IHRA President Speaks Out About IHRA’s future and Norwalk Raceway Park’s departure

By Mike Perry | IHRA Communications

Aaron Polburn is not worried about looking back to the past. The recent announcement Norwalk Raceway Park, owned by previous IHRA President and current IHRA minority owner Bill Bader, is switching sanctioning bodies from the IHRA (the organization Polburn heads) to the NHRA does not surprise Polburn. He also is not concerned from a business standpoint. The World Nationals will be moved to Mansfield Motorsports Park and business will continue as usual.

Drag Review Magazine recently sat down with Polburn to get his take on Bader, the plans for Mansfield Motorsports Park and the future of IHRA.

DRM: Before we get into specifics regarding the Mansfield deal or the deal with Bill Bader and Norwalk Raceway Park, what message do you want to send to IHRA racers and fans?

Aaron Polburn: I hope now people will realize IHRA is not just one person or one track, it is an organization of people…everyone from the staff here in Norwalk, to the racers, to the sponsors to the fans. And everyone has been hearing “IHRA and damn proud of it” for a very long time. I know how all these people feel right now, they feel like they were violated and lied to. That’s not surprising because the “IHRA and damn proud of it” philosophy has been stressed for years. IHRA, like I said, is more than just one person and one track. And, trust me, we are as proud of what this organization stands for now than we have ever been before. We are looking forward and have a great future ahead of us.

DRM: In the story/interview released this morning about Norwalk Raceway Park on Torco's CompetitionPlus.com, Bill Bader Jr. implied one of the reasons they are switching sides, so to speak, is because they felt they were better-suited to serve the fans and we, at IHRA, were serving the corporate bottom line. What do you think about that assessment?

AP: I think he is sadly mistaken. We’ve run this organization, without input from him or his father, based on servicing the fans, our customer base, and our racers. And we are having the best year in the history of the company. Do we have corporate responsibility? Yes, this is a business and we are responsible to stock holders. Norwalk Raceway Park, with this move, is obviously looking to increase its revenues. This move is all about dollars and cents. Norwalk Raceway Park is a business and they are doing what a business tries to do…increase its bottom line. I think to imply that this move is about customer service is nothing but spin. People can see right through it. It’s all about money. Why not just come out and admit it?

DRM: Were you surprised when they told you of their decision to switch to the NHRA?

AP: I think, as it all unfolds, everyone will see we’ve been proactive. This is not a surprise. Everyone remembers a year ago at this time we kind of had the same problem with Norwalk Raceway Park. They got a one-year extension, and that one-year extension gave us the time to put all these pieces and parts in place. A year ago did I think this was going to happen? I certainly had it in the back of my mind and as the year progressed it became more and more apparent that it may happen. Very honestly, in late June or early July I knew it was going to happen so we had the time to put all the pieces in place. Is this going to hurt us as an organization? No, I think this is just a change. We can’t forget how we got to where we are today, in the middle of our most successful season in the history of the organization. We’ve done that by concentrating on the foundation of our business, sportsman drag racers. We’ve also achieved this success through our Nitro Jam national events, with the Kumho Street Warriorz series, with the Thunder Jams and the great television coverage we’ve had this year. New England Dragway just signed a three-year extension and we have the Mansfield deal. I think this is just a part of many of the positive things that are coming. From a business side I am literally more energized now than I ever have been.

DRM: Looking forward to Mansfield and to what Mike Dzurilla is building, is he looking to build a top-of-the-line facility that will rival or surpass anything else in the country?

AP: Not really because that is what gets a lot of these facilities in trouble. We expect to build a facility that will be incredibly fan-friendly and racer-friendly. If we want to put 1,000 cars in there we want to be able to do so. The problem in this business is people who put millions and millions and millions of dollars into their race track and don’t have any way to pay down their debt. So you might have a palace but you run into business problems and weather problems. The thing about Mike and the thing about Mansfield is when you go down to the oval track and see all the fan-friendly things they have in place it is absolutely amazing. There are so many things he has done I didn’t have a clue about. You just have to see it to experience it. Everything Mike does there is first class and I am really looking forward to Mike’s facility becoming the new home of the World Nationals.

DRM: There are a lot of advantages at the sportsman level to racing with the IHRA. Is part of this Mansfield plan giving a place for these racers, who have been with IHRA for so long, a place they can go and continue to take part in the special programs like the Summit SuperSeries?

AP: Let’s face it, IHRA is a big deal in this state (Ohio) and a big deal in the Midwest. The perfect scenario I can give you that kind of hit home last night was after we had called the event after all the rain. At 5 o’clock we had made the Mansfield announcement. Someone had gone back to their trailer and logged on, I don’t even know who this guy was, but at 6:15 we were standing there in the rain and this guy comes up to me. He just shook my hand and said, “Thanks for giving us a home. All we wanted was a home.” That’s what we’re doing. And it’s going to be fun because we’re all going to be able to kind of put in our three cents as it goes along. But we had no intention of giving up our membership, of giving up a good place to race or anything like that. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing. This state and this region is obviously very pro-IHRA, so we’re going to give them a great place to call home.

DRM: A national event track, that accounts for one weekend a year. An IHRA track, that accounts for all the different programs offered and the weekly racers. What is the plan to accommodate them?

