RMR Becomes IHRA Sanctioned:
ROCKY MOUNTAIN RACEWAYS TO BECOME NEWEST IHRA MEMBER TRACK
Salt Lake City, Utah – February 3, 2009 -
Rocky Mountain Raceways has announced that they will become the
next International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) member track.
The raceway
moves into this relationship with IHRA after a long-standing
relationship with NHRA (National Hot Rod Association).
“While the NHRA
was disappointed with the move they wished us continued success in
our efforts to strengthen the RMR brand,” said Doug Binstock,
General Manager at Rocky Mountain Raceways.
Rocky Mountain
Raceways sees this as the next step in the progression and growth
of auto racing. It also sees this as the next step to bringing
larger racing events to Utah with top name drivers from across the
country.
“With this move
Rocky Mountain Raceways is pushing the envelope. We are bringing
higher quality racing events to the Utah market that will have
even greater fan appeal,” Binstock said.
One of those
events will be the IHRA Nitro Nationals to be held at RMR on June
26-27.
“We have wanted
to come west and find a base for a long time,” said Aaron Polburn,
President of IHRA. “We currently have a great event in Alberta and
we needed another place in the west to act as a stronghold for
IHRA.”
According to
Polburn the demand for this has been growing for some time.
“We are
constantly getting calls asking us when we would be moving out
west. RMR is a top notch venue. We are very proud of this new
association with Rocky Mountain Raceways and we know that they can
be that anchor track for us in the west,” Polburn said.
Headquartered in
Norwalk, Ohio, the IHRA is a division of Feld Motor Sports and
promotes professional, semi-professional and local-level racing
consisting of 86 sanctioned tracks. The $21.5 million IHRA Nitro
Jam™ Drag Racing Series is a 10-event North American professional
drag racing circuit produced by the IHRA.
“It is our
overall objective that over the next few years this event at Rocky
Mountain Raceways will turn into one of the IHRA Nitro Jam
National events that will help determine our national title,”
Polburn said.
According to Ron
Craft, Drag Strip Manager at Rocky Mountain Raceways the
transition to this new sanctioning body will be a smooth one for
the racers and participants.
“The IHRA
officials will be here for the racer meetings in March to answer
questions and help our racers with the transition,” said Craft.
Rocky Mountain
Raceways will continue to accept the NHRA memberships, licenses
and chassis certifications from previous years until they expire.
Once the old memberships, licenses and certifications expire Rocky
Mountain Raceways will assist the racers to obtain them with IHRA.
In addition to
drag racing, Rocky Mountain Raceways hosts oval, motorcross,
monster trucks and drifting.
The IHRA is a
subsidiary of Feld Entertainment Motorsports. Feld Entertainment
also produces numerous live entertainment shows including Ringling
Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®, Disney On Ice, Disney Live!,
Doodlebops Live! as well as Feld Entertainment Motor Sports.
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