[Jim Wahl]

After a two hour phone conversation with Scooter Peaco I feel that IHRA will do all they can to continue the Sportsman and Class Racing program for 2017. With that said there are many concerns. One concern, and probably the biggest is car count. If the car counts continue the downward spiral then it becomes harder and harder to sell the Pro Am program to track managers.No track owner or manager wants to lose money. They cant stay in business that way. If they can't make a profit they can't justify the payouts. IHRA and NHRA payouts are the same.IHRA is cheaper to race with than NHRA. The overheads are pretty close to the same, so if IHRA doesn't take in as much or more through race fees at their races it's harder for them to continue. Lets face it, no longer does spectator gate fees pay for anything! When was the last time you saw more than a few "butts in the seat" at any race, IHRA or NHRA. Most are family or crew. So the number of racers that show up is even more important. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.

I'd be only speculating if I told you why IRG hired Mike Dunn to head the IHRA. Was it to draw more Pro racers? Was it because of his organizational skills? I don't know. Only Mike and IGA knows what the deal was there. I am convinced now that it wasn't to gut the Association. There is no doubt IHRA has fallen on tough times. We ALL have! But like most of us everybody has a boss. He must follow the wishes of the mother company or hit the road as been done before. This brings up the question of the Drag Review Magazine. IRG has told Dunn that they do not think it is a necessary expense. So it is gone. Neither Peaco or Dunn are happy about it and told me they fought it. They lost! We lost! And no you will not get a refund. Period. It is possible it could come back in digital form only. I said possible. It's a maybe at best. This is wrong! We all know it. Peaco and Dunn agree with that! IRG said NO!

Now, about next season. As things stand today, the season will go forward as planned. Scooter is starting to work on gathering the tracks together to plan races and dates. But as I stated earlier, everything depends on which tracks want to continue with the Pro Am format. That depends on if he can sell them that program with the low car counts we have been experiencing. Will they take the chance on us? We must show them we want to race! Don't fool yourself. This is no different than NHRA! You want a place to race? You have to show the track owners by showing up! You make your own destiny. If you don't get out and race, you can't sit at home and bitch about it! This goes for IHRA,NHRA and your local S/SS Associations!

The rest of the IHRA season will go on as planned for sure. The people at Summit have a contract to to see to that! Thank you Summit! Hopefully they will be back next year. The World Finals will go on as planned also. Once again Summit will be sure of that.

With all of that said, if you have more questions about IHRA, Scooter has said to feel free to call or email him. (ihra.com)(contact us). He said he will do his best to answer you. If you don't feel comfortable doing that (you shouldn't) feel free to contact me and I will try to help.
Once again, if you don't make an effort to get out and race, you can't bitch! Jim


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