Drag Racing – Organizations

NHRA and IHRA

The majority of the drag racing events in North America are organized by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). NHRA was founded in 1951 by Wally Parks. Since then, it has dedicated itself to safety and also providing millions of racing fans. Initially the park started NHRA with a primary objective of getting the hot rudders from the street and legally involving them in drag strips. NHRA evolved itself into a largest promoter of world’s professional drag racing since.

NHRA permits the fans to access behind the scenes actions during the race. Apart from that, NHRA has the open pit policy which allows the fans to have a view of how the team rebuild the engines.

Fans can easily approach the drivers as they are often found in their pit areas either chatting with fans or signing autographs. Sometimes fans get the opportunity to get behind the wheel by themselves in the Nitro Alley Fan Zone in a variety of racing simulators. These are one of the few reasons why NHRA has such loyal fan base.

The second largest organization which looks after drag racing events is the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA). Almost all the drag strips of NA are associated with either of the bodies.

ANDRA

The drag racing events in Australia are looked after by the Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA), which was established in 1973. They claim that they are the best in the world outside the US.

NZHRA

New Zealand has a body called the New Zealand Hot Rod Association (NZHRA) which used to look after all its drag racing events.

In April 1993, the governance over drag racing was removed from the NZHRA and shifted to a new body called the New Zealand Drag Racing Association (NZDRA).

FIA European Drag Racing Championships

Since 1996, under the flag of FIA, the European Championship is being organized. Currently, there are six championship events which are being hosted in four countries; Santa Pod Raceway – UK, Tierp Arena in Sweden, Alastaro Circuit in Finland, and Hockenheim Ring in Germany.

Five kinds of competition classes is being running in the championship: Pro Modified, Top Methanol Dragster, Pro Stock Car, Top Fuel Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car.

The competition starts traditionally at Santa Pod in May and ends on September on the same track with the European Finals. In the race, all the drivers of more than 10 countries participate. The FIA European Drag Racing Championship is administered by Speed group.