NHRA U.S. Nationals is Drag Racing's oldest and richest event
30 August 1999
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.- Over the Labor Day weekend, more than 1,000 competitors will descend on Indianapolis Raceway Park for the 40th consecutive year to seek the most coveted titles in drag racing.Attracting these professional and sportsman teams to Indianapolis that weekend is the 45th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals - drag racing's oldest, richest, and most prestigious event. It's also one of the premier presentations in any form of auto racing.
Over the past 44 years, only those who could emerge victorious against the toughest competition to be offered in motorsports' quickest and fastest form have earned championships in this biggest of all drag races.
The NHRA U.S. Nationals was the first event in drag racing to offer a purse and contingency awards totaling more than one million dollars, and the amount has steadily climbed since that figure was reached in the 1980s. In 1999, the total is over $2.6 million, making this event one of only a few in motorsports to offer awards at such a level.
There's more than money on the line, however.
The traditional NHRA award for national event winners, the "Wally" statue (so named in honor of NHRA founder and board chairman Wally Parks), is one of the most sought-after trophies in motorsports. One of these presented in the Winner's Circle at Indianapolis Raceway Park means as much to most competitors as the purse. The reason for this is the fact that the event is NHRA's oldest, and over 44 years it has attained a status which borders on legendary - suitable for comparison with the greatest races in any form of competition.
"There is only one NHRA U.S. Nationals," comments Steve Evans of Diamond P Sports, who serves on the announcing crew for televised coverage of NHRA's national events. "It's the biggest drag race on this plant. This is the one everybody wants to win. It's where the best are at their best, and everybody throws everything they've got into the game."
Another comment is appropriate here, one made by eight-time NHRA Winston Funny Car Champion John Force.
In 1993, Force was in the midst of one of the most successful campaigns ever enjoyed by any competitor in drag racing. After losing his title to Cruz Pedregon in 1992, Force embarked on "Comback Tour '93," and literally laid waste to the Funny Car competition. He came into the 39th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals well in the points lead on the way to his third championship.
"I've won two Winston championship, and I've won the Big Bud Shootout, but I've never won the U.S. Nationals," he said, "and in drag racing, until you've won Indy, you ain't won nothin'. This is the one everybody wants to win."
Force's determination to win this event is no less strong today, after he's won it three times.
It all began as NHRA's only national event in 1955, on an airport runway in Great Bend, Kan. It was called the National Championship Drag Races.
The event moved to Kansas City, Mo. In 1956, was presented at Oklahoma City in 1957 and 1958, and at Detroit in 1959 and 1960.
A pair of visions, appropriately by a pair of motorsports pioneers, combined to bring the event to its permanent home at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1961.
Wally Parks was an automotive journalism pioneer who could forsee the days when hot rodders would race their cars in venues where safety was a primary consideration, and where their efforts would be rewarded. He had organized the National Hot Rod Association, and in the early 1960s he was watching his dream slowy grow toward maturity.
Tom Binford of Indianapolis, one of the founders of Indianapolis Raceway Park who believed in the multipurpose concept of the facility and its value to the racing world, had a dream of his own regarding the new venue.
He know IRP could meet the needs of NHRA perfectly, and he felt it appropriate that the organization's permier event should be presented in a city which was already known for its rich racing heritage.
The two met under a shade tree at Detroit over the Labor Day weekend in 1960, and an agreement was reached. As a result, the NHRA U.S. Nationals came to Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1961, and it has remained at this location since.
NHRA purchased the property in 1979, and the event is now even more firmly entrenched as a part of Indianapolis' busy sports scene.
By the time the event came to IRP, it had been joined by another national event, the Winternationals at Pomona, Calif. Now there is a year-long schedule of NHRA national events, plus the special Winston Shootout.
Only one, however, is designated as the NHRA U.S. Nationals, and no other event approaches its stature and prestige among spectators and competitors.
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