How NHRA Is Navigating Through Some Mighty Challenging Headwinds

• NHRA president Glen Cromwell says the NHRA is in a good place, despite the pandemic and recent economic downturn.

• Tickets sales are up double digits, he says, at just about everywhere in 2022.

• And while the sun is still peeking through the clouds, the challenge will be sustaining that momentum and continuing growth despite some headwinds.

NHRA president Glen Cromwell can be excused if he's just looking to catch a break.

Or even his breath.

Just as the world is coming out of a pandemic and the fans are coming back to their favorite pastimes—Cromwell hopes for many that includes an NHRA Camping World Drag Racing weekend—here comes a once-in-40-years inflation tsunami.

"I think everybody talks about some of the headwinds—inflation, supply chain, recession," Cromwell told Autoweek. "I don't think it's anything that caught us by surprise. I think we saw this coming six months ago. We've been working with our teams, finding ways to save them money—whether it's by reducing the number of runs on some race weekends or paying for some of the nitro(methane fuel) to help them.

"And we're trying to hold ticket prices where they were for the fans," he said. "You think about the fans, and that's the most important thing. This has been a difficult time and will be a difficult time for our fans—gas prices, food, it's all going up. And it's going to put a lot of strain on our fans.

"I think it's going to be important for us to provide a platform for them to come out and have fun, forget some of the challenges maybe at home, and put on a great show. We need to make sure that we're very cost efficient for our fans."

Cromwell, series president since 2018, reports that the NHRA is having a good year. Tickets sales have been up double digits, he says, at just about everywhere—from last month's stop at Norwalk, Ohio, to this weekend's event at Bandimere, near Denver, to upcoming events at Sonoma, California, as well as the series' upcoming return to Seattle.

On the TV front, the series' FOX television package is holding its own against the likes of IndyCar and even Formula 1. NHRA's recent eliminations show on FOX TV on June 26 from Norwalk drew an average viewing audience of 702,000 viewers, and its June 19 finals from Bristol on FOX pulled in 897,000, according to the industry monitor website showbizdaily.com.

By comparison, the July 3 IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio on NBC pulled in 877,000, while the July 3 F1 British Grand Prix 1.29 million on ESPN2. The NHRA TV numbers are bringing smiles to the faces of sponsors, says Cromwell. And that goes for title sponsor Camping World and its CEO, Marcus Lemonis.

"We talk to Marcus Lemonis' marketing folks all the time, and they are over the top," Cromwell said.

While the sun continues to peek through the clouds, the challenge will be sustaining that momentum and continuing growth during what could be a prolonged era of inflation and possible recession that already has fans doing double-takes at their savings and 401K accounts.

"While the big picture is things go on, it's a tough year kind of coming out of COVID, and we're in the middle of this inflation thing now," said Cromwell, while overlooking a nearly packed house at Norwalk a few weeks ago. "But it seems like the people don't mind, or at least right now they're happy. I think the fans today, going through COVID—and we're still in it, it's not like it's gone—people are tired of sitting around the house.

"And they deserve to get out, whether it's to a Detroit Tigers baseball game (Cromwell is a Michigan native), an NHRA drag race, IndyCar, NASCAR. They're going to come out to a race and go camping. They're going to do these types of things.

"What we need to think about is what does it look like, six, 12 months out. Or two years. How can we make it so that our fanbase can continue to come out here, can afford to come out here, enjoy the NHRA, enjoy cost-efficient camping. We have to keep ticket prices affordable."

The NHRA is as fan-friendly as any major series in terms of ticket packages for families.

"Kids 12-and-under are admitted free," Cromwell said. "And that's up to four tickets, so if you wanted to bring your son or daughter and three of their friends, you're good. It's not a family, it's just four kids."

NHRA hopes to bring its traveling circus to new markets in coming years, though the current economic climate has at least tempered any talk of expanding the schedule beyond the current 22-race slate.

"There's a lot of discussion about tracks that could be leaving, could be selling real estate," Cromwell said. "And there's a lot of tracks that want to be on the Camping World Drag Racing Series. We're looking at Chicago, that's an option for us. Columbus, Ohio, has a track (National Trail Raceway) we used to race at. We have NHRA tracks in Boise, in Georgia.

"There's plenty of tracks out there that we can look at and bring new events to the series and that would be good."

Cromwell, however, was careful not to tip his hand as to whether or not the series was close to announcing any big changes to the schedule for 2023 or even 2024.

"You want to find the balance, the right number of events. If you have too many events, the race teams financially maybe can't handle that many. So, through communications between the tracks and race teams, it's NHRA's job to find the economic balance for all parties. And that includes the tracks—they need to be in a position to make money. And then there's the race teams. If we go to 23, 24, 25, 26 races, does that make sense? Probably not. Not in the environment we're in today. "

Give Cromwell credit. He's an optimist in a time when many might be having trouble finding that silver lining.

"Things are good. Things are very good," he said. "Our sport, like everybody, is going to be faced with some headwinds. But I think we will really do extremely well. And whether these headwinds are with us for 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 years, that is okay.

"We will continue to operate and will continue to provide great entertainment."