IHRA has New Ownership, New Tracks and a Bright Future

The International Hot Rod Association, founded by promoter, track operator and boxing promoter Larry Carrier in 1970, was originally an alternative to the NHRA for racers and track operators in the southeastern part of the U.S. For almost 20 years, the NHRA and IHRA, represented by their iconic presidents, Wally Parks and Larry Carrier, battled each other for the loyalty of racers and racetracks from the Mississippi river to the Atlantic coast. The “war” between the drag racing titans effectively ended with the withdrawal of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as the sponsor for the IHRA around 1987. (R.J. Reynolds continued to sponsor the NHRA series until 2001.) Carrier sold the IHRA in 1988 to Texas millionaire racer/track operator Billy Meyer. Meyer had a vision of competing with the NHRA that was literally washed away in his first season when his sanctioning body lost more than half of its races to weather. Meyer couldn’t stand the financial pain and sold the IHRA to another party after just one year and returned his Texas Motorplex to the NHRA fold.

 That scenario was followed by a string of owners/owner groups, including entertainment giants Live Nation and Feld, a group of Pro Stock owners and the Bill Bader family. For two decades the IHRA was constantly in flux with title rights sponsors, race formats and officials. The once proud IHRA was pushed out of the racing public’s focus and basically viewed by most as a southeast-based sportsman series. Even marketing genius Bill Bader and his Norwalk Raceway Park crew couldn’t transform the IHRA into a viable option for fans and racers not already tied to the sanctioning body.

Then along came Jason Rittenberry and the IRG Sports + Entertainment group, who have basically rescued the IHRA and are returning it to being a series successfully competing with NHRA for fans, sponsors, tracks and racers. Under the leadership of IRG’s Rittenberry and new IHRA President Scott Gardner, the IHRA has changed from basically a regional sportsman series to a major drag racing sanctioning body with tracks and racers from coast to coast and in Canada.

The major difference between all previous IHRA owners, including Larry Carrier, is that the IRG group is actively bidding for and buying premier drag racing facilities like the Moroso track in Florida (now known as Palm Beach International Raceway), Memphis International Raceway, Maryland International Raceway and Cordova International Raceway (home of the iconic World Series of Drag Racing) in Illinois. Unlike all of the previous owners of the IHRA, the current ownership has the ability to compete with the NHRA on a financial level.

So what is the future of the IHRA? From almost any point of view, the next decade looks pretty bright for the International Hot Rod Association. The IRG has hired some of the best and well-known executives from the drag racing world to run the business, something that wasn’t done in the past with previous owners. In addition to some well-known names on the IHRA management team, the IRG has a reported $40,000,000 line of credit. One bad year with too many rainouts isn’t going to bankrupt or stress the “new” IHRA. They apparently have the will and finances for the long haul.

The new IHRA has also done an excellent job of courting companies to support its series programs, including Aeromotive, Crower and Good Vibrations Motorsports.

Currently, the IHRA national events, which are badged as Nitro Jams, do not resemble the NHRA program in any way. There are no NHRA-style Top Fuel or Funny Car classes. The IHRA’s versions of Pro Stock and Pro Mod are vastly different from the NHRA classes. It offers Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars and a Jet Dragster pro class. And what has proven to be a lure for fans is the price of the most expensive ticket to an IHRA race is half of what the cheapest ticket for an NHRA event costs.

When asked what the mission of the IHRA is, President Scott Gardner said, “We are trying to offer affordable, entertaining, professional drag racing for our fans and racers. We are determined that the IHRA sportsman series will be a racer-friendly [affordable] series and to treat all of our tracks, racers and partners in a respectful manner.”

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