(Editor’s Note: We get plenty of email from readers and it ranges from people calling us morons, to people insulting our mothers, to spam and every now and again something that stops us dead. After the news about the IHRA was published the other day, a reader was inspired to write the following. While we’re don’t agree with all his viewpoints, we think that the presentation of his case is highly compelling and it is one hell of a read. With his permission we are reprinting his email here.)

(By Bill Hawes) – Turn out the lights. The music is over.  We almost certainly haven’t heard the last of the long and painful saga that is IHRA drag racing, but if there is any common decency left in the motorsports world, we should have. IHRA hasn’t provided a viable alternative to NHRA since the Bill Bader years more than a decade ago. Others might even argue that the association officially flat lined at the end of 1987 when founder Larry Carrier sold it, lock, stock and barrel to Billy Meyer, whose promise to “take the sport to the next plateau” went wholly unfulfilled. No matter the timeline, it is more obvious than ever that IHRA’s business model is fatally flawed and the end is near.

Today, the IHRA you knew and the IHRA you want to know; a racer and fan friendly lower cost alternative to the NHRA “big show” is about to go the way of the Pro Stock carburetor. This week, IHRA president Scott Gardner was relieved of his duties. Marketing guru Steve Cole left and returned to his prior post at John Force Racing. The IHRA headquarters in Norwalk, Ohio? It’s about to be as deserted as the St. Louis Rams football stadium. IHRA’s parent company, IRG Sports and Entertainment, is moving the whole shebang, or whatever is left of it, to their headquarters in Palm Beach, Fla. Other unsubstantiated rumors have IHRA abandoning their sportsman racing program and with it, most likely Drag Review magazine.

Rumors have abound for months regarding the non-payment of the notes on IHRA properties including Cordova Int’l Raceway (Gardner’s old track) and Maryland Int’l Raceway (formerly owned by Miller). One immediately has to wonder how anyone could possibly get stiffed when IRGSE touts their parent company, TPG, as “a global private investment firm with $75 billion in assets under management.” Did the check get lost in the mail?

On Tuesday, January 19, a statement appeared on the IHRA.com website confirming Gardner’s departure while naming longtime employee Scooter Peaco as the interim president of the association. Also of interest the 2016 Nitro Jam schedule has been reduced by two events with the Cordova and Baton Rouge events on the chopping block. Perhaps most interesting of all was the following paragraph:

The Company also announced that a Search Committee within the Board of Directors has been created, which will oversee the process for the identification and selection of a permanent President. The Committee has been charged with selecting an experienced individual to take over as the permanent President, improve the performance of the Company and drive long-term growth for the Company upon a newly formed platform that will be announced in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The term “newly-formed platform” is the most compelling evidence that major changes are coming and at this point, I can only speculate what they might be. It does, however, seem entirely possible, in fact even likely that the loyal IHRA sportsman racers are about get their Dear John letters. Some might argue that sportsman races are the “backbone” of IHRA and on a philosophical level, that’s entirely true. When it comes to ringing the cash register, though, that isn’t the case. IHRA’s car counts, particularly at their ProAm events, are rarely big enough to justify the purses that are paid and when one takes into account the logistics of licensing, tech, on-site staffing, insurance, and everything else needed to conduct a multi-day event with sportsman cars, the numbers just don’t add up. IHRA’s future, if there is one, is almost certainly going to continue down the path started by former owner Feld Entertainment. I.E. a single or two-day event, 3-4 hours max, with nitro cars, jets, wheelstanders and anything else that puts out a lot of noise, smoke, and/or flames.

Several media outlets have already confirmed that Top Fuel dragsters would indeed make a return to IHRA in 2017 which also raises the question. Which Top Fuel dragsters? There’s not really an abundance of fuelers out there these days and the best of them are already committed to NHRA’s Mello Yello series but that’s another discussion for another day.

The real issue here is if the IHRA sportsman program does indeed go away, what’s left of the once-proud IHRA? You know, the innovative association that is responsible for a number of drag racing milestones including the construction of Bristol Dragway and the birth of mountain motor Pro Stock cars and the Pro Mod class? In reality, not much.

I might be getting a bit ahead of myself here. No official announcement has been made yet so I’m admittedly speculating in a few areas. Based on their press release, there will likely be no answers until late this season. It will however, be interesting to see what IRGSE folks come up with for a new platform. If they expect to survive, it had better be something really special. It needs to have bit more substance than their current Nitro Jam races which feature nostalgia Funny Cars, Top Fuel Harleys, Pro Mods, a self-financed Mountain Motor Pro Stock show, and a few jet dragsters. With a $75 billion war chest, it’s possible the IRGSE folks could make a bold move and dangle big dollars in front of NHRA heavyweights like Force, Schumacher, Lucas, or Kalitta, but where would they run them and more importantly, how could they possibly hope to recoup their investment. Remember, by all accounts, this is an organization that is already hemorrhaging cash with their small to medium sized events.

