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SHOULD XDRL RACERS CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE XDRL ??? Should racers pull the plug ???

69K views 408 replies 74 participants last post by  David Hance 
#1 · (Edited)
It is with great reservation I must ask at what point should race teams pull the plug on the XDRL ????

Before we answer this question I would like to disclose the following info.

A) I myself have only attended 1 XDRL Race

B) I have attended 1 ADRL Race

C) I have to the best of my ability promoted both ADRL & XDRL events.

D) In April of 2013 on this very same forum I suggested among other things that XDRL CONSIDER adding Outlaw 10.5 and a Radial Tire class & drop classes that overlap ADRL.

E) I David Hance have assisted, worked with and promoted both Pro Drag Radial class and Outlaw 10.5 class shoot out race in the ADRL. I Love these classes and volunteered my time. I have not received 1 penny for my efforts and love to help & assist.

F) LASTLY please know I have no ill will toward any XDRL Employees, race teams or supporters....I do have a problem with XDRL leadership.

Should race teams continue to support the XDRL SERIES when:

A) race teams have not been paid for multiple races ....why ??? Mr Keith Goolsby told me to my face at PRI show that XDRL had enough money in the bank to run series for entire year. He also told me racers would receive their checks at each event and that is also the written policy on the XDRL website. Based on non payment of prize money I must assume the XDRL has no reserves on hand ....

B) many racers and others have not been able to contact XDRL leadership...ignoring racers who support your series is awful.... Customer service gets an F.

C) XDRL released a press release today stating new bottled water company has come aboard as a sponsor....this press release was just another sign of trouble in that not one person listed their name in the press release !!! The "executive" team at the water company made a quote, no name. No person from the XDRL listed their name in the press release saying they were happy to have new sponsor ??? Was this done on purpose so that no one can be held accountable if this turns out to be deception by XDRL leadership ?? I'm told Jeff Mitchell is Tied into this new Bottled water company and this whole deal may be deception...look into this yourself and see what you find. To intentionally mislead the racing community with tainted/deceptive new sponsor stories is a slap in the face...somebody is pulling a fast one ....somebody defend our race teams and look into this !

D) LEADERSHIP ??? Does anybody know who is "in charge" at the XDRL ??? Is it Keith Goolsby ? Is it Jeff Mitchell ??? By all accounts I'm told Jeff Mitchell is currently in charge. Jeff if this the case why haven't you paid your racers their hard earned prize money ??? I'm told Jeff is a man with resources....if this is the case and he isn't paying money due then one must ask should such a person be supported ??? 2 years ago we did a race a Palm Beach, Florida. It rained most of the weekend. I lost almost $100k and had to run home and beg for cash to cover checks we had written...it was the right thing to do.

E) PROMOTIONS: I give the XDRL a failing grade in this area as I have not seen any evidence of XDRL race teams being promoted nor have I seen XDRL race events being promoted in an "effective manner". Have you ? The spectator count at an XDRL race is has been dismal. The XDRL has failed to bring in spectators and that is a failure in marketing, promotions and overall business plan.

F) TV PACKAGE: there was lots of talk about a professional TV package to cover the XDRL ....any body know what happened ???


In closing we have an association, the XDRL who

A) does not pay
B) does not promote
C) dismal car counts (bad biz plan)
D) does not return messages or communicate with race teams
E) has run out of $$ and has ownership not willing to cover shortages
F) leadership is unknown ? Who is in charge ??
G) has failed to bring in spectators
H) phantom TV package
I) 2 principal investors / owners have bailed out after. Just 3 months
J) XDRL has released press releases which are an insult to entire racing community by not attaching names to quotes. This blue bottled water deal needs to be investigated as rumor has it they already do business with Mr Mitchell ( does he truck this product ???) which leads me to believe this is not a new sponsor but a fill in scam to throw us all off the track but giving us false hope under the disguise of "new sponsorship".
K) XDRL has IGNORED all requests to list payout policy...plain disrespect there....

