New IHRA President

[Bret Kepner]

Originally Posted by Keith 944

You must not of been to a national lately, I would not call 2-3 pairs of cars a race!

Originally Posted by deuces wild

Several years ago in the Knoll gas era I went to a race in San Antonio. There were 43 pro mods for 16 spots. Its nothing like that now.

I don't post opinions. I post facts. Just because somebody thinks the IHRA needs forty-three cars to have a race or the IHRA's current car count is less than what somebody "expects" doesn't mean the IHRA does not run Pro Modified or Pro Stock Eliminators. The classes are there. Take up your grievances with the association.

I'm willing to bet nobody replying to this thread realizes the IHRA PS and PM programs are "pay to play" in the same format as NHRA Pro Modified Eliminator. In fact, that’s the ONLY reason the classes returned to IHRA’s roster.

Originally Posted by ss3845

That's semantics Brett. Not sure if they still do it but the nitro teams were limited to 4 one day test sessions. Spun in a way that it will save all the teams money. Any run down any track on any day used up a test session. That may not prohibit them from attending an event but it would make it impossible to run both series. That was back in 2009/2010. Maybe it has changed. Jim McBean

In reference to the NHRA's short-lived fuel car "testing moratorium" of 2008, it was instituted because of a worldwide lack of nitromethane. The purpose was not to prevent racers from running other events. In fact, they were banned from testing only at NHRA facilities. The NHRA could hardly stop the racers from competing outside the NHRA's jurisdiction.

The 2008 season was also the final year the IHRA conducted qualified eight-car fields in Top Fuel and Funny Car Eliminators and the IHRA series included quite a few teams which raced with the NHRA. John Force and others continued to compete at Norwalk's "Night Under Fire" and Cordova's World Series of Drag Racing. Why? Because they were the only events outside the NHRA and IHRA National Event series which included those vehicles.

The NHRA maintained the testing ban in 2009. However, the IHRA was unaffected by it since they switched to a four-car, booked-in field of modern Top Fuel Dragsters for their feature attraction. Through 2008, the association lost so much money at every event due to the $185,000 fuel purses, (per race), for their open-qualified eight-car fields, they opted for a smaller, cheaper shows with the four TF teams along with their Pro Stock and Pro Modified Eliminators. Also in 2009, the IHRA dropped both Fuel and Alcohol Funny Car Eliminators from their schedule.

In 2010, the NHRA revised the testing ban to allow a maximum of four days at any track during the season, (not counting pre-season or post-season testing). This provision as adopted not as a measure to prevent racers from competing at other venues but to level the playing field for gathering information and to limit the expense of operation for all fuel teams. It had no effect on the IHRA whatsoever since the IHRA continued utilizing four booked-in Top Fuel teams while adding supercharged fuel Nostalgia Funny Cars and injected nitro dragsters to their line-up. At the end of 2010, the IHRA dropped modern Top Fuel dragsters entirely because they were still bleeding money.

Regardless, John Force and others continued to compete at Norwalk's "Night Under Fire" and Cordova's World Series of Drag Racing. Why? Because they were the only events outside the NHRA National Event series which included those vehicles.

The testing limitations were dropped at the end of 2012 because they had virtually no effect on the expense of racing in Top Fuel or Funny Car Eliminators.

These are facts. If you're looking for an argument, you're in the wrong place.