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BOBBY BENNETT: AND THAT’S THE WAY IT IS … APRIL 29, 2025

April 29, 2025
by Bobby Bennett

I have long been a history buff and will forever regard Walter Cronkite’s report/commentary of the Vietnam War following the TET Offensive as some of the finest journalism in our country’s history. Understanding his passion for patriotism, I learned from all I’ve studied that he agonized over this decision to present this commentary, which would forever change how many looked at the Vietnam War.

No matter how much Mr. Cronkite wanted to protect his country, his longstanding reputation for objectivity and impartiality, his commentary broke from that. In his report, Cronkite laid out the case of the Vietnam War before he closed with his opinion.

For 25 years, CompetitionPlus.com has worked hard to grow by the same standards as Mr. Cronkite. Up until a few years after Bill Bader’s departure, when a couple of so-called IHRA leaders declared IHRA was ending open competition, CompetitionPlus.com had faithfully covered the series and its racers.

The story of the so-called rejuvenated IHRA goes back to August 2022, when chassis builder Larry Jeffers purchased the IHRA. While Jeffers did his best to bring the graveyard-dead IHRA back to life, the effort amounted to spinning the tires in the mud. It could never get any real traction to gain momentum.

Fast forward to the 2024 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show, when Jeffers named controversial ADRL founder Kenny Nowling as series president. And, while Nowling appeared to have more skeletons in the closet than a graveyard, the fact is he gave the series something it hadn’t had since Bill Bader gave up leadership in the early 2010s. He gave it hope.

If there was one thing Nowling understood, it was the right kind of leadership had a chance of reviving this proud series — even if it was considered a golden goose, it was one now missing a leg and wing, and suffering from a broken beak.

If you’re a connoisseur of Steven King movies, the IHRA has already been buried in Pet Semetary about four times.

Nowling, whose reputation was almost as tarnished as the IHRA’s, understood that with a few breaks and some grace along the way, the former Bristol, Tennessee-based sanctioning body could conceivably return to respectability.

My dad had a saying he always used to say to me, and all the while shaking his head when as he uttered, “Boy, you could fall in a septic tank and come out smelling like a rose.”

When businessman Darrell Cuttell approached Nowling at the 2024 PRI Show, and inked a $3 million sponsorship through his Darana Hybrid brand, it appeared that Nowling had indeed come out of the septic tank with a healthy application of Hai Karate cologne.

It was the KBK (Kenny Being Kenny) factor that took over after this. To understand Nowling is to understand there is no stage too big for him. You might have seen some of the best carnival barkers in the world, but when it comes to Nowling, he’s one who would say, “Hold my beer.”

All of a sudden, Nowling had people doing something since the days of Jason Rittenberry and IRG (the last company to kill the IHRA), and that was making the series relevant in drag racing chatter. He bought into it hook, line and sinker. Nowling proudly faced his critics head-on. He also convinced those around him who harbored skeptical thoughts, “Just give us a chance, we are going to build this back.”

No sooner had the words got out of his mouth than Cuttell reportedly purchased the IHRA, lock, stock, and barrel.

And, KBK, immediately began populating social media with grandiose plans and pictures of private jet excursions, all in the name of projecting an image of an IHRA that was willing to spend the money to bring back those glory days.

Then, late one night, as Nowling conveyed, he received a call saying — and we will paraphrase — “We are going in a different direction.” Click. This reportedly transpired on the same day he’d moved his family to a new home in Ohio.

In the following weeks, IHRA replaced Nowling with Rich Schaefer as President and added former voice of the NHRA Alan Reinhart. Then, marketing specialist Christian Byrd was added to the fold.

Immediately, these moves caught the attention of many in the drag racing world, including the NHRA. All of a sudden, it appeared this version of the IHRA was for real, and after almost two decades running unchecked and without competition, the NHRA appeared to have reason to be wary.

Then, a series of moves left many scratching their heads, especially industry veterans starting to anoint credibility to the rejuvenated IHRA.

