Inside IHRA: Classes, Tracks, And The New Grassroots Push

Welcome to another In-Wheel Time podcast.

This is your place for all things automotive, the award-winning In-Wheel Time car talk show.

Coming up, IHRA division director Doug Foley can talk about drag racing on a different note.

Later, Jeff has the racing calendar, Mars has this week in auto history, and I'll get you

caught up on the stories making automotive headlines. Howdy along with Mike out of this

world, Mars. We always need more Jeff Seekin. I'm Don Armstrong, our chief engineer, David Ainsley,

getting ready for his big trip up north. Big, big, big trip. Yeah, and he's going to be gone for a

couple of weeks. Yeah, two or three, something like that. Three. Three, yeah, yeah. Three weeks.

So the timing has worked out just fine, I think. We don't have any remote broadcasts coming up,

so that's always a good thing for him. You know, we should do, in like a week, we should fly up

there and just knock on his door. You know, it's not as easy as you think it is. I know, I know.

I know the area. Yeah. All right. Joining us now, IHRA, which is the International Hot Rod

Association, is the division director. His name is Doug Foley. Doug, good morning to you.

Oh, gosh. Oh, Doug, we're muted. No, he's not muted. We're just not getting his voice here.

Doug, can you say something to us? There you are. Yeah, he's a little bit better now.

He's kind of gargly, isn't he, Mr. Mars? Yeah, his internet, if he moves the wrong place,

his internet drops. Yeah, your internet sucks. So we're going to put you on hold for a minute.

You and Mars are going to work out this so we can hear every stinking word you got to say. So

you just hang in there, Mr. Mars will lead you through what we need to go through.

Oh, Lord, are you sure you want him to do that? Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure about that.

So I will give you this. IHRA, they were a force back in the day,

and they were the competitor to NHRA and different rules, different regulations,

different sanctioned race tracks, different cars. Well, they were, yes, yes, they, well,

because of the different rules, they car builders built cars to the IHRA rules as opposed to the

NHRA rules. So there was this kind of a divide there. It was founded in 1971 by Larry Carrier,

has since become a prominent organization for grassroots drag racing, including the IHRA Summit

Super Series, a prominent bracket racing championship. In recent years, IHRA has seen ownership

changes and a renewed focus on its core values of integrity and passion for the sport. And

so I told you that we're talking about Larry Carrier started it in 71. And

the events are different and a different race tracks. It started at Carrier's Bristol

International Speedway Dragway. It says here, IHRA sanctions races across the North America

with a particularly strong presence in Canada, where it holds three national drag racing events

according to Wikipedia. Now that'd be a fun road trip. Yeah, go to, yeah, go to Canada.

Our grassroots focus, IHRA has found success as a hub for grassroots drag racing with its

Summit Super Series, being a notable example of its commitment to bracket racing. In recent

years, IHRA has undergone ownership changes. Darrell Cattel, becoming the new owner of the

organization, has also seen a renewed focus on free speech, equal opportunities and a fact-based

approach reflected in its return to the X social media platform. It says x.com. I think Doug's

internet connection hooked up right or better. Yeah. So I think we're good to go. Well, I think

that will be the judge of that. He's smiling so I know he can hear us. Say something good, Doug.

How about now? How's that? Oh my God. Yeah. You plugged it from the TV remote into the actual

internet. Listen, technology sometimes is difficult. Yeah, it's not my friend very often.

It eludes some of this and we believe me. We can understand. Welcome, Doug. Welcome. Yeah.

Well, thank you guys for having me. I've been able to hear you the whole time.

Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that because, you know, I remember when IHRA come into existence and

NHRA was really scared because they thought, oh gosh, what are we going to do? We've got some

competition here. Well, good. Competition is good. And I guess what divided the two, you

correct me if I'm wrong, were the different rules for the different categories of cars.

Because not all of the rules from one series transferred to the other. And if you wanted

to race in both series, generally speaking, if you had the money, you had two cars because

some of the some of the changes that you had to make to the cars were significant back in the day.

