Springfield, IL – The World Drag Racing Alliance announced today that Laris Motorsports Insurance has become a major marketing partner and will be supporting the sportsman racing community by joining the WDRA in 2023. Laris Motorsports Insurance will become the Official Racing Equipment Insurance partner of WDRA as well as the presenting sponsor of the Summit Bracket Finals series of events.

Laris Motorsports Insurance provides unique products for the racing community including on track and off track racing vehicle damage as well as trailer, tools and equipment coverage. Laris Motorsports Insurance president Laris Holden, as a drag racer himself is committed to supporting the racing community and was heavily involved in developing insurance lines specific to what racers need.

“One of the most important parts of WDRA partnerships is that we deliver a value based system where racer owned businesses can support fellow racers without the typical corporate red tape that comes with these types of agreements,” said WDRA President Don Scott. “Laris Motorsports Insurance is a perfect example of WDRA creating yet another alliance with a racer owned business that creates high end services and gives them an easy way to directly support the bracket racing community. We are thrilled to be working with Holden and his industry leading team at Laris Motorsports Insurance.”

Continue reading →

Springfield, IL – The WDRA is proud to announce that motorsports industry veteran Josh Peake has joined the alliance and will be responsible for member track and racer services for the Southern regions of WDRA’s member track network.  Peake comes to WDRA with over a decade of experience in member track, racer services and event management at the sanctioning body level.  Peake will be based in Florida where he currently is the Executive Director of North Florida Motorplex.

“WDRA member tracks have a wide variety of areas that they need to be experts in and what better person to help our tracks navigate the unique challenges of running a drag racing facility then someone like Josh who is doing it along with them,” said WDRA’s Don Scott.  “Josh has deep knowledge of facility management, race operations and race program management at the sanctioning body and track level and he will be a valuable asset to the member tracks and racers in the South,” said Scott.

“I have always enjoyed helping tracks and racers navigate this sport and I’m glad a guy like Don stepped up and created WDRA as a labor of love,” said Peake.  “Our sport needs to move forward so that generations from now I’m not telling my grandchildren where tracks used to be located.  I’m looking forward to doing my part to help WDRA make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Josh can be reached at Josh@racewdra.com.

Springfield, IL – The WDRA is proud to announce that drag racing veteran Division Director Jon O’Neal has joined the alliance and will be responsible for member track and racer services for the Northern regions of WDRA’s member track network.  O’Neal comes to WDRA with 17 years of experience in member track, racer services and event management at the sanctioning body level.

“I had the pleasure of working with Jonny O when I was managing my track.  I needed help with a lot of things and Jon worked with me 24/7 until I was able to get my issues resolved,” said WDRA’s Don Scott. “Here was a guy willing to get in his car and drive the 8 hours to fix my problem. It was then I realized that some of the big things a sanctioning body does for member tracks is problem solving and guidance.  Jon is unbelievable at servicing tracks and working with racers on making sure their needs are quickly taken care of.”

“The opportunity to move forward with the first new endeavor in drag racing since before my time is exciting,” said O’Neal. “I have seen both the beauty and the peril of the roles of a sanctioning body through the years and moving forward with our own blank slate is an undeniable opportunity.”

O’Neal will be based in Ohio and can be reached at Jon@racewdra.com.

Springfield, IL – The World Drag Racing Alliance announced today that Alliance Racewear has joined the rapidly growing list of sponsors that will be supporting the bracket racing community by joining the WDRA in 2023. Alliance Racewear will become the Official Protective Equipment partner of WDRA. As with the other partnerships that WDRA has announced recently, this new partnership also includes exclusive benefit offers for WDRA members and WDRA Member tracks.

Alliance Racewear owner Billy Herman has a personal drive to help increase driver safety across the drag racing world after seeing drivers without proper protective equipment or that which is sub-par. WDRA members will receive a 20% discount and WDRA member tracks will receive a 30% discount to help outfit fire safety and rescue personnel. The WDRA Summit World Champions will also receive custom made World Champion branded driver suits from Alliance Racewear.

“From day one, the WDRA partnerships we are creating are structured to connect the sanctioning body, the partner, the racers and the member tracks all together. That’s what an alliance is supposed to do,” said WDRA’s Don Scott. “Building programs that provide opportunities for the racers and the tracks is what our sport has been missing. If a partnership only benefits the sanctioning body then the tracks and racers miss an opportunity and ultimately the partnership is short lived.”

