Five More Big Announcements the NHRA Could Have Made
NHRA’s announcement of Tony Stewart joining the Top Fuel tour was billed as one of the biggest announcements in the history of the organization.
While Tony’s presence will be a great boost for the sport, many people thought the news would be something different. We had our own guesses here at Sick The Magazine on what the announcement was going to be — so we thought we would share them! Here we go…
1. Moving to a streaming channel like Apple TV or announcing a ‘Drive to Survive’ style Netflix show
The world of sports broadcasting can be lucrative, just see NASCAR’s latest $7 billion deal (yes that’s billion, with a b). The NHRA puts a lot of money, time and effort into their TV product but the rights to the series have never been a huge revenue raiser.
Traditional broadcast channels like ESPN or Fox have been the well-trodden path, but we had an idea that the NHRA might try something revolutionary and go for a deal with one of the major streaming platforms, like Apple TV or Amazon Prime. It has been no secret that streaming platforms are trying to get more rights to major sports — could the NHRA be one of the first movers? We guess not for now, but who knows for the future.
On the broadcast side, we also thought that they might announce a behind-the-scenes show like ‘Drive to Survive’, which is responsible for making Formula One more popular than ever before, especially with younger fans. Drag racing needs to continue to try and bring more youth into the sport and a well-produced documentary show would be a great way to do it.
2. Return of the Winston Invitational/Showdown
The Winston Invitational was a once-a-year exhibition race that put up big prizemoney to win at Rockingham Dragway. Its successor, the Winston Showdown, pitted Top Fuel teams against Funny Car teams. All of the NHRA’s touring teams typically participated and they put on great shows outside of the points chase.
With the PRO Superstar Shootout coming up at Bradenton in February, we wondered if NHRA and Mission Foods were perhaps planning a big money event of their own. Our guess was that it was going to be run at Indianapolis Raceway Park, which would have suited an announcement at PRI. Sounds like a good idea though, right?
3. Pro Stock becomes Factory X
Factory X has proven extremely popular in its limited history. The crowd around Geoff Turk’s Dodge Challenger was thick all day at PRI this year. It’s clearly a class that better represents what the manufacturers are doing currently than Pro Stock.
We thought that the NHRA might announce a three year plan to convert Pro Stock to Factory X rules, allowing teams a time to transition their equipment and prepare for the change. Pro Stock might provide close racing, but the fan base hasn’t been the same since it became mostly a Camaro-based class. Do you think Pro Stock evolving into Factory X would be the right move?
We think this would have qualified as a ‘major announcement’ given the history of the Pro Stock class in the NHRA.
4. Top Fuel Motorcycle gets a championship
OK, so this is one we actually heard a rumor about, and we think it might become reality. Word from the PRI floor is that Top Fuel Motorcycle will have a four-round points series at select NHRA events next year.
This may not qualify as a ‘biggest announcement in history’ type deal, but those nitro bikes are basically the last unlimited class in drag racing. We’d love to see the nitro flames flying high as they carry the front wheel to five-second, 250mph passes!
5. John Force Retirement Tour
Now this one would definitely qualify as one of the biggest announcements in NHRA history. We thought that John Force might announce his retirement tour!
Reflecting back, it doesn’t make sense that this would have been the announcement, as his family is currently on vacation in Italy, but we sense the time is coming where the biggest name in the sport of drag racing will bid farewell to driving.
Of course, many drivers have gone on to race at an older age and Force has shown he is not done with winning yet.
If he did do a retirement tour, we imagine it would result in record crowds at a lot of tracks during the NHRA season. Very few fans are going to pass up the opportunity to see the last time Force races at their local venue.
Is the NHRA ready for the post-John Force era? Having a name like Tony Stewart certainly helps, and with that, we’ve come full circle in this article. Hope you had fun!