Yeah, I think that played a part in some of it. But, you know, IHRA is usually ran between

eight and 12 national event races. So that that plays a big part in it too. You know, especially

on the professional side, you know, these guys that run 20 races, they're spending three or

four million dollars a year when you can come over to the IHRA. And we have, you know, this year

we have five national events. And, you know, you cut that cut that budget in half, if not more. So

it's a little more racer friendly. It's, it's a little bit we're, we're geared a little more

towards the work and folk than just the guys that own billion dollar corporations that can

afford to come out and, you know, realistically, you know, outspend everybody else, right?

What are what are the top, top 10, top eight, how many of you want to put together their classes

of cars? Do you have, you got nitro cars? Oh, yeah. So we'll have top fuel funny car, which

we opened up our pre pre-entry a couple of weeks or a week ago or so. And so we have eight car

fields in both of our nitro categories. And we have more than eight entered in each class. So

we have full fields. We have pro mod, mountain motor pro stock, pro nitrous, top alcohol dragster,

top alcohol funny car. So that's probably our, you know, upper echelon of, you know, our, our

faster cars. Anyway, you know, anyways, so do you want, do you kind of intermingle with the

NHRA? Because I know that they do run pro mods and things. And you can see a telecast on some of

their events, but not as a feature. So do you kind of intermingle with that other events?

We don't really, we don't really have anything to do with, we don't have anything to do with

NHRA, but that the cars and the classes and the rules, you know, they're all

similar enough to where you can come over and race either sanctioning body and still,

you know, not have to spend a fortune to be able to do so. Well, one of the categories,

new categories for NHRA is the mountain motor category. And I heard you say that you've got

that at a IHRA as well. What, what is mountain motor? What exactly is that?

Oh, mountain motors are, they're just big cubic inch pro stock cars. So they're still

allowed to have carburetors. They have the hood scoops, but that big motors, big horsepower,

and they're going, you know, six twenties of 200 and almost 30 miles an hour. So they're a little

different than the 500 cubic inch pro stock cars that everybody's kind of used to seeing. But

mountain motor pro stock is, it was born and bred here at IHRA. So that's a, it's a class that's

near and dear to us. And the, the interest level that we have for this class right now is surpassed

our expectations coming into this year. So we're, we're really looking forward to having those guys

back. How did you get involved with IHRA? Well, so I grew up, my dad races top fuel and he started

an IHRA back in 2003 when he won the rookie of the year back then in top fuel. And then just,

he obviously has kept racing the last 20 something years. And when Larry Jeffers bought the IHRA a

few years ago, he gave me a call and wanted to see if I had any interest in coming on board and

helping out. And then, you know, at the end of 24 Larry Jeffers sold it to Daryl Cuddle. And we've

been rolling right along. I mean, we've, we bought, I think IHRA owns five race tracks now. I'm actually

at one right now. We have our night of fire event here at National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio.

So when you say, if you hear burnouts in the background, that's why that would be great.

But when you say you bought, the organization bought the track, you didn't just buy rights to it.

I mean, you physically own the property? Yeah, we physically own the property. Well,

NHRA has got several tracks like that as well. So it's a full quarter mile, right? Yeah,

National Trail is a full quarter mile facility. We also own Galop Motor Sports Park down in

Dunn, North Carolina. We own Kill Care Raceway, Xenia, Ohio, Mylon, Dragway, which is in Mylon,

Michigan. Mylon, Michigan. Yep. Yep. So we got, we got quite a few tracks that have been purchased.

You got a quite a few more that are on the, on the dock. You said, you said you've got eight,

eight, eight drivers or eight cars in a class. Do they follow you around the country or is it

just eight for this particular van? And then you've got eight more for another part of the country?

No, so we, I mean, you know, there's cars that are going to race full time with us.

The nitro cars that have committed to full time racing with the IHRA this year is

Scott Palmer, Dale Creasy Jr., Jack White, Terry Haddock is coming to most of them.

So we have, we have a good, you know, we didn't start this deal really till beginning of May,

end of April, beginning of May for this year. So obviously there's been a lot of talk about it,

but going out and actually doing it. Now we're, we're two weeks away from crowning champions at

our first event since the IHRA has been bought and rebranded. The IHRA hasn't had a top fuel car

race in over 15 years. Wow. Well now you got a full field car.

