[John Nechiporchik]

I attended/participated in the IHRA event at Martin over the weekend.
I want to comment that I feel that the combined effort of the IHRA team and Martin ran an excellent program.
Plagued with some intermittent rain, the team used the available up time of the track very efficiently and successfully completed the show on Saturday evening.
A couple observations:
The quality of the cars/cycles running the NITRO JAM program was excellent. I enjoyed the AA/FC portion as you could actually tell the body style of the vehicles and the racing was tight and relatively problem free. Minimal breakage/downtime etc.
Pro Stock and Pro Mod had equally exciting, close competitive racing. Also, the Nitro Harley show was cool!.
The crowd (spectators) on Saturday was healthy. Martin has a lot of seating and my observation is that they were 75-80% full during the afternoon/evening.
The facility/ track surface was in A-1 shape. Martin has installed an Accutime Timing system ....eliminating some of the previous issues they had in this area.
The IHRA staff was friendly, efficient and professional. I was thanked more than once for attending the event.
The major downside was the sportsman car count. In stock, we only had 19 cars. The other sportsman classes were also light (actual numbers not known).
I know there are some who have dismissed the IHRA as a viable program, but I would encourage those who have an opportunity to attend and participate in one of their races to give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised!