IHRA cancels some 2026 events (12 Viewers)

[Steve Wayne]

I was personally told the 10 year deal by more than one racer very close to DC. I think he was banking on money from a contract that would have possibly lasted that long and the contract didn’t happen. I am one of the ones who defended DC and the IHRA. I wanted to see it succeed and the product was great. Friends of mine who were running the IHRA and were close with DC all had nothing but great things to say about him and how they were treated. Learning how Alan and many others have been treated has shown that the chosen ones by DC seen the side he wanted them to see and not the bad side. I hate it for all the racers and people still waiting for money they will probably never see.

 

[Butch]

Like I've said before, WHY the hell didn't he stop buying after he got National Trail.
Useing that track to build up IHRA then look for another track down south.
All he did was spend $$$ on everything resulting in a empty cookie jar.

 

[Under_Pressure]

Considering that apparently the plan was take income he was expecting to have in the construction business and immediately use that to fund the IHRA, who knows how messy things are. It does seem like he might be operating IHRA as a subsidiary of Darana, whether formally or informally. Honestly no terrible business decision would shock me at this point. Some still seem to view Cuttell's actions through the lens of "he's a super rich and successful businessman" but honestly I have seen little evidence that is the case. All I have seen is that he got a lot of people to BELIEVE that simply because he (or someone around him) said it was the case.

Regardless of the actual financial or legal tie-ups between the IHRA and his main business, you've got to figure this will hurt him everywhere simply from a reputation standpoint. Because he slaps the name on everything, "Darana" is kind of a punchline in the motorsports world. And anyone who looks up anything about Darryl Cuttell from now on is going to see all of this. Would you want to entrust a major project to a company run by a guy who has made these decisions and acted this way?

 

[Jim]

Has anyone actually found any evidence that their was 10M set aside. I know it's been brought up countless times.

But who really knows?

We don't know. In the lead-up to the season, whenever I expressed the idea that IHRA was doing too much too quickly and overleveraging itself, I was told not to worry because there was 10 years of funding in place.

 

[Jim]

If anyone ever wants to try and resurrect the IHRA they better change the name. How many times has this been now?

Every owner since Bill Bader, Sr. retired. I covered IHRA in the early to mid 2000s. I really thought Bill Sr. was going to be able to make a valid run at NHRA. Then he retired, and everything went downhill from there.

 

[Jim]

Considering that apparently the plan was take income he was expecting to have in the construction business and immediately use that to fund the IHRA, who knows how messy things are.

That seems like a Ponzi scheme, doesn't it?

 

[Under_Pressure]

That seems like a Ponzi scheme, doesn't it?

I mean I wouldn't necessarily say that, but there is definitely potential for things to get messy there. There would need to be strong controls in place in the business and those calling the shots would need to be able to have restraint and stick to budgets- for some reason I don't think those are strong suits of Darryl Cuttell, at least not when racing is involved.

 

[Under_Pressure]

I heard or read somewhere that DC had spent 400 million on the IHRA. If that is a real number, he didn’t get much for his money.

I had seen that also, along with a comment about a client being "$600 million behind in payments" or something, the source apparently being a Darana employee. Maybe, but color me skeptical that Darryl or Darana had $400 million cash on hand, or did $600 million worth of work for anyone, unless it was over the course of a decade.

 

[BOO BOO]

I saw he just bought a TF motorcycle. Source: cycledrag

There's a reason Jack (Cycle Drag)has been banned from most if not all racing organizations

 

[ironpony]

Everyone keeps saying no more IHRA but in reality IHRA is still running all the grass roots drag racing events. The nitro has left along with the off shoots of stock car and boats.
DC may manage to keep all the lower budget events running like he has previously.
IMO there are WAY too many assumptions being made based on nothing.
His company is privately owned, no one knows what it makes
No one knows his personnel net worth
We certainly do not know if he actually purchased any track using any money, anything I have searched has shown name changes but no purchase price
None of us will ever know the true story
People posting he is a bad businessman, stupid, thief, liar, broke etc. really have no basis for any of that
He tried, oversold the product and failed, happens in business everyday.

 

[Butch]

Sorry to say but he's lost his credibility in my book.

 

[z28]

Everyone keeps saying no more IHRA but in reality IHRA is still running all the grass roots drag racing events. The nitro has left along with the off shoots of stock car and boats.
DC may manage to keep all the lower budget events running like he has previously.
IMO there are WAY too many assumptions being made based on nothing.
His company is privately owned, no one knows what it makes
No one knows his personnel net worth
We certainly do not know if he actually purchased any track using any money, anything I have searched has shown name changes but no purchase price
None of us will ever know the true story
People posting he is a bad businessman, stupid, thief, liar, broke etc. really have no basis for any of that
He tried, oversold the product and failed, happens in business everyday.

I think his desires overloaded the reality of what could be accomplished. I hope he gets his financial house in order and comes back but I also believe he's lost a lot of credibility in the racing community.

 

[ironpony]

Sorry to say but he's lost his credibility in my book.

I think his desires overloaded the reality of what could be accomplished. I hope he gets his financial house in order and comes back but I also believe he's lost a lot of credibility in the racing community.

I agree his credibility is in question

 

[mick]

might have said this previously, but i doubt any of the funding was personal funds. there was a revenue stream
coming from somewhere. the big, and widely unknown, story is WHY that stream was shut off, and WHO turned it off.
it seems as if somewhere just prior to nat. trail triple crown race, there had to have been an OH _H_T moment.

 

[Jim]

People posting he is a bad businessman, stupid, thief, liar, broke etc. really have no basis for any of that
He tried, oversold the product and failed, happens in business everyday.e

Yes, that does happen every day. It happens to people who are bad businessmen, stupid, thieves, liars, broke, etc.

 

[Joe]

Could the money be turned on just as easily?

 

[scratch]

Is anyone on this thread a racer, nitro or not, that has run the 'new' IHRA and won monies...or has anyone here actually thought to reach out to a racer that they know that has previously collected any monies from the 'new' IHRA and ask them whose name was on the remitting end of that EFT ? It would clear up a lot of conjecture here.

 

[Chili]

Woody will be on my show Wednesday, we plan to have an honest discussion about our experiences.

Don't miss it.
Alan

Great informative show this week. It’s good to hear what was happening inside the IHRA from a couple of people who worked there.