The owner of the International Hot Rod Association, who continues to face questions from racers and vendors over alleged unpaid obligations following the June IHRA Triple Crown event, now claims his own company is owed hundreds of millions of dollars in a construction payment dispute.
According to a report published Friday by the Daily Memphian, Darryl Cuttell, CEO of Hamilton, Ohio-based Darana Hybrid, alleges SpaceXAI owes his company approximately $570 million for construction work performed on data center projects in Tennessee and Mississippi.
CompetitionPlus has not independently verified the allegations, and the claims contained in the lien filings have not been adjudicated in court.
The Daily Memphian reported that Darana Hybrid filed two mechanics’ liens this week totaling approximately $137 million, which Cuttell said represent only part of what his company claims remains unpaid from roughly $1.5 billion in work performed beginning in 2024.
According to the newspaper, the liens involve work performed on SpaceXAI facilities in Memphis and Southaven, Mississippi. Cuttell told the Daily Memphian his company constructed the Macrohard data center in Memphis and another facility in Southaven.
RELATED ARTICLE – WWW.DAILYMEMPHIAN.COM
The newspaper also reported that Cuttell alleges payments stopped following the merger of xAI and SpaceX earlier this year and that his company now owes approximately $200 million to vendors.
The report comes as Cuttell and IHRA continue to face public claims from racers, sponsors and vendors who allege they have not been paid following the June IHRA Triple Crown event at Darana Raceway near Columbus, Ohio. CompetitionPlus has previously reported those claims, which IHRA has not publicly addressed on an individual basis.
Earlier this month, IHRA called off the rest of its 2026 Nitro Series season after saying it could not complete the schedule at the standard it expected. The organization said its member tracks, sportsman racing and other programs would continue.
According to the Daily Memphian, SpaceXAI did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment. The newspaper also reported that the Memphis Business Journal first reported the lien filings.
The allegations involving Darana Hybrid’s claims against SpaceXAI and the payment disputes involving IHRA are separate matters. Neither has been resolved in court, and CompetitionPlus has not independently verified the allegations surrounding the SpaceXAI dispute.
