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First and foremost, I love the IHRA format, their racetracks and their personnel. Have supported them for many years. But for reasons I cannot comprehend, IHRA has plain lost competitors. Many to the NHRA. They either need to figure out how to get them back, which is highly unlikely, or grow new participants. I believe there are a fair number of local bracket racers who would compete if entry fees were lower, travel was significantly reduced, and possibly fear of racing against more seasoned competitors was lessened. I think there is a possible solution. Contest the divisional races at many more local tracks, maybe once/month, with track personnel. So IHRA doesn't have to travel a gang to every race, they reduce expenses. The divisionals occur with a high frequency at your local track, so travel is minimized. And since they are in your house the fear of the seasoned traveling racer is reduced. And one more tickler. Run a big money bracket style race in conjunction with these "divisionals." You attract more local racers, plus some that want to travel, plus some racers that chase big money bracket races. And you can have divisional champions and a run for a national champion.

This seems like it could be a win for the IHRA with reduced expenses, a win for the tracks due to increased car counts at IHRA events.

The points structure would need to be re-worked, entry fees and purses will need rework also. But the current structure is not working. Seems like no amount of tweaks will pull in more racers, so something radical needs to be done.

Ron Cannatti