Time will tell. Mike Dunns possible new job. UPDATE

DragRacingOnline.com
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MR. PRESIDENT?

Several highly reliable industry sources have told the Agent that Mike Dunn is on track to become the new president of the IHRA.

The former Top Fuel and Funny Car racer served most recently as the on-air analyst on the ESPN2 coverage of the NHRA. He was let go at the end of last season. As far as the Agent knows Mr. Dunn has no management experience involving drag racing at any level which makes this appointment extremely surprising if it turns out to be true.

IHRA owner IRGSE promises to make an official announcement on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

Some times management skills are nothing more than common sense - which many managers lack.

^^^ This ^^^

Wow you just said a mouthful there!!

If he takes on that job...He's a braver man than I am!!

Most managers I have to deal with are useful idiots with a degree in basket weaving.

To be a good leader first you should want to make things better in and for the group your leading to help the customers and the company And then lead them to achieve better and reward them for thier accomplishments Most people are good workers, very few are not, so part of leading a group succesfully is to remove those that can, but won't , help the group acheive better I've never met a person yet who likes slackers, has to carry them, on the same job there working at A good leader helps thier people achieve excellence, they should solve thier peoples problems and then get out of the way so they can excel
Rant Off

i hesitated about responding to this, but. in my experience at work, to a person, the top manager got there by ?????? when all were introduced to the work force, it was mostly all bullhucky with a smattering of blather, then "we will continue to improve" with the help of our "valued employees", etc., etc., etc. all of you know the saying : "you can't bulls**t a bulls**ter, and you ain't bulls**itting me". every time, it ended up being the same old, same old way of doing business and most times, it ended up going down hill. the person on top, along with sometimes, a couple personal pals brought along for the ride, got a big ol salary increase, then magically "moved on" in a couple of years to something completely different to "work his magic on and save the day". someone else replaces him/her at the helm from a completely different different environment, and the saga repeats itself. it is no wonder this country and corporate america is in the shape it's in. it seems as though if you can talk a good game, even if you know nothing about the game being played, "you get the gold mine, the rest get the shaft".[apologies to jerry reed]. i really like mike dunn and he certainly has the experience to take over this position and do well. if true, and it turns out well for the racers, the above missive will be an exception to the rule [in our favor for a change!].

I wish Mike nothing but the best and hope he does a great job. Dave

Yeah, I would be more worried about the direction the new owners are going to go. It will be interesting to see what they actually "allow" Mike to do.

Dennis,,,What happened to Scott Gardner? Also heard Dumpster Dan is running Cordova??

Ted, Scotty seems to have been dumped when the new owners took over. Hopefully he takes over at Cordova again.

Scott and Laura are good people. Did you know Laura's brother had the same neuro problem I did? He recovered! I haven't yet....

They had a guy that could do all of the above. No one could put people in the seats and run a track like Scott Gardner. But they through him under the bus two weeks ago. This after they bought his track,then he and his wife sell there house and relocate to Norwalk. Dumpster Dan is the interim General Manager of Cordova after they fired Bobby Joe last week.

They fired Bobby Jo too??? What azzes!!

Sounds like a mess. Did the IHRA buy Cedar Falls too?

I sincerely hope that IHRA does better and gives NHRA a run for the racers particpation, it sucks out here on the west coast with no competion for NHRA Especially here in Oregon, none of the tracks pay worth hoot, no matter what the car count I've raced at AHRA, NHRA and one or two non member tracks years ago before AHRA went under, that was when there was 5 or 6 tracks operating in SO CA in the L A basin plus several out in the desert Drag Strips are becoming like small airports, a thing of the past, DANG IT

In management positions I believe the height achieved is in direct proportion to the vacuum applied!

As far as I know the Kruse family owns the Cedar Falls track. I could be wrong.

http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/sport...more-news-here/



Sports Business Journal Reporting Mike Dunn As New IHRA President – We Nailed It – More News Here
Feb 08, 2016Brian Lohnes1320 Drag News, BangShift 13207

Sports Business Journal Reporting Mike Dunn As New IHRA President – We Nailed It – More News Here
(Photo credit: ESPN) – The Sports Business Journal and other publications are reporting that Mike Dunn is in fact going to be the new president of the International Hot Rod Association. We reported on this last week when the rumors grew so loud that they could not be ignored. We are still pretty surprised that it is true but with other outlets reporting the whole deal as fact at this point and we’re following suit.
A second major piece of information that we have a line on is the fact that the famed World Series of Drag Racing that has been an absolute staple at Cordova for half a century will be moving to the surprising location of Memphis. We do not know how or why the move is being made but we know that it will be announced in the coming weeks. We have a feeling that this will not sit well with the people who have supported the race for half a century in Cordova and we’re not quite sure what the people of Memphis will think about it. The event was insanely popular at its (apparently) former home but will anyone in Memphis know or care what it is? Time will tell and we’re interested to see what the plan for the event is.
Back to Mike Dunn as IHRA president. There was scheduled to be a teleconference announcing this news tomorrow but IHRA has decided to drop the knowledge a day early, likely because the cat may have escaped the bag ahead of what they wanted. We’re hoping that call is still on because we’re interested to see what Dunn has to say about his new role and what he wants to do with the series.
As we mentioned in the previous story, there’s not a lot of drag racing management or operational management experience in Dunn’s past. He was a successful racer and certainly a successful television figure for the NHRA over the 14 years he spent on the air but we’re interested to see his experience translate into operating the IHRA and what his day to day role will be.
Of all the stuff Mike Dunn had thought about doing after television, we’re not sure that sanctioning body president was on the list but here he is. Hey, everyone’s got to pay the bills, right?

