Image credit: ADRL.us

The American Drag Racing League has announced that its website, www.ADRL.us, has entered into an agreement to become the title sponsor for the 8th Annual ADRL.us Shakedown at E’Town on the weekend of October 1-3 at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Late last week, following a couple days of internet rumblings, the unfortunate announcement came from Shakedown promoter David Hance that Shiekh KH Al-Thani’s Al Anabi Racing, last years’ title rights sponsor, would be unable to continue their role with the popular event due to contractual obligations with the ADRL. At that time, it was announced that the purses for the Blown and Nitrous Pro Modified fields would be cut substantially, and the Pro Extreme Eighth Mile Challenge would be cut altogether. But Nowling and Al-Thani, both great friends of Hance and heavily invested in the success of doorslammer racing regardless of venue, put their heads together to formulate a plan.

“Apparently there was a contract signed sometime after the Shakedown in the fall of 2009 that precluded Al Anabi from sponsoring any other race entities, and I was supposed to be notified and we weren’t. Somehow it just slipped through the cracks. But then Kenny [Nowling, ADRL President and CEO] and KH had a conversation and both agreed that the Shakedown needed to be supported, so two great guys got together and they came up with a solution to help us out,” said Hance.

“When the situation presented itself last week that Al-Anabi would not be able to continue as the title sponsor of this great event as a result of their contact with the ADRL, it became a high priority for both myself and KH Al-Thani to help Dave secure a title sponsor,” ADRL President and CEO Kenny Nowling said.

“It was never our intention to hurt the Shakedown event when the clause was put into the Al-Anabi contract, so I wanted to make sure that I did whatever I could do to help resolve the situation. Dave is not only a great friend, but also a competitor in the ADRL, so I wanted to help him in any way possible. As a promoter of national events, I know the value that comes with an event title sponsorship. Dave, his crew and everyone at Englishtown have done a great job building the awareness for this event

As part of the agreement, the ADRL’s official in-house magazine, Adrenaline, will also become the sponsor the Pro Extreme Eighth Mile Challenge.

“I learned a lot over the weekend,” said Hance. “Drag racing is a cut throat sponsorship business. If you’re the ADRL, and he has Al Anabi as the main sponsor, other organizations and race teams are constantly trying to woo him for marketing things. So Kenny protects his sponsor by making sure that Al Anabi signs a contract that they can’t support other racing entities. Just like the deal NHRA has with Full Throttle stating that they can’t support any other series or events, as well.

Hance believes that with the new sponsorship from the ADRL, that it may in fact bring some of their regular competitors to Englishtown to compete in the Eighth Mile Pro Extreme category.

“I really do think some of the loyal ADRL drivers will consider coming now that the ADRL is in fact involved. I don’t have names or numbers of cars, but I have a feeling that through the affiliation, we’ll have more cars there.”

While a deal is only is currently only in place for the 2010 running of the Shakedown, Hance is optimistic that there could be a bright future for the partnership with Nowling and Al-Thani.

“There’s a big possibility. But at this moment, I’m not promised anything more than this year, and I don’t even want to speculate. But we’d love to have a multi-year deal. The ADRL has said there may be some opportunities, but let’s get past this first one and then we’ll talk about it.”

“I’m just so happy that it worked out and I’m very thankful to KH and Kenny, and I say let’s just race. Enough with the paperwork, enough with the money, let’s just race.”