Fabian Brown, a professional announcer from Waldorf, Md., has been the voice of Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Md., a short drive south of Washington, D.C., for 14 years  The Maryland native planned to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, but when that didn’t work out, he already had a backup career underway as a professional racing announcer.

The IHRA Membership Department in West Palm Beach Florida will continue to be closed this week until further notice.  It is unclear when power or phone lines will be restored with 3.8 million people currently without power in Florida right now.  No damage assesment has been done yet in the IRGSE corporate offices where the IHRA Membership department resides.  All corporate phone numbers with a 561 area code are currently out of service as well.  The Summit Sportsman National Championship points are not able to be processed or posted until normal business functions are restored to the IRGSE office. 

The International Hot Rod Association Summit Team Finals crank back up this weekend with events scheduled at three different tracks.

Teams from Division 2 East (Heat Wave) will compete at Carolina Dragway in Aiken, S.C., those from Division 3 (North Stars) will be at Keystone Raceway Park in New Alexandria, Pa., and those from Division 5 (Thunder) will race at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich.

Each region hosts a Summit Team Finals for every IHRA division. Any Summit SuperSeries competitor, who has an IHRA membership and an “X” number registered and valid according to IHRA records from May 1 through his or her division’s Summit Team Finals event, can win the Summit Team Finals main event championship and become eligible for the Summit SuperSeries World Finals at Memphis on Oct. 20-22.

Like most International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Sportsman racers, Corey Manuel has a job in the real world, and drag racing is his hobby. Doing double duty is common.  Driving duel event entries in the same race is also normal, but winning both of them in the same event weekend is a bit uncommon.

But that’s exactly what Manuel did – he races both Super Rod and Quick Rod in the inaugural IHRA Summit Sportsman National Championship.  Earlier this season, Manual did the double dip winning the Super Rod Ironman Trophy in the first event of the Palm Beach International Raceway Summit Sportsman National Championship event and the Quick Rod title in event two.

Drag racing is a large part of the Moser family and Moser Engineering company’s history.

Justen Moser added to that legacy in June when he became a third-generation International Hot Rod Association winner at the Summit Sportsman National Championship race at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan. His win in the Super Rod division came at the same track where his father, Rob, won his first IHRA race.

Due to hurricane Irma the IRGSE corporate offices, which include the IHRA membership Department, will be closed later today.  We will not be able to process any renewals or new memberships until further notice as all office electronics will be powered down and secured.  Anyone needing to renew or get a new membership/license will be able to do so at all of the upcoming IHRA Summit Team Finals events and at the upcoming Summit Sportsman National Championship race at Dragway 42.  We advise not putting anything in the mail that needs to be processed in the next few weeks.

AIKEN, S.C. — The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Summit Sportsman National Championship made its 13^th stop in the 14-stop race series on Sept. 2-3 at Carolina Dragway.

Nathan Van Beek scored the weekend sweep in Top Sportsman, while a pair of drivers named Corey — Corey Manuel in Quick Rod and Corey Taylor in Super Stock made the finals both days. In addition, Ernie Knight and Dave Marcus Jr. split weekend finals in Super Rod.

Competitors entered the weekend events in the following classes: Top Dragster, Top Sportsman, Quick Rod, Super Rod, Hot Rod, Super Stock, Stock and Junior Dragster. Full results are available here: http://dragstory.com/forum/index.php/board,320.0.html; a weekend recap of Carolina action is below.

The International Hot Rod Association and God Speed Ministry are accepting donations this weekend at the Summit Sportsman National Championship event at Carolina Dragway in Aiken, S.C., for those impacted by the devastating flooding in southeast Texas.

Jeff Longhany was a standout football player at the University of North Carolina and had professional aspirations. During his career at Cape Fear High School near Fayetteville, N.C., Longhany played offense and defense, but defense was his specialty – he recorded nearly 250 tackles in his varsity football career. He was named to the North Carolina Shrine Bowl Team, was a member of Tom Lemming’s “All Mid-Atlantic Coast Team,” was a two-time all-region and all–conference selection and entered the University of North Carolina as a highly-heralded freshman.

Due to the devastating flooding in Texas, the IHRA Southwest Junior Dragster Finals at Little River Dragway have been moved to Oct. 27-29.