Drag Racing’s Revolution Set To Rip The Industry Apart.

Drag Racing’s Revolution Set To Rip The Industry Apart.

By Mark Humphrey

Amendment;

Please be advised that the content in the article listed below was based on the information voiced by the Victorian/Tasmanian Divisional Director and ANDRA National Director in Phil Parker at the Altona RSL function room in front of a room full of ANDRA members on the 2^nd of July and from a direct telephone conversion with Rino D’Alfonso from Racing ONN Promotions.

At no point in time have I suggested that I am a qualified journalist nor will I in the future. I operate an on-line sports news directory that covers all sports including drag racing which is designed to direct readers to the news source. Any comments made by me personally on this subject are done with the knowledge that I am not a journalist just a supporter of the Summit Sportsman Series.

Melbourne, Vic/Aus. 3^rd July 2015. Australia’s drag racing industry is set to explode with the news a Tony Wedlock chaired consortium has broken away from the sport’s traditional governing body Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) to run their own national drag racing series in direct competition to the existing ANDRA sanctioned competition.

The consortium originally put together by 3 of Australia’s leading drag racing tracks in Willowbank Raceway, Sydney Dragway and the Perth Motorplex have now been joined by the South Australian big hitter in Racing ONN Promotions who has the operating rights to the Adelaide International Raceway to make this a true revolution in every sense of the word.

To have the 4 biggest drag racing tracks in Australia come together in a revolution style revolt on the governing body would on face value spell disaster for ANDRA and quite possibly at least in the early stages disaster for drag racing fans who once again will have to endure the sport’s inability to provide a constant and consistent product for the race fan. It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you sit on, one thing for sure is the fan on the hill is getting shafted again. Fans are surely getting sick and tired of all the crap that has been going down over the last decade and would explain why fan numbers have been dwindling for a number of years. The for want of a better word revolution could have gone about this in a much more professional manner which would have limited the impact on the race fan whilst keeping both sides of the fence at the negotiation table.

To shed some light on how we got to this stage you have to go back half a dozen years to the Drag Limited days where at the insistence of the 3 tracks (Willowbank, Sydney & Perth) a company was put in place to basically promote and manage the group 1 category of drag racing in Australia. ANDRA was the 4^th player in the company with each having a 25% slice of the pie. Drag Limited had hired in a professional media organisation to look after the sponsorship/marketing responsibilities with the aim of securing bracket sponsors along with naming rights sponsors. Some of Australia’s most recognisable Automotive brands including Sidchrome, Enzed and Shannons were recruited into the fold and it looked like Drag Limited had figured out the best way to promote group 1 drag racing. One HD was contracted to televise the events on free to air TV with the series being the first sport in the world to be filmed in high definition. So things looked good on face value with what it seemed all bases covered.

By 2011 some 3 years into the venture the show was over. Drag Limited was trading insolvent and it was decided that rather than declare bankruptcy ANDRA would buy out the other stake holders and take the full brunt of the damage. In the wash-up ANDRA paid out $525,000 to settle the debts that Drag Limited had incurred in their short time of trading. This was funds collected from members over time that was now used to pay off the debt of a few over ambitious club committeemen who for one reason or another needed to segregate group 1 racing from under the wings of ANDRA. Not only did Drag Limited leave behind this enormous debt they along the way managed to sour relationships with some of Australia’s most iconic motoring brands to the point that some of the damage may be irreversible.

