Desperate times call for desperate measures. Over the last few years, it's been clear to everyone in the biz that the International Hot Rod Association [IHRA] has been in trouble.
For as long as anyone cares to remember, the IHRA has been content to be a sometimes vigorous, sometimes lethargic number two drag racing sanctioning body to the National Hot Rod Association's [NHRA] number one. Recently, however, attendance at its events has been falling rapidly, and the organization has seen its number two position snatched away by the upstart American Drag Racing League [ADRL].
The jet trucks Shock Wave and Super Shock Wave prepare to make an exhibition run at Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010. (All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2010. Click directly on any of the images to see larger versions.)
After last season, the IHRA's new owners, Feld Entertainment -- which owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney On Ice, and monster truck shows, among other things -- decided that big changes would have to be made.
The newly reinvented Nitro Jam series made its first trip to Rockingham Dragway, last weekend, and I was there to cover the event. While the IHRA is clearly trying to achieve a balance between spectacle and racing, it seemed to me that the organization is betting that sheer spectacle is what fans really want.
In Top Fuel, Bruce Litton, event winner, left lane, runner-up Bobby Lagana, Jr., right lane, Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010..
It would be a real shame if the circus aspects of the new Nitro Jam series eclipse the racing. The history of the IHRA is studded with some of the biggest names in drag racing -- Don Garlits, Bunny Burkett, Bob Glidden, Kenny Bernstein, Ronnie Sox, Warren Johnson, and Scotty Cannon, to name just a few. They've all raced extensively in IHRA events and have won many times. The organization's strong sportsman (amateur) series rivals the NHRA's.
But the signs, for now, are worrying.
In Top Fuel, Bobby Lagana, Jr., left lane, and Spencer Massey, right lane, Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010.
Take Top Fuel, for instance. These 300 miles per hour beasts are there for show, not primarily to race. Sure, when they're lined up on the track, it looks like they're racing. But they're not.
The four Top Fuel cars (down from eight last season) are there by invitation. They don't have to make qualifying runs to make the race. In the first round of competition, they're racing the clock, not the car next to them. The two quickest elapsed times will make it into the finals, so a car can lose the race in the first round and still make it into the final round. The essence of drag racing, however, is head-to-head competition between two drivers who a lined up against each other.
The Top Fuel cars are still the most spectacular machines in motorsports. But the absence of real competition takes some the edge off the fun.
In Prostalgia Funny Car, Mike McIntire.
The Prostalgia Funny Cars (called simply Nostalgia Funny Cars, elsewhere) are a new IHRA class this year. They've got a lot to offer and put on a heck of a show. Burning nitromethane as fuel, they're loud, fast, belch flames out their exhaust headers, and have cartoonish body styles that fans really go for.
In Prostalgia Funny Car, runner-up Steve Nichols, Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010.
But as in Top Fuel, the cars are at the track by invitation only and don't have to qualify to make the field. Once again, cars make it into the final round on their basis of their quickest elapsed time, not by winning their rounds.
In Prostalgia Funny Car, Greg Jacobsmeyer, Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010.
It would be wrong to dismiss Prostalgia Funny Cars, however. They're one of the hottest new items in drag racing. If a way can be found to make the each round more of a race and less of an exhibition, there's a lot of potential here.
In Pro Fuel, event winner Michael Manners, Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010.
I have to admit that I just don't get Pro Fuel. They're essentially watered-down Top Fuel cars, burning nitromethane, but, being without superchargers, they're slower and less entertaining. That is, they do what Top Fuel cars do, only not as well. It's also a class that doesn't exist in any other major sanctioning body. My sense is that fans have a hard time relating to them.
In Elite 8 Top Sportsman, Stacy Hall, Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010.
Instead of Pro Fuel, the IHRA would be better off presenting a class (or two) that's distinctly different from both Top Fuel and Prostalgia Funny Car and that has great fan appeal. That means fast doorslammers (literally, cars with doors through which the driver enters).
Ironically, the IHRA nurtured, for many years, and then cast aside, last fall, two classes of the fastest doorslammers on the planet -- Pro Mods and Mountain Motor Pro Stocks. They look like Stacy Hall's Top Sportsman Corvette, above, but are considerably faster. Fans love the look, the sound, and the spectacle. In fact, the ADRL has risen to prominence on the shoulders of its Pro Mod teams.
Especially on the east coast, fans want door cars. Their absence from the professional ranks at Rockingham -- which can lay claim to being the doorslammer capital of the world -- was glaring.
(By the way, it's worth noting that the most popular drag racing program on TV -- one with more viewers than even NHRA national events -- is the doorslammers-only Pinks All Out.)
In Top Fuel, Bruce Litton, left lane, and Del Cox, Jr., right lane, Rockingham Dragway, 2 May 2010.
Where does the IHRA go from here? It's too soon to tell. The reinvented Nitro Jam has great potential, so let's hope that the series survives long enough for the organization to tinker with the formula. My advice is to add fast door cars, make round wins meaningful, and, very crucially, fill in the inevitable downtime with some form of non-racing entertainment -- product give-aways, local celebrities, a rock band, etc.