High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The American Hot Rod Association, also known as the AHRA, was founded in Pennsylvania, headquartered in Kansas for much of its existence, and is located in Florida as of 2012. Walter Mentzer felt that the drag racers needed an organization that spoke for them as opposed to one that spoke for the drag strips. Mentzer went to the Pennsylvania county office that handled such things and incorporated the name of the American Hot Rod Association with himself at the helm. At the end of 1955, Hot Rod magazine did a story on the fledgling Pennsylvania non-profit organization and it attracted a lot of attention. Mentzer wanted the racers to actually have a voice in how this organization was run. Every member registered with the home office in Pittsburgh and after a year, they had a vote in how it was run.