IHRA
Road warrior Dorn wins IHRA Nitro Harley championship
Courtesy of IHRA
NORWALK, OH – Nobody piled up the miles this season more than Stave Dorn. Based in the great northwestern city of Milwaukie, Ore., Dorn set out on the road on January 15 in the dead of winter and his bike didn’t return home until the
late stages of summer in late August. That is seven months on the road and thousands of miles logged all with one goal in mind – win a Nitro Jam championship.
So when Dorn finally made it to U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in mid-August for the final stop on the tour and held that championship Ironman in his hand for the first time, the Oregon native will admit that there was simply no greater feeling in the world.
Steve Dorn compiled five wins to collect his first Nitro Jam Nitro Harley title
And that is truly something coming from a man that spends his weekends barreling down a racetrack at over 220 mph on only two wheels, sometimes one.
Richest weekend in IHRA sportsman history at Summit Racing World Finals October 14-16
NORWALK, OH – One weekend, three races, over $200,000 in cash and prizes. It is safe to say that the Summit Racing 
Equipment World Finals presented by RacingJunk.com weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park October 14-16 will be the biggest and richest sportsman weekend in the history of the International Hot Rod Association.
Featuring three huge races, the World Finals weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park will include the $5,000 to win, open to all racers Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Spectacular followed by the Summit Racing Equipment Tournament of Champions and Summit SuperSeries World Championship all in one incredible weekend of racing.
IHRA Summit SuperSeries celebrating record growth
Courtesy of IHRA
NORWALK, OH – Nearly a decade old, the International Hot Rod Association’s popular Summit SuperSeries program is enjoying a period of record growth as the richest and most prestigious grassroots racing series in the country boasts a
record number of tracks and participants leading to the expansion of the program in 2011.
Created in 2002 as a way to give local racers a chance to compete on a national level, the Summit SuperSeries has grown exponentially since then as the IHRA member track list nears triple digits for the first time ever and the number of participants in the Summit SuperSeries approaches numbers once thought impossible when the series began just a few years ago.
“When this series began several years ago we knew it would be popular, but we never dreamed it would grow to a level of this magnitude,” said Sherrie Barbour, IHRA Special Programs Manager.
Gallen wraps up season with two wins, championship and astonishing 5.557 lap
Courtesy of IHRA
MARTIN, MI – Peter Gallen is a man on a mission. After returning to racing in 2009 following a 20-year hiatus, Gallen has blasted back onto the scene with national records, wins and more piling up at every stop. And following the
recently completed Northern Nitro Jam at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, Gallen can add another title to his long list of accomplishments – the fastest nostalgia racer in the country.
Gallen put down the lap heard round the world at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park over the weekend
With the 2011 Nitro Jam Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car championship already wrapped up entering the final race of the season, Gallen set out to end the year on a high note and did just that by besting his own mark and resetting the elapsed time record in the class at 5.709 seconds.
Ladies take top honors at Northern Nitro Jam!
Courtesy of IHRA
MARTIN, MI – There were championships on the line, big wins at stake and lots of great racing highlighting the 
Northern Nitro Jam at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park over the weekend, but when all was said and done a handful of ladies essentially stole the show.
Just two nights after Cherissa Smallwood claimed her very first win in Pro Fuel on Friday, Kristen Dennis did the same with her first career Ironman trophy on Sunday. Throw in an incredible victory by Lisa Bolton in one of the richest sportsman races in the country later that night and you have one incredible weekend for female racers everywhere.
“What can I say, it was a woman’s weekend. I am a bit overwhelmed, but very excited,” Dennis said. “I am so happy for Mike (Manners) winning the championship and for us to win the event as well just made for a wonderful weekend. Weekends like this prove that anything is possible when you set your mind to it.”
Joining Dennis in victory lane Sunday afternoon was Peter Gallen who easily had the biggest weekend of his career with a sweep of the Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car category, a new world record and a shiny new championship trophy traveling home with him to Pennsylvania. Other pro winners from Sunday’s finale were Steve Dorn (Nitro Harley) and Tom Padilla (Fuel Altered).
Lisa Bolton makes history with Moser Axle-Mania win
Courtesy of IHRA
MARTIN, MI – Lisa Bolton knew that it was her against the world.
