IHRA Owner Puts 12 Racetracks Up for Auction

Nick Adams October 7, 2026 5 min read 0

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Tranzon Atlas, LLC, part of the nationwide Tranzon real estate auction network, announced Tuesday that it has been hired by Darana Motorsports Holdings, LLC to sell the properties through a sealed-bid auction. Sealed bids on the IHRA propertiers are due November 17 at 5 p.m. CST. Buyers can also negotiate a purchase before the deadline, while selected qualified bidders may be invited to participate in an online bidding round after the sealed bids close.

The properties up for sale include: Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia; Dragway 42 in West Salem, Ohio; Darana (Galot) Motorsports Park in Benson, North Carolina; Piedmont Dragway in Julian, North Carolina; Empire Dragway in Leicester, New York; Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas; Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia, Ohio; Memphis International Raceway in Millington, Tennessee; Milan Dragway in Milan, Michigan; National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio; Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina; and Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, Virginia.

Cuttell’s Fast Track Into Racing Is Coming To An End

“Our business has taken a different direction from what we originally anticipated, and I have made the decision to exit the racing business through the sale of these properties,” Cuttell, CEO of Darana Motorsports Holdings, said in the release. “Our goal is to complete the sale of these properties and our exit from the racing business by the end of the year.”

If that happens, it will close the book on one of the fastest racetrack-buying sprees the sport has seen.

On March 8, 2025, just a few months after taking ownership of IHRA, Cuttell announced that the sanctioning body was “purchasing seven legendary racing facilities as of today.” Those properties were National Trail, Milan, Dragway 42, Kil-Kare, Galot, Maryland International Raceway and Darlington Dragway.

There was a problem with that announcement almost immediately. Within three days, Maryland, Darlington and Galot said they had not been sold. Galot eventually was acquired and now carries the Darana name.

Piedmont followed in August 2025. Memphis closed on December 23, Heartland was announced December 30, Maple Grove came that same month, and Rockingham arrived on New Year’s. Atlanta Dragway, which had been shut down since 2021, and Virginia Motorsports Park, purchased from Tommy and Judy Franklin, were announced in February. Empire Dragway was added on April 28.

The Unraveling Happened Just As Fast

The turnaround didn’t take long.

On June 29, IHRA pulled its fall events at Atlanta, Milan and Empire, with president Dustin Farthing saying the facility improvements needed more time. The Outlaw Nitro Series season and the heavily promoted Triple Crown were called off after that.

On August 14, Track Enterprises announced that NASCAR’s national series would not return to Rockingham in 2027, citing “overall uncertainty.” Three days later, Maple Grove Raceway closed, with the track citing “strategic refocusing, restructuring and regrouping.”

Maple Grove is the one Cuttell track missing from the auction list, and the release says nothing about it.

The Money Fight Behind The Track Sales

Behind all of this is a fight over money in Memphis.

Darana Hybrid, Cuttell’s Ohio construction company, performed data center work for Elon Musk’s xAI and has filed liens claiming roughly $600 million in unpaid invoices against Musk-affiliated companies. On August 4, x.AI LLC sued in federal court in the Western District of Tennessee, alleging fraud, breach of contract and overbilling and seeking more than $500 million. Cuttell has denied the allegations.

The auction terms are the same for every track. There is a 10 percent buyer’s premium on the high bid, a 10 percent deposit in guaranteed funds and a 30-day closing. All properties are being sold as-is and where-is with no contingencies.

Only two of the 12 listings, Atlanta Dragway and Kil-Kare, advertise clear title with no back taxes and no liens. The other 10 listings do not mention title at all, while the Heartland listing is the only one that names Darana Motorsports Holdings as the seller. Every property is also listed as subject to sale before the auction without notice.

IHRA Properties Could Be Worth More Than Their Racing Surface

Racers should also pay attention to how Tranzon is marketing the properties.

Heartland is listed as 622.96 acres divided into 29 tracts, including 288.80 acres of undeveloped light industrial land. The Memphis listing promotes conceptual plans for a logistics development of more than 4 million square feet with 42-plus megawatts of power capacity.

Atlanta Dragway’s 343 acres are zoned general commercial, sit about a mile from the I-85 interchange and are located near the Tanger Outlets.

Virginia Motorsports Park covers more than 500 acres and has 23,000 seats. Milan, Dragway 42, Empire, Rockingham and National Trail each sit on 230 acres or more.

That could make the land itself just as interesting to potential buyers as the racing facilities sitting on it.

The release doesn’t say what happens to the IHRA sanctioning body itself. Bids are due November 17, and Cuttell wants to be out of the racing business by New Year’s.