A pair of new facilities will grace the 2009 IHRA Nitro Jam schedule as, for the first time, national events will be held at State Capitol Raceway in Baton Rouge, La. and at Dallas Raceway in Crandall, TX. In fact, two of the first three 2009 events will be at new tracks.

The season will kick off March 6-8 at State Capitol Raceway, where IHRA will host it’s inaugural national event in Baton Rouge, La. The capitol city of Louisiana has long been a market IHRA president Aaron Polburn has been targeting for a national event.

“It’s a great city and a great region for race fans,” he said. “We’ve held Thunder Jam events as well as Summit Pro-Am events there in the past and the response has been tremendous. The fans in Baton Rouge seem to love their straight-line racing and we look forward to putting on a tremendous show for them.”

After Baton Rouge the tour will then head to Rockingham, North Carolina for the IHRA Spring Nationals April 24-26. Following the Spring Nationals the IHRA tour will head to Texas for the first-ever race at the brand new Dallas Raceway in Crandall May 29-31. This is another event that has Polburn excited.

“This is a brand new, beautiful facility that was built specifically to host IHRA national events,” he said. “It will have everything a national event facility should have…plenty of concrete pit space, a state-of-the-art lighting system and an excellent all-concrete racing surface. This will be a highlight on the IHRA national event schedule for a very long time.”

From Dallas IHRA will head north to Tulsa Raceway Park for the Sooner Nationals June 13-14 before heading northwest to Edmonton, Alberta July 3-5 for the Rocky Mountain Nationals at Castrol Raceway. IHRA will stay in Canada for the July 17-19 Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex before heading back to the United States for the July 31-Aug. 2 Northern Nationals at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI.

The final three events on the 2009 Nitro Jam season will see the tour heading to three of the most historic venues in the IHRA roster of member tracks…New England Dragway Sept. 11-13, Maryland International Raceway Sept. 25-26 and Rockingham Dragway for the World Finals Oct. 22-25.

There will be a pair of two-day events on the 2009 schedule, the Sooner Nationals in Tulsa and the President’s Cup Nationals at Maryland International Raceway. The season finale in Rockingham will be a scheduled four-day event.

“We are looking at some different scheduling options to give us more flexibility for the future,” Polburn said. “The two-day events are an exciting new concept, plenty of great racing with a day less commitment from the drivers and their teams.”

IHRA also has seven Sportsman Nationals presented by VP Racing Fuels scheduled. Sportsman Nationals are part of the IHRA national event schedule, but will be run without the professional classes.

The field will be made up of the Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Super Stock, Stock, Quick Rod, Super Rod and Hot Rod classes and, with the exception of the Oct. 22-23 season finale in Rockingham, will be three-day events held in conjunction with Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by Mr. Gasket weekends. These are also the recently announced “Tournament of Champions” qualifying weekends for sportsman.

The IHRA Sportsman National schedule will kick off in southern Florida Feb. 6-8 at Immokalee Regional Raceway. This will be followed by the event at Richmond Dragway May 29-31. The newest member of IHRA’s family of tracks, Cherokee County Motorsports Park in Rusk, TX, will host the third Sportsman National June 19-21. That same weekend racers in the North will have an opportunity to compete in a Sportsman National event as well at Byron Dragway in Illinois.

July 17-19 the fifth Sportsman Nationals will he held at Carolina Dragway before the next event, Aug. 14-16, at Pittsburgh Raceway Park. The Sportsman Nationals season will then conclude Oct. 22-23 at Rockingham Dragway.

“We wanted to give our sportsman racers more chances to race on a national stage this season,” IHRA vice president of racing operations Skooter Peaco said. “We’ve had a couple of sportsman nationals events over the last couple of years, including the Sportsman Appreciation Race in Tulsa two years ago, and people really responded to them. We think this schedule, with where the racers are being held, gives a large percentage of our sportsman racers the chance to make it to a national event without having to tow very far. Economically this schedule really makes sense.”

2009 IHRA Nitro Jam Schedule

March 6-8                            State Capitol Raceway             Baton Rouge, LA

April 24-26                           Rockingham Dragway               Rockingham, NC 

May 29-31                           Dallas Raceway                      Crandall, TX        

June 13-14                           Tulsa Raceway Park                 Tulsa, OK*

July 3-5                              Castrol Raceway                      Edmonton, AB

July 17-19                           Grand Bend Motorplex              Grand Bend, ON

July 31-Aug. 2                      US 131 MSP                            Martin, MI              

Sept. 11-13                        New England Dragway                Epping, NH

Sept. 25-26                        Maryland International Raceway   Budds Creek, MD*

2009 Sportsman Nationals presented by VP Racing Fuels Schedule

May 29-31              Richmond Dragway                                                 Richmond, VA                        1/8 mile

July 17-19               Carolina Dragway                                                    Jackson, SC                             1/8 mile

Oct. 22-23               Rockingham Dragway                                             Rockingham, NC                     ¼ mile

About IHRA

Headquartered in Norwalk, Ohio, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA), a division of Feld Entertainment, promotes professional, semi-professional and local-level racing opportunities for drivers at all levels. The $21.5 million IHRA Nitro Jam™ Drag Racing Series is a 10-event North American professional drag racing circuit. In 2009, the series will be comprised of eight events in major cities throughout the United States and two in Canada. IHRA will also host seven sportsman national events, the IHRA Sportsman Nationals presented by VP Racing Fuels, at six facilities in the United States. The Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Championship presented by Mr. Gasket consists of competition at national events and 40 events in six regional divisions, while IHRA’s Summit SuperSeries is conducted nearly every weekend at over 85 IHRA-sanctioned tracks. Providing a safe environment to develop future stars, IHRA offers the Junior Dragster Racing Series for youths ages 8-17. Stand-alone events include Feld Entertainment Motor Sports’ action-packed “Thunder Jam” shows and the street legal racing and lifestyle event series Street Warriorz. More information can be found at www.nitrojam.com.

About Feld Entertainment, Inc.

Feld Entertainment is the worldwide leader in producing and presenting live entertainment experiences that lift the human spirit and create indelible memories, with 30 million people in attendance at its shows each year. Feld Entertainment's productions have appeared in more than 55 countries on six continents and include Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®, Disney On Ice, Disney Live!, Doodlebops Live! and now Feld Entertainment Motor Sports.