Four consecutive days of rain and cold weather combined with a less than favorable forecast for the remainder of the week has forced the postponement of the IHRA World Finals at Rockingham Dragway.

Despite lengthy delays during the first three days of competition the professional categories were able run their rounds to completion on Sunday, but the wet weather combined with a record car count for the Champion System Sportsman Nationals presented by VP created a no-win situation for the remainder of the week.

“We are incredibly grateful for all of the drivers and fans who tried to stick out the cold and rain, but today’s unexpected weather combined with a questionable forecast has forced us to postpone the remainder of the World Finals until a later date,” said Skooter Peaco, VP of Race Operations. “We are now going to go back to the home office and we are going to take a look at the remaining races and we will decide at that time what is the best manner to finish this event.”

All of the professional categories, the Summit SuperSeries and the Mickey Thompson Ten Grand Slam were all completed entering Monday while remainder of the Sportsman Nationals and the Elite 8 Pro Stock Shootout were decided during the afternoon hours.

Nearly all of the sportsman classes in the Sportsman Nationals were able to run to completion with the exception of three. Of the three remaining class two decided to a winner amongst themselves while the remaining class will compete for the win at a later date.

The Elite 8 Pro Stock Shootout was also narrowed down to the finals where Frank Gugliotta and Pete Berner agreed to split the money and the victory.

Still remaining to be run after this weekend are the finals of the Summit All-Star race and the entire Tournament of Champions sportsman runoff. The Tournament of Champions is the new championship format adopted by the International Hot Rod Association earlier this year designed to crown a champion based on head-to-head competition.

Both programs will be made up at a later date.

“We are going to take a look at the All-Star race and consult with Summit and decide the best way to finish that. For the Tournament of Champions we are going to talk to the racers and get their input and figure out the best way to finish the tournament and crown our sportsman champions.

“Once we figure out what the competitors want to do we will move forward with a plan that will work for the most people and then contact those racers directly.”

The IHRA has also postponed the 2009 IHRA Awards Celebration until next year.

“All of our competitors work very hard at what they do and we want to make sure they are properly recognized. We will put our heads together to come up with the best time to hold the awards ceremony next year and we will put together a celebration that is worthy of the recognition these drivers deserve.”