Then it was the infamous “We’ve bought a bunch of tracks on a letter of intent” press release” that proved to be as nimble as a lead balloon. It turned out to be a public-relations disaster, and it was released on the Friday of the NHRA Gatornationals.

And just as the IHRA had been steadily gaining credibility, it took a significant step back.

One had to wonder if the reputable team the rejuvenated IHRA had assembled had this move forced on them by a leader determined to make a big splash. Ask anyone who has spent a reasonable amount of time in a swimming pool, and they will likely tell you there’s a vast difference between a cannonball and a bellyflop.

It didn’t kill them, but didn’t do them any good, either.

Still, smarting PR-wise from the whole seven-tracks fiasco, the rejuvenated IHRA moved forward in an unpublicized move, elevating Christian Byrd from Vice President of Strategic Partnerships into the CEO role. That’s what Byrd told us at CompetitionPlus.com, and no one from IHRA contacted us to suggest otherwise.

Byrd spelled out a plan for the future of the rejuvenated organization, and within weeks of the presentation for an entertainment-centric and mainstream presentation, he was gone.

Last Thursday, word started making its way around the pits at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals that Rich Schaefer was gone. There was a press release announcing his hiring, but nothing confirming the reported firing.

A day later, Reinhart resigned his post in a move that has not been acknowledged publicly.

In reviewing the IHRA’s management list [not divisional directors] on IHRA.com, I only see one person left with significant drag racing experience, who has never been officially named as an official in any releases, and that’s Larry Morgan.

In all the decades I have known Morgan, he’s always been a straight-shooter with me. As I understand, Morgan was instrumental in bringing in the drag racing-experienced leadership team. I’ve always viewed him as, and still do, one of drag racing’s good guys.

But his name is Larry Morgan and not Houdini, and at this point, it will take a real magician to fix this current mess.

Morgan’s reputation is solid to this point in drag racing, and it might take every ounce of credibility he’s got to get anyone to even help steer this ship, which appears to be taking on more water than a bilge pump can handle.

So this should bring you up to speed on what has happened up to this point as I know it.

And now this takes me back to Cronkite in 1968.

It has become increasingly clear to this reporter that the rejuvenation of the IHRA has hit an iceberg. It once again finds itself in icy water, and the series has been its own worst enemy since it resurrected by Bill Bader Sr.

One might be able to survive with a “damn the torpedoes” approach in other facets of business, but in drag racing series, leadership, it’s a whole ‘nother matter. You simply cannot damn the icebergs without sinking the ship.

Cronkite wanted peace with honor, and he truly believed it could be achieved.

I still want the IHRA to succeed. Drag racing needs IHRA to succeed. The racers and fans need it to succeed. What has happened is not success, as we see it.

Here’s advice from someone who has dedicated his life to drag racing for over 45 years. If the leaders of IHRA can convince someone with drag racing savvy to come in and lead the show, consider this one of the most significant victories in this arena.

Drag racing is not a sport where you can bring in outsiders with little or no experience and make it work, especially with the investment reportedly being thrown into this. If you need to repair your torn meniscus, you don’t call a dentist whose expertise is in performing root canals.

Secondly, one iteration of the IHRA went around buying up tracks, and out of that spending spree when it closed up shop, it cost us two significant drag-racing facilities. There could have easily been a third and fourth, if not for past track owners whose passion would not let them die.

Thirdly, please don’t make the same mistake a previous series owner made where you hire the best people and don’t listen to them. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.

Two months ago, the rejuvenated IHRA had the NHRA’s attention. Today, folks are laughing at it.

Following Cronkite’s editorial, President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”

CompetitionPlus.com has routinely covered the rejuvenated IHRA objectively, and gave it the stage it was due since the PRI Show. In the past four months, we’ve written more about IHRA than we have in a decade. And, now here we are.

And that’s the way it is … April 29, 2025.

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