An appreciative supporter of the IHRA has contributed a prize fund rewarding Division 1 IHRA Super Rod racers during the 2014 IHRA Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL season.

“This prize should remain anonymous as it is only about my appreciation for a dedicated and caring organization that has created many great memories for me, my friends and my family,” said the contributor. “All they need to know is that it’s from an appreciative IHRA supporter.”

At each Division 1 Patriots event, a $750 No. 1 Qualifying Bonus will be awarded to Super Rod racers for each race. The qualifying bonus will be awarded to the competitor running closest to the set index without going quicker. Ties will be broken based on best non-red reaction time during the qualifying round.

In addition, the Division 1 Super Rod champion will receive an additional $500 on top of the Summit Racing Equipment championship prize fund.

“It is an amazing feat to donate in this way,” said Jon O’Neal, IHRA Division Director. “To see the appreciation for our organization come in the form of a donation is unprecedented. We are honored and excited to be able to award this ‘secret hero’s’ award to our racers in 2014.”

In addition to some great racing and record numbers to come out of the IHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL season-opener at Immokalee Regional Raceway earlier this month, we also received some pretty killer photos.

IHRA photographer Bryan Epps and Chris Simmons were on hand to bring you all of the action from Immokalee with a few special photo galleries that will be included in Issue 1 of Drag Review and on our social media websites.

To check out some of the photos, check out the links below.

CLICK HERE FOR WINNER PHOTOS

CLICK HERE FOR ACTION PHOTOS

In West Virginia, coal mining is life.

From the biggest cities to the smallest of towns, even the very people who breathe life into one of America’s most naturally beautiful states, the coal industry plays a very important part in the lives of the people of the Mountain State.

But for every light bulb turned on as a result of coal-generated power, there are stories of tragedy and loss, an understanding that Martinsburg, West Virginia native and longtime racer Kevin Bealko knows all too well.

“I came from a family of five boys and, like most boys, we were all crazy about cars and speed. In 1957 our father was killed in a mining accident, so our mom raised us tolerating our need for speed,” Bealko said. “We lived with that passion for years and when mom passed away in 2006, I thought it would be great to have my brothers and I honor her by getting involved in drag racing.”

Born from that tragic accident so many years ago, Bealko and his family found healing through drag racing. And now drag racing is helping him give back to the very industry he grew up around.

The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) has announced that the Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL and Summit Team Finals events scheduled to take place at Dallas Raceway later this year will both be moved to Pine Valley Raceway on their originally scheduled dates.

The Division 4 Summit Pro-Am Tour season opener, which is scheduled to take place March 14-16, and the Division 4 Summit Team Finals, set for September 25-28, will both take place at Pine Valley Raceway in Lufkin.

For more information on the venue changes, visit www.ihra.com and visit the schedule pages for a complete list of rules and schedules.

Over the weekend the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour opened to one of the largest opening weekends in IHRA history at Immokalee Regional Raceway.

20 different winners graced the winner’s circle in 10 classes, with not a single double-up winner.

Below is a complete collection of winner’s photos from the event.

The International Hot Rod Association™ (IHRA) and IRG Sports + Entertainment are pleased to welcome Dan Driscoll and Nate VanZuiden to the IHRA family with roles in contingency, sales and partner services.

Driscoll joins the team after eight years as owner and manager at Cedar Falls Raceway as he takes over as Director of Contingency and Drag Review Sales with IHRA. VanZuiden will serve as IHRA’s new Partner Services Manager for the entire IHRA network after more than a decade at Cordova Dragway Park.

The International Hot Rod Association™ (IHRA) and IRG Sports + Entertainment™ are thrilled to announce the return of IHRA national event drag racing to a national television audience. In an exclusive deal with leading automotive network MAV TV, the entire 2014 IHRA Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series will air in a special 13-week series on MAV TV.

MAV TV, with its unparalleled line-up of motorsports events and exclusive automotive reality shows, will air all 12 IHRA Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series events and a special season in review episode in a unique, character-driven show that will focus on equal parts behind the scenes stories, car and driver profiles and on-track racing. The show will air in the fourth-quarter of the 2014 season.

“We are very excited to partner with the leading provider of motorsports entertainment in MAV TV to bring our incredible series to a national television audience,” said Jason Rittenberry, CFE, President and Chief Executive Officer of IRG. “IHRA is a unique brand with incredible classes and exciting characters and now we are adding true competition back to the series for the first time in many years. We look forward to showing the world what the new IHRA is all about and giving our fans a chance to follow the series all across North America.”

The International Hot Rod Association opened its 2014 racing season at Immokalee Regional Raceway over the weekend to the fanfare of the largest opening weekend car count in the history of the series’ heralded Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL.

Competitors from multiple states traveled to southern Florida over the weekend for the season-opening race on the Summit Pro-Am Tour to take advantage of the warm weather, open-claim format and live online coverage of the entire event.

With such a large contingent of racers, several new faces made their way into the winner’s circle mixed with a number of series veterans making for one of the most exciting races at the historical season-opener at Immokalee Regional Raceway in some time.

Winners during the two-day Summit Pro-Am Tour opener were Tom VanBeek and Jeff Southerland (Top Sportsman), Bradley Snowball and Troy Williams Jr. (Top Dragster), Merrill Schrimscher and Mark Nowicki (Super Stock), McNeal Freeman and Phil Combs (Stock), Ed Bousman and Otis Henry (Quick Rod), David Owens and Michael Ruff (Super Rod), Tim Andersen and Joe Tillman (Hot Rod), Johnny Tolisano and Jordan Arnold (Junior Master), Michael Carpenter and Johnny Brannen (Junior Advanced) and Cody Krohn and Katie Craft (Junior Beginner).

The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) has announced its sportsman class structure for all Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series national events during the 2014 drag racing season.

Of the 12 events on the 2014 Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series schedule, six will coincide with the Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour, while the Summit Racing Equipment World Finals will remain an invitation-only weekend for drivers competing in the championship races. The remaining five Nitro Jam events will feature ET only programs for sportsman racers.

The Nitro Jam events that will include the full assortment of IHRA Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour classes will be Bradenton Motorsports Park (April 11-13), Rockingham Dragway (May 17-18), Maryland International Raceway (June 13-14), Grand Bend Motorplex (June 20-22), Castrol Raceway (July 4-6) and Cordova Dragway Park (July 18-19). Of those, select events will include ET programs. Check the Sportsman Class Structure chart below for details on ET programs.

The remaining Nitro Jam events at Southwestern International Raceway (March 21-22), San Antonio Raceway (March 28-29), Palm Beach International Raceway (May 2-3), Pittsburgh Raceway Park (August 1-2) and U.S. 131 Motorsports Park (August 8-9) will feature local ET racing only.

The extremely popular Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour has long been heralded as the cornerstone of the International Hot Rod Association’s (IHRA) sportsman drag racing series.   The IHRA and Summit Racing Equipment will continue the industry leading sportsman coverage in 2016 by broadcasting the Summit Pro-Am Tour events live on IHRA.com.