So enter July 2015 and here we go again, this time with just the 3 tracks (Willowbank, Sydney & Perth) giving ANDRA an ultimatum, sack your CEO along with 2 national directors or else we will start up our own series. What self-respecting organisation in this day and age demands that an employee of another company be sacked to prevent a breakup of the sport? Who does Wedlock and co think they are by demanding that another human being lose their livelihood? It’s just unbelievable to think that this would go on in Australia. Could you imaging NRL teams doing the same, or what about Super Rugby? AFL perhaps, I don’t think so. Only in drag racing! No wonder the sport is on a decline in Australia. Here we are faced with media inadvertently damaging the sport with references to drag racing every time a hoon is caught on film and in-house we carry on like this. Why Tony Wedlock and co had to make this personal I have no idea but one thing is for sure, the instant reaction of an organisation under attack is to defend and that is exactly what ANDRA has done, defend their staff. I wonder what the reaction would have been from Tony Wedlock if ANDRA has issued an ultimatum to get rid of his CEO Tony Manson. Obviously the current situation in Australian drag racing is not conducive to running a profit and things do have to change but for the life of me I can’t understand why the 3 tracks didn’t calmly go to ANDRA and state they were going to run their own series with or without their help going forward. No need to get personal or put people’s lively hood in jeopardy. None of the 3 tracks would welcome an outsider coming in un invited and telling them to sack some individuals. So why would they think this was the way to go?

Is it a coincidence that the revolution has come on the back of possibly one of Willowbank’s most profitable events in history being the 2015 Winternationals? As was demonstrated with Drag Limited, an enormous amount of funding was required to get the operation off the ground. Where is the funding coming from for this venture? Rumour has it that 700k has been pledged which would suffice in the interim but if that money is not forth coming immediately where then is the funding coming from? Wedlock or any of the other 3 would be brave to dip into their own pockets and Willowbank being a not for profit organisation must direct their profits into infrastructure improvements and the like, so where would the funding come from? If this venture finishes up like Drag Limited then whose cash is lost, sponsors only?

Last night the Victorian chapter of ANDRA held an emergency meeting regarding the revolution and the possible outcomes. Top Doorslammer representative Peter Kapiris was on hand to enlighten the group on what had transpired between the revolution and top Doorslammer. His answer was that they had not been contacted at all by the breakaway group. That statement alone painted a picture on the viability of the revolution. How on earth could you envisage forming a new drag racing series without first discussing the proposal with the key stakeholders? Who would do that? Surely you would consult and involve all the key stakeholders (I assume Top Doorslammer would be a key stakeholder in the venture going forward) with your vision to build a new series before you announced it to the world. I hope they’re not placing their faith in Top Fuel alone because if you go on their Winternationals form the venture is doomed.

One thing that did come out of last night’s meeting was the unanimous vote by members to send ANDRA to the negotiating table with the revolution. The feeling in the room was that these guys want a series but only one series. From where I sit who cares who runs the series as long as it is good for drag racing. There is no doubting that Tony Wedlock and his team are capable of running a world class event as was the case with the recent Winternationals. The track staff prepared and maintained a superb racing surface, the safety team carried out their job as expected and management did a wonderful job managing what would have been a mammoth task to present this year’s Winternationals. I have to say it was one of the best sporting events I have ever attended but if the only thing achieved by the revolution is a split series and split allegiance with tracks then we are in trouble.

I spoke to the 4^th and newest member of the revolution in Rino D’Alfonso to get an idea of why he joined the group. Anybody who knows the history between Rino and ANDRA would automatically assume it was a given that Rino would jump but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Although Rino has had and is still involved with issues involving ANDRA, the decision to join the revolution only came about after he was told by Top Fuel Australia that they wouldn’t be supporting the ANDRA calendar for the 2015/16 season. Rino who amongst other events promotes the Spring Nationals at Adelaide International Raceway said it was imperative that the Top Fuel bracket was part of the event for without the Top Fuel cars he simply would not turn a profit. “People want to feel drag racing not just watch it and with Top Fuel racing you can feel it in the air” he said. Rino went on to say “I’m not pulling away from ANDRA I just need to have Top Fuel here in October to have any chance of turning a profit and when Top Fuel Australia said that they wouldn’t be coming I had no alternative but to join the group”. D’Alfonso added “gone will be the television deal that did nothing to put bums on seats at my events. How a program that runs 2 weeks after your event has finished help put bums on seats at the event baffles me. When the Nitro’s were here I ran some television the week leading up to the event and finished up with my biggest ever crowd. That is what television before the event does in lieu of television after the event” he said.