Bolton knew that in the long, prestigious history of the Moser Axle-Mania Sportsman Showdown no footbrake racer 
had ever won IHRA’s richest sportsman race. She knew no woman had ever won it either. Add in the fact that Bolton’s final round opponent was Cameron Manuel, one of the hottest drivers in sportsman racing today, and Bolton knew her chances were pretty much slim to none.
But it isn’t always what you know, it is what you do.
Bolton stunned the Moser Axle-Mania field on Sunday, racing her way to a victory in one of the richest sportsman races in the country over Manuel and pocketing a cool $22,500 in the process at the IHRA Northern Nitro Jam at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
Rain washes out Saturday, Nitro Jam to resume on Sunday
Courtesy of IHRA
MARTIN, MI – After a long, hard-fought battle with Mother Nature on Saturday Mother Nature finally won as IHRA officials were forced to pull the plug and will resume racing on Sunday with two full rounds of Nitro Jam beginning at
noon and a full menu of sportsman racing.
Passing storms produced heavy rains throughout the morning and afternoon and a few lighting strikes even damaged the tower, forcing IHRA officials to move the remainder of the Northern Nitro Jam to Sunday.
Gates will open at 8 a.m. with sportsman racing to get underway at 9 a.m. followed by two rounds of Nitro Jam beginning at noon. All tickets purchased on Saturday will be honored on Sunday.
The Northern Nitro Jam will conclude on Sunday with a full day of incredible racing
Smallwood stuns in Pro Fuel final at Martin Nitro Jam
Courtesy of IHRA
MARTIN, MI – It is one of the oldest sayings in the books, but its wisdom always rings true. If at first you don’t 
succeed, well, let Cherissa Smallwood tell the rest.
“You just can’t give up. Whenever you think you have reached your breaking point or things just won’t go your way you just have to keep working at it. We are living proof of that tonight,” Smallwood said.
Smallwood, who has struggled through a tough year with zero round wins and nothing to show for her team’s effort entering this weekend’s event, stunned the Pro Fuel field Friday night with her first career IHRA Nitro Jam victory on opening night at the Northern Nitro Jam at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
Smallwood, behind the wheel of the popular “Nitro and Lace” dragster, bested Pro Fuel veteran Robin Samsel in Friday’s final, joining Peter Gallen (Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car), Jay Turner (Nitro Harley) and Ron Maroney (Fuel Altered) in victory lane during opening night of Nitro Jam’s season finale.
IHRA World Finals to be held October 14-16 at Virginia Motorsports Park
Courtesy of IHRA
NORWALK, OH – Following this past weekend’s Summit Pro-Am and Tournament of Champions qualifier at Richmond Dragway, a grand total of 76 drivers have already clinched a spot in the year-end Summit Racing Equipment
Tournament of Champions to be held at Virginia Motorsports Park in October.
A total of seven Nitro Jam events, three TOC qualifiers, one Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Spectacular and a few events from 2010 have contributed to the count, with dozens more to be added to the Tournament of Champions field over the next three months, including two more qualifiers over the next two weekends.
Following this weekend’s Summit Pro-Am and TOC qualifier in Pittsburgh and the Northern Nitro Jam at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park the following week, the rest of the tournament field will be filled via the remaining Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Spectacular to be held the day before the World Finals and the Summit Pro-Am Tour as the top three finishers in each IHRA division will move on to the championship showdown in October.
Pro Fuel, Fuel Altered championships still up for grabs
Courtesy of IHRA
MARTIN, MI – While three of the five fulltime Nitro Jam classes have already decided a champion, two others will go down to the wire at the upcoming Northern Nitro Jam at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park the weekend of August 12-13.
The final chapter in Pro Fuel Dragster and the new Nostalgia Fuel Altered class will finally be written later this month when Nitro Jam visits Michigan’s fastest track in Martin for the professional season finale. A total of four drivers are in contention for two Nitro Jam championships highlighted by one of the closest battles in Nitro Jam history taking place in Pro Fuel.
Only three points separate defending Pro Fuel champion Bill Evans from current points leader Michael Manners in yet another great battle in Nitro Jam’s 100-percent nitro-powered dragster class. Last year’s championship battle came down to the final pass of the year and it appears history will repeat itself once again.
