Wolf’s Word: The Street Outlaws Versus NHRA

WW-MAR15

Unless you’ve been living on a deserted island without your electronic devices over the last couple of weeks, you’ve certainly heard and most likely formulated an opinion on the case between the National Hot Rod Association and the stars of the Discovery Channel’s hit reality show Street Outlaws. The whole saga centers around the NHRA’s issuance of letters to each and every individual involved with the show who happens to also hold a current competition license, with a stern directive that future appearances on the show could come with consequences to their future participation privileges at NHRA sanctioned race tracks and events.

street-outlaws-1The letter, first shared on social media by Justin “Big Chief” Shearer, was soon followed by other cast members of the show displaying their own letters. The news became viral in every sense of the word, igniting a firestorm of comments, both positive and negative, on social media outlets, delivering near-record traffic numbers to Dragzine, and bringing the web servers of some publications to their knees. The shellacking that the NHRA took over the matter was staggering, as hateful commentary and memes filled their official Facebook page to the point that it was disabled entirely.

This was about as close to ‘breaking the internet’ — as some jokingly put it — as any drag racing story is likely capable of getting.

This was about as close to ‘breaking the internet’ — as some jokingly put it — as any drag racing story is likely capable of getting.

Perhaps what makes the saga so compelling is that the two parties aren’t just direct competitors of one another, battling for racers, sponsorships, or tracks to sanction. Rather, they stand in complete defiance of the very foundation and principles of one another. This isn’t a case of the upstart X-Treme Drag Racing League one-upping the payouts of the competing American Drag Racing League in an effort to win over racers. This is complete contradiction.

Then the Editor of Hot Rod, Wally Parks founded the NHRA in 1951 during the fledgling era of hot rodding, in an effort to get young gearheads off the streets and legitimize the sport by instituting safety regulations and utilizing closed venues. And in spearheading the effort to promote legal drag racing the organization was also able to obtain nonprofit 501(c)(3) status — a tax-exempt status that it still enjoys with the Internal Revenue Service to this day. That means not only is the NHRA, at the urging of the very mission statement it was founded upon, obligated to champion the concept of legal drag racing, but it’s also in their best interests financially to do so.

Meanwhile, the stars of Street Outlaws, although not outright promoting the idea, have portrayed to a television audience measuring in the millions that illegal street racing is cool. However, there’s certainly no concrete proof that the existence of the show has led to an epidemic of street racing as the Fast ’N Furious films did, and we’d argue that the closure of untold numbers of drag strips around the country has done more harm to the anti-street racing cause than a cable television show could.

so

Nevertheless, the NHRA has drawn a line in the sand on the matter, hoping perhaps that their threat of pulling competition licenses indefinitely may lead to an early demise of the show, thereby quelling that perceived promotion of street racing. But the NHRA doesn’t carry any jurisdiction or power to actually police what the stars of Street Outlaws do away from their sanctioned race tracks, and thus, the organization went after the racers the only way they could — by taking a rather unprecedented step of showing that an NHRA competition license is a privilege and not a right, and that even activities outside of their sanctioned racing events can come with consequences. It is, after all, their ball and their court, and they make the rules.

…the organization went after the racers the only way they could — by taking a rather unprecedented step of showing that an NHRA competition license is a privilege and not a right…

For the shows’ personalities, choosing to obey or disregard the letter isn’t as simple a case as one might think. Although the NHRA’s Geno Effler stopped short of discussing what specific consequences they could hand out for those that defy their wishes, if the organization took the extraordinary step of issuing lifetime bans, it could have damning effects for the racers. Because realistically, the Street Outlaws program only has a finite lifespan, perhaps a few more seasons, at most. Their desire to compete at Drag Week, in radial tire events, or other races at sanctioned tracks, on the other hand, will far outlive the show.

Mike Murillo confirmed as much, telling us in the wake of the news that, as a veteran track racer with umpteen championships to his credit, it simply wasn’t worth losing his competition privileges over.

