Huge news hit the racing front last week when heretofore “racing unheralded” HD Partners Acquisition Corporation and the National Hot Rod Ass’n, the world’s preeminent drag-racing organization, announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which HD Partners will acquire all of NHRA’s professional racing assets.
I use the phrase heretofore racing unheralded in describing HD Partners because from a racing perspective, any previous NHRA rumored sale always included the name Bruton Smith and his publicly owned company, Speedway Motorsports (NYSE ticker TRK).
Not so this time.
The HD agreement includes NHRA’s 23-race POWERade Drag Racing Series and a broad set of rights to commercialize the NHRA brand. The multi-day POWERade events draw some 125,000 spectators over three or more days, providing fans the ability to interact with each other through access to the racer pits.
HD Partners is a company formed for the precise purpose of consummating a business combination in the media, entertainment and/or telecommunications industries. In June 2006, HD Partners raised $150 million in its initial public offering (AMEX ticker HDP).
Eddy Hartenstein, Robert Meyers, Larry Chapman, Steve Cox and Bruce Lederman, each of whom played senior roles in building DirecTV satellite television, formed HD Partners. Today, DirecTV is a business with more than 12 million subscribers and $7.7 billion in annual revenue.
Hartenstein served as president of DirecTV from its formation in 1990 through 2001, chairman and CEO from 2002-2003, and was responsible for assembling its management team and guiding its strategic efforts to establish DirecTV as the world’s leading digital television service.
According to the sales agreement (see full story this issue) HD receives “exclusive media exploitation rights in broadcast television, home entertainment and new media.”
Thus, is live Professional Pay-Per-View (PPV) qualifying on DirecTV in the future?  I would say YES and have been predicting it would happen for a long time.  Diehard drag-racing fans don’t care about downtime to clean up an engine explosion. If pro drag racing PPV does happen, let’s hope it is affordable, like $10 for one day or $15 for both days of qualifying.
Currently, all national events are aired exclusively by ESPN2 in High Definition on a same-day delay, and I expect the qualifying and finals to stay on some type of “free” programming to better appease sponsors and the all-important “air time.”
This is a huge move for the pro side of NHRA drag racing. I’ve seen just about every form of motorsport out there, and nothing compares with two nitro cars going from zero to 330 miles per hour in four seconds. It is the most electrifying thing I’ve ever seen in racing, and to this day, it still thrills me. Upon closing the transaction, Hartenstein will serve as chairman of NHRA Pro Racing, and current NHRA President Tom Compton will become president and CEO of NHRA Pro Racing and be a member of the board.
Notable, too, is that there is no mention of National Dragster other than NHRA will still publish the weekly in-house paper. I’d say look for a slick magazine-type publication that will deal strictly with the pro side of racing. It’s a given, for sure.
The closing of the asset purchase and related transactions is subject to stockholder approval, regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions.
Stay tuned, as lots of news concerning NHRA’s future will be forthcoming.