D’Alfonso makes it #4 in the group and said he will have equal rights in the group going forward. You could hear the excitement in his voice as he talked about running his events without interference from outside pressures. “I think it will work and in the end be a shot in the arm for drag racing” he added. D’Alfonso said all tracks were welcome to join the group and all they had to do was make contact with the group. D’Alfonso said “we will have a sportsman series that will compliment the group 1 category and we encourage the smaller tracks to join the group. It will be cheaper to run than the current series and be just as popular” he said.

The drag racing public would know firsthand that Sportingscribe.com was a huge supporter of the sportsman series over the past season with video coverage of the series not seen before. So when the news come out about a renegade group 1 series the first thought was what happens to the sportsman series? Although still up in the air, ANDRA has stated that they will be re-scheduling a new series with the proposed round 1 at Alice Springs still going ahead. On the other side of the table the revolution has also stated that they will be releasing a sportsman series calendar next week which is welcomed news. Two issues going forward is that the calendars clash or that drivers decide to compete in one series only which either way would be disastrous for the sport.

Round 1 at Alice Springs has only attracted 65 vehicles less than 3 weeks out from the event and that was before the revolution took place. Although the revolution had no bearing on the event if this is going to be the norm in the future because of the split then drag racing is doomed. Tracks are finding it tougher and tougher to turn a profit and unless something is done fast the tracks will just fold. Maybe the revolution is just what we need to get ANDRA off their butts to find a cheaper way of providing sportsman class racing.

ANDRA will charge in excess of $10,000 for the privilege of running the Summit Sportsman Series which includes a number of things like insurance and so on but excludes promotion, prize money, staff costs, operational costs and so on. Tracks are faced with potential losses well before a single car rolls into the staging lanes if spectator numbers are down. With so many lifestyle options and calendar clashes for spectators the art of convincing fans to roll up to drag racing is getting harder and harder in this day and age which is putting huge pressures on the viability of regional drag strips.

The points allocation by ANDRA also needed overhauling with the travel bonus for distant tracks giving an out for competitors who could easily reach the cap with just a small amount of events and then pack up their machines until the grand finale. How does that encourage racers to travel to more tracks if there is no incentive to race? What these regional tracks need along with reduced costs are competitors. Competitors are what bring in crowds and ultimately profits for regional tracks. We witnessed a couple of brackets being won in the 2014/15 season with just 2 events entered. How can you call someone a national champion if they have raced in 1/3 of the events? That’s not national at all. This season we revert back to a full season with a 300 point cap in place for the sportsman series. Originally there were 12 rounds set for the season with the 300 cap going into the last race. That means it would be possible for a racer to race in Alice Springs and 2 other events, pick up 3 wins and park the machine until June. How is that encouraging teams to travel? I understand the theory that in the past the racer who could afford to travel would win the championship but surely that is better than the racer parking their machine for 6 months. We need racers to compete and a national plate winner should be that, one who has competed on a national basis. Why not have the championship set so that out of a 12 round competition you count a percentage of the rounds. Say for instance it was 7 rounds, there would be nothing stopping the racer from racing round 11 to try and improve their best 7 rounds. We get racers to regional tracks and when someone is presented with a national plate it is with the knowledge that they are a true national champion. How can you call someone a national champion who has won in Perth and made the final at Willowbank?

Who knows what will happen in the sport going forward. Will this shake up ANDRA to reduce cost massively for tracks and competitors, will the revolution put up a far better series for both group 1 and the sportsman categories or will the division split drag racing for ever.

There is no doubt Tony Wedlock’s faction has the right tools to produce a world class series, I just would have liked the split to be on a more professional basis rather than a vindictive personal attack on ANDRA individuals. I hope the revolution seriously considers putting in an independent race director to organise the show going forward to alleviate any concerns of track favouritism.

In the end we all want what’s best for drag racing and for sportingscribe.com Alice Springs is our first port of call. Let’s hope a few more get along to the event.

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