The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) has been through a lot in the last couple years, including being purchased by two different entities, ceasing to host their popular Nitro Jam / Pro-Am events, and losing sanctioning for several dozen tracks to the new World Drag Racing Alliance (WDRA) and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).
But an announcement today about ten events for the IHRA’s Pro-Am 2025 national event schedule signifies a big change in the organization, and a few of the race tracks on the schedule should raise some eyebrows.
The IHRA schedule includes Galot Motorsports Park and Maryland International Dragway, which were under IHRA sanctioning at the start of 2024.
But some of the tracks on the schedule, including Darlington Dragway, Milan Dragway and National Trail Raceway, were under NHRA sanctioning at the beginning of the 2024 season.
After competing in his wife’s Trans Am in 2023, Chuck Stefanski decided to up the ante and re-vamp his 1981 Pontiac Lemans station wagon for a full season in 2024.
Chuck Stefanski achieved some solid results, completing two drag and drive events, and scoring wins at two events. Now he’s got new goals for 2025, including the new Sick Street Car Challenge class at the Sick At The Rock event next month.
“I think this is an awesome way to showcase drag and drive, and giving the competitors several chances to win some real cash,” said Chuck. “This structure allows the spectators to stay at one track and see every pass. This event is going to set the pace for the future of drag and drive, and I am along for the ride!”
The 72nd annual Detroit Autorama in Michigan showcased hundreds of rides, including the ‘Great 8’ finalists for the coveted Ridler award. And although a lot of focus was on those beautiful rides, as well as the Ridler award winning ‘55 Chevrolet Nomad of Tom and Christy Bresnahan, there were a lot more awards given out, including the popular Drag and Drive category.
Drag and drive rides have to prove themselves on the track and the street, but the Detroit Autorama gave them a chance to do it under the lights at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan for a chance to claim an award. The familiar ’63 DIVCO Milk Truck of Nick Cryer, which was part of the Sick The Magazine display, scored the third-place finish in the category.
The recently completed Oldsmobile Cutlass of Steven Haefner would take a display spot in the Summit Racing Equipment booth, and by the end of the three-day show, Haefner collected a pair of awards, taking home first place in the Drag and Drive category, as well as Street Best Engine.
After four days of cold temperatures, insane racing action and sizable crowds at South Georgia Motorsports Park, some recognizable names and repeats winners led the storylines at one of the biggest drag radial tire themed races, Lights Out 16.
After two days of qualifying, eliminations got underway on Saturday, February 22nd, and were completed on Sunday, February 23rd, 2025, by crowning winners in thirteen different classes.
As we covered on Thursday’s first qualifying session story, the Radial Versus the World class grabbed headlines when Paolo Guist reset the class record with a 3.479 pass. The other half of that pair, Ken Quartuccio, clocked a 3.49 on that run, but would return on Friday, February 21st, to drop the record further with a 3.743 run.
Quartuccio employed that performance through eliminations, using a pair of 3.4-second runs to score his third final round appearance in as many events.
Nearly two decades ago, Donald ‘Duck’ Long noticed that one of the biggest groups of heads-up racing, Outlaw Drag Radial, wasn’t being given the amount of attention he felt they deserved. So, he did something about it, and sixteen years after the ‘Lights Out’ event debuted at South Georgia Motorsports Park, it remains a destination race for racers and fans where the wild and unpredictable happens, as well as many a record are set.
Paolo Guist would be the lone car to dip into the 3.4-second range in the top tier Radial Versus The World (RVW) class during the first session, clocking a 3.498 at 213.60 MPH blast for the top qualifying spot. The impressive run was just twelve thousandths of-a-second off the world record of 3.486 at 213.83 MPH from ‘Stevie Fast’ Jackson, set last March at Alabama International Dragway. But Guist wasn’t done yet.
With the sun all but gone and track temperatures dropping quickly, the entire list of heads-up classes had completed their first session of qualifying. But the decision was made for one more round of RVW qualifying. Guist would be in the first pair of cars out of the staging lanes, lining up alongside a former Lights Out event winner, Ken Quartuccio.
The scoreboards would show history less than three and-a-half seconds later, and for more than one reason!
After a barn burner of a debut in 2024, the PRO Superstar Shootout returned to Bradenton Motorsports Park to give enthusiasts their first dose of nitromethane for the 2025 season.
Run as a 3-day event, fans were treated to 8-car qualified fields of Top Fuel and Funny Car, a 16-car field of Pro Stock, and a trio of sportsman classes: Stock, Super Stock, and Top Sportsman. Tom Bailey made a couple exhibition runs in the ‘Sick Seconds 2.0’ Camaro.
With four qualifying sessions over two days for the 3 professional categories, as well as a trio of sportsman classes, just getting to eliminations was a victory.
Who scored victory to take home the six unique trophies and a bundle of money?