Wow! Did they screw Cordova or what? I see them back to NHRA soon.

Mr. Dunn certainly has his work cut out for him.

Cordova has been NHRA for a few years now.

they were IHRA the last two years.

Cordova is now owned by IHRA since they bought it from Scott Gardener 2yrs ago.

I've never run a country, but I swear to G*d I could do a better job at it than the clowns we've elected the last couple of decades OR the current people running for the next election.

I say let Dunn in and given him the tools & support to make it a Run By Racers For Racers organization.

the people around the top dog can easily make or break that top dog.

Yep.. that why we ended up in a war based on weapons of mass
destruction poor info... but he went with what he was told

Scott and Laura are good people, and don't deserve to have something like this happen to them. With the new owners at Cordova, I'm just afraid what this means for the World Series, this race is legendary and is one year older than the Us Nationals. Hopefully the new owners have enough common sense to keep the race going on there at Cordova, but with the way they've been going in this short period of time I'm really getting worried...

Mike Dunn will have his hands full. Over the past years it seems IHRA has transitioned from a racer focused sanctioning body to promoting drag racing like monster truck shows. Just what the heck is a "Nitro Jam" anyway?? And of course the main challenge will be a general drop in spectators in all kinds of auto racing. They don't publish the numbers but attendance at NHRA races is down. Just look at the empty seats during TV broadcasts. In NASCAR they removed 40,000 seats in Charlotte and in places like Atlanta they removed more than 10,000 seats. They still can't fill the seats that are left for a race.

Racer oriented Body is what we need

Remove red tape obstacles for licenses--make it EASY for someone to be able to race

Simple class structures / keep list as short as possible / do away with silly 8.90 / 9.90 etc slow off the line BS--make every race a RACE

Heads up classes

enter race as you come into gate no need to pre-enter any event

Nostalgia classes at every event--this could be big and bring lots of old cars out of the garage--it is one of the only segments of drag racing that is growing and...putting butts in seats

Do Pro mod like ADRA or whoever it was--I attended one at Rockingham with 300 Pro Mods, 9 Zillion ticket buyers that JAMMED the grandstands and one of the best run fastest per pair down the track I have ever seen--It was a killer day at the drags

Limit fuel pumps or whatever so that you could have a ton of fuel cars that could run on same engine all week end--yea not 300 plus MPH but who cares? A ton of them running 200 MPH would be best show on earth and anyone with an old car of any sort could do it

Or

Scrap the entire program and just run GIANT BIG $$$$ brackets open to all comers so that they would have twelve or so of the biggest bracket payouts in history --No buy backs--pay top 30 cars or some such keep it simple
Pits would not hold them all and sooner or later the crowd would show up


A re tread of the same ole stuff will not take anyone to a better place and it will not help drag racing--SOMEONE has to build a better drag race model.

Nostalgia events are growing and cars being built/ rebuilt/ etc That is good. Street Outlaws ( no matter what you think about them ) have helped drag racing Drag racing was the coolest back in the day because they were the real outlaw crazy true bad boys! Anyone would buy a ticket to see a nut strap on a fueler and go down track--Those days the air at the strip was electric and crazy wild was all around you as you watched--we got to get that back! Watching a pair of expensive 8.90 cars 1.0 60 ft then act like mag fell off is BORING BORING BORING !

I wish Mike Dunn well, but as long as corporate (IRGSE) has the last say it's going to be (Road Show) business as usual.
The best times IHRA ever had was under Bill Bader Sr.
The Presidents Cup race here @ MIR (now MDIR) was awesome, 3 days of standing room only motor head heaven...then the change to "Nitro Jam" that no one goes too.

Mike Dunn I'm rooting for Ya...

Keefe


IRG Sports + Entertainment™ (IRGSE) is a leading marketer and promoter of sports and live entertainment experiences in the United States, Canada and Australia. The Company is owned by TPG, a leading global private investment firm with $70.2 billion of capital under management. IRGSE owns and operates four motorsports facilities: Palm Beach International Raceway™ (PBIR), Memphis International Raceway™ (MIR), Maryland International Raceway™ (MDIR) and Cordova International Raceway™ (CIR); as well as the International Hot Rod Association™ (IHRA) and the International Drag Bike League™ (IDBL).

IHRA needs to get back to the old format of the affordable divisional and national events all over the country like it was in the early 2000s. I realize gas prices hurt everything and everyone but people still have cars and want to race but many people can't afford to run NHRA. If IHRA will listen to the sportsman racers and the complaints many have about NHRA and them catering to the pros, IHRA will realize their sitting on a gold mine, just have to take advantage of it.

When's the last time you went to a divisional? You get rid of the Super class cars and half the field would be gone. Not everyone would rather bracket race. I do both but much more enjoy 9.90 racing.

Exactly...

Yes...They must keep the divisional races going and include the super classes as there are a lot of competitors. It is the most boring form of drag racing to watch and a good time to go to get a bite to eat or whatever.