It is my opinion that the XDRL should disband and close up shop. I firmly believe the lies, the deceit, the hiding out of upper management & the failure of XDRL to pay basic obligations in a timely fashion should result in a vote of no confidence. The XDRL based on their RECORD over just THREE (3) months is dismal and NOT WORTHY OF CONTINUED SUPPORT FROM OUR PRO DOOR CAR TEAMS.

Further....I urge everyone in Drag Racing Media to take a long hard look at the allegations here, do some research and dam well report findings in an effort to PROTECT our sport.

In closing I understand many will not take heed to these warnings & suggestions. There are also many teams who just don't need the money and the overdue payments might not matter to you...I then appeal to you on principal and ask that you don't allow this to continue. I'm quite sure many will take offense to what is written here and it really saddens me to know I may lose friends over this....however I've struggled with this and could not remain silent any longer. Please know I posted my feelings here in the hopes of bringing better days to Pro Door Car Racing. It is 2am NY time & I gotta be on 7am train... Talk more tomorrow
 
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#3 ·
I have to say I can't disagree with anything Dave said and we were planning on running the screw blown corvette there but we just can't do it.
 
#5 ·
Asleep at the wheel, thats what I see.... and AGAIN I SAY ----you have people over there incharge of things that they should not be !!! As a matter of fact they should have done a little research before putting people in the jobs they did, however you got to give credit on the guys that ALMOST ran the ADRL into the ground ,in being able to talk someone into paying them a huge salary to start another series . Talk is cheap ,results are the proof in the pudding.. The top management of the old ADRL ran it the same way as they are running the XDRL with the same results !!!
 
#7 ·
I am not taking up for anyone, but after a little research the owners of Blue04 water is:

BLUEO4 ownership also includes seven-time NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady and current WWE superstar David Otunga, along with Shaquille O'Neal
 
#8 · (Edited)
Please Know that several good people have parted Ways &
Resigned from the XDRL. Employees has had to deal with
Problems too. The fact is we after just one race the wheels
Started coming off. After 1 race problems occurred which tells
Many the "financing " that Mr Goolsby mentions in his season
Opening press release was in fact not present.

In the coming days XDRL states they will be making announcements.
Perhaps the following questions can be answered:

1) who owns the XDRL ?

2) who is responsible for payouts ?

3) who is in charge / management ?? What Are their experices ?

4) where will monies come from to pay overdue debts to both
Racers & staff ?

5) why should racers attend next event when it is clear to many the
XDRL has not been truthful and has mislead racing community as to
Their financial status. Folks I understand Jeff Mitchell & Keith Goolsby
May be nice guys who want to do right. I ask them both to shoot
Straight, be truthful and come clean. There is no shame in business
FAilure. As mentioned in my previous post I failed, I lost $100k, still
Paying for it and guess what ?? I had partners whom had no means
Of coming up with $$ owed. So we did what was necessary.

Mr Mitchell drag racing can NOT AFFORD to lose one soul. I urge you
To come clean, make the hard decisions and do NOT prolong the
Misery. Let us work together to settle open accounts. Lets work together
To make Pro Door Car racing better. Let us realize the current business
Plan has not and will not work and to continue down this road will
Cause more harm to all involved.

The very last question shall be: How can we shut it down ?

*** very sorry a out messed up typing and mis spelled words. I'm
Taking a summer class and I'm a sneaking these posts in while
Trying to not get caught. We need all need to step up and work
With our fellow XDRL friends to resolve problems. Let us
TODAY come up with something where WE ALL WIN by making
Pro door car racing better. Let us all, XDRL and adrl put our
Egos on the table and work something out todAy !!
 
#13 ·
http://x-drl.com/blueo4-the-next-generation-of-natural-energy-powers-the-x-drl/


Below is MY opinion not speaking for the ADRL,just me.
The ADRL & XDRL arent going to merge IMO.
Why does the ADRL need the XDRL?
The ADRL as far as I know is doing fine.
Payments for Va were mailed out on the 29th day as promised (30 day).
I look for the Martin payments to be mailed out by 30 days.
As of Rockingham payments will be made at the track.
Car counts are good and most higher than they were in 2011 & 2012.
The rain forecast has hurt many/most of the races for not only the ADRL but all associations.

