NHRA adds second SPORTSNationals event for 2005

Competitors from select categories of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series will be able to earn national event championship points when National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, hosts the inaugural NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals, July 28-31, NHRA officials announced.

The NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals will feature a guaranteed purse of more than $50,000 with racers competing in six NHRA Lucas Oil Series categories, including Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. NHRA Lucas Oil Series national event points will be awarded to drivers in all categories except Super Street.

The event will be the second all-sportsman event where competitors will be awarded national event points towards 2005 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series world championships. Based on the tremendous success of the 2004 NHRA Cajun SPORTSnationals at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, La., the NHRA opted to add another event to showcase its sportsman racers.

“With the success we had at No Problem Raceway last year, plus the overwhelming number of positive responses we received from the racers, sponsors, and especially the sportsman racing fans, we felt it was time to add another national event points-earning race to the mix,” said Len Imbrogno, NHRA director of sportsman racing. “We hope to continue to expand on this popular trend and build off the precedent that was set at Belle Rose last season with the Cajun SPORTSnationals. Like that event, the inaugural NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals is a chance for the NHRA to showcase the competitors and the exciting action of sportsman racing, which is the foundation for all NHRA drag racing.”

An added feature to the national sportsman event will be the running of the AMS Pro Mod Challenge, a exhibition program which competes at a limited 10-race schedule on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

NHRA hosted the SPORTSnationals from 1974-1986 at a trio of tracks, including Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky. (1974-‘80; 1985-‘86), the old Houston International Raceway (1981-‘82) and Indianapolis Raceway Park (1982-‘83).