Drag racing as we know it faces its greatest challenge for many decades.

As the sport matures and begins to gain recognition as an important player in the Australian auto racing scene, new challenges face the sport's administrators and promoters.

A meeting was held recently with Bob Jane from Calder Park, Gary Miocevich from Ravenswood Raceway, Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) Chief Executive Officer Tony Thornton and myself, representing Willowbank Raceway. The challenges the sport faces in the forthcoming years were discussed in a frank, five-hour discourse.

For some time now, there has been considerable disquiet that the current structure of drag racing is incapable of handling the needs of the sport into the next millennium. The current club-based system, created in the mid-sixties, worked adequately while the sport grew from its purely amateur beginnings. But in the corporate world of the nineties, it has proved not only inadequate but also a hindrance in making the "big-picture" decisions so necessary in today's business climate.

With championship drag racing excluded from Eastern Creek by the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) for the foreseeable future, it becomes even more vital that the sport remain unified under a modern-day administrative structure.

This subject was the main focus at a two-day conference of the National Control Council (NCC) of ANDRA held in Adelaide recently. After much deliberation, delegates voted on a model loosely based on formats used by our contemporaries in the US - the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA).

There are many examples of the inability of a club-based system to make "big-picture" decisions and one needs to look no further than the current state of Competition and Super Stock, ANDRA's Group II index classes. Faced with falling numbers, Willowbank merged both eliminators a few years back. This not only allowed an increase in prizemoney but also provided a much higher standard of racing.

While some other states have more Group II competitors than Willowbank, full fields are a rarity anywhere at the local level. Yet during rounds of the Australian Drag Racing Series (ADRS), we are compelled to run both eliminators. The standard of racing is halved and the prizemoney doubled.

Similar problems occurred with the National Hot Rod Association in the US almost 15 years ago. But in their case, they merged their two index-based handicapped eliminators, Modified and Competition, under one roof - Competition Eliminator. Clubs are incapable of making "big-picture" decisions like this. Self interest will always prevail over what may be at the time, unpopular decisions.

This may be a generality, but having spent 30 years as secretary of the largest drag racing club in Australia, I have some authority and expertise on the subject. A classic example of ad hoc rules-making emanating from a club-based system can be found in Super Stock. This eliminator comprises 17 classes, many of which are scarcely used. Some classes are virtually identical, like B/MS and A/S, C/G and A/MP, D/G and B/MP and so on.

All overlapping classes should be merged and the confusing plethora of rules should be dropped, making all classes Gas classes. The ANDRA index system does not work correctly with small numbers of "inputs" and the culling of deadwood classes will go a long way towards addressing this.

In the new model, all license holders will join ANDRA directly, not via a club. Divisional Councils will be comprised of delegates who are appointed by all ANDRA members in a Division, at the same time as Division Directors are appointed. The fundamental reasoning behind this change is to recruit people who have a genuine interest in Division activities. Granting them responsibility in Division activities will bring a more efficient administration at the local level.

Once clubs are removed from the rules-making process, this begs the question. What will happen to existing ANDRA-affiliated clubs? In many cases, they will flourish. Released from the $15 per person affiliation fee to ANDRA, clubs will be able to reduce their membership fees considerably. Removed from the politics of the sport, clubs will be able to concentrate on what clubs do best - social outings, internal club championships, racer forums, guidance for new racers, social outings to the drags, and so on. Clubs in the US fulfill this exact role. There are no reasons why Australian clubs would not achieve the same level of support.

Australian drag racing is on the threshold. Moves now in the melting pot will determine whether we become a serious player in the motorsport industry or just another "rump" sport for a select group of diehards.