AP: We can help Michael develop a great weekly racing program, we can help develop the Summit SuperSeries program there, it will be a great place for a Mr. Gasket Pro-Am Tour race, Kumho Street Warriorz, Thunder Jams…there are a lot of things we can do there, and what makes it so attractive is the location of the facility. Once you get on whatever freeway it is in Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Columbus or Cincinnati, between when you get on that freeway and when you get to the track you will only have one stop sign. It is all four-lane highway with easy access in and easy access out. They put 25,000-30,000 people in the place in one day for the Craftsman Truck race and, after the race, in an hour everyone is out of there. Rigs are pulling out and everything. That has a lot to do with how Mike and his team do things as well as the access to a lot of four-lane highways.

DRM: Do you think people may be looking at the IHRA national events, and the loss of the one in Norwalk, disproportionately to the overall business plan of this company?

AP: I think, overall, if you look at our company as a pie and cut the pie in eight pieces, the national events are just one piece. We don’t just rely on national events. I know we, here at IHRA, are always looking at things and asking what the next piece of entertainment or what is the next revenue stream we can create? It is an important piece of pie, but it is no more or no less important than our sportsman piece of pie with the Mr. Gasket Pro-Am Tour. I have said it a million times, when you build your house you have to have a foundation. Sportsman racing is our foundation and it will always be. That’s how 1,000 cars ended up at Norwalk this weekend, that’s how 697 ended up in Milan, that’s how 669 ended up in Martin. That is our foundation, these guys realize it and they’re having a lot of fun racing with us. We don’t intend on turning our back on that at all.

DRM: IHRA is in the middle of its most profitable year ever. Car counts are up across the board and the national events are consistently setting attendance records. Are you a little miffed at the timing for what Bill Bader is doing with Norwalk Raceway Park?

AP: I think everyone is wondering why. I don’t have that answer. It does seem a little odd, but only he and Billy know and God bless them if that’s what they want to do. It’s fine with me, and that one-year extension we gave them last year really gave us the opportunity to put all the pieces in place to move forward.

DRM: Did Bill and Billy ask for another one-year extension this year?

AP: Yeah, they did. The way this all came down was this; something was wrong a year ago. Billy and I met in late May to discuss where we’re going. We had a great conversation and when Bill got back from his vacation I met with them both and had another great conversation. After that one of them, I think it was Billy, called and said they wanted to extend the agreement for one more year. It was my opinion that this would have just put off the inevitable, that all this would accomplish was give them another year to put their financing in place and put their construction needs in place… that it was going to go anyway. I didn’t think I could do what I have to do to grow this company on a one-year deal. I asked for three years and obviously, because of their announcement, they didn’t accept.

DRM: Bill Bader is a big part of this organization’s history. He always said, “IHRA and damn proud of it” and “Integrity, Honesty, Respect and Assertiveness,” does the fact that he’s making all these concessions and improvements to his track to go to NHRA, when he was never willing to do that for the company he was supposedly so dedicated to, does that sit well with you?

AP: Yes and no. They still had, in my opinion, one of the two finest race tracks we go to. They consistently invested in the facility for a long period of time and it shows. It’s a great venue. Do I get a little perturbed when I see on their press release about the sanction change that they are going to build a so-called “world class media center?” Well, as I read that I was sitting in the tower looking at the construction trailer they used as a media center for our event, so that was kind of a touchy thing for me. But the bottom line is this, we went to a very, very good facility for all these years. They made an investment in it and we grew the event. God bless them, but now the event is just going to move down the street.

DRM: How important is it for everything to be in place in Mansfield for the 2007 racing season?

AP: It’s important to get it right. We have to get it right because, in my world, there are certain expectations. I was on the phone with several people at midnight, last night, trying to get all the plans in place and there is no one at Mansfield Motorsports Park not committed to getting this done in time for the ’07 season. But until we actually get the final word from the architects, get the construction times and put some of the other pieces in place it may not be doable. I would much rather it be right and take it to ’08 than be half-assed and do it in ’07.

DRM: What was the general feedback you received from the racers at the event this weekend regarding all these developments?

AP: They were angry, that’s the best way to describe it. The ones I talked to, and I talked to a lot of them, felt jilted…and you really can’t blame them for that. They were asking why Bill and Billy would do this, and I’m sure they have their reasons, but that doesn’t mean we all shouldn’t feel like we feel.

DRM: What has been the response of the people on the staff in the office as well as the national event staff?

AP: Look, everyone is not feeling good about this. On the staff it has nothing to do with financial reasons and everything to do with personal reasons. The good news is, to a person in the last 24 hours, they are pumped-up just like me. Because of Mansfield, because of what they see and because of the year we’ve had and everything we’ve been through…especially with what went on out there this weekend with what Jim Marchyshyn called the “Bataan Death March” of a national event. How could you not be proud of the IHRA staff and the national event staff that comes in and runs these things? We have people who are totally dedicated to this organization and are actually proud of what we’ve accomplished.

DRM: With the announcements I would assume you really don’t feel the need for pep talks or to rally the troops here.

AP: Believe me, they are ready to go. Not just the staff. From sponsors to racers to fans, all the major players who really count, everyone is ready to go and move forward. It is amazing how many fans have already been in touch. I thought we would have some supportive positive reaction but I had no idea it would be like it has been in terms of depth and passion.

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