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Before you read Steve Earwood’s perspective on the current state of the IHRA, it’s worth understanding the experience behind the opinions.
 
Earwood isn’t commenting from the sidelines. His career spans more than five decades in virtually every corner of the drag racing business, from working alongside the pioneers of Pro Stock in the early 1970s to promoting NHRA national events under Wally Parks, helping launch Texas Motorplex, operating Atlanta Dragway, and spending more than 30 years as owner of Rockingham Dragway under both NHRA and IHRA sanctioning.
 
Along the way, he promoted races with some of the sport’s biggest names, built one of drag racing’s most successful facilities, helped create the Winston Invitational into one of the richest and most profitable events in the sport, and managed more than 90 events annually while navigating the business realities of sanctioning bodies, promoters, sponsors, racers, and track ownership.
 
Whether readers ultimately agree with his conclusions or not, Earwood has earned the right to have his perspective heard. Few people have experienced the business of drag racing from as many vantage points, or for as long.
 
What follows is Steve Earwood’s firsthand perspective, presented in his own words.
At the risk of stepping out on a limb and hearing a loud crack behind me, here’s my take on IHRA and Darryl Cuttell.
 
To be clear, I’ve never attended the Wharton School of Business or Harvard Business School. What I have done is spend more than 50 years making a very good living in drag racing. That doesn’t make me infallible, but it does mean I’m not an anonymous keyboard expert peddling conspiracy theories about data centers or other nonsense.
Now, about Darryl.
 
I’ve seen this story play out many times.
 
A racer develops a deep passion for the sport, which is understandable considering the investment of time, money, and effort. Like all of us, he wants to see drag racing improve. After years of bench racing in the staging lanes and pits about the shortcomings of sanctioning bodies and track owners, many racers convince themselves they know how to fix everything.
Compounding that perception is the belief that tracks are making fortunes. Dave Densmore and I helped create that illusion during our years with NHRA. We routinely reported attendance figures of 60,000 to 65,000 people over a national event weekend because that’s what sponsors, media and racers wanted to hear. The reality? Actual attendance was often closer to 18,000 to 20,000.
 
People would look at packed grandstands and conclude, “There have to be 40,000 people here.”
 
Not even close.
 
Here’s one of the best-kept secrets in drag racing, a secret that has been staring everybody in the face at every track. The average spectator occupies about 21 inches of bench space, some less, several more.
Most national event grandstands end around the eighth-mile. That’s 660 feet, or 7,920 inches. Subtract roughly 90 feet for aisles, and you have 7,056 usable inches. Divide that by 21 inches per person, and you can seat approximately 336 spectators per row.
 
Most grandstands at national events have around 20 rows. That’s about 6,700 spectators if everyone is sitting shoulder to shoulder. Yes, there are grandstands on both sides of the track, and there are notable exceptions, including Norwalk, Bristol and Charlotte. But for most facilities, those are the real numbers.
 
Watch the overhead television shots carefully. A surprising number of those “spectators” are wearing aluminum.
 
Back to Darryl.
 
I understand his passion, and I genuinely admire his desire to improve the sport. He unquestionably enhanced the racer experience with better track preparation, free ice, dinners, ambitious purses and a staff that made racers feel welcome. Those are admirable improvements.
Frankly, those were areas where I probably fell short. My focus was always on sponsors, media, politicians and maximizing food and beverage revenue. A lot of emphasis on revenue.
 
That business model kept Rockingham successful for more than 30 years. Darryl’s pursuit of his vision has apparently lasted less than two years.
 
He understood what racers wanted because he was one of them. What he underestimated was the economics. Like many of us, he believed drag racing was a much bigger business than it actually is.
 
Here’s the uncomfortable reality. Our sport is a big deal to us. Outside our community, it barely registers. When was the last time you saw NHRA national event results on ESPN? Never.
 
Compared with major professional sports, drag racing doesn’t appear on the radar. Its national visibility is limited. That doesn’t diminish our passion. It simply defines our marketplace.
 