We have a full field of cars. There's a lot of excitement, you know, a top fuel funny car

that pays $50,000 to win. It pays $15,000 just to qualify. Well, your dad,

he didn't he used to race at NHRA? Yeah, he's actually up at, he's at Norwalk this weekend.

Gotcha. Yeah, but he'll be down here. He's bringing his, his car out. He's got a few

sponsors right here in Columbus with United garage door and alloy employer services. So

this would be a big race for him being able to get all of his guests out here and

check out the drag races. So you've been going to drag races since you were born?

Yeah, just about. That's right. Well, obviously it's worked out for you. You're a division director.

Which division are you running? So I've run division one and nine basically up and down the

East coast. Yeah. And it's a full time gig for you. Full time. Full time as it gets. Do you still

have a full head of hair? So far, but it's turning gray or turning gray. Yeah. I was going to say

there's big chunks missing from pulling your hair out. You know what the next step is after that?

What's that? Well, we'll see. Exactly. Well, I kind of like the idea of the eight car field.

Yeah. I mean, it's not, I mean, things are going to move pretty quick when you go to the track

and you're not going to be sitting there for three hours trying to get 16 cars through.

We can one of them blew up or whatever, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And part of it is obviously

the group we have here at IHTRA, we're all racers. So, you know, Josh Peek is here, Larry Morgan.

So the old Larry Morgan. Yeah.

He's smiling. I don't know where you want to go with that. He's one of a kind. He's done it his

whole life and we're really glad he's part of this. He was actually, he's instrumental in this

operation. So having all of these racers here, we kind of can pick and choose, you know, what we

want to adopt and what we don't want to adopt. And, you know, our shows are two day shows Friday

and Saturday. You know, you have two qualifying runs Friday and then

eliminations on Saturday. So that's one of the big things with the Nitro teams is, you know,

you get four qualifying runs and it's 16 car fields. So you have to make eight runs to win

$50,000 over here at IHRA. Our winners' purse is $50,000, but you only have to make five runs

to get there. Are the rules for IHRA, are they pretty much the same as NHRA? I mean, I'm sure

you got to have all the safety effects in place. Yeah, all the rules basically are the same. I

think we're trying to make it a little more racer friendly with being able to open up a few different

options. You know, there's a lot of top fuel cars in this country. Between the States and Canada,

there's a lot of Nitro cars that some of them just, you know, there are some rules that

I don't feel that are that necessary that these teams have to park their cars because they can

afford to do those updates to their cars or ignition boxes or, you know, whatever the rules are,

whatever that particular rule is, it gets expensive quick. You know, one of these, a lot of

fans don't know that these top fuel cars, they have to send out their valve covers every year to

get re-certified. They're bell housings every year to get re-certified. The blower restraint

bags, I mean, the list goes on and on just to do that. You're talking thousands and thousands of

dollars. So if we could, not that we're eliminating that, but that was just a, you know, kind of

ask you a little bit about the insurance aspect of it that you guys apparently provide significant

insurance coverage for your members. Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, our insurance is

next level compared to, it's not even just drag racing. I mean, any racing sanctioning body,

you know, we have surpassed all of them. So we have, yeah, a million dollars worth of liability

insurance for each racer. So if you aren't a, we have accidental death, dismemberment insurance.

We have, you know, if you get hurt at the racetrack, there's, you can get paid up to whatever,

26 weeks or something like that for workers comp. Like we, we're trying to make it to where it's,

we're not trying to, you know, copy anybody else. We want to set out and do our own thing and make,

make the racers kind of, you know, see what we can, we want to do whatever we can to make it

better for everybody and not just do the same old song and dance. Gotcha. Well, so what is your

big event at the end of the season? Where is that? When is it? So our world finals will be at

Gallop Motorsports Park, which is done in North Carolina. And that's November 5th through the 8th.

But our first one, our season opener kicks off here, like I said, in just two weeks

here at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, which is just east of Columbus, probably about 30

miles. But that's our first one. It'll be July 9th through the 12th. And you'll be able to see a

full slate of top fuel cars, funny cars all the way through stock, super stock.

I assume that you don't have a big television contract. Can you watch the races online?

Yeah, you will be able to. The races will be live streamed. We haven't announced with who yet,

but that'll be coming pretty early this week. So we're looking forward to that. And I think

all the fans at home that won't be able to make it out to the races will

be online and watch appreciate it as well. It's not a prime. Yeah.

