The International Hot Rod Association announced today the official schedule for the Division 2 Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL that will include four stops at familiar tracks throughout the southeast. Those stops include Immokalee Regional Raceway, Carolina Dragway, Bradenton Motorsports Park and Darlington Dragway.

All events will feature a double race weekend with full races on Saturday and Sunday. Racers that finish within the top three in their divisional points will earn an automatic bid to the 2014 Summit Racing Equipment Tournament of Champions at Memphis International Raceway in October.

“I am very excited to be part of the team at IHRA and specifically my duties as director of Division 2,” said Jim Woods, IHRA Division 2 Director. “As a longtime competitor in IHRA and as someone who is quite familiar with the racers and facilities in the region, I am looking forward to developing relationships with everyone and strengthening the division and IHRA’s presence in the southeast.”

IRG Sports + Entertainment™ (IRG), the parent company of the International Hot Rod Association™ (IHRA) and multiple motorsports facilities, announced today that Aaron Polburn has stepped down as President and General Manager of the IHRA and Scott Gardner, the longtime owner and promoter of Cordova Dragway Park (CDP), has been named the new President effective today. Polburn, who had been at the helm of IHRA since 2004, has stepped down for personal reasons and will transition the company to Gardner over the next two weeks. Gardner will lead the IHRA team based out of the current Norwalk, Ohio office.

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The International Hot Rod Association is pleased to announce that Josh Peake and Jim Woods, two longtime faces within the IHRA, have been named division directors for Division 9 and Division 2 respectively.

The two veteran officials will take over their respective divisions effective immediately, with Peake servicing racers in the Carolinas in the popular Raiders Division and Woods taking over in the southeast in IHRA’s Heat Wave Division.

“We are very excited to welcome Jim and Josh to the family,” said IHRA Vice President Skooter Peaco. “I have had the pleasure of working with both of them for many years and they are definitely the right guys for the job. They will be taking over for a very talented individual in Satch Gragg, but we are certain that Jim and Josh will be up for the task and will help us continue to grow our sportsman programs throughout, not only the divisions they will occupy, but throughout the country.”

IHRA Motorsports™ is pleased to announce that John Donaldson joins the IHRA Motorsports™ Sales Team as Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships. He will primarily be responsible for the sales of sponsorships for both of the IHRA’s national touring series – the Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series™ and Thunder Jam™.

Combined with digital experience for the past six years, Donaldson’s previous experience includes season ticket sales and promotions for the New Jersey Devils, sponsorship and exhibit sales for Penton Media, trade show sales, marketing and operations for National Business Media, corporate ticket packages and partnerships for Super Bowl XXXIX, and business development and suite sales for the Denver Broncos.

The International Hot Rod Association announced today that the Southern Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park has been rescheduled from its original date in late April to April 11-12, 2014.

The new date will place it exactly two weeks after the San Antonio Nationals at San Antonio Raceway and three weeks prior to the Palm Beach Nationals at Palm Beach International Raceway on the 2014 IHRA Nitro Jam Drag Racing Schedule.

The Southern Nationals is one of 11 events on the 2014 IHRA Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series North American Tour that includes events in eight states and Canada. The new series will include a return to traditional drag racing eliminations with competition in Nitro Funny Car, Nitro Harley, Nitro Altered, Jet Dragster and more.

For more information on the 2014 IHRA Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series, visit www.nitrojam.com.

Sometimes you just have to stop and ask yourself, what the heck am I doing?

That was the question racing through Graham Foster’s mind as he packed up his beautiful bright red 1968 Camaro and made the 2,500 mile haul from Fort St. John, British Columbia to Memphis, Tennessee for the Summit World Finals at Memphis International Raceway.

Foster left more than a week before the race itself to assure that he would make to the track in plenty of time. And by Sunday night, that 5,000 mile roundtrip tow was made completely worth his while as he escaped a grueling competition in IHRA’s premier doorslammer class to claim the 2013 IHRA Top Sportsman World Championship.

“Let’s just say it took us a while to get here,” Graham said with a laugh. “We left last Friday and let me tell you, when you are filling up on fuel, it really makes you think about the trip. But once we got here, it was all worthwhile. Even if we didn’t win a round, it was worth it. We got here and had fun and that is what this sport is all about.”

With one runner-up in the Summit Tournament of Champions already in his career, Austin Cowan was determined that this time would be different.

Cowan finished runner-up in the 2011 version of IHRA’s championship tournament in Top Dragster and with another shot at a world championship at stake, Cowan buckled down and prepared for one of the biggest rides of his life.

Fortunately for him, that intense final run was transformed more into a leisurely victory lap after final round opponent Trevor Ritchie, travelling all the way Alberta, Canada, broke on the line and couldn’t complete the pass.

“I was pretty nervous for the final. I have been here before, but there is still a lot riding on this run,” Cowan said.” I just kept telling myself, stay calm, you have been here before, just go out and do what you have been doing. Once I saw that my opponent had broke I went crazy. I was screaming the whole way down the track. The guys at the top end were trying to slow me down because I was flying around the bend, but I was just so I excited. I couldn’t believe it. Heck, I still can’t believe it.”