I give Darryl tremendous credit for trying. He was willing to invest heavily chasing an idealistic vision.
 
I’ve watched racers become track owners many times over the past 50 years. They pour money into improvements until one Monday morning, a financial adviser, or perhaps a family member, says, “That’s enough.”
 
I’m not interested in criticizing Darryl’s personnel decisions, his track acquisitions or his desire to own sanctioning bodies. He had the resources to jump into the pool.
 
I believe he simply discovered the pool wasn’t nearly as deep as it looked.

One positive did come from all of this. During that period, NHRA appeared to place greater emphasis on racer-focused initiatives, including expanding the national event schedule. Personally, I benefited from the addition of US 131 Motorsports Park, operated by my daughter, Stephanie, and son-in-law, Jason Peterson.
For that alone, Darryl deserves some credit. Unfortunately, the old saying that “any publicity is good publicity” doesn’t really apply here. In my view, too many racers were left disappointed. That’s never healthy for the sport.
 
On the other hand, the surge in activity certainly benefited engine builders, chassis builders and many companies throughout the industry. Rising water lifted a number of boats.
 
Will drag racing survive?
 
Hell yes.
 
The future of this sport has never depended on any one individual, sponsor, media outlet or sanctioning body. It depends on racers. Racers are the foundation of drag racing. They are resilient, determined and relentlessly optimistic.
 
Some people joke that NHRA has been trying to run racers off for 75 years and still hasn’t succeeded. There’s more truth in that joke than some would like to admit.
 
The racer always survives and comes back. The attraction is beyond addictive.
 
So thank you, racers.
 
And thank you, Darryl, for making what I believe was a sincere attempt to improve the sport, even if the outcome wasn’t what anyone hoped.
This, too, shall pass.
 
As the sign over the pedestrian bridge at National Trail Raceway in Columbus reminded us for years: “ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE.”
 
The racers will survive.
 
And so will the business of drag racing.

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STEVE EARWOOD: WHY IHRA’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE WASN’T PASSION, IT WAS THE BUSINESS OF DRAG RACING

Before you read Steve Earwood’s perspective on the current state of the IHRA, it’s worth understanding the experience behind the opinions.
 
Earwood isn’t commenting from the sidelines. His career spans more than five decades in virtually every corner of the drag racing business, from working alongside the pioneers of Pro Stock in the early 1970s to promoting NHRA national events under Wally Parks, helping launch Texas Motorplex, operating Atlanta Dragway, and spending more than 30 years as owner of Rockingham Dragway under both NHRA and IHRA sanctioning.
 
Along the way, he promoted races with some of the sport’s biggest names, built one of drag racing’s most successful facilities, helped create the Winston Invitational into one of the richest and most profitable events in the sport, and managed more than 90 events annually while navigating the business realities of sanctioning bodies, promoters, sponsors, racers, and track ownership.
 
Whether readers ultimately agree with his conclusions or not, Earwood has earned the right to have his perspective heard. Few people have experienced the business of drag racing from as many vantage points, or for as long.
 
What follows is Steve Earwood’s firsthand perspective, presented in his own words.
At the risk of stepping out on a limb and hearing a loud crack behind me, here’s my take on IHRA and Darryl Cuttell.
 
To be clear, I’ve never attended the Wharton School of Business or Harvard Business School. What I have done is spend more than 50 years making a very good living in drag racing. That doesn’t make me infallible, but it does mean I’m not an anonymous keyboard expert peddling conspiracy theories about data centers or other nonsense.
Now, about Darryl.
 
I’ve seen this story play out many times.
 
A racer develops a deep passion for the sport, which is understandable considering the investment of time, money, and effort. Like all of us, he wants to see drag racing improve. After years of bench racing in the staging lanes and pits about the shortcomings of sanctioning bodies and track owners, many racers convince themselves they know how to fix everything.
Compounding that perception is the belief that tracks are making fortunes. Dave Densmore and I helped create that illusion during our years with NHRA. We routinely reported attendance figures of 60,000 to 65,000 people over a national event weekend because that’s what sponsors, media and racers wanted to hear. The reality? Actual attendance was often closer to 18,000 to 20,000.
 
