Bill Bader Jr. Launches Sportsman Racing League

Drag racing has a new sanctioning body, and it’s built from the ground up for the people who keep the sport running every weekend.

Entering his 50th year in drag racing, longtime promoter and track operator Bill Bader Jr. announced the formation of the Sportsman Racing League (SRL). The new North American organization is dedicated 100 percent to track owners, operators, and sportsman racers, with a mission to preserve and grow grassroots drag racing.

The SRL is a North American drag racing sanctioning body focused exclusively on the success of the sport’s foundation: the facilities and the bracket racers who fill them. It pairs Bader’s decades of hands-on track management experience with modern sanctioning support.

As part of the launch, the SRL has acquired the rights to all existing sanction agreements previously held by the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA). Bader was clear, however, that the SRL is a completely separate, independent organization with no affiliation or ongoing association with the IHRA.

For Bader, the new league is a direct response to what he’s heard from tracks and racers for years.

“Sportsman racing is the heartbeat, the backbone, and the soul of drag racing,” said Bill Bader, Jr., President of the Sportsman Racing League. “For years, track owners, operators and grassroots competitors across North America have called for stable, transparent, racer-first leadership. We are launching the SRL to deliver exactly that: an organization built and run by ‘track people’ who understand the daily realities of operating a facility, managing overhead, preparing a track surface at 2:00 AM, and welcoming racers and their families at the gate.

To hit the ground running, the SRL has assembled an executive team with deep experience and respect throughout the drag racing community:

• Skooter Peaco: Brings decades of track-relations experience, operational oversight, and rulebook stewardship to the league’s day-to-day administration.
• Jon O’Neal: Provides technical knowledge, operational expertise, and long-standing relationships across the sportsman community.
• Donna Harper: Leads competitor services and member relations, continuing her 25 years of service to grassroots racers.

The Sportsman Racing League is built around three operational pillars:

• Support for track owners and operators: Collaboration, innovative event programming, direct marketing support, legislative advocacy, cost-reduction initiatives, and business solutions aimed at helping member facilities thrive financially.
• Respect for the sportsman competitor: National-caliber recognition, meaningful programs, and elevated prestige designed specifically for bracket racers.
• Direct accountability and accessibility: Open communication, accessible leadership, transparent decision-making, and active input from participating track owners, operators, and racers.

Bader says that focus won’t change as the league grows.

“As President of the SRL, I am humbled by the road ahead,” Bader added. “Our focus will never drift from what matters most: serving our tracks and the sportsman racers loading their trailers each weekend. This marks the start of an unprecedented era in drag racing, and we are ready to get to work.”

Sportsman racing has always been where most drag racers live, from the weekend bracket competitor to the track operator prepping the surface long after the crowd has gone home. With the Sportsman Racing League, Bill Bader Jr. is betting that an organization run by “track people” can give that community the stability and support it has been asking for.

With the former IHRA sanction agreements now in hand and a veteran leadership team in place, the SRL enters the 2027 season with a solid foundation. Now the real test begins, proving to tracks and racers across North America that a racer-first sanctioning body can deliver on its promises.