On Friday, March 7th, 2025 the IHRA dropped some huge news for the sport of drag racing: stating that under the leadership of its new owner, Darryl Cuttell, IHRA had agreements “in principle” to purchase seven major race tracks in addition to launching a new streaming platform and hosting the No Time Kings limited prep events. However, it was the IHRA track purchases that raised the most eyebrows, including by the owners of some of the tracks mentioned in the press release.

Maryland International Raceway was the first to come out publicly (on March 11th) and ask that IHRA clarify its statement. In fact, an employee of MIR even reached out to Dragzine to share this message. When asked about the post, the employee reinforced what was in their statement – that MIR remains a WDRA-sanctioned track and they knew nothing about the IHRA announcement until after it had been made. And when questioned whether they could confirm that there were at least discussions of purchasing the track or a signed letter of intent, no response was given.

Darlington Dragway confirmed to Dragzine that they have entered into an agreement with IHRA to purchase the track, but no money has changed hands. We have reached out to other tracks, including GALOT, and it appears that they have been in talks with IHRA but we do not have an official statement as of yet. Others have reported Dragway 42 and Milan were the first to come out and say they are in the transition process to IHRA’s ownership. Kil-Kare and National Trail could not be reached for comment.

Which version of the truth is true?

The IHRA’s reputation has certainly been dragged through the mud during previous ownership, so perhaps it is fair to ask (as many did) whether what was true and what was fact and what was rumor.

We spoke to newly appointed CEO Christian Byrd this morning, and it does not appear so. You’ll notice in the language of the IHRA release, the term “in principle” was used. As one racer (and DZ reader I might add) pointed out, “in principle” means “as a general idea or plan, although the details are not yet established or clear.” In layman’s terms, it’s a handshake deal.

You don’t need an MBA to know that the process for purchasing any business, including a track, has several steps. The first is coming to basic terms on the purchase, then crafting and signing a Letter of Intent (LOI) according to those terms. Typically these are non-binding and for good reason, but that doesn’t mean they are given willy-nilly either. There is usually a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) at this stage because it requires a deep dive into things like the financial records of the company as we enter the period of “Due Diligence.”

We’re in this for the long haul. We work for our racers, sponsors and our fans, and we’re going to have fun doing it. -IHRA CEO Christian Byrd

 A full asset list from tractors and sprayers as well as a list of employees and existing contracts are obtained during this time, and it can take months to sort through. Keep in mind with tracks, there could be all sorts of multi-year contracts like with the track insurance, sanctioning bodies, and pending (or settled) lawsuits. All of this discovery happens during this stage and it requires a bit of resources on both sides. This wraps with a formal, binding offer – the Asset Purchase Agreement as well as other agreements that could be 50 to 70 pages long.

“We have boots on the ground today – they are at these tracks,” Byrd stated which seemed to be confirmed with a photo of his staff with Jeff Miles, owner of Darlington, that was posted all over Facebook including the comments portion of Dragzine’s post about this very story. 

“Half of the deals we did so quickly that we are now looking around asking: what do we have? We are going to be absorbing staff and hiring new people to run the tracks. How much land do you have around you? Can we buy that land? Can we build a multi-purpose facility? We’re not going to get away from drag racing at all. We’re going to race at these facilities, but we might do more than race.”

What’s the story with MIR?

Aside from the brief exchange I mentioned, MIR were not able to be reached for comment. However, the track is famously credited as being owned by the “Miller family.” From the MIR website in 2015:

The Miller Family has operated MIR since 1990 and has owned it since 1999. Royce and Linda, along with their sons Jason and Chris and daughter Ashley, took a huge gamble and made it pay off through hard work, determination, and an unflinching devotion to fairness and customer service to both racers and fans.

This might lead one to believe that the track is officially owned by a family trust, which complicates matters greatly when it comes to selling the track. In more recent press releases, MIR ownership is credited specifically to Royce Miller (father of Jason and the late Chris Miller). So take all of this with a grain of salt and as pure speculation – NOT FACT. (I can’t emphasize that enough.)

We have reached out to MIR, but they declined to comment beyond what was in the public statement.

World Cup is one of MIR’s biggest events of the year with viewers around the world on its live stream.

Another possible explanation is that MIR simply doesn’t like to count its chickens before they hatch, nor do they want this to be how its partners find out. It unsettles employees, vendors, sponsors, and nearly anyone associated with the track with changes this big – especially with a family-run business with tight relationships. 

