IHRA experiencing job turnover and culture turbulence

The ever-continuous employment turnover at the IHRA continued over the past week as now former executives Scott Woodruff and Brett Underwood confirmed their split from the Sanctioning Body.

IHRA continues to have a high turnover rate with the pair joining previous presidents Rich Schaeffer, Kenny Nowling and Josh Peake as departing the company alongside marketing specialist Christian Byrd.

A consistent theme of anyone leaving has been a culture of chaos from the top and owner Darryl H. Cuttell — the owner of electro-mechanical contracting entity Derana Hybrid, who is most known for doing work with the likes of Elon Musk.

Since purchasing the IHRA brand in 2024, Cuttell has also purchased numerous oval and drag racing facilities and series in which to race them within. Some of the properties include: Maple Grove, Memphis International Speedway, Virginia Motorsports Park and Rockingham Speedway.

A constant theme has been Cuttell hiring and firing from his leadership group. Woodruff, hired last year as chief operating officer after a longtime stint at JEGS Performance, was fired by text message in an exchange he shared publicly.

Most recently, Woodruff had spoken to IHRA’s plans with Motorsport.com, regarding the purchase of Rockingham Speedway and the launch of a pair of Late Model divisions with a $2 million purse.

“I am no longer with the IHRA and unfortunately for me and many others in the sport, I was very truthful about where we were as a sanctioning body,” Woodruff told Competition Plus in a story published on Wednesday.

Woodruff says he expressed concern to president Leah Martin and Cuttell about IHRA’s registration system for their racers, which complicated competitors ability to register for the series. Short Track Scene has independently confirmed with several teams their own struggles to register.

“I spoke up the fact that we have a registration system that doesn’t work correctly for the racers,” Woodruff told Competition Plus. “They can’t maneuver through it and we can’t register any racers without having a system that they can use.”

To which the issue seemed to fall on deaf ears and angered Cuttell.

“I explained the situation, I explained the consequences, and I explained reality, and nobody seemed to care. … And out of nowhere, I get a text message from Darryl Cuttell, who’s the owner of the IHRA, just telling me I’m fired on a text message, so I don’t know.”

Replacing Woodruff is Doug Foley Jr, a mainstay in drag racing, who brings years of racing knowledge to his newfound role.

“Drag racing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” said Doug Foley Jr. “Being part of IHRA and helping build the future of drag racing alongside our racers, tracks, and partners is something I’m incredibly proud of. I’m excited to continue working with the team as we grow the sport together.”

Following the departure of Woodruff was Brett Underwood. Hired in August 2025 as VP of Advertising Sales, but seven months later and on the same day as Woodruff, was also shown the door.

Martin, in the Competition Plus story, addressed the firings with a statement.

“Often you don’t finish the race with the same team you start with. As IHRA continues to grow, we are building a team focused on transforming and strengthening the sport for the future.”

Racer Daniel Green shared a series of screen shots in which he was inquiring about having an IHRA event in Thailand with talks of track renovation and the equipment to do so. Green says he felt like there was forward progress until there wasn’t.

Green says Cuttell sent profanity-laced emails to him without context or explanation.

From a Stock Car schedule, that series has underwent a turbulent series of rules changes, and numerous typos in the published rule book, but the leadership on that front has been consistent in the form of series director Tim and Daniel Horton working in their roles since the advent of the division.

A full roster has also been assembled to lead the division.

It’s also objectively fair to acknowledge the growing pains of starting a new series as well, especially one that intends to draw cars that are otherwise sitting on jack stands and not being utilized by traditional Late Model Stock divisions.

The Stock Car Series is slated to begin on March 21 at Pulaski County Motorsports Park, with stops along the way at Cordele Motor Speedway, Anderson Motor Speedway, Memphis Motorsports Park, Newport Speedway and Rockingham in October to end the season.