Casting a baleful
eye at drag racing’s sanctioning organizations

IHRA will not fade away

There is no doubt that it has been a very interesting and often bumpy road in 2015 for the newest iteration of the International Hot Rod Association and President Scott Gardner and his management team.

Recently departed IRG CEO Jason Rittenberry gets the credit for putting together an IHRA ownership group that seemed to have an unlimited budget. He certainly spent money on the IHRA when it came to expansion and promotion of the IHRA. Under Rittenberry’s direction the IHRA acquired millions of dollars of debt buying and improving tracks in West Palm Beach, FL; Memphis, TN; Cordova, IL; and Budds Creek, MD. He also signed off on a very impressive $700,000 annuall purse and points fund for the IHRA Nostalgia Funny Car program.

Unfortunately for the IHRA, almost all of their 2015 national events suffered from rain or threat of rain, and there is no doubt the sanctioning body lost a ton of money this year. In the middle of the season Rittenberry was fired and once again the venerable organization was shepherded through some major financial issues this time by current president Scott Gardner.

Those changes are reflected in the just released 2016 IHRA schedule. For next season they have dropped the confusing “Nitro Jam” moniker, gone back to being the IHRA Drag Racing Series, and instead of 12 events have pared the schedule to ten races with eight of those featuring the Nostalgia Funny Car class. Also to make life easier for the pro racers -- especially those that won’t travel to Canada -- they are allowed to claim the best seven of the eight events for the championship.

The IHRA eliminated races at Spokane, Memphis, Tucson and West Palm Beach, added races at Orlando, FL, and Dragway 42 in Ohio, and a Nitro Funny-only points race at the World Series of Drag Racing. The IHRA Drag Racing Series events that don’t feature Nitro Funny Cars will feature Nitro Harleys and Pro Stock plus all of the other IHRA pro classes.

According to my IHRA sources, one thing that isn’t going to change for 2016 is the generous $50,000 purse for the NFC class. It pays the winner $10,000 and pays $4,000 to qualify. It is uncertain that there will be a $100,000 points fund again without a points fund sponsor.

Currently the IHRA is the ONLY competition the NHRA has that keeps it from having a professional drag racing monopoly.