Tournament Of Champions
In 2010, each Nitro Jam event, one Pro Am event per division (and select other events) will become individual tournaments, with the winner of each tournament getting a spot in a select field of drivers who will race each other for the world championship and a share of the $125,000 cash payout at the end of the season.  This race, during the World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park, will crown a national championship as well as the national top 10 in each class. 
 
This format provides incredible value for the racers who financially can only afford to attend the Nitro Jam closest to them.  It also provides opportunity for those who can run more than one event, as each Nitro Jam becomes a new opportunity to qualify for the world championship race.  If you do poorly at one tournament, the slate is wiped clean and you enter the next tournament with a new opportunity to qualify for the world championship.   
 
To spend today’s money on travel demands that each event provide value for competitors.  By creating a tournament system, competitors can choose one or multiple events to compete for a world championship without the financial commitment of maximizing claims and having to follow the tour.
 
With the new tournament system in place, the competitors who live in areas where there is only one Nitro Jam close to them now have just as good of a shot at competing for a world championship as anyone else.  Geography and gas prices will no longer dictate who can participate in the Tournament of Champions world championship program.  The goal is to have the event champions from each of the tournament events decide the world championship by racing head-to-head for it.  The tournament system also eliminates the variables in scores based on the size of the event and/or the division it is contested in.  A win is finally worth the same amount at every Tournament Of Champions event.
 
To further expand this tournament format and populate the world championship race with a true cross-section of the best racers from all over North America, there will be additional ways to qualify for the world championship final event. 
 
1)  All Summit Pro-Am division champions will automatically qualify for the world championship race.  (Note: The current Summit Pro-Am points system will not change).  Summit Pro-Am division champs will earn a first round bye run in the world championship race.
2)  In each Summit Pro-Am Division, the No.2 & No.3 points finishers in each class will qualify for the world championship race. 
3)  All IHRA category champions at all the IHRA Sportsman National events will qualify for the world championship race.
4)  Each of the class winners of the Summit Allstars race will also qualify for the world championship race.  (Summit Allstars points will continue to be kept specifically for this program)
As you can see, this world championship race will consist of a cross-section of the best drivers from every tournament in all regions of the U.S. and Canada that IHRA visits. All these tournament winners (35 spots total) will meet at Virginia Motorsports Park during the World Finals to battle it out in head-to-head competition.  The world championship will now be decided on the track and not by where you live or the cost of fuel.
 
There will be some competitors who have to make a big trip to VMP, without question.  In the big picture one big trip is by far more economical than the old system of competing for the sportsman world championship.
 
How it Works:
 
-  A maximum of 35 competitors in each class can qualify for the World Championship race by winning a Nitro Jam, a Sportsman Nationals tournament, the Summit Pro-Am division championship, finishing 2nd or 3rd in your Summit Pro-Am division or winning the Summit Allstars race.
-  Each class’s ladder at the world championship race will be generated via reaction time from the class’s final time run prior to the World Championship race.  The best reaction time of the pair will get lane choice.  Ties will be broken by coin flip. 
-  All Summit Pro-Am division champs will earn a first-round bye run and be inserted into the second round.  The second round ladder will be re-generated based on first round reaction times of the bye run cars and the first round winners.   
-  The Saturday & Sunday “World Finals” in Petersburg, Virginia in 2010 will not be a traditional “open” Nitro Jam.  The only IHRA sportsman class racing contested during those two days will be for the competitors who qualify for the world championship and the competitors who qualify for the Summit Super Series world championship.  
-  The World Championship race will be contested on a quarter-mile.
-  A competitor may not have more than one spot on the ladder in the same class regardless of how many tournaments they win.  For example: John Doe wins the national event in U.S. 131 in Stock and a Sportsman Nationals event in Stock.  John Doe would only have one spot on the ladder in Stock.  The other position will remain open.
-  A competitor MAY qualify for the world championship in a maximum of two different categories but may not drive the same car in two classes during the World Championship race.
-  The final national order (World Champion through 10th place) will be determined by head-to-head racing.  The winner of the run-off at the World Finals will be the national champion, the runner up will be No.2 nationally; the semi-finalists will be No.3 and No.4 nationally, etc.  No.3 through No.10 will be determined by the best reaction time when the competitor is eliminated.  The end of the year World Championship payout (Champion through 10th place) will be earned by the competitor’s finish during the world finals.  Ties will be broken by best package.
-  The 32-car qualified fields in Top Sportsman and Top Dragster will remain qualified fields at each Nitro Jam national events during the season.  The World Championship race in Top Dragster and Top Sportsman will follow the quarter-mile Nitro Jam national event format and rules (wing requirement, maximum dial requirement, etc).
Benefits of a Tournament System
 
The phrase “Win and you’re in!” really says it all.  This new format provides unprecedented opportunity for all sportsman racers to finally take a shot at racing their way (and not spending their way) to a national championship.  Racers from areas that only have one event remotely close to them will be able to compete on the same playing field as competitors living within range of several Nitro Jams.  Racers from all over the U.S. and Canada will have an opportunity to prove their skill on the track in head-to- head competition both on a regional and national level regardless of their financial ability to travel or their geographic location. 
 
The reality is that no matter what system is in place, the best racers are still the best racers and will rise to the top.  The Tournament of Champions system is not being put in place to keep anyone out or to create new champions.  In fact, this system is being put in place to allow everyone to participate nationally instead of just a few. Good racers will still challenge each other for the championship.
 
The tournament system will find the best racers from each region and put them in head-to-head competition with each other, instead of just competing on paper, to determine the championship.  Controlling your own destiny and winning or losing on the track is what a sportsman racer wants more than anything else.  Anything can happen during one of the tournaments or during the World Finals, which is what adds to the importance of each of the events.  The New England Patriots went 17-0 and lost the Super Bowl.  No matter how good you are, you still have to win the big race to be the champion. 
 