That's it. Is it IHRA.com, Doug? Is it IHRA.com? Yep, IHRA.com. You can go on there and look at

the schedule, buy your tickets. And then on our Facebook page, we've been releasing some of the

driver's names that have entered for our events. So I guess that's Scott Palmer. He's entered

Krista Baldwin's coming. Dale Carisi, Jack Wyatt, Terry Haddock. Doug Foley.

Doug Foley is going to be here too. So there's a lot of really good cars. We're really looking

forward to. Well, Doug, it's great to talk to you. And the best of luck to you. And let's stay in

touch. You got something new to tell us. Hey, we'll put you on the air and you can tell everybody.

Yeah, right on for appreciate your time. And thanks for having me on. Good season. Thank you.

Best of luck. Doug Foley, Division Director IHRA, just ahead. Jeff has the racing calendar.

Mars has this week in Auto History, and I'll bring you the week's Auto News headlines all

coming up on the In Wheel Time car talk show. Stay with us. The Tailpipes and Tacos Christmas

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Tailpipes and Tacos is the cruise in everyone wants to attend. And the Christmas Edition is

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Just cruise in and you're automatically registered to compete for one of three famous chili pepper

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Edition will be held Saturday, December 13th, 8 to 11 a.m. At the loopy tortilla Tex-Mex located

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In Wheel Time will be there too. Fire up those engines and pay tribute to the folks who make

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Friday night, downtown cruise Saturday, 400 of the coolest rides in Texas. Proceeds help Veterans,

shelters, food pantries and scholarships sponsored by Craig's Jewelry. November 7th and 8th,

Main Street, Bastrop. Don't miss it. You be Jonesen? I'd be Jonesen, man. I'd be Jonesen. Every time

that commercial comes on, I said, you know what? I should be Jonesen. You should be Jonesen. Yeah.

Welcome back to the In Wheel Time car talk show. You're invited to join our live broadcast every

Saturday 10 to noon central on InWheelTime.com, Facebook and YouTube. We hope you check us out

from our home base here at the Sugar Shack Studios. If you miss us, you'll be able to catch all the

action on your favorite podcast channel. Time now for the racing calendar, sponsored by Texas

Muscle Car Club Challenge. Yeah, it's a holiday weekend coming up next weekend. So we've got some

stuff cooking. IMSA is actually off this week. They'll be back in a couple of weeks. So check

that out. They're going to be at Motorsports Park. Xfinity series. Yesterday, the Xfinity ran in

Atlanta. I didn't get any details and really didn't have an opportunity to watch it because

I was doing other things yesterday. Yeah, yesterday at the 27th. And the NASCAR Saturday,

today they're in Atlanta. NHRA 26 through the 29th, which is happening right now. The Summit Racing

Equipment NHRA Nationals, and that's it. Equipment Motorsports Park is what they're calling it.

And then Formula One, not till the end of the month, but they're going to be in the Austrian

Grand Prix. So check them out if you want. Bring out your accordion and put on your Leader Hosen.

Leader Hosen and get your stein a beer. Speaking of Leader Hosen, Mr. Mars has this week in Auto

History. Yeah, buddy, lots of things going on this week in Auto History. So starting this week in 1906,

it was the first French Grand Prix. Now this was organized by the Automobile Club de France.

Oh, la, la. And it was the first official motor racing Grand Prix which set the stage of the

precedent for the modern Formula One racing. Now also this week coming up in 1956, the last

true Packard rolls off the assembly line. Now you say that because it's happened at Connors,

at Detroit's Connors or Avenue Plant. It came off. But there were some Packards that were made and

rebadged as Studebakers after that. But this is when the last true Packard came off the line.

Also in 1957, Illinois enacted the first US seatbelt law. Now this became originally

compliance was kind of low. Nobody really kind of cared about it, but they really started pressing on

it. And now it's mandated across the whole country. Then in 1966, the US Senate passes the landmark

Auto Safety Bill. Now if you recall back Ralph Nader, produced in 1965, came out with his book

Unsafe at Any Speed. And this mandated the law, which led to this law, which mandated dashboard

seat belts and crash testing, and actually reorganized and revolutionized car safety.

