ROCKINGHAM’S FUTURE SHAKY WITH IHRA?
“The IHRA is currently working on putting together its schedule for the 2011 Nitro Jam season and at this time has not finalized all of the dates for the coming year,” said Larry Crum, spokesman for the IHRA.
Rockingham Dragway, a staple on the IHRA tour for the Seventies and Eighties, and the last decade, may not be on the tour for 2011, according to insiders close to the situation. While this speculation is prevalent, there’s no official word to substantiate the rumors to fact. And, for the sanctioning body, nobody’s denying it either.
“The IHRA is currently working on putting together its schedule for the 2011 Nitro Jam season and at this time has not finalized all of the dates for the coming year,” said Larry Crum, spokesman for the IHRA.
Track owner Steve Earwood has been around this sport long enough to understand that silence isn’t always golden.
“That is exactly right,” Earwood confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. “I haven’t heard from them [IHRA] since they were here but then again, there has been no reason to hear from them either. They left here and went on to their other events and I understand how busy it can get because of how busy it gets here with our program. Sometimes you just don’t follow up the way you should.”
For now, Earwood is giving the IHRA the benefit of the doubt.
“I’m sure they are looking at the dates for other associations before they make their announcements,” Earwood speculated.
Earwood believes the strength of sportsman racing in the region, and the IHRA’s insistence that the sportsman racer is a valuable part of the region, would make it hard for the IHRA walking away.
“I don’t anticipate that being the case,” Earwood said. “With the sportsman racing being so strong around here in North Carolina I couldn’t imagine the IHRA not having a Nitro Jam event here.”
But as Earwood will attest in his years working drag racing, he’s seen the unexpected happen before.
