New Year’s Resolutions for 2007
Written by David Lamm · December 29, 2006
Christmas is behind us and the eggnog is getting old in the fridge this time of year. It’s time to start thinking to next year and what New Year’s resolutions we should be making. The gyms will be packed come January 2nd, the elevators will be less crowded because people will resolve to take the stairs and thousands of people will attempt to quick smoking in 2007. Here is my suggested list of New Year’s resolution for the drivers, owners, crew chiefs and anyone else associated with the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
POWERade and the Coca-Cola Corporation: Resolve to take more of an active role with your sponsorship. Place drag racing themed POWERade commercials on ’stick and ball’ broadcasts to hopefully increase awareness and excitement in the world’s fastest sport.
ESPN: Resolve to air all the qualifying and elimination shows in their entirety no matter if a live sporting event runs long. Just because the Little League World Series game between Chinese Taipei and Toms River New Jersey went longer than expected does not mean drag racing fans need to be short changed on their show.
Ron Capps: Resolve to not punch a fellow teammate no matter how much of a loud mouth he might be.
Whit Bazemore: Resolve to be a better teammate this year with the David Powers team than you have been the past few years with Don Schumacher Racing.
Don Schumacher: Resolve to scale back your operation to be truly competitive in each class you field vehicles in. You have proven your point you can outspend everyone else if need be. Now stick to what you know best and don’t spread yourself too thin.
Melanie Troxel: Resolve to start the 2007 NHRA POWERade drag Racing season just as hot or even hotter than you did in 2006 to prove the point Don Schumacher should have done everything he could to keep you on as a driver.
Kenny Bernstein: Resolve to have a good enough year to make people forget they paid you lots of money for ‘Forever Red’ retirement merchandise that is now rendered meaningless by your unretirement.
THQ Inc.: Resolve to make the video game ‘NHRA Drag Racing: Quarter Mile Showdown’ available in other formats other than Playstation and PC. There are lots of kids that received an XBox 360 or a Nintendo Wii this holiday season that cannot play your game. You are not only losing out on potential buyers of your game but the NHRA is losing out on capturing a whole new fan base of gamers.
John Force: Resolve to let your daughter Ashley stay in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks for just one more year before making the jump to Funny Car. She is already a good driver but more seat time will make her a great driver once she makes the switch.
Dan Olson: Resolve to continue the work Ray Alley has done in the capacity of NHRA’s Director of Top Fuel and Funny Car Racing. Since Alley took the job in 2000 the NHRA nitro categories have gotten quicker and faster and safer despite the reduction in percentage of nitromethane the teams are allowed to use.
Pro Stock Motorcycle Riders: Resolve to stop complaining about the Christmas Tree and just go out and race. Everyone is using the same Christmas Tree and the NHRA is not going to change the lights just for you when your class runs. Suck it up and go out there and race.
The national and local motor sports media: When reporting on African-American drivers Tom Hammonds, J.R. Todd and Antron Brown, resolve to write about their race cars and not play the race card. All three of these men view themselves as racers and nothing more than that. Continually pointing out the color of their skin dilutes their accomplishments and we all could use a break from that.
Corporate America: Resolve to see the value in the NHRA POWERade Drag racing Series as a powerful marketing medium. The NHRA has its fair share of beer, tools, motor oil and auto parts sponsorships. It is time for Fortune 500 companies to wake up and see that they can get more exposure for less money in the NHRA than in any other major professional sport.
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