We/I get on here and Take the Heat for the ADRL and try to explain issues and repair them as well.
Where are the XDRL people at?
 
#41 · (Edited)
Ronnie please allow me the chance to share my opinions.

You say the adrl is doing fine ... I disagree the adrl is living a race to race existence and if were not for a very big drag race fan who lives far away would the adrl be here in 2013 ????

You give great credit to the adrl for paying up in 30 days. Only problem is adrl should NOT get credit for that...several people including Monty, myself, pro mod bandit and even you Ronnie Davis broke balls in essence forcing adrl to come up with something. Give yourself credit for thAt Ronnie, not the Adrl.

Ronnie you say adrl "don't need XDRL". I strongly disagree. In MY OPINION some of the greatest racers in the world race At XDRL events. In MY OPINION we will never have a WORLD CLASS OUTLAW PRO MOD EVENT while the racing field is split in 2. There can be no match for having everybody on the same track at the same time. To not only survive BUT THRIVE both associations are going to have to join.

Please Allow me to share my opinion on who it should be.

I believe the XDRL should cease operations TODAY and here are my reasons for such.

A) leadership: lets be totally honest And lets push all our cards on to the table. Despite having past issue, fights and disagreements with Kenny Knowling in the past I still feel Kenny has the best skill set, the most experience and a good vision that would gives the adrl the best chance at surviving. Is Kenny perfect ? No and like myself and many others Kenny has had issues. Despite this Kenny gives us the best
chance at long term survival. Like Kenny or not can someone say Jeff Mitchell or Keith Goolsby matches Kenny's experience. ??

XDRL. We all know the XDRL is a copy cAt version of adrl down to the classes offered. It should be dropped as there are not enough cars to sustain both. Jeff Mitchell if you truly cAre for your sponsors consider bring them into the united adrl to insure they get the most bang for the buck.

Fairness: I urge xdrl race teams and staff to rejoin adrl today ! I urge adrl race teams and the adrl to come up with a 2 race shoot out to set a new bAttle of the belts fields.
I urge the Adrl to hire some of the XDRL staff PLEASE. Keith Goolsby your skill set is sales NOT RACE OPERATIONS so I urge you to join the adrl sales stuff in bringing in new sponsors. We need sponsors as the current adrl payouts are way too low. Jeff mitchell lets talk about how to get you involved. I do not know you and I don't know what your skill set is. I only know we need to come together tonight. Adrl racers please consider joining a newly structured points system that will allow the world to see WHO the world champions are.

Gotta get back in class....for the sAke of our sport PLEASE COME TOGETHER !!
 
#14 ·
Damn and my kids were so looking forward to seeing the XDRL at MIR next week, but I guess this has all but put a nail in the coffin of that race!

I Hope this can be worked out for the fan's sake as well as for the racers, for with out them there is no race anyway!
 
#18 ·
Dave
First off I am sorry to find out that you lost that much money at your W.P.B. race .I think that if it did not rain you would of been fine.The event was great you did a good job.I believe you to be a stand up guy
I truly hope that in fact this is the way that you really feel and has nothing to do with your association with the ADRL . I understand that you are on a some kind of board with them.
As far as the X-DRL goes I don't think you are being to open minded with them.Yes they are going Thu some growing pains and running a lean ship. Keith has had some Major personal issues with his house fire and rebuilding his life/world that can on it's own take up most of his time and mental faculties just to cope with what is at hand with a major whole life rebuild. I speak with Keith, Jeff, and the promotion staff at the X-DRL all the time if my phone call is not answered I get a call back.Did you speak with Keith ? If you would like he will be on the SHRA radio next week to address all of the racers concerns and answer questions. When I spoke with him today (Tuesday) he told me that he had spoke with about 1/2 of the X-DRL supporter's (racers,tracks and sponsors ) and plans to contact the rest and they are all behind him and telling him to keep fighting to grow the X-DRL into what they know it can be
As far as the racers being paid .Yes they all need to be paid and from what I understand both the X-DRL and the ADRL are slow at paying the racers .I do not have any insider information on the financial strength of the X-DRL.
I think that support and positive input is what is needed and all the problems will go away
Now for my view on the whole X-DRL ADRL series.
What IF we had an ADRL race then an X-DRL ADRL X-DRL,ADRL X-DRL LIKE 6 races each and one final race ADRL-VS-X-DRL I think that would be cool and that both the X-DRL and the ADRL would come out of the race season a lot stronger with a whole lot more support from the racers.sponsers and fans. What do you think ??
Thanks
Steve SHRA RADIO
 
#19 ·
I can cut and paste too... :p:p:p

Several funny things in this post.