People would look at packed grandstands and conclude, “There have to be 40,000 people here.”
 
Not even close.
 
Here’s one of the best-kept secrets in drag racing, a secret that has been staring everybody in the face at every track. The average spectator occupies about 21 inches of bench space, some less, several more.
Most national event grandstands end around the eighth-mile. That’s 660 feet, or 7,920 inches. Subtract roughly 90 feet for aisles, and you have 7,056 usable inches. Divide that by 21 inches per person, and you can seat approximately 336 spectators per row.
 
Most grandstands at national events have around 20 rows. That’s about 6,700 spectators if everyone is sitting shoulder to shoulder. Yes, there are grandstands on both sides of the track, and there are notable exceptions, including Norwalk, Bristol and Charlotte. But for most facilities, those are the real numbers.
 
Watch the overhead television shots carefully. A surprising number of those “spectators” are wearing aluminum.
 
Back to Darryl.
 
I understand his passion, and I genuinely admire his desire to improve the sport. He unquestionably enhanced the racer experience with better track preparation, free ice, dinners, ambitious purses and a staff that made racers feel welcome. Those are admirable improvements.
Frankly, those were areas where I probably fell short. My focus was always on sponsors, media, politicians and maximizing food and beverage revenue. A lot of emphasis on revenue.
 
That business model kept Rockingham successful for more than 30 years. Darryl’s pursuit of his vision has apparently lasted less than two years.
 
He understood what racers wanted because he was one of them. What he underestimated was the economics. Like many of us, he believed drag racing was a much bigger business than it actually is.
 
Here’s the uncomfortable reality. Our sport is a big deal to us. Outside our community, it barely registers. When was the last time you saw NHRA national event results on ESPN? Never.
 
Compared with major professional sports, drag racing doesn’t appear on the radar. Its national visibility is limited. That doesn’t diminish our passion. It simply defines our marketplace.
 
I give Darryl tremendous credit for trying. He was willing to invest heavily chasing an idealistic vision.
 
I’ve watched racers become track owners many times over the past 50 years. They pour money into improvements until one Monday morning, a financial adviser, or perhaps a family member, says, “That’s enough.”
 
I’m not interested in criticizing Darryl’s personnel decisions, his track acquisitions or his desire to own sanctioning bodies. He had the resources to jump into the pool.
 
I believe he simply discovered the pool wasn’t nearly as deep as it looked.

One positive did come from all of this. During that period, NHRA appeared to place greater emphasis on racer-focused initiatives, including expanding the national event schedule. Personally, I benefited from the addition of US 131 Motorsports Park, operated by my daughter, Stephanie, and son-in-law, Jason Peterson.
For that alone, Darryl deserves some credit. Unfortunately, the old saying that “any publicity is good publicity” doesn’t really apply here. In my view, too many racers were left disappointed. That’s never healthy for the sport.
 
On the other hand, the surge in activity certainly benefited engine builders, chassis builders and many companies throughout the industry. Rising water lifted a number of boats.
 
Will drag racing survive?
 
Hell yes.
 
The future of this sport has never depended on any one individual, sponsor, media outlet or sanctioning body. It depends on racers. Racers are the foundation of drag racing. They are resilient, determined and relentlessly optimistic.
 
Some people joke that NHRA has been trying to run racers off for 75 years and still hasn’t succeeded. There’s more truth in that joke than some would like to admit.
 
The racer always survives and comes back. The attraction is beyond addictive.
 
So thank you, racers.
 
And thank you, Darryl, for making what I believe was a sincere attempt to improve the sport, even if the outcome wasn’t what anyone hoped.
This, too, shall pass.
 
As the sign over the pedestrian bridge at National Trail Raceway in Columbus reminded us for years: “ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE.”
 
The racers will survive.
 
And so will the business of drag racing.
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