[Elarson]

NHRA downsizes and moves their headquarters from Glendora to San Dimas, CA.
IHRA buys (shuttered) Atlanta and Memphis tracks with plans to remodel and reopen them.
IHRA buys Maple Grove Raceway.
NHRA immediately moves their national event from Maple Grove to US-131 in Michigan.

What's next?

Eric

[Half-Inch Stud]

IHRA signed with Alabama's Huntsville raceway today.

[Skip Fix]

A family has reopened Pine Valley in Lufkin here in Southeast Texas this past year and it is NHRA. Closest one to Houston vs 5 hours to Dallas/Ennis.

[Jay S]

Heartland Park at Topeka was getting charged 28,000 a month in property taxes. Hard to blame that one on NHRA. The county made them sell the property for tax reasons. Then the county went in and reevaluated the property taxes after the track owners pulled out and the value of the property went down 2.3 million dollars! On top of that consider the revenue stream that Topeka lost every year from loosing the NHRA National event and some of the other big venues like the country music festival that had about 300,000 people attend. It is utterly amazing how blind the politicians were down there. You just can’t fix stupid.

[RocktimusPryme]

Competition is probably good for the consumer, and hopefully breeds some innovation.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by RocktimusPryme

Competition is probably good for the consumer, and hopefully breeds some innovation.

Anything that puts the squeeze on NHRA is a good thing.

[Jay S]

NHRA seems like they have always been slower than IHRA adapting to make changes in classes and offering new classes. Usually IHRA and WDRA (now all IHRA) were running new class several years before NHRA adopts them. But if NHRA does something successful IHRA usually follows pretty quickly. It took about 15 years for NHRA adopt the Pro Mods as anything but exhibition. In many ways IHRA’s vision has benefitted NHRA, hopefully that holds true now becuase IHRA is really moving forward with a lot of changes, and new classes. Hope they both grow. In my area IHRA gained a huge footprint merging with WDRA.

[hojs69]

I have been watching all this transpire also. Will be interesting how it all falls out.

I find the best source of web based info here; https://nitromater.com/

Still a few talking heads but good stuff, nonetheless.

[PAUL K]

Hopefully all involved figure a way to make it work.

[Elarson]

I LOVE that IHRA is reopening Memphis and Atlanta. We need more tracks, not less.

Eric

[opeliac]

In my personal opinion, this will end badly for the NHRA...Their arrogance has about ran its course, and the money behind the IHRA can buy and give away the NHRA...

[Jay S]

My just read that IHRA purchased Heartland Park at Topeka. That would be awesome!

[Half-Inch Stud]

OMG, here's a thought: which sanctioning body will hold a rat-rod day?

Western PA & Alabama sure have a bunch of patina steel trucks and Chevy workman special wagons with modern diesels & 454s eager to run the track.

I'm not a rat-rod guy but they need transmissions too.

[turbo69bird]

Maybe iHRA will open a track here in Connecticut I know a great location.

[mgarblik]

IHRA has been mostly irrelevant for a few decades. This allowed NHRA to pretty much run organized drag racing anyway they wanted. They seemed to have missed the opportunity to deliver the knockout punch to IHRA. With what looks like an unlimited stockpile of cash, IHRA may give a greatly weakened NHRA run for their money. I really like having 2 sanctioning bodies, it's the best chance for competitors, fans and sponsors to get the best value and experience.

IMO, whoever has the smartest people, in the right positions, making the right decisions will win out in the end. They are, have been, bitter rivals for 50+ years. Should be fun.

[misterp266]

NHRA just moved the division 1 bracket finals to Lebanon Valley after being at Maple Grove for many years.
The only thing I don’t like about IHRA is all racing will be 1/8 mile. Maple Grove has a huge shut down area.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by misterp266

NHRA just moved the division 1 bracket finals to Lebanon Valley after being at Maple Grove for many years.
The only thing I don’t like about IHRA is all racing will be 1/8 mile. Maple Grove has a huge shut down area.

I agree with the sentiment about the 1/8th mile. Being an old geezer and a traditionalist, I have never enjoyed 1/8th mile drag racing. But I get it. The amount of oil downs, engine failures, high speed/injury accidents, clean-up and down time is exponentially reduced, especially with the faster cars and nitro. In the many years we ran the Boss Bird, I honestly don't remember a single time we had a major engine failure in the 1/8 mile. We had 1 trans failure early when we rolled a sprag in the LENCO, and we had a blower failure right before the 1/8 mile once. Not to say the engine wasn't beginning to fail in the first 660 ft, but we will never know that for sure. It seemed for us at least, around 1000 ft. is where chaos would begin to show up if there was trouble.

It seems to me racers with trap speeds in the 1/4 mile of under 130-140 MPH would be the most unhappy with 1/8 mile drag racing. That would take allot of the fun out of it for me. But the younger crowd seems to have embraced 1/8th mile drag racing completely. That appears to be the future. Tracks and owners LOVE the insurance breaks for 1/8 mile.

I would also add this is a great opportunity for NHRA to make a bold move and say "we offer real drag racing, 1/4 mile ", unlike the wimpy IHRA. That's a gamble I don't know they will embrace. If NHRA folds and goes to all 1/8 mile like IHRA, they can really use that to show the IHRA is shaping the sport and NHRA is now the follower. Bring your popcorn!

[misterp266]

My favorite track and my favorite “spot” is the top end of Famoso for the nostalgia front engine dragsters. Of course they aren’t as fast as the new stuff but it’s awesome to watch.

[RocktimusPryme]

Originally Posted by misterp266

The only thing I don’t like about IHRA is all racing will be 1/8 mile. Maple Grove has a huge shut down area.

This is an interesting part of some arguments to me. Because especially for the older crowd "Drag Racing should be 1/4 mile" is a common sentiment. I watch an interview with Don Garlits on how he would "Fix" drag racing, and his whole argument was basically go back to 1/4 mile on all formats, and slow the nitro cars down by pulling fuel.

Conversely, I saw an interview with some NASCAR official, who was stating that they are struggling to attract younger fans.

I bring that up, because I do not think the pool of potentially new fans or participants to drag racing have anywhere near the same attachment to 1/4 mile racing that established older fans do. Most have probably spent far more time watching Street Outlaws and NPK, than they have watching Warren Johnson.

I think Garlits is saying what would satisfy him, not what would attract new people. There is also an argument about not alienating the fans you have, but by and large I think people who like a thing stick around. For every person who said they would never watch the NFL again a few years ago, I would bet very few stuck to their guns. Thats not to say you take your fans for granted, but strategy should lean more towards growth than maintenance.

From a spectator sport perspective, stars mean everything. Some of that is just dumb luck. Two charismatic drivers come along at the same time that have a rivalry. But the great thing about drag racing is compared to other sports, the barrier to actually compete yourself is low.

And FWIW I felt the same way about 1.4 mile. But then around here only 1 of the local tracks is full quarter. So I raced 1/8th some out of convenience. And found I didnt mind it. Less likely to kill me, less extended RPM time on the engine. As I did it more, I felt less and less of a need to travel to Indy for the big track.

[sdbob]

We were just talking Norwalk was IHRA. Rumor we heard will not go back,stay NHRA.