BangShift.com has confirmed, through discussions with highly placed sources that New England Dragway, a longtime IHRA national event facility will switch sanctions at the end of the 2010 season and run under the NHRA banner from that point forward. The track has informed IHRA of their decision and will host the first and last IHRA Nitro Jam event in their history next month.
New England Dragway’s departure will leave a hole in the IHRA schedule, which has been pulling through the Epping, New Hampshire drag plant since the early 1990s. The track’s physical elevation of just 90′ above sea level and the September timing of the major IHRA event always resulted in record breaking performances. Recent years have seen the event plagued with rains, but there have been some barn burners during the IHRA tenure. The first 6.20 Mountain Motor Pro Stock pass came there a scant few years ago during one of the most epic qualifying days in the storied history of the class.
New England Dragway has operated under NHRA, IHRA, and AHRA sanctions through their history. While there is no indication that the track will host an NHRA national event any time soon, they have previously assessed the upgrades that would be needed to do just that. We’re near 100% sure that the track will receive a divisional race or a National Open event for the 2011 season. If major upgrades are carried out over the next few years, there is potential that the NHRA could have an event at the track at get into the only major media market in the country that it is missing, New England.
The rumors of this switch have been swirling around the track for years, especially after the last short extension was signed with the IHRA. We can remember, clear as a bell, a fan asking the former General Manager of the facility when, “NHRA was coming back?” His response was a terse, “Never”. He was wrong.
There will be changes for local racers who will be adapting to the NHRA’s safety rules and bracket finals locations.
It will be interesting to see what IHRA does with their schedule now that Epping is off of it for 2011. We suspect that there are lots of tracks who would welcome a visit from them. Time will tell.
As more information becomes available about this news, we’ll continue to update this story.