All the racers and people are behind them?

Steve, please entertain me and tell me how it is possible that they have claimed several times that they have the money secured yet some racers are still not paid? What does a house fire have anything to do with that? Do you mean to tell me someone had a house fire and used that money to rebuild his house and life. Not sure about others but I carry home owners insurance on my home...

Not give the XDRL a chance eh? Their own payout policy states racers will be paid at the conclusion of the event yet some are waiting almost 3 months. Not sure about you but that is not the conclusion of the event but I'm sure someone can twist it into being so!!

Give them a chance? I think that chance expired 60 days ago.. but it seems they were given a 60 day extension!! But that still doesn't seem like enough for you :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
#21 ·
Dave are you really on the ADRL advisory board?
i hope not......
cause i think some of your points are damn valid..
but being on this board would seem your points could be taken as bias.
It may appear so..

Let me go on record and say I really do not care for Kenny Nowling. He knows that, KH knows that and many others in the ADRL know that. I am pretty open with my opinions.

I, more than anyone else, wanted to see the XDRL dominate!! I would have helped in anyway possible to make that come true. But I will be damned if I hear that racers are not being paid while the XDRL continues to claim "they have the money" and not express my opinion. That is complete and utter bullshit!! Either be honest or pay the racers!! There is no in between on this!!

If they are waiting on a sponsor to pay up before they pay the races... I think that is bullshit too. Don't put on a race when you do not have the funds or means to pay what's owed!! This would be the equivalent of me buying a home then explaining to the bank I was still waiting for a company to hire me before I pay them. They would not accept that and neither should the racers.

I know some are saying "Oh well" on the money. I believe the only reason they are saying that is because they are wore out asking for it. Why should anyone ask for it? The payout policy says they should have been paid already!!
 
#23 ·
SO CAN I
Steve, please entertain me and tell me how it is possible that they have claimed several times that they have the money secured yet some racers are still not paid
As far as the racers being paid .Yes they all need to be paid and from what I understand both the X-DRL and the ADRL are slow at paying the racers .I do not have any insider information on the financial strength of the X-DRL.
Do you mean to tell me someone had a house fire and used that money to rebuild his house and life. Not sure about others but I carry home owners insurance on my home...
NO THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE SAYING !! Keith has insurance. The mention of the house fire is to explane why HIS TIME PROMOTING WAS INTERRUPTED in answer to one of daves questions about promoting .

Give them a chance? I think that chance expired 60 days ago.. but it seems they were given a 60 day extension!! But that still doesn't seem like enough for you :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Not for me but for you !!
 
#25 ·
Steve, you give me a headache sometimes.. LOL

Trust me when I say I was right here expressing my opinion on the ADRL payout policy.. Where were you?

I was more upset with the ADRL taking 30 days to pay.. but at least they had the balls to step up and modify their policy to let racers know that....

Oh.... it should be known all the ADRL racers were paid.. within 37 days.. (probably 3-7 days in the mail.. so really more like paid in 30-34 days)...

So when will Ronnie Davis, Littlemoney and Jwhite be paid? I am sure there are others but these are the ones who went public..
 
