The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) in the US will abandon quarter-mile drag racing at its Nitro Outlaw Series in favour of eighth-mile for all classes from next season.

IHRA leadership team member Scott Woodruff dropped the bombshell during Competition Plus’s Power Hour podcast yesterday:

“Without a doubt, we are going to run eighth-mile as a series, going to run eighth mile, period. It doesn’t matter what class your are in, we’re doing to run eighth-mile in 2026 and forever.”

“There are two things that really speared that. Number one was safety. Number two was cost containment. A lot of the nitro teams…when you talk to everybody after they’ve run a eighth-mile meeting…they understand that it is not hurting their pocketbook as hard as 1000ft or quarter mile. The breakages isn’t there, the fatigue on the parts aren’t there…and the consumables. The fuel cost goes down.”

“And the cars are right there. The finish line is closer to the stands, which means its closer to the fans. Which means they have more engagement. For the group of people who think that’s a bad idea – drag racing is a big math equation. You just have to go to work and figure it out.”

What does this mean for Australia? That’s hard to say at this point. IHRA Australia was recently bought out by Cuttlell Motorsports, the global owner of the IHRA.

And while the IHRA don’t currently promote events in Australia, they have recently announced a Pro Mod 660 International class for 2026, that will run in a ‘Pro Mod Unleashed’ bracket at IHRA-sanctioned tracks.

You can check out the full rules here, but in short, the bracket is for full body sedan-type cars, with a minimum weight of 2800lb.