, and others) wants to buy the NHRA. Anyone else hear this? Is there any truth to it? NHRA says it is not true, but when do you believe them?

 

We couldn't be so lucky as to have this happen. Then this so called non-profit organization's greed could be replaced with business decisions based on what's best for the customer:fans and employees: entertainers RACERS; while expecting a fare profit.
NHRA a "non-profit" organization, yeah right,,,that's why someone like Mr. Smith would pay millions to buy it. Anyone who can read a company's balance sheet can see this is a cash cow,,,,,and the Sportsmen's Class just have to keep feeding it until someone does something extraordinary like BUY IT. Keep praying, we all need it.
Respectfully, Warren Nitroitch Dauzat
p.s. is there anything true about only 2 qualifying cessions at National Events???

 

Don't think that NHRA is a publicly held corp.
You cannot buy stock in NHRA. The board of directors could sell though unless there are bylaws that restrict or prohibit it from being sold. Any profit from the sale would be distributed among the stockholders. It might supprise all of us if we knew who the stock holders were.

 

i'm sorry but if bruton smith wants to buy the nhra it would be a major mistake, all bruton cares about is his wallet he will do noting to make the nhra better, all he will do is bleed it dry for all the money he can. he is one of the worst track owners in the country,so i think it would not be in our best intrest if he didn't try to buy the nhra. i also think it would not work exspecialy since he owns tracks run in nascar, now if one of our track owners try to buy the nhra now that would be better idea, yes i would like to see who the stock holders are,or who the owners are, i would be very interested who the majority owners are!!!!!!!!!!

[ March 14, 2005, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: azspeedfreak ]

 

Will,
You and some of the ill-informed racers that posted on this subject better hope that Bruton never gets his hand on the NHRA. Azspeedfreek is correct. Rest assured, sportsman racing would disappear from national events if Bruton ran the show.
Who owns the NHRA? This question pops up once every couple of months, yet very few who ask the question understand the answer. Who owns the VFW, the AMVETS, the National Cancer Society or any other non-profit 501c-3 corporations? NO-ONE!
The NHRA is a 501c-3 non-profit corporation, defined by law as an organization in which NO profit may be used to the benefit of its board members or CEO. This does not preclude it from making a profit. In fact is it should be governed as if it is a business and profit generated should be one of the goals. NO ONE owns any stock and NO ONE benifts from the profits other than to perpetuate the existance of the organization. Bottom line; the money is plowed back into the company.
It's a damn shame that drag racers don't understand how lucky they are to have an organization that has the heritage and is as organized as this thing called NHRA. What other sportsman racing organization has been around as long and has the clout the NHRA does? More importantly, what would the alternative be if the NHRA went away? Racers that constantly complain have no idea what they are talking about.

[ March 15, 2005, 06:29 PM: Message edited by: Will Hanna ]

 

Good debate.

One correction though, Bruton Smith never owned IHRA.

 

hey smokey i couldn't agree with you more, oh buy the way i wasdoing some research and found out that wally parks wife owns 51% of the nhra wow thats a shock

 

If anyone thinks NHRA has sold it's soul to the Corporate Gods, they haven't seen anything yet if Bruton get's ahold of it!

[ March 15, 2005, 11:47 PM: Message edited by: Darren Smith ]

 

If Burton did "buy" the NHRA, how easy would it be for him to switch it from a non-profit to a corporation?

I guess I don't understand what makes him a bad track owner either. Infineon, LVMS, Bristol, ect. are all very nice tracks with great track surfaces. Infineon just went through some $60 million plus renovation when he bought it.

I guess I am missing something.

 

charlotte motor speedway????
there has been alot of talk that bruton smith has a plan in the works to start his on flavor of nascar racing since he owns a big percent of the tracks that nascar races at now??? i think that anyone that is in the motor sports buisness is there to make a profit or they would not be there and put out the bucks they do.....and the return is huge motorsports as a whole is the largest growing sporting type in the world its fan base increases every year while others nfl,nba, mlb are decreasing???

 

are things really that bad in nhra? besides the payouts what is soooo bad that some people are praying to the gods (b. smith). yes mr. smith knows how to build a racing facility but does that qualify him to run a full racing organazation? look at ihra, billy meyer and others have killed it. larry carrier has to be rolling in his grave. do we want that to happen to nhra. i am not saying it will happen if bruton smith does buy nhra, i just look at history. whats the old saying, if it ain't broke , leave it da @#$& alone. just my 2 cents

 

Just to let everyone know!
NHRA used to be a non profit business, but alot of years ago everyone who had a membership voted and gave the non-profit deal up and Mr. parks became the owner and CEO of the NHRA.
I believe the time was in the late 70's or early 80's.
There was alot of people that just followed the NHRA lead in the deal and voted to do what they wanted. While alot of racers knew this was not in our best interest and so far it has not been, if you look real close at it.
Thank you,
Mr. V.

 

Profit vs non-profit. I am no expert on this, but I beleive that we are talking about a tax status only. I have known several people that have started non-profit organizations and paid themselves very well. I know that there is criteria to be met to qualify for a non-profit status, but it does not mean that the employees and directors cannot reap huge benefits. I don't mean to get off the subject of the original post. Some people out there think that if a business is non-profit that they are all for the members and don't take a dime in compensation. OK, back to drag racing - I really can't wait for the season to start here in the midwest.

 

SMITH STILL TRAINS SIGHTS ON NHRA


From Comp. plus .com

(3-16-2005) - O. Bruton Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports Inc. owns seven high-profile race tracks and whose Sonic Automotive Inc. is the U.S.' third-largest dealership group, told Louis Brewster of Southern California's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin that he has been "engaged in ongoing talks" to purchase the NHRA.

According to Brewster's article, published last Sunday, Smith said he wouldn't call the talks "negotiations" yet but said he had discussed a purchase of the Glendora, Calif.-headquartered sanctioning body.

Among SMI's holdings are Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. That makes Smith host already to four NHRA national events.

Jerry Archambeault, NHRA's vice-president of public relations and communications, denied knowledge of such talks. Brewster quoted Archambeault as saying, "I don't know what that's all about. We have talked with Bruton when we visit his tracks but about track business. But there are no discussions about his buying NHRA."

The Daily Bulletin article said Smith admitted "he was interested in buying all of NHRA's assets." That would include dragstrips in Commerce, Ga., near Atlanta; Gainesville, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio, as well as Indianapolis Raceway Park, a complex that also contains a .686-mile oval-track and a 2.5-mile road course. In addition, NHRA has a lease with the Los Angeles County Fair to operate Pomona Raceway until 2025.

"We are always looking for an opportunity," Smith told Brewster.

SMI also owns Atlanta Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway and North Carolina Speedway in North Carolina, and Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Its tracks are the sites of 10 NASCAR Nextel Cup, six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and two Indy Racing League events besides the four NHRA races.

In the article, Smith said he would change NHRA's nonprofit status and "would like to keep the people in place."

 

There is an article on Competition Plus on this topic.

NHRA for sale?

 

Too much talking in a circle in the article. Every question is answered," I can't talk about that."