Rockingham Dragway has hosted two IHRA national events since 1999 but in 2010 that tradition will change. According to a report published in the Fayetteville [N.C.] Observer, the track will downsize to just one IHRA nationals event.

The season-ending World Finals, held each October, will disappear from the national event schedule and will be replaced with an all-sportsman event.

The Spring Nationals is tentatively scheduled for the end of April and downsizes from three days to two.

The Event Will Shorten to Two Days Instead of Three …

Rockingham Dragway has hosted two IHRA national events since 1999 but in 2010 that tradition will change. According to a report published in the Fayetteville [N.C.] Observer, the track will downsize to just one IHRA nationals event.

The season-ending World Finals, held each October, will disappear from the national event schedule and will be replaced with an all-sportsman event.

The Spring Nationals is tentatively scheduled for the end of April and downsizes from three days to two.

"I'm excited about it,” Earwood told the Fayetteville [N.C.] Observer. “I've been kind of cold on the national-event structure the last couple of years. The pros are so dadgum expensive, and quite frankly, we have other events that have grown in popularity. Because of our schedule, I'm not sure the market can sustain two national events."

Part of the decision to scale back was largely due in part to a second NHRA Full Throttle event awarded to nearby zMax Dragway in Concord, NC, scheduled for Mar. 24 -28.

"Given the state of drag racing in the Carolinas with zMax Dragway (which will host two NHRA national events next year), I think it's a brilliant idea," said IHRA President Aaron Polburn. "There's just so much of the sameness going on that it makes perfect financial sense to cut down to one event, and the Spring Nationals has the longer history."

The move is part of a new look to the IHRA, one designed to cut their eight to ten-hour shows down to 4 ½.
Also planned is a menu of classes instead of all professional divisions running the entire schedule. The lineup will be dictated by the market. Of the three present categories, only the Top Fuel cars will run the full complement of events. Pro Mod and Mountain Motor Pro Stock, classes created under the sanctioning body, will be presented on a part-time basis. A/Fuel Dragsters are on the menu.

"It's going to be a different presentation, that's all I can tell you at this point," Polburn said. "It will fit a marketplace and the racetracks. Folks will see things they're not used to seeing."

Thomas Pope contributed to this report.

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