IRG owns properties in Palm Beach, Memphis, Cordova, and Budds Creek (Md.), but none of them are remotely big enough to handle a national-event sized crowd. They also lack income-generating features like luxury skyboxes, and  premium seating that some fans like to pay for. It seems highly unlikely that any of the current facilities in the IHRA member track network could ever generate a profit by hosting the type of national event that drag racing become accustomed to over the last several decades.

In late November, sports executive Chris Lencheski was named as the vice chairman and CEO of IRG Sports & Entertainment and it appears that he’s the guy who is expected to turn water into wine or at least salvage something out of the millions that have already been invested in IHRA. Lencheski comes with an impressive résumé but the task ahead is monumental. He’s being asked to do something that Billy Meyer, the late Jim Ruth, Clear Channel, Feld Entertainment, and even Bill Bader could not; which is to create a racing series that is not only profitable, but also sustainable. Remember, this isn’t a guy who loves drag racing and wants to invest in his hobby. He represents an enormous hedge fund that expects, no demands a significant return on their investment. Good luck sir, you’re going to need it.

If the latest chapter of this long-running soap opera shakes out as many have predicted, the demise of IHRA, or at the very least the vastly diminished role of their sportsman program, represents a golden opportunity for NHRA to strengthen their position as the world’s leading participant motorsport. New NHRA president Peter Clifford has accomplished a lot in his first months on the job and it’s entirely possible in the near future that he’ll have an opportunity to grow the sport significantly. The remnants of IHRA might well be served up on a silver platter and NHRA would be foolish not to end this saga once and for all. Clifford has already extended a bit of an olive branch to NHRA sportsman racers by relaxing the standards necessary to hold a license and promising more TV exposure as part of their new deal with the Fox network. Now they could well have a chance to take the next step.

Imagine the “new NHRA”, with the kinder, gentler, more racer-friendly environment that Clifford has mandated, reaching out to sportsman racers, track operators, sponsors, and manufacturers who might well be displaced by whatever changes IHRA chooses to make. Grandfather IHRA licenses and memberships for a full year. Allow IHRA member tracks to fly the NHRA oval as long as they meet insurance guidelines. Revamp the popular Summit Series programs to accommodate the expected influx of new racers and new facilities. Hard to imagine that’s not a win-win for both NHRA, the track operators, and the sportsman racers.

There are other benefits. It’s no secret that one of the biggest problems facing the sport is the struggle for many track operators to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. Rising land values, stringent noise ordinances, escalating insurance and operating costs are just a few of the pitfalls that make track operators want to throw in the towel and build industrial parks and storage units. An NHRA member track network that numbers more than 200 could deliver some mighty impressive clout when it comes time to battle the environmentalists and lawyers who prey on racers and racetracks.

There are other possibilities and benefits to having a unified sportsman drag racing series. Currently, IHRA and NHRA both crown champions in bracket racing and both of them tout the winners as “World Champions”. Not by coincidence, Summit backs both programs. How about a singular program that crowns one TRUE world champion? One man or woman who can rightfully claim to be the best E.T. bracket racer in North America. That’s something that even the mainstream media could grasp. IHRA’s recent alignment with tracks in Australia and New Zealand, and their sanctioning agreements in Aruba, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas, combined with NHRA’s Worldwide Member Track program, one would have to think there’d be a perfect opportunity to grow the sport on a global level.

As for the cynics who hold on to the misplaced belief that NHRA needs a strong IHRA in order to survive that’s pure hogwash. The NFL operates as a monopoly and they practically print money. And how many remember the CART/IRL split that set Indy Car racing back 20 years? That’s what division and a lack of cooperation can do. Historically, there is strength in numbers and while many folks may not like NHRA’s sometimes heavy-handed approach, it’s hard to argue with 60-years of success. For all their faults, NHRA has somehow managed to survive everything including the 1970s oil embargo, the 2008 mortgage meltdown, and even the death of beloved founder Wally Parks.

So, is now the perfect time for NHRA to either step in and make a serious offer to buy whatever is left of IHRA? Do they wait for what many expect to be the inevitable?

If there is a deal to be made, what’s the asking price? We have no idea but with the exception of the actual real estate in Palm Beach, Cordova, Memphis, and Budds Creek, there doesn’t seem to be anything substantial. Whatever the terms, maybe it’s time to play Let’s Make a Deal.

What do you think, Peter?

Bill