"Drag Racing Needs to Have Competition" - Terry Haddock Gives His Thoughts on IHRA's Rebirth

(Photo Credit: Peyton Lohr/Racing Refresh)

By Logan Morris and Peyton Lohr

Born to humble beginnings in Hackettstown, New Jersey, Terry Haddock knows what it’s like to win. He has won on some of the biggest stages, but has also come up just short on others.

What is unique about Haddock is that not only is he a driver, but he is also a tuner. With this different skill-set, Haddock had found success in many different forms of drag racing. In the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), he has a career best ET of 3.958 at 317.87 MPH, and has won several round wins over some pretty prestigious legends, including John Force, Shawn Langdon, Gary Scelzi, and Tony Schumacher (two times). He has also mentored and helped several nitro racers in the field, which speaks volumes about his character. Haddock has also won back-to-back Stampede of Speed exhibition events at the Texas Invitational in 2023 and 2024.

More recently, Haddock has been competing in FIA European Drag Racing. In April of this year, Haddock broke the European Funny Car record at Santa Pod Raceway Strip, with co-tuner and car owner Bob Jarrett, with an ET of 4.124 at 307.88 MPH, and powered on to the win that day. He is also currently the points leader in the Funny Car class.

Most notably, Haddock won the 2008 International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Funny Car Championship, which was the last time the IHRA ran Funny Cars. The IHRA would go on to stop running national events in 2014.

This year, IHRA was revived by Darryl Cuttell, a hands-on business man located in central Ohio. The series in 2025 is set to have six IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series events, with the first being at Darana Raceway, formerly known as National Trail Raceway. Haddock will don the No. 1 on his Funny Car, as he is technically the reigning champion.

We had the chance to sit down with Terry Haddock he talked about what it means to him to finally be able to defend that title:

“You know, it’s pretty cool. The last couple of days, people have been asking that. I don’t want to say that we had forgotten about it - but it’s been a long time and the IHRA stopped running Funny Cars the following year, so we never got to defend it. We’re very proud of the accomplishment, but a lot of things have happened since then. We were talking about it yesterday, how it’s amazing, and now we get to come back and actually defend it, and our program is much more refined, and we’re working harder all the time to make it better, and you know when I was tuning the car and driving it, I was so tuned into it myself, but I didn’t have the knowledge that I have now. The ability to make the car and the team better, so it’s kind of neat. You know, it’ll come full circle.”

Haddock made it clear that he’s very happy returning to the IHRA because of the friendly atmosphere:

“It’s really awesome because IHRA was always welcoming and kind to people, we raced for twenty-five years and it’s always felt like family around here. We showed up yesterday, we came through the gate and they said, ‘Hey, welcome, we’re happy to have you’, and they escorted you to your pit spot and made sure you were parked and it’s just different. It’s got a little bit of a personal touch to it.”

(Photo Credit: Peyton Lohr/Racing Refresh)

For Haddock having success in multiple series and sanctioning bodies is nothing new, he has recently found success in FIA European Drag Racing:

“I think it’s been a blessing when I get to even do this, you know? When I was learning to do this, there wasn’t anyone there to teach you. You had to figure it out the hard way, and like with the European thing [FIA European Drag Racing]. Last year, I was hired to tune that car. I went over there and I tuned it and we set records. We did really well with it, and over the winter, the team came up for sale and one of my other buddies asked if he bought it, if I would be driving. It’s been a neat experience. I’ve made lots of friends over there, and I try to help those guys and pay it forward because there was no one to teach me.”

Haddock has tried to be a mentor to the next generation because there weren’t many to learn from when he was coming up:

“The most influential person in my career as a teacher was probably Paul Smith, and he was a hard man to work with, but he talked, and now he’s a great friend. I didn’t understand it back then, but what he was trying to instill in me is the details and that all that stuff matters. Him and Johnny West probably made the most influence on teaching me to tune, and it was more the details or what it matters to do a good job and be 100%. It’s just little things like that. When I say teach people over there, a simple thing of how a guy should be belted in a seven point harness. There’s no one out here who ever showed anybody that they just said, ‘okay the rules are you need a seven point harness, here, you have to have it.’ But when a guy starts to use that seat belt the right way, it makes him a better driver, and they don’t know that. Sometimes someone comes along and points something out. I've learned so many things walking around people’s shops and just going, ‘uh’, and connecting the dots and figuring out that that was the missing piece, so I just tried to help people like that, you know?”

Despite all the years and accomplishments Terry Haddock shows no signs of slowing down and remains as passionate as ever about driving a Funny Car:

“I always tell everybody I’m wired wrong. Everybody gets up and goes to their job, and they want to have their fancy house and fancy cars, their boat and pool. My whole life, Funny Car drives me to get up and go to work. I want to drive that Funny Car, but I don’t know why, it’s just what I want to do. It’s what I’ve always wanted, and I’m not done doing it. I want to get to the top. See, I believe if I had the resources , I could be as good or better than anyone else. I learned, I try, you know? We put a lot into it. Now my boys are following it.”

Haddock looks at IHRA’s return as an opportunity, first and foremost, and he was open about some conflicting emotions about returning to IHRA

“I'm a little bit torn, actually. I’m super excited to be here tonight. The fact that this gentleman bought this series, and he's putting so much effort into it. People forget, or maybe they’re getting complacent, maybe the right word, but drag racing needs a home, and it's like any other business should be successful. Drag racing needs to have competition because if we don't have competition they forget to take care of your customers and they feel like they don't have to, right? So to defend the championship is awesome. The excitement that just making something more than this, and maybe we'll have a place to race. It's exciting to me by being the last champion that gives us almost like a tool to try to attract a sponsor with because there's excitement around us, and maybe somebody will want to be part of that.”

Terry Haddock will look to win the IHRA Funny Car Ironman at Darana Raceway, qualifying for the IHRA Nitro Outlaw Series begins at 3:00pm ET on Friday, July 11th.