#26 ·
Next...Steve you As a media person / radio show host youhave failed
To report equally cover both adrl and XDRL. You also have kept quiet
And to this day you refuse to acknowledge racers and XDRL employees
Have been misled, mis informed and deceived. I realize the XDRL
Announcer is your co host but media has a responsibility. All of
Your radio show are archived. If we pull up a your shows this year
Will we see or "HEAR" you talk a out adrl results ? Will we hear
You discuss XDRL problems ??? Not one time ! You imply I'm
Buddies with adrl and yes that is true. I even assisted them with
Their radial tire program and now 10.5 after XDRL refused to consider
My offer to do same with them way back in April. I have great
Respect and admiration for XDRL employees and race teams.
Steve I challenged you to DISPUTE anything I have written.
Proof me wrong and whe your at it do your job as a media rep
And ask report on my allegations ! Unless your afraid to step
On your buddies toes ???

I have talked to Kenny way before I talked to the X-DRL and he did not seem interested in the radio show.But he or anyone from the ADRL is welcome to come on the show .I let anyone who askes to come on the show on
I don't think Keith is hiding give him a call .
 
#29 ·
Steve, you give me a headache sometimes.. LOL
Sorry about the headache. I am not taking a side . I did not want to get into the ADRL / X-DRL thing I want both of then to grow . I just thought that Dave post was not total on track and the best thing in my opinion. Dave has some great points. getting paid in 60 days is too long. Or not at all is not good for anything
 
#30 ·
What is not good is racers not getting paid what they are owed and everyone wanting to keep things quiet. Isn't it owed to the racers to know this before they spend money driving to the event, paying their entry fee and going home only to wait for money? We are supposed to look out for one another.. but it seems some just want everything to be taken care of behind a scenes... Well, guess what Steve.. It hasn't been taken care of!!
 
#44 ·
Sir I never said it "made sense". I did imply it would be a fair & exciting way to keep our sport exciting and if we work together today the real payoff would be many more years of great / competitive racing. If the XDRL racers are willing to come to Memphis then our adrl friends should also sacrifice for the greater good. It would be crappy to ask our XDRL friends to absorb all the costs of unification. XDRL racers should be able to race for belt money.
 
#65 ·
I think things would be better if it went back to a smaller setup. Perhaps 5 or 6 races. With PX,PN(turbo cars here), and maby a Legal PM type class. Look to Dragstock 1,2, and 3 as a template. When things get to big and out of control, look to what got you there in the first place.
Just my $.02
 
#68 · (Edited)
Their only obligation is to pay the teams for their support, called winnings. I could careless about kissing ass, better grease my palm. But I don't race there. Thought the grass was greener with ADRL.

Oh and if they have spent hundreds of thousands on all that other stuff without a car in the lanes that's money pissed away. Better pay so teams come. You plant the seed first, not cut it down!
 
#69 ·
ADRL will never merge with the XDRL,that from the bosses mouth a hour ago and I cant see why that keeps coming up.
The ADRL doesn't need the XDRL anything that I can see.
The ADRL is not 2-4 races behind on any payments like the other DRL is.
The ADRL racers are paid as far as I know up to Martin and I've called an ck with allot of them.
The ADRL car counts even in very unfavorable weather forecasts still has good car counts.
32 TS cars at Va was a record for all of the DRL.
I have trouble getting 32 TS cars at my NHRA D-2 races.

I did get a email from a XDRL employee today.
I will not post what was said other than Chris Bell resigned 2 weeks ago.

I say let all this shit go and see what happens.
Time will tell.

Do business with the DRL you chose.
Vote with your $.
 
#70 ·
ADRL will never merge with the XDRL,that from the bosses mouth a hour ago and I cant see why that keeps coming up.
The ADRL doesn't need the XDRL anything that I can see.
The ADRL is not 2-4 races behind on any payments like the other DRL is.
The ADRL racers are paid as far as I know up to Martin and I've called an ck with allot of them.
The ADRL car counts even in very unfavorable weather forecasts still has good car counts.
32 TS cars at Va was a record for all of the DRL.
I have trouble getting 32 TS cars at my NHRA D-2 races.

I did get a email from a XDRL employee today.
I will not post what was said other than Chris Bell resigned 2 weeks ago.

I say let all this shit go and see what happens.
Time will tell.

Do business with the DRL you chose.
Vote with your $.
If the GOAL is to improve Outlaw Pro Mod Racing then I would hope everybody keeps an open mind. Remember...we are all drag racers and that has got to count for something.
 
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