Sportsman racing continues to be a key element of IHRA on a local, regional, and national basis.  It is our hope that sportsman competitors understand the need for a tournament format.  It has been and will continue to be IHRA’s mission to find innovative ways to support sportsman drag racing on all levels.
 
What it Pays
 
“Tournament Of Champions” World Championship Prize Money
The Tournament Of Champions during the World Finals will determine the Top 10 in national standings as outlined above.  The qualifiers will be racing head-to-head for the following payout:
Top Sportsman and Top Dragster
$10,000 – World Champion (winner)
$4,000 - # 2 (runner-up)
$1,500 - # 3 and # 4 (semi finals)
$750 - # 5 through # 8 (quarter Finals)
Super Stock, Stock, Quick Rod, Super Rod & Hot Rod
$10,000 – World Champion (winner)
$3,000 - # 2 (runner-up)
$1,000 - # 3 and # 4 (semi finals)
$500 - # 5 through # 8 (quarter finals)

TOP SPORTSMAN (28)

Gary Bingham, Ricky Adkins, Chris Gulitti, Allen Firestone, Scott Blake, Gary Wojnowski Sr., Bruce Thrift, Wayne King, Mike Knotz, Mike Sowards, Jeff Pittman, Scott Wasko, Bob Phillips, Billy Thigpen, Steven Pym, Kamron Wright, Mark Payne, Donn Rudd, Gilmer Hinshaw, Chris Nyerges, John Hochstedler, Jeff Rudisill, Ronnie Dodson, Rick McDonough, Rob Harvischak, Bob Gulitti, David Wayne Dins and Stephanie Johnson Raynor.

TOP DRAGSTER (32)

Chris Bermond, Brett Nesbitt, Russell Marr, Jacky King, Tom Koenen, Jim Rubino, Rick Schneider, Nick Willard, Chad Traylor, Steve Witherow, Dylan Stott, David Johns, Jim Huggett, Donny Urban, Steve Schmidt, Luke Bogacki, Vincent Musolino, Casey Spradlin, Randy Scheuer, Britt Cummings, Ricky Adkins, Wes Washington, Troy Williams Jr., Marco Abruzzi, J.R. Baxter, Brian Folk, Ed Pauley, Russell Leach, Danny Waters Jr., Rob Berschneider, Brad Marcotte and David Barr.

SUPER STOCK (30)

Slate Cummings, Michael Beard, Kevin Helms, Allan Patterson, Casey Plaizer, Pete D’Angolo, Larry Cummings, Jacques Blais, Anthony Bertozzi, David Hunt, Bob Cupp, Tim Herbert, Alex Denysenko, Mike Crutchfield, Nick Folk, Scott Richardson, Bryan Worner, David Simmons, Michael Lyons, Byron Latino, Tracy Robbins, Bob Phillips, Missy Phillips, Mark Nowicki, Hagen Gary, Gil Carty Jr., Tim Worner, Jerry Jennings, David Mercer and Brandon Peterson.

STOCK (29)

Slate Cummings, Greg Rowe, Bob Murray, Mike Cotton, Randy Hutchings, Jim Marshall, Don Pires Jr., Myron Piatek, Nick Folk, Adam Keir, Phil Jackson, Michael Bolton, Craig Marshall, Jeanne Linke, Aaron Allison, Jody Simoneaux, Terry Taylor, Lisa Bolton, Mike Mayhew, Bob Marshall, Chris Jackson, Ken Kucera Jr., Michael Lee Truell, Wallace Dent Jr., Gale Pinkston, Ronald Traupman, Jarrod Grainer, Brent Darroch and Hillarey Sloan.

QUICK ROD (31)

Luke Bogacki, Brett Nesbitt, Doug Miller, Jimmy Stookey, Jamie Fiesel, Ron Folk, Lisa Bingham, E.J. Parker, Brandon George, Tony Helms, Jeff Lopez, Mike Lund, Matt Weston, Donny Urban, Scooter Choate, Jason Hoff, Billy Ray Upton, Pat Martin, Jay Bunce, David Elrod, Lauren Freer, John Dustin, Steve Mikus, Michael Pennington, Mark McKay, Stuart Smith, Jacob Elrod, Steve Muller, William Tishko, Allen Constantine and Jeremy McCormick.

SUPER ROD (29)

Ben Massey, Shane Maddox, Leonard Greathouse, Shawn Carter, Dennis White, Tony Elrod, Jim Linter, Francis Ross, Calvin Butler, Todd Thompson, Shannon Waycaster, Ted Moore, Joe Bauman, Steve Furr, Dale Koncen, Tom Dimond, Jimmy Lewis, Brian Folk, Richard Scott Lawton, Jacob Elrod, Matthew Cooke, Billy Smith, Robby Clarke, Danny Estep, Lance Pinto, Donald Webb, Tommy Maedgen, Charles Siegler and Jeffrey Estep.

HOT ROD (32)

Jay Bunce, Glenn Ferguson, Jeromy Hefler, Casey Plaizer, Tony Elrod, J.J. Brock, Ray Knight, Brian McLaughlin, R.L. Koontz, Jeff Heilmeier, Bryan Harris, Craig Schultz, Tom Coonly, Kenny Underwood, Edward Bolton, Donald Webb, Nick Karas, Sidney Norwood, Patrick Forster, Chip Johnson, Travis Harvey, Ken MacNicol, Bitsy Slatterly, Tim Wilson, Timothy Shuck, Chris Carpenter, Keith Mayers, Tim Anderson, Doug Wood, Tim Watson, Mark McKay and Chris Dean.