Now this is an eye-opener. I have been talking about the NHRA Winternationals as the race is set to happen this weekend but I got to thinking about the OTHER Winternationals in 1988. That would of course be the IHRA version of the same race. Run about as far away from Pomona as possible in Darlington, South Carolina it is an incredible look at the IHRA in big time shape. The organization that has been corkscrewed into the ground over recent years was once far bigger than “kids today” could ever realize.

One only need to know that you are about to watch the biggest stars in the sport during ’88 get after it on a very fast track. We’re not talking about the IHRA stars but rather the Joe Amatos, the John Forces, the Bob Gliddens, of the world. Yes, they all ran IHRA. How? Well the NHRA season was 16 races so there was ample opportunity for the IHRA to schedule their races on open weekends and attract the big names to their events.

As the NHRA season continue to grow, eventually ending up at 24 events, the ability for teams to break away and do other stuff while chasing a championship became squashed. Eventually the NHRA stars were the NHRA stars and while the IHRA grew some of their own like Clay Millican and others, they never were in a position to “challenge” NHRA in a meaningful way as they were at this time.

It should also be noted that the 1988 season was the year that Billy Meyer owned the organization. He basically eliminated class racing and had sportsman competitors pick and index class to compete in. Outside of this event there was a lot of rain as well. It was not a great year to say the least and Meyer was all but done with running a sanctioning body by the time January of 1989 was looming. Meyer sold the organization to Ted Jones and Carl Ruth who ran it successfully for years before selling it yet again.

Things were very promising at Darlington but the first race proved to perhaps be the high point of the year.

Press play below to watch the awesome 1988 IHRA Winternationals at Darlington