IHRA Changes Management
The International Hot Rod Association – IHRA – has new management. Larry Jeffers, who currently operates Larry Jeffers Race Cars in House Springs, Missouri, has taken over the assets of IHRA with the intent of continuing competition.
In a press release from IRG Sports + Entertainment (IRGSE) president and CEO Louis F. Partenza, Jeffers’ acquisition was announced with the intent of promoting accurate information about IHRA and its future. “We have an agreement in principle for the IHRA to be acquired by Larry Jeffers, a successful businessman with a long career in drag racing,” Partenza said. “Larry is a motorsports park owner, and he operates businesses that build, modify and sell high-performance race cars and parts. He’s been a professional racer himself and he understands racing businesses,” the release intoned.
Over the past few weeks, the future of IHRA has been one of the prominent stories in straight-line racing, as questions about its leadership swirled around. Even though the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular at Empire Dragway is just completed and there are five more events on the calendar, even though the fall IHRA Summit Team Finals have six events scheduled for September and into early October, and with the Summit SuperSeries World Finals on the docket at Holly Springs, MS for mid-October, IHRA’s future continues to be water cooler talk. Partenza and Jeffers are hoping to quell the rumors.
“We are confident in Larry’s vision for the future of IHRA,” Partenza confirmed. “His plan is to build on the organization’s existing history and philosophy while strengthening and expanding it into a full motorsports racing platform. With his many years in motorsports, he understands what it takes to run and grow a successful business in this industry and has deep relationships with both current and potential new IHRA sponsors.”
Still, in the background, there have been members of IHRA’s [former] leadership team that have been looking to start competing sanctioning bodies. The new IHRA leadership has signed restrictive agreements – including non-competiition and non-disclosure – intending to halt competing organizations. “We believe that any of these communications that you may have received are breaches of contracts and agreements with us; they are legally unable to compete with the IHRA for an extended period of time,” the release stated.
Partenza believes Jeffers’ leadership “offers a fresh perspective, which we think is the right one. He plans to hire a team that will share his, and hopefully your, vision for a successful IHRA and work to accomplish it hand in hand with the membership.” Partenza’s organization, IRGSE will, he concluded, “continue to support Larry through the transition and team finals.”