There are, however, two main points of contention amongst both sides — the NHRA and rabid fans of Street Outlaws — that perhaps directly correlate to one another.

so31First, the NHRA makes the specific case that the final straw that led to the issuance of the letters was the clear presence of NHRA competition numbers and decals on cars that appeared on the show. This, in and of itself, is bad publicity for an organization founded on the principle of taking racing off the streets. Those on the Street Outlaws side of the court contend, meanwhile, that the show is taped with the complete cooperation of local law enforcement on closed-off streets and that safety precautions are in place — and for that reason they should be left alone. Both are valid points. The NHRA, however, fired back that there are no guardrails and that the racing is in fact not safe.

Why do they take that stance? Because they have good reason to.

Bound by their mission statement, the NHRA should have taken the stance they did. But, if you’ll recall, in 2007, Pro Modified racer Troy Critchley was performing a burnout exhibition with his supercharged Corvette at an event in Selmer, Tennessee, when he lost control of the car, killing six spectators and injuring 22 others. Because the NHRA decal was present on the car, they were named in a civil suit by association (a suit that was later dropped in court). And thus, the issuance of the letters to the stars of Street Outlaws could very well be as much about washing their hands of any involvement in possible street racing incidents as it is combating the simple promotion of street racing.

so1Perhaps not surprisingly, given how popular the show has become, Street Outlaws arguably came away from the entire situation as the winner in terms of PR and public support, and that manifested itself the following Monday night when the show pulled in an all-time high three million viewers, breaking its week-old previous mark of 2.6 million. It followed that up with a second-best 2.8 million viewers for the season finale.

The effect this has had on the NHRA, if any, would be difficult to quantify. But perhaps there doesn’t need to be a “winner” or a “loser” in this matter.

Barring a ratings crash or a defection of advertisers, Discovery Channel is going to continue doing what it’s doing for the foreseeable future with their program. It’s popular, which sells advertising, and that’s all there is to it. But what if the NHRA, for their part, could take this situation as an opportunity to study what’s going on outside their walls and learn the wants and habits of the demographics they so desperately want and need?

What if the NHRA, for their part, could take this situation as an opportunity to study what’s going on outside their walls and learn the wants and habits of the demographics they so desperately want and need?

Since its premiere, Street Outlaws has been pulling in upwards of two million viewers for their new episodes, climbing all the way to the aforementioned three million just a few weeks ago. At its peak, that’s more than seven times the amount of viewers that a typical NHRA national event broadcast on ESPN2 draws. The popular show PINKS: All Out, which aired on the Speed Channel, routinely drew over one million viewers of new episodes. Both of these cases prove that grass roots, grudge-type racing with cars that viewers can not only identify with, but can actually own themselves, is what today’s gearheads want to see. They want to connect with the racing and believe they could be a part of it, and truth be told, Top Fuel, Funny Car, and even Pro Stock, are not that.

At this stage of the game, the NHRA could in no way associate publicly with the stars of Street Outlaws. Especially so in the wake of a recent fatal street racing crash an hour from their headquarters involving an individual that once appeared on the show. It would be the PR equivalent of taking a casual stroll across the beaches of Normandy, unarmed. And so rest assured, the NHRA brass aren’t likely to be reaching out to the shows’ cast for advice on reaching their crowd anytime soon.

so21Certainly, it was wise for the NHRA to take the stance that they did against street racing — that is the sole mission of their founding. And that fatal crash in Chatsworth is a great illustration of why. But at the same time, maybe pushing aside outdated approaches to business and meeting the demographic where they are — with real cars at no-prep and grudge races, and at events void of the suits and ties and seriousness of an NHRA event that drives young people away— could do more to get racers off the streets than sending out letters to a few guys on a television show could ever accomplish.

But first, the NHRA may have to accept the reality that an old Chevy Nova or rusted-out pickup truck and some blue collar Joes could sell more tickets than a 300 mile per hour billboard can.

About the author

Andrew Wolf

Andrew has been involved in motorsports from a very young age. Over the years, he has photographed several major auto racing events, sports, news journalism, portraiture, and everything in between. After working with the Power Automedia staff for some time on a freelance basis, Andrew joined the team in 2010.
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