When he came to US41 Dragstrip, he found a loyal group of racers that would be the envy of most tracks. Those loyal racers, which include IHRA Sportsman World Champion Aaron Richards, will again get to participate in the IHRA Summit SuperSeries as it was announced US41 has signed a multi-year sanctioning agreement with the IHRA.
“I was really impressed when I got there,” he said. “They get 200-230 racers for a points meet. There are people who are true to that track. There’s a great bracket history, a great grudge history, small tire races, a lot of good things happening. It’s a great all-around track.”
The track itself is 1/4-mile long although it’s run as an 1/8-mile for the bracket races. US41 features one of the largest shutdown areas in the country at 3,500 feet. There are large staging lanes, 800 feet long and eight deep, which can hold a lot of cars.
There is a newer Accutime system and there have full restrooms with showers. More major improvements are planned in the spring including cutting the track to make it smoother, along with new equipment like a tractor and rotator.
The track first opened in 1994 and hosted the Snap-On Summer Nationals. It also hosted the IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stocks back in the day. Last year, US41 was chosen as the site of the IHRA Division 5 (Thunder) Summit Team Finals and will again host them in 2024.
US41 racers did a nice job protecting the home turf in 2023 and their team won the Division 5 championship. In addition, Tim Flynn was the Mod (No Box) winner.
Other racers advanced to the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals as track representatives. It includes the aforementioned Richards in Sportsman along with Tom Gibson (Box), Tristan Severns (No Box), Madison Drafke (Junior Dragster) and Doug Burket (Motorcycle), who ended up seventh in the IHRA Summit SuperSeries National Top 10 standings.
Blasco has known IHRA Owner and CEO Larry Jeffers a long time and likes the continued commitment to the grassroots, Sportsman racing as well as more exciting news that will be announced soon.
“I love Larry’s leadership and approach,” Blasco said. “With some of the new things that are going to happen, he’s a visionary.”
US41 Dragstrip has a full schedule of varied events throughout the season to keep fans and racers excited as Blasco explained. They even have a race to help with cancer research.
“We’ve got some great events besides the bracket racing,” Blasco said. “The old River Redemption is coming back. We have the MKE No Prep Race, the Big Sham’s Grudge Race and the Street Car Brawl Series. We have the Racing for a Cause for cancer awareness and our Nostalgia event is off the chain.”
For more about this fantastic facility, click here to check out the US41 Dragstrip Facebook page.