Continue reading →

Springfield, IL – The WDRA is proud to announce that Kurt Johnson and the team at Total Venue Concepts have formed an alliance with the WDRA to provide an industry leading 20% discount on all services exclusively for WDRA Member Tracks. Kurt will be the guest on an upcoming WDRA hosted Tech Talk seminar where the topic will be traction compound and the WDRA will release a 2023 program offer to its member tracks.

“This opportunity makes us a market leader in offering services from one of the most knowledgeable and comprehensive providers in the industry,” said WDRA founder Don Scott. “Kurt was a great source of information for me while I was at the helm of a dragstrip and I cherish the opportunity to provide such a monumental and unbeatable offer to our WDRA family of tracks.”

TVC is an instrumental part of the T.O.P.S. track operators meetings at PRI and Kurt has never been scared to share his knowledge base with anyone who can use the advice. The TVC team will lead or co-lead many of the meetings throughout the seminar.

Continue reading →

Springfield, IL – The World Drag Racing Alliance went live with their new website today at www.racewdra.com. As the WDRA strives to develop business alliances within the sport, the new website, along with the recently updated WDRA branding and logo package, were designed by racers.

The website is organized so that the things the racers need most such as membership, the rulebook and information on the various bracket programs WDRA delivers through the member track network are easy to find.

“While we are making the website live today, I want to make sure the racers know that the rulebook and the online membership components are still going through their final phases and will be made live as soon as they are ready” said WDRA’s Don Scott. “The rulebook will get posted on the website after PRI just before it goes to the printer and the membership component will roll out in two phases.

Continue reading →

Springfield, IL – The World Drag Racing Alliance is proud to announce that Capri Wesley has joined WDRA as the Director of Sales. Her immediate actions will be building partnerships for racer and track benefits. With 16 years of professional sales experience, we are very excited about having her as part of the WDRA family.

Capri is no stranger to the drag racing world as she has been racing various tracks throughout the Southeast for the past 15 years. “I’m beyond excited about the opportunity to have such an important role in the future of WDRA,” said Wesley.  “To be able to take my past 15 years of successful sales experience across multiple organizations and use that in the world of drag racing, is going to be so powerful. Having an important involvement in the world of drag racing at this level is really a dream come true. I’m passionate about the success and future growth of WDRA. I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Capri will join the rest of the WDRA team at the PRI show this coming weekend.

Springfield, IL – The WDRA is proud to announce Winlight Bets as the organizations Official Fan Engagement Partner. Winlight Bets will debut their interactive software live at the Southeast Spring Bracket Finals event at Darlington Dragway.

“In the current marketplace that drag racing lives in, our goals need to shift from trying to save money to that of offering new revenue streams to WDRA Member facilities,” said WDRA Founder Don Scott. “Our agreement with Winlight Bets assures that our member tracks are at the forefront of this potentially revolutionary revenue opportunity as the Winlight Bets team works through the development of the system.”

Rex Simmermaker founded Winlight Bets to bring legal betting action to the fastest sport on earth, drag racing. The app, available at the events, will allow fans to engage in the action with predictive, free to play betting which will result in producing prize winners.

“We are excited to support the WDRA and be a partner with the alliance. We believe that Don Scott and the WDRA team will help so many tracks improve financially, and we will do our part to bring fan engagement to a level never seen before in our sport,” said Simmermaker. “Our goal is to help bring together a potential revenue stream to the sport we love and the WDRA fits that goal.”

Springfield, IL – The World Drag Racing Alliance announced today that the newly created sanctioning body and Summit Racing Equipment have created an alliance to support the bracket racing community with Summit Racing’s new sponsorship of the WDRA Sportsman Drag Racing Series. The quarter million-dollar Summit Sportsman Drag Racing Series (SSDRS) will include the race for the track championship at member WDRA tracks during the year, the WDRA Summit Bracket Finals series of events and the WDRA Summit World Championships at Darlington Dragway to conclude the season.

“We are beyond thrilled to have the leading supporter of sportsman racing programs join the WDRA in providing huge opportunity and national exposure to our network of US and Canadian member tracks and the bracket racers that support them,” said WDRA’s Don Scott. “Summit Racing Equipment has a long history of supporting their drag racing customers and we look forward to doing our part to carry on that tradition,” said Scott.

The Summit Sportsman Drag Racing Series will begin January 1, 2023 and the goal of the program is to find the best racers at each WDRA member track and gather them together in head-to-head competition at the Summit Bracket Finals and the individual WDRA track champions at the Summit World Finals at Darlington Dragway in October.

Continue reading →