So if the Australian drag racing world could be described with an American term, “screwed up” would be about it. The end of the ANDRA (Australian National Drag Racing Association) in 2014 was tumultuous and weird with the tracks essentially telling the ANDRA that they needed to replace their leadership or they would figure out some other way to make a go of it. With nothing happening on the ANDRA side of things, the tracks apparently made their move by breaking away to form their own series called Thunder 400.
That series will race at three different tracks and they are Willowbank, Sydney, and Perth. The first race of the Thunder 400 season took place last weekend and it was sanctioned by the ANDRA. On Tuesday following the event ANDRA announced it would no longer grant permits of sanction the races of Thunder 400 and that is when they jumped on the phone and called Ohio.
Why would IHRA do this? Hey they are going to get a sanctioning fee, it seems like the will be getting some membership dues, and it is a way to increase their international footprint. It is not a huge secret that the organization is in need of revenue and this is certainly some of that.
We’re interested to see if the ANDRA group releases a statement on this. Things are weird in the drag racing down under for sure!
IHRA TO SANCTION 400 THUNDER SERIES IN AUSTRALIA
NORWALK, Ohio (November 13, 2015) –
ANDRA also notified its members that it is unlikely permits for Perth and Willowbank Raceway will be issued “in the foreseeable future for any event that forms part of a non-ANDRA series,” throwing into doubt other third party series run at the venues, including the Aeroflow Outlaw Funny Cars, Australian Pro Street Association Series, and Jamboree.
400 Thunder spokesperson, Gerald McDornan said the move to IHRA was a decision not taken lightly, but is an asset for the future of professional drag racing in Australia.
“400 Thunder has attempted to work with ANDRA and had every intention of continuing with its sanctioning, but ANDRA’s actions last Tuesday left us with no alternative but to seek a new regulatory body to continue building what has been begun,” he said.
“We take great pride in being an organization that reaches beyond the borders of our country in an effort to promote drag racing on an international scale throughout Canada, Aruba, the Bahamas, New Zealand, and now Australia.
“We are honored to be chosen as the sanctioning body for this great series, running at these world class facilities, and we look forward to working with the tracks to expand the opportunities for Australian racers.”
McDornan said the IHRA would recognize the existing rules, technical regulations and licenses in Australia in the interim to ensure a seamless transition for competitors.
“Through our event staff 400 Thunder will take every step to ensure the switch to the IHRA is a smooth changeover,” McDornan said.
“Australia’s governing body has made its decision not to sanction 400 Thunder on what we see as commercial grounds rather than safety and regulations.
“We’ve had enough of the politics over the past six months; the distractions are behind us.
Sportsman racers will also be included in the 400 Thunder IHRA switch with local rules, regulations and licenses recognized as per the professional categories to ensure competitors incur no additional costs.
“Sportsman racing continues to be a vital part of the sport and with 400 Thunder Sportsman competitors will race at the biggest events in front of the largest crowds,” McDornan said.
“400 Thunder’s arrangements also open up a new world of opportunities for Sportsman competitors, including the opportunity to represent Australia at the IHRA World Finals.
“We will make more announcements over time, but we are already excited by the opportunities.”
Founded in 1970, the IHRA is the second largest regulatory body in the United States with 98 member tracks, and the leading body in Canada with seven tracks. The USA-based organization also has member tracks in New Zealand, where it is the premier governing body, Aruba, and the Bahamas.
The IHRA is also responsible for the regulation and promotion of the IHRA Drag Racing Series, Summit Pro-Am Tour, Summit SuperSeries, Summit Junior SuperSeries, and the Summit Tournament of Champions.
400 Thunder’s second event, the Home Group WA Nitro Slam takes place at the Perth Motorplex on 5-6 December and is headlined by Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle.
West Australians John Zappia and Mark Drew won their respective Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle brackets at last week’s East Coast Nationals in Sydney.
The Home Group WA Nitro Slam will be streamed live worldwide on Epicentre.tv with FOX Sports broadcasting all of the action from the Perth Motorplex in full HD in the following weeks.
get your facts rights thunder 400 was nothing but a flop ..only reason they got the entries they did was because they let Andra do all the advertising and took over it 1 week after entries closed if we knew this we would of not entred to support those clowns……….Sportsman racers run under andra and only andra ….lets see how many sportsman racers they get in Dec in WA ……
I’m with you Danny. So full of crap and their comments are not warranted. We shall see who races at those tracks you bunch of clowns. We are Andra, fuck off IHRA and Thunder 400.