Then in 2001, the first installment of the Fast and Furious premiered in US theaters. Now this

for some reason, this thing took off about underground street racing,

heavily modified cars like the Mazda RX-7 and the Dodge Charger. I never saw that movie.

You never saw it. You don't get out much, do you? Well, it interests me. That's the first

one. If you don't watch any of them, that's the one to watch. I was busy that day. Also in 2001,

the last Plymouth rolls off the line. Now this was Chrysler's longstanding marquee

and seats production. And the final model was a silver neon coming off the assembly line.

And marked the end of Chrysler, which started in 1928. Not the end of Chrysler or the end of Plymouth.

What do I say? Can the Chrysler? Oh, yeah, you're right. It says Chrysler consolidated.

I thought Dodge had the neon. Chrysler had the, was it Dodge? Chrysler neon? Plymouth neon.

Okay. Yeah. I was confused because I know that they were small cars. Well,

we got to blow the dust off these things, you know, so we can bring them out. I live confused.

Dazed and confused. There you go. Okay. News headlines. Yesterday after dinner, days,

entasement. Is it a word, entasement? It is not. Tesla Incorporated self-driving taxi

appeared to violate traffic laws during the company's first day offering paid rides

with one customer capturing footage of a left turn gone wrong and others traveling in cars

that exceeded posted speed limits. Yeah. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is aware

of those incidents and is in contact with the company to gather additional information.

In a video taken by Rob Maurer, an investor who used to host a Tesla podcast, the model

wise he, model why he is riding in, enters an Austin intersection in a left turn only lane.

The Tesla hesitates to make the turn, swerves right and proceeds into an unoccupied lane meant

for traffic moving in the opposite direction. Nice. Nice. And it was 14 years old and you

do the math. Honking horn can be heard as the Tesla re-enters the correct lane over a double

yellow line, which drivers aren't supposed to cross. In two other posts on X, initial

writers and driverless model wise shared footage of Tesla's speeding, a vehicle carrying Sawyer

Merritt, a Tesla investor, reached 35 miles an hour shortly after passing a 30 mile an hour

speed limit sign. Well, I guess they got a little work to do. Representatives for Tesla

and the Austin police department didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the videos.

The automaker recalled more than 362,000 vehicles in February of 2023 after NHTSA said its driver

assistance system may allow cars to infringe on local traffic laws. A spokesperson for the

city of Austin said it didn't receive any safety incident reports regarding Tesla's

taxis over the weekend. Well, either that or they closed down the particular part of Austin

that these things were going around in circles in. I don't know. So it crosses double stripes,

speeding, all that. And you hear horns from the other people. Ford Motor is recalling the

majority of its salaried workforce back to the office four days a week. Employee,

automaker's latest effort to boost employee and company performance. Spokesperson said the new

policy affects the majority of its global salaried workforce, but declined to provide a specific

number for notified employees. June 25th takes effect September 1st. Businesses around the

world have grappled with how much flexibility to allow workers since the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Some such as JP Morgan and Amazon have mandated that hybrid workers return

five days a week. Everybody back to work. All right. We'd love to hear from you.

Shoot us an email. The address is info at nwheeltime.com and we will continue and say goodbye

after these brief messages. Who doesn't like a social event? How about one that centers around

your love for all things automotive? Another Gulf Coast Auto Shield car social is back. Saturday,

December 6th, 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway just south of the Southwest Freeway.

It's a morning packed with incredible cars. Some of the finest rides in town from classics to

modern exotics. Here's your chance to talk to fellow car lovers. Grab a coffee and check out how

Gulf Coast Auto Shield keeps these rides looking perfect. Meet the team. Take a look around the

shop to see firsthand how Gulf Coast Auto Shield gets the most of the look you're trying to create.

In wheel time will be there with their live car talk show. You might just be one of the guests.

Don't miss this free, fun and fast paced car gathering of fellow car lovers and their rides.

Saturday, December 6th at Gulf Coast Auto Shield 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway.

Bring your car, bring your friends and bring your love for all things automotive. We'll see you then.

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Inside IHRA: Classes, Tracks, And The New Grassroots Push

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