We’ve seen more than a few comments online criticizing the PR move as being premature and possibly impactful to the reputation of IHRA at a very critical time. Another possible explanation might have something to do with the track’s involvement in the World Drag Racing Alliance (WDRA). Not only is MIR sanctioned by WDRA, Royce Miller is on the Track Advisory Council and MIR widely regarded as the flagship track for WDRA.

When you take all of the above into account, MIR is clearly the most difficult acquisition of the bunch for IHRA. Did this faux pas kill whatever deal they may have had to purchase MIR? Or is this just a bit of posturing and one side protecting their family the best way they know how? Time will tell.

Here’s MIR owner Royce Miller signing his WDRA contract in 2023.

Why would IHRA make this announcement so early?

This is where IHRA’s CEO Christian Byrd shed a lot of light during our exclusive interview… For a quick bit of background, Byrd was made CEO on Monday. Yes, Monday. There was no press release on it (yet) and the IHRA website hadn’t even been updated with the staffing change. Owner and Operator Darryl Cuttell clearly valued someone skilled at building partnerships (promoting the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships) and who has valuable experience running one of the largest drag strips in the country (zMax Dragway in Charlotte, NC). Alex Roach, we are told, has moved to a more strategic financial role within IHRA.

To speak with Byrd, he seems fairly comfortable running at break-neck speeds but admitted they have been living the move fast, break stuff mantra which sometimes has downsides. “We’ll get better at digital marketing, PR strategy…we’re building out teams, we are looking at the org chart and we need to fill this in because we are missing vital departments right now. Some of these things are slipping through the cracks and the messaging… People are too busy working and doing other things. We tried to get positive news in the marketplace and unfortunately some of it got twisted up.”

As further evidence of this, the schedule was just released last week. It’s widely known how crucial sponsorship is to financially supporting races and that seemed to be a pressing concern for Byrd when he spoke of building partnerships. “Putting the financials behind these events should happen quicker. We should be announcing the 2026 schedule in August or September. Time is of the essence.” It’s obviously difficult to build partnerships when you don’t even have a race schedule. We can only speculate that getting the word out as soon as possible was deemed more important for the sake of building partnerships.

What’s next?

“These are just the first round. We still have additional partners, tracks that we are actively acquiring right now that we can’t (for legal reasons) announce yet,” Byrd stated, which he elaborated was still part of their first phase of growth. When pressed on what tracks, Byrd was tight-lipped – even when prodded about Palm Beach, which he did say was “interesting” and not a situation they would necessarily stay away from (being openly for sale and taking bids). And the idea of having a facility to host a “different style of event” was particularly appealing.

“We will need to pump the brakes a little bit to figure out what we purchased with this first batch and look at the next. We look at the mapping and geographic footprint. There are key markets – more presence in the southeast and move west. We will acquire the right tracks for the right price. We’ve discussed building race tracks – it’s not far-fetched if we can’t find one that makes sense.”

“2026 will be a marquee year for us. All of that stuff will come to fruition, an alliance with WDRA, everything will come to light as well as other things in 2026 and we will get favorable dates, great partnerships and a great broadcast schedule.” 

Also on the agenda right now is launching a retail store and online racer registration for tracks as well as partnerships with streaming platforms and media outlets. “We know the risks of the business, which is why we need to diversify to insulate ourselves from a rainy Spring or Summer.”

How do we know IHRA can swing this?

One thing that has been floated around is that the new owner seemingly came out of nowhere and is now writing big checks – having some racing fans wonder if this is real or some sort of dog and pony show. 

“Darryl loves speed and racing and motorsports. He’s a visionary, he’s aggressive. When it comes to business, he makes up his mind and he moves really quickly. His core competency is manufacturing and his businesses have huge partnerships with some of the premiere companies in the world – building their facilities from the ground up.”

Byrd was referencing Darana Hybrid, “a full-service electro-mechanical solution provider specializing in the food/beverage and distribution industries and licensed in all 50 states and throughout North America.” And the clients listed on their website are indeed some serious players: Honeywell, Amazon, UPS, Fedex, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Under Armour, Tyson, Starbucks, Pepsi, Nike, Target…the list goes on of Fortune 100 (to 500) companies. Cuttell’s company purportedly has 129 employees and earns $45.5 million in revenue per year, making them the fourth largest in the space.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” Byrd stated. “We work for our racers, sponsors and our fans, and we’re going to have fun doing it.”