IHRA Cancels Cayuga National Event

[Jason Oldfield]

I have to say that this smells fishy to me, or I just totally don't understand IHRA's thinking. Assuming IHRA's revenue stream is heavily based upon the spectator gate like NHRA's, then reducing the number of events isn't going to help their financial situation. They've already lost Norwalk and Mansfield was DOA, Pittsburgh's not going this year, and now they cancel this event because the improvements weren't being made to their level of satisfaction. But, who's to say that those improvements wouldn't have been done in time for the event?

Right now, there is an NHRA national event scheduled for September 11 - 14 in Charlotte for a track that isn't anywhere close to the level of completeness that TMP is currently (don't get me wrong, when it's done, I know Charlotte will be nicer than TMP, but as of a week or so ago it was all still dirt). So, is IHRA telling me that there's no way that these improvements could have been made for a race that was supposed to take place a WEEK AFTER the event in Charlotte?

And why CANCEL the event altogether, even if that's true? Why not reschedule it for some other location? I'm sure NYIRP, Grand Bend, or a HOST of other IHRA tracks would jump through hoops to be able to get that race. But instead they just cancel it outright?

I don't believe we're hearing the whole story here. I know TMP has been slow to implement improvements, but there has got to be more to the story than just that.

I feel bad for the racers in WNY and Southeastern Ontario as this was the biggest race in the region. I'm certainly disappointed as well, but for me this clears up the schedule conflict on my calendar, and I will now go to the Jeg's SPORTSNationals in Columbus instead.