HD Partners Fails To Get Votes To Purchase Series’ Racing Assets

GLENDORA, Calif. — The pending sale of the National Hot Rod Ass’n to HD Partners Acquisition Corporation officially fell through Thursday.
HD Partners informed NHRA officials 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.
“We are very disappointed with today’s vote, given our collective enthusiasm for NHRA and the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series,” said Eddy Hartenstein, chairman and chief executive officer of HD Partners. “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 adversely 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.”
NHRA will continue to operate as it has in the past. Given the time and energy spent on this effort, NHRA 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.
“Few would argue we have a great product and an incredible opportunity in front of us to build and grow the sport of NHRA and NHRA POWERade Drag Racing. The initiatives communicated during this process still hold true and we will work together with the racing community, sponsors and business partners to achieve them and continue the growth of the sport.”