IHRA: Giving thanks from the IHRA

The 2016 IHRA Drag Racing Series Pro season was a long but successful one, filled with challenges and rewards. Here are six things those of us at the IHRA were thankful for this year:

The best track crew in the business. Scooter Peaco and his staff – including, of course, the resident track crews at each of the IHRA tracks we visited – seemed to face one obstacle after another, from high winds at one track to those infuriating showers that let you get the track dry and prepared, before dumping another half-inch of rain on the surface, at another. Though fair, equal and exciting competition was always the goal, it never came at the expense of safety.

IHRA President Mike Dunn. Having Dunn on hand – a racer on hand who grew up in the business, drove both Funny Cars and Top Fuel cars to championships, and spent more than a decade on as a television broadcaster – was a constant reassuring presence at the events, invariably with a smile on his face, shaking hands with hundreds of IHRA fans and competitors, and ready to give career advice to younger racers hoping to follow in his footsteps.

Lead announcer Bill Stephens. Well-known to fans and racers from a career behind the microphone at races and from his contribution to the Mecum Auctions broadcasts, Stephens' near-photographic memory, quick wit and ability to entertain and inform during the breaks in the racing action added profoundly to the program, in addition to his willingness to tutor some of us who don't know IHRA history the way he does.

The competitors. Both on the Pro and the Sportsman sides, IHRA racers were invariably generous with their time for those of us in the media. Even the biggest IHRA stars had no attitude, and were always ready for a quick interview.

The sponsors. There would be no way to put on a traveling circus, from Florida to Canada, without the sport's backers that help us with contingency money, prizes, publicity, and when we need it, solid advice about the sport. You know who they are – you see their logos on the IHRA.com web site, and at the tracks. We ask that you please support the companies that support drag racing.

And finally, the fans. Ours is truly a family sport – you see it in the pits and on the track, and you definitely see it in the grandstands, where often two or three generations of drag-racing fans pay good money in hopes of being entertained, and those who work for the IHRA and member tracks do their best to deliver. We happened to be standing with such a family the first time a young boy saw his first pass by a jet dragster – the excitement in his eyes, and in his voice, was undeniable proof that yes, movies and TV and video games can be great entertainment, but there's nothing quite like being there.