The old adage “all good things must come to an end” doesn’t add up when it comes to the NHRA sale of its professional racing series to HD Partners Acquisition Corporation. In this case, “all good things come to an end before they even start.”
Highly touted since May of 2007, the “pending shareholder approval” line in its purchase statement voted against the purchase and is yet another good example of the “one-percent” winning out in the “I’m 99-percent sure” instances we’ve spoken of on these pages in the past.
Explicitly, NHRA was notified by HDP that it did not receive the necessary number of votes to finalize the transaction announced last May to acquire all of NHRA’s professional racing assets. 
Pursuant to its charter and the terms of its initial public offering, the company is not permitted to pursue any other transactions, and HDP will shortly begin the process of liquidating and dissolving itself in accordance with its charter and applicable law.
This comes as a surprise to some, not to others. Rumors circulating since December at the PRI Show pointed to the deal not going through, as even pro drivers we spoke with predicted that “NHRA would still be NHRA” in 2008, and not sold to HD Partners. The announcement comes after months of publicity flaunting the deal’s advantages for both sides.  
On the day of the actual shareholder vote, Jan. 31, Eddy Hartenstein, chairman and chief executive officer of HD Partners, said: “We are very disappointed with today’s vote, given our collective enthusiasm for NHRA and the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Unfortunately, in the time since we first announced this transaction in May of 2007, we have witnessed a dramatic shift in both the financial markets and the perceived strength of the U.S. economy, which we believe adversly impacted the final outcome of this transaction. With that said, we continue to believe that the NHRA and the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, led by Tom Compton and his management team, are very vibrant properties with a bright future. We wish them all the best for continued success.”
Thus, NHRA continues to operate as it has in the past, which in itself is not a bad thing by any means. Still, NHRA put much energy and worked closely with HD Partners since May to finalize the transaction, and given the time and energy spent on this effort, NHRA said in its official news release that it has no plans to pursue a similar opportunity in the near future.
For now, NHRA will remain focused on the business and continued growth of NHRA.
“We appreciate the efforts put forth by Eddy and the entire HD Partners team the last year and a half. NHRA is in the best financial position in its history and prospects for future growth are at an all-time high,” said Tom Compton, president, NHRA. “It is the health of the company, the sport and strong future prospects that led HD Partners to pursue this transaction in the first place and those elements still exist.”
Hartenstein, one of the principals in the birth of highly successful DirecTV Satellite TV company, clearly indicates in this response his feelings about the current economic conditions, which is “going up and down” about as quick as the pistons in a Top Fuel dragster.
And for those who may take my non-professional economic comparison to heart, sometimes Top Fuel dragsters blow up before the finish line, sometimes not.
Let’s hope our economy “makes a full pass” without too much damage.