It’s NHRA, baby!

Welcome to the world of nitromethane, burnt rubber and insane speed. This weekend will see the start of the new season of the American NHRA series — the most famous drag racing championship on our planet. Everything you want to know about these fascinating competitions will be covered by the commentator of the Russian version of NHRA broadcasting and one of Dragtimes.ru authors Sergey Bednaruk.

Professional drag racing appeared in the United States in the beginning of the 50s when Wally Parks, the editor of Hot Rod magazine, founded the National Hot Rod Association. The first race under the auspices of this organisation was held in 1953 in Pomona, California. By the way, it’s the place where the first and final races of each NHRA seasons are held, with its first champion determined in 1965.

Since that time the NHRA turned into the largest racing association with 80 thousand members, 140 tracks and 35 thousand racing drivers! A lot of competitions in the USA and Canada are held under its auspices but at the top of them all is the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series which is the full official name of the “major league” of the American drag racing. And though all its races are held in the United States and its participants are primarily American pilots, this series still remains the most popular and prestigious in this motor sport discipline. The Americans themselves give the holders of the NHRA titles the indiscreet name of world champions.

NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing championship is divided into four dragster classes. Each of them is self-sufficient, has its own heroes and intrigues. Sometimes the pilots can switch from one class to another but more often once they reach the highest division they remain committed to one class only.

Top Fuel: Schumacher in pursuit of his eighth title

Top Fuel, the fastest and most powerful class, is the identity card of the series. The average output produced by the 8.2-litre engines of these “rockets” reaches up to 7000 hp. Top Fuel dragster is powered by nitromethane fuel and consumes around 86 litres during one 305-metre run. It has the same consumption rate as the Boeing 747 jetliner! Such cars are able to accelerate up to 530 km/h on a 1000-feet distance and it takes them less than a second to reach the speed of 160 km/h (100 mph) — faster than Formula 1 cars or even a fighter plane. A dragster can exert a horizontal g-force of 6 g causing the huge rear tyres change its shape during the runs.

And if Top Fuel is the identity card of the NHRA, then Tony Schumacher is the face of the American drag racing. Like the legendary Schumacher in Formula 1, Tony is a seven-time champion and he is definitely not going to rest on his laurels. He was close to getting the eighth title during the previous two years but in 2012 he gave way to Antron Brown, his teammate at the Don Schumacher Racing (the team is owned by Tony’s father who also used to be a successful racing driver) and last year he lost to Shawn Langdon from Al-Anabi Racing in the final battle.

Apart from this trio, one should also add a few other names to the list of this season’s favourites — Spencer Massey, one more DSR pilot; Doug Kalitta, representing the famous racing dynasty and a part of the Kallita Motorsport family team; Clay Millican who has recently joined the Tuttle Motorsports; and also Steve Torrence, the rising star of the Top Fuel class.

Funny Car: Force is power!

Funny Car is another nitromethane-powered NHRA class. These cars are fitted with the same engines as Top Fuel vehicles but they are rear-mounted. Besides, Funny Car dragsters are characterized by having bodies and higher weight (982 kg vs. 911 kg). As a result, their top speeds are a bit lower with an average 0.2-second difference.

Funny Car class features the most highly awarded driver of the American drag racing of all time — the legendary John Force. In spite of his respectable age (John will be 65 in May) he is still full of power and energy and last season Force proved it by winning the record-setting 16th title in his career. He also has no equals in the number of stage wins throughout the entire NHRA history — 136 career wins.

John Force is also the owner of one of the strongest teams — John Force Racing — which has won 18 Funny Car championships. Courtney Force, John’s youngest daughter (her sister Brittany races in Top Fuel class) is also a driver for this team and is considered to be the sex symbol of the American drag racing. The charming blonde had her debut in Funny Car class only 2 years ago but she had already scored a few victories and took seventh place in the overall standings last year.

Another strong contestant from the John Force Racing is Robert Hight. According to tradition, the team of John Force will be competing with the team of Don Schumacher whose major hopes are related to Jack Beckman, the 2012 champion, and Ron Capps, four-time silver champion (in 2012 he lost only two points to Beckman). One should also take into account Cruz Pedregon, Del Worsham and Tim Wilkerson — all of them were among top ten pilots last year.

Pro Stock: up to one ten thousandth

Unlike Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, Pro Stock dragsters are powered not by nitromethane but by petrol. The outline of these cars vaguely resembles production vehicles but there are not so many common features. For instance, the cars should be fitted with standard optics. The power produced by Pro Stock cars is lower — around 1300 hp. And by the way, starting from 2008 the distance of runs in nitromethane classes is only 305 metres due to safety reasons; however, Pro Stock still has the classic “drag” ¼ mile distance (402 m).

Like Funny Car class, Pro Stock features two large car manufacturers — Toyota and Dodge. Ford was also participating in the NHRA last year but this year the “Blue Oval” decided to opt out.

The major struggle for the title here is expected to run between the previous years’ champions Jeg Coughlin (2013) and Allen Johnson (2012) and also Greg Anderson, Mike Edwards, Jason Line and Shane Gray. Special attention will be drawn to Erica Enders-Stevens — the first woman who was able to clinch wins in Pro Stock class. And by the way, this class is particularly famous for its high-density finishes. In some of them the pilots were crossing the finish line demonstrating identical results equal in one ten thousandth of a second.

Pro Stock Motorcycle: Harley vs. the world

And finally the fourth class of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series — Pro Stock Motorcycle. As the name implies, the competition here goes between the motorcyclists. Bike engines produce about 350 hp and their acceleration performance can be compared to Pro Stock dragsters — they can reach 100 mph in about 1.5 seconds. The vehicles here are presented by Harley-Davidson, Buell and Suzuki.

Harley drivers dominated throughout the entire 2012 season by winning all races without any exception. Last year the promoters of the series changed technical regulations in order to put an end to the reign of the Harley-Davidson team. The goal was attained — in 2013 Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines started showing good results closer to the end of the championship scoring together only three wins and Matt Smith behind the wheel of a Buell became last year’s champion. But this year Harley-Davidson will devote all its energy to turn the tables.

Schedule: 24 races together with playoffs

The NHRA 2014 season will comprise 24 races. The distinguishing feature of the American drag racing lies in its championship scheme which is divided into two parts. First 18 races determine top ten drivers in the overall standings in each class. During the final six rounds — playoffs called Countdown to One in the NHRA — they compete for the title. This system was introduced a few years ago to keep the intrigue till the very end of the championship.

The first and final races are traditionally held in Pomona, California. U.S. Nationals, the most prestigious event, is held at Indianapolis and is the last event of the regular season held on September 1. Four-Wide Nationals event held on the zMAX Dragway at Concord also stands alone on the calendar as the dragstip there (dragstrip is a track used for drag racing) features four instead of the regular two lanes which allows performing quartet runs.

Where can you watch the broadcast of this event?

Russian enthusiasts of motor sport can follow all the twists and turns of the upcoming NHRA season. For the third year in a row Viasat Sport TV channel, also available in HD, will be broadcasting all races of the American drag racing including the qualifying and major runs with live streaming of some of the events. All in all, this season promises around 115 hours of broadcasting of one of the fastest and most dynamic motor sport disciplines. And besides, the way the Americans show drag racing is really worth mentioning. But one should better watch it one time instead of listening about it! That is why we recommend connecting to Viasat Sport and plunging into the world of the American drag racing. Get ready for the first event in this season which will be held on February 9!

2014 NHRA Mello Yello Schedule