The latest update as of January 27, 2025

Anything happen while we were away?

IHRA Ch-ch-ch-anges

It's been a very busy time at IHRA headquarters over the past few months. Starting with the surprising announcement of Kenny Nowling (ex-ADRL head honcho) as the new President of the association on October 23, 2024. Less than two months later, at the PRI (Performance Racing Industry) show, it was announced that Darryl Cuttell had become the new owner of IHRA, after purchasing it from Larry Jeffers. Simultaneously, the announcement of three Nitro Jam races, with Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Mod, and Mountain Motor Pro Stock classes headlining the events in 2025.

Then in the first week of January, at an NFL game in Cincinatti, a big half-time announcement was made that TEN Nitro Jam events would be run this year. Dates and locations to be announced soon. Additional classes were added to the Nitro Jam series at that time, including Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle, Top Fuel Motorcycle, and Nitro Harley. No word yet on purse sizes but they are promised to be susbstantial, and ZERO entry fees for Pro racers in 2025.

Less than a week later the executive suite at IHRA headquarters saw Mr. Nowling parting ways with IHRA with immediate effect. The announcment reads as follows: "This decision underscores IHRA's commitment to prioritizing safety, competition, and integrity in it's operations". One short sentence that on the surface reads like any corporate change of personnel, but the part of that sentence refering to "safety, competition and integrity" speaks volumes.

Then on January 17th, a new CEO Alex Roach and new President Rich Schaefer (ex-NHRA Division Two Director) were announced in a glowing media release by Jeff Birchfield, director of IHRA communications. The release closed with this sentence: As with anything, this is ever evolving but EXCITING TIMES AHEAD!.

Wait, there's more: as last Thursday (January 24th), ex-NHRA head announcer, Alan Rinehart was hired as Vice-President of Racing Operations. After failing to reach an agreement on a contract extension with NHRA, Rinehart very quickly landed on his feet at IHRA.

All we're waiting for now is the 2025 Nitro Jam schedule. It should be interesting. A quick check of the track roster of IHRA shows a total of 50 facilities, only 15 of which are quarter-mile and only 13 of them on the mainland of the United States. None of them are near a major population center, and only a few have anything near national event capabilities. That means: concrete guardwalls, adequate shutdown areas, large enough pit areas, and grandstands that can accomodate a serious number of spectators.