Open letter to the racers at Eddyville Raceway Park

I know a lot of racers are concerned with what is happening at IHRA and their parent company IRG that owns IHRA and several race tracks including Cordova. Last week it was announced that Scott Gardner was no longer the president of IHRA. Scott being the former partner with myself at ERP this news was very upsetting to myself and many others and created a lot of uncertainty in the drag race world. I like many others do not understand how this could have happened as I felt Scott was the perfect man for the job but in the corporate world things happen that us out here in rural America do not understand.

The next question for myself was how will this affect Eddyville Raceway Park ? I have looked hard at the programs IHRA offers us versus NHRA. I had no major issues with NHRA when we were sanctioned by them and very few with IHRA since we switched 2 years ago. Several things stand out with IHRA including fewer hassles with competition licenses, 1/8th mile ET Finals, 1/8th mile World Finals, an outstanding Summit Super Series program, Jr Dragster National event, and  better insurance for the track for less money. IHRA has been through 6 or 7 different corporate owners since the late 90`s and one thing has stayed pretty consistent is their sportsman programs and I have been assured that once again that that will be the case now. All things considered I think it would be a mistake to change course at this time and plan on staying with IHRA at least through this season.

I am very sorry to see Scott gone from IHRA and feel for the employees and racers of Cordova as they have a lot more to deal with than we do as they are owned by IRG. I do believe with the investment IRG has made to purchase Cordova and do a lot of improvements to it last year that things will be ok for them as well, it`s just going to take some time and patience. Best wishes to Scott and Laura as they  figure out what the future holds for them.