More drag racing news

[SteveR]

Mike Ashley's/Frank Hawley's crew chief will be leaving next year to join the Qatar/Al-Anabi Racing team to tune the funny car side. Allan Johnson, Tony Schumacher's crew chief, will be leaving the Army team and will be the tuner for the dragster side of the Al-Anabi team.

http://www.nhra.com/content/news/32603.htm

[79CamaroDiva]

but will they be working here in the states or out in dubai?

[Tru2Chevy]

Sounds like they plan on racing here in the NHRA....

- Justin

[NJSPEEDER]

They are planning to come in with the best funded program, with cars participating in every level on every professional weekend, and more resources than any team in history. John Force is gonna look ghetto next to the rumored Qatar program

[BonzoHansen]

Wow, how are the fans gonna react to that? Imagine that in NASCAR. Holy hat.

[NJSPEEDER]

There have been foreign interests in drag racing for years, mainly Australians coming over and pretending the junk that wins down there can compete up here. This will be the first time that I can ever remember any foreign based or funded team is going to come in with the talent and equipment to actually get it done.

I think it is good for the sport. Maybe a few new rivalries will grow from it. Lord knows with the not 1/4 mile racing and crap points system they could use something to start making it more interesting again.

-Tim

[SteveR]

It's going to be interesting for sure. The first positive sign is that international sponsors are now showing up in NHRA starting last weekend with Bahrain sponsoring Hillary Will's car now. If NHRA, the teams, and most importantly, the fans, support this diversification in drag racing, I can see it turning out like F-1 where there are global sponsorships and interests in NHRA. That could mean more money for the teams, more opportunities for up and coming drivers, and more money for development.

However, this will no doubt increase the cost for drag racing on a pro level. If you think it costs a lot now, just wait til you now have to compete with sponsorships from some of the world's richest countries. We could be looking at insane costs to compete and maintain a competitive race team. And what if these sponsorships suddenly dry up? I bet it would be like what happened this year with Torco royally effing EVERYBODY. The list of drivers affected by the Torco disaster includes people like Dave Connolly, Doug Folley, Clay Millican, Mike Ashley, Melony Troxel, JR Todd, Matt Smith, Jeg Coughlin, and a ton of others.