NHRA Needs To Do The Unthinkable
Written by David Lamm · May 25, 2009
In this modern era when motorsports and sports media are interwoven, I am going to suggest the unthinkable. The NHRA needs to schedule the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals on Memorial Day weekend.
The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the longest running and the most prestigous drag race the NHRA hosts, has traditionally been held on Labor Day weekend. The race is so large and the competitors are so numerous that an additional qualifying session is granted to the professional competitors and elimination rounds are held on Monday instead of Sunday. It truly is a unique racing experience given the history and tradition of “The Nationals”. So if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Because it could be so much better with just a slight change in date.
I would suggest the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals be moved to Memorial Day weekend. I am not suggesting moving the U.S. Nationals away from O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. I am not suggesting changing the daily racing schedule. I am merely suggesting moving the race dates from Labor Day weekend to Memorial Day weekend.
I can hear what everyone would be saying already… “Don’t you realize that the Indy 500 is held in Indianapolis that same weekend?”. “The NHRA can not compete with the Indy 500″. “The U.S. Nationals would get lost and pushed to the wayside in the wake of the Indy 500″. I would argue that the U.S. Nationals would greatly benefit from sharing the national spotlight with the Indy 500.
Let’s face it. The nation’s top motorsports journalists will already be in Indianapolis covering the Indy 500. With business travel budgets squeezed tighter than a drum, we all know that the Indy 500 is so huge that news outlets must budget every year to send at least someone to Indianapolis over Memorial Day weekend. They know their competitors will be there so they just find the money in the budget to go. Convincing a motorsports journalist’s editor to send a writer to Indianapolis to cover racing two times a year is nearly impossible.
I speak from a position of experience on this one. When I was working for the NHRA’s Media Relations Department I was the lead manager in charge of the U.S. Nationals for a few years. I would make calls and send emails to all the heavy hitters in the world of motorsports journalism and invite them to Indy for the U.S. Nationals. After all, it is the NHRA’s Super Bowl so why wouldn’t they be there covering it? Many of the responses from those big time journalists I had targeted was the same. “Sorry, there is no money to go to Indy twice a year. Given the fact they I was already in Indy in May, we can’t pull it off to go there in September.”
If the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals were moved to Memorial Day weekend, all the world’s motorsports journalists would be at The Brickyard on Sunday. I am not so naive to believe they would skip that race to attend the final day of qualifying of the U.S. Nationals. But extending their stay in Indy an extra day in order to cover the U.S. Nationals eliminations would not be a hard sell to those dolling out travel budget per diems. Everyone would prefer to have the reporters on site for qualifying and eliminations. But wouldn’t you rather have the number of reporters covering the eliminations be double or triple than what you normally get if they weren’t covering the NHRA on Sunday? After all, qualifying results are nice but it is the head to head racing that most people are concerned with.
Will this suggestion fall on deaf ears in Glendora? Possibly. But it is something to consider if the NHRA wants to be considered a major player in the world of motorsports. Sometimes you need to change things drastically that will undoubtedly annoy the traditionalists in order to move the sport forward. Then again, traditionalists are not the ones moving the sport forward. If it were up to them Fuel Altereds and Front Engine Dragsters would still be competing.
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3 Responses to “NHRA Needs To Do The Unthinkable”
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I don’t think that is a very good idea. The Indy 500 will take away from NHRA. Besides I don’t think the city would go for it. Can you imagine the traffic in and out of that place on Sunday.
Questions to ask: Does the NHRA and drag racing benefit from changing what is arguably their biggest race date? They would benefit from the press which is one of the key areas they lack in. Having eliminations on a day that normally doesn’t have any other racing would also gain new eyeballs who are probably home for Memorial Day. I think it was Topeka a few years ago (on Memorial weekend) but how did the ratings do then on TV? A lot more questions, but it’s interesting to consider.
I’d have to ask, how many people would have the finances to go to both the Indy 500 and the NHRA nationals on the same weekend? I know I don’t. Is this a suggestion based purely on press coverage? I think the 500 would still overshadow the Nats and the NHRA would just get lost in the shuffle. The U.S. Nationals should have it’s own weekend. How much could it possibly cost to send a journalist to Indy for a weekend? Hell, I’ll do it for half the money, free entry and a cheap hotel room. Heck, I’ll sleep in my truck. NHRA- call me!