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At the recent SAE conference in Detroit, NHRA President Tom Compton, second from right, joined, from left, SCCA's Steve Johnson, left, IRL's Tony George, FIA's Max Mosley, and NASCAR's Mike Helton, right, spoke of their shared challenges in the motorsports arena. photo by Bruce A. Pollock

NHRA President Tom Compton joined fellow leaders in the world of motorsports Nov. 30 as part of a special business panel at the 2004 SAE Motorsports Engineering Conference & Exhibition in Detroit.

The distinguished panel was assembled to take part in a roundtable discussion about the challenges shared by FIA (the world governing body of motorsports and in charge of Formula One World Championship), NHRA, NASCAR, IRL and SCCA in terms of: cost containment, safety, and competitive events, with full fields, designed to attract and delight the fans in the stands, the millions watching on television, and the sponsors who help to assure their success.

In addition to Compton, Max Mosley (FIA), Mike Helton (NASCAR), Tony George (IRL), and Steve Johnson (SCCA) all shared their view points on the event's theme: Change for Relevance. The panel was moderated by Paul Pfanner, president, RACER Magazine and organized by long-time executive director of GM Racing and current CEO of The Business of Motorsports, Herb Fishel.

Although the leaders represented unique and quite different forms of motorsports activities, all shared very similar challenges in the future specifically related to containing the rising costs associated with competing in motorsports and the balance of cost versus added value for the fans. At the end of the session, all leaders agreed that a cooperative effort among each of them, worldwide, would bring further resolve to facing and overcoming these very pressing issues.