TJ Pruitt
by Ryan Gleghorn
For my home state, and the greatest state in the union, Texas you’ll get mixed reports on how “good the sport is” depending what genre of it you’re in. From the outside looking in most of your “heads up” events seem to be flourishing. Decent car and spectator count at places like Xtreme Raceway Park, Houston Raceway Park, Houston Motorsports Park, Penwell Knights Raceway and others are great for the racer, fan and track alike and I’m very happy for those programs. That’s not really where my focus lies, and I am by far more concerned with where bracket racing is now compared to the past and where it’s headed in the future.
North Star Dragway, now closed
So, for most of my life as a part of the Texas racing community this has been NHRA country. You raced all year to make your tracks bracket finals team, got super excited for the “Wally Race” (aka National Dragster Challenge) at your home track, rolled into the Texas Motorplex with your team shirt on in the fall and raced for your chance to go to Pomona and for your track to win the team points. That’s not necessarily the case anymore. The sport has changed and the biggest part here is we are no longer a NHRA proud community. As I write this there are currently only 3 NHRA sanctioned racetracks here. Texas Motorplex, Houston Raceway Park, and Houston Motorsports Park. Of those racetracks only HRP has a dedicated bracket program, and that track is likely closing at years end. I’ve been running “big cars” since the end of 2009. In that year the NHRA Division 4 Bracket Finals had 14 tracks compete. 9 of which were from Texas.
So, what happened? Where did all these tracks go? Well multiple things. Firstly, three of the major players have closed their gates permanently. Those being the legendary Texas Raceway, the South Texas stable San Antionio Raceway (Alamo City Motorplex) and the once radial racing haven that was North Star Dragway. These were big blows to the community as they attracted major car counts and were very bracket racer friendly. Okay well that takes us to 6 tracks what about them? Two of them dropped all sanction completely. Those being Wichita Raceway Park and Lubbock Dragway. Both tracks occasionally host bracket races, but mainly stick to heads up competition and test and tune nights. Well now we’re down to 4. The Texas Motorplex is very much alive and sanctioned but has not had a bracket program since 2018. They’ve hosted a few big money races since then and up until this year they’ve held the Bracket Finals there but that’s been it. This was very disappointing to those of us who enjoyed racing at the Plex and having that big track feel. Like it’s the BIGGEST DRAG STRIP IN TEXAS and we don’t bracket race there anymore. It’s wild to think about from a guy who has attended at least one, usually a lot more, races there every year since 1994. This brings me to the final two tracks. Paris Dragway and Edinburg Motorsport Park have left for the competition. The IHRA.
Now on the IHRA side this is a much different story. Currently they have 9 tracks in Texas. Their bracket finals PACK XRP to its absolute limits with most tracks having to field multiple teams to get all their racers to attend. They come from all corners of the state too. As far South as Edinburg (basically Mexico), North as I-30, East as Pine Valley and West as Amarillo. The IHRA has officially taken the place the NHRA has held for years. Theres many factors that play into this changing of power, but primarily I believe it comes down to the IHRA is a bracket racers sanction as they have no other events than bracket races and most of these tracks are smaller facilities that frequently host bracket races. Their Summit Super Series is the best deal going for the local racer with all you have to do is buy a “X number” and win your track championship or Team Finals to send you on a one-way trip to the World Finals and race for $20,000, a ring, giant Ironman, and A FREAKING TRIP TO ARUBA. I like money. I like Aruba. Sign me up.
So, it’s not all doom and gloom for us. Drag Racing isn’t dead. It’s just different. Same racers. Same tracks. Just a new sheriff wearing the badge. But what about those of us who enjoy chasing money, fame, and these oversized cardboard checks? Luckily, we do have some options. In years past it was mostly track lead events like the Labor Day Landslide by Larry Croft at TXR and North Star and the Texas Shootout which alternated from TXR and The Plex. We did have some promoter lead races like the Super 10’s series, The Danny Sons lead DRR Series, and Tommy Phillips popular Lone Star Summer Shootout. Now its mostly all promoter based. Cody Pollage of CP Racing Promotions has had events all over the state primarily at the Texas Motorplex but has also gone to Pine Valley Raceway and I-30 Dragway. Paige Hamlin has her Six Shooter Shootout at Xtreme that last year drew a very good crowd. Cole and Slate Cummings Wanna-B Promotions has had races to Pine Valley and I-30. Hell, I’m even having my first event at I-30 Dragway this March (LaTexan Lasso March 10-13).
Ardmore Dragway
So, with these events and some track driven races from I-30 or if you’d like to wonder across the border to the popular Ardmore Dragway, you can get all the racing your heart desires. Gone are the days of weekly programs and now we have what some of us always kind of wanted. Options. Is it ideal for everyone? No. Can you go run your hotrod every weekend somewhere in this glorious state March-November? Absolutely. Things could be better, but there are plenty of tracks that put in a ton of hard work and open their doors to the weekend warrior in the lone star state and as long as we keep supporting them, they will continue to do so.
