NHRA schedules SPORTSnationals for 2004 season

National Dragster, Jan 30, 2004

GLENDORA, Calif. - The NHRA SPORTSnationals, a national event exclusively showcasing NHRA Lucas oil Drag Racing Series racers, will be contested April 23-25 at Louisiana's No Problem Raceway, one of the marquee quarter-mile tracks in NHRA's Division 4.

The event will feature a guaranteed purse of more than $50,000 and competition in Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. Lucas oil Series national event points will be awarded to drivers in all categories except Super Street.

"We are thrilled to announce the addition of the NHRA SPORTSnationals to the 2004 NHRA Lucas oil Drag Racing Series schedule," said NHRA President Tom Compton. "The SPORTSnationals is an event that Sportsman racers have wanted for some time, and we feel that with the support of the Sportsman racing community, we can build it into one of the most anticipated events for Sportsman racers each year."

The three-day event also will feature class eliminations in Stock and Super Stock and a Hemi Shootout. In addition, several NHRA Professional teams will participate in exhibition races Saturday evening. As an added convenience, participants may pre-enter or register on-site.

"This announcement reaffirms NHRA's commitment to continue to provide unique competition opportunities for our Sportsman participants," said Len, Imbrogno, NHRA's director of Sportsman racing and member tracks. "In the future, we will continue to work with our member tracks and sponsors to develop challenging racing events to highlight our Sportsman racing programs, the grassroots foundation of NHRA."

NHRA hosted the SPORTSnationals from 1974 to 1986 at Kentucky's Beech Bend Raceway Park (197480 and 1985-86), Texas' Houston Int'l Raceway (1981-82), and Indiana's Indianapolis Raceway Park (1983-84).