Scott Woodruff doesn’t have a title within the fledgling International Hot Rod Association, but if you have to call him that, “Woody” probably wouldn’t mind “entertainment director,” as that’s usually the brief he’s given by Darryl Cuttell.
For over two decades, he was the brand and media manager at JEGS Performance, by reference. However, he preferred the title of “guy who makes things happen.”
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Nonetheless, Cuttell has made a splash on the North American motorsport scene over the past 13 months by acquiring the IHRA brand and then expanding it to nearly every facet of the industry with a dizzying number of acquisitions.
He purchased nearly a dozen drag strips and began promoting an expanded national tour with bigger payouts and increased fanfare. IHRA acquired a powerboat racing series and launched a Late Model tour scheduled to begin in April.
Learn more: Everything You Need to Know About IHRA Stock Cars
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As part of the latter, it purchased Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Virginia and Memphis International Speedway in Tennessee. Most recently, it acquired Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina, which brings it into the NASCAR orbit as it will host an Easter weekend event for the second year for the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Craftsman Truck Series.
In short, Woodruff says his job is to “make racing fun again” across all the divisions and properties that Cuttell has started accumulating like Infinity Stones.
“For many projects like this, financing is the main issue,” Woodruff said. Motorsport.com THURSDAY. “Funding is not our problem. It’s finding the right people in the right place. Right now we’re in the middle of a big two-day planning session and the questions we can ask ourselves are ‘what would we want as fans’ or ‘what would we want as competitors’ or as partners.”
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By the way, financing is not an issue because Cuttell is the CEO and president of Darana Hybrid – the electromechanical company most famous for its contracts with xAI, SpaceX and Tesla.
His Stock Car Series racing director, Tim Horton, said the wave of acquisitions was about Cuttell’s personal legacy.
“He’s bought seven or eight drag strips now, repurposed them and invested heavily in the infrastructure of the sport,” Horton said. “It’s his passion. He sees this as a chance to establish a legacy. He’s been very successful with his business and that’s his idea of fun.
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“He owns several dragsters and powerboats. He loves motorsports.”
So, Cuttell absolutely has deep pockets, but there is also a natural skepticism that someone who has made a fortune would want to spend it in a sector that does not historically have a high return on investment.
This is especially true for owning tracks and operating regional touring divisions. As the old saying goes, to make a small fortune in motorsport you have to start with a big one and Cuttell certainly has the latter.
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At first glance, spending millions of dollars on nearly a dozen facilities and numerous touring divisions seems by definition to be a loss-making loss.
“Yeah, it’s not a loss leader,” Woodruff said. “It’s an investment. It is what it is. If you look back and say, ‘Here’s this guy spending on areas that no one really wants to spend on,’ facilities and infrastructure and scholarships. ‘No one wants to do that.’
“We have someone who sees the power of this, sees the number of tracks with pedigree and history, they go away so let’s come back and reinvigorate them.
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“He says ‘let’s plug the battery back in and charge it.’ We are building the infrastructure to be able to race. Let’s exceed people’s expectations, whether on or off the track, that’s our goal.”
At first, Woodruff was also skeptical.
Even during his presentation to Cuttell, he wanted to know what would happen if IHRA failed, just to know what the plan would be, for the sake of due diligence.
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“One of the questions I asked him, one of the first, was what was your exit strategy or what was your disaster plan,” Woodruff said. “He said, ‘I don’t have one,’ and I asked ‘what do you mean,’ and he said he didn’t fail.
“So, I said, ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ and here we are.”
Why acquire Rockingham?
“Our goal is to use every facility we have in the best interest of the fans,” Woodruff said. “And obviously, Rockingham, we would love nothing more than to start this long-term partnership with NASCAR, starting this year.
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“Our goal is to work together. That’s exactly how we operate.”
That also means working with Track Enterprises and Bob Sargent, promoters of the NASCAR Easter weekend event, who were also trying to buy the track from previous owner Dan Lovenheim at the same time.
Doesn’t that make the relationship rather awkward?
“Well, my last encounter was with Bob and he just came out and seemed pretty happy,” Woodruff said.
For his part, via text message, Sargent agreed with this positive sentiment.
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Memphis International Speedway also has a NASCAR national touring history. It hosted what is now the O’Reilly Series from 1999 to 2009 and the Truck Series from 1998 to 2009.
Woodruff admitted that NASCAR’s recent post-trial restructuring and the holidays have delayed their initial conversations, but he looks forward to working with them in various capacities.
“We probably weren’t at the top of that priority list last month,” Woodruff said. “But I know we have a group that will meet with them in a week or two.
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How did IHRA decide what to acquire out of all the available options?
“Every situation is different and has different pros and cons,” Woodruff said. “We look at it as a group and then we decide ‘okay, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much do we want to do this? Is this facility nice or is it necessary? That’s another conversation as well. We’re trying to be good stewards of the sport and some of these tracks, we could have walked away and not bought them, but a lot of them are crown jewels that just need a little love.’
One of the skepticisms of Cuttell from those who have interacted with him in his first year as IHRA owner is that he is just a free spender without vision. Woodruff pushed back on that.
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“There is absolutely a vision,” Woodruff said. “When he first hired me, we were in a side-by-side vehicle at the Milan Drag Strip and we stopped next to this pond. Darryl says he wants to ‘get rid of these trees’ and ‘put in parking spots.’ He says he wants to put in hookups for RVs and water/sewer.
“He immediately told me how far he wanted to go and drew up this detailed picture. I’m telling you this because he has a vision.
“Last year was very reactionary. We had these events, and they came quickly, but now we have a lot more time to plan them for 2026. I think that’s going to be a huge benefit to everything we do.”
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The circle has come full circle: working for Cuttell does not mean achieving a bottom line either. So how is success defined by the new IHRA?
“By smiles and happy people,” Woodruff said. “All staff at an IHRA event wear a blue shirt. Their job is to be there to help and make sure everyone has a good time.
“If you walk up to someone in a blue shirt, they will be able to answer your question and help you. They will be taken care of the way they would want to be taken care of. I know it sounds pretty simple, but it is, it really is that simple.”
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