Breaking news

NHRA

NHRA announces new schedule, will restart in July

NHRA will restart the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series with back-to-back weekends of competition at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis to kick off a 17-event season completion.

David Malsher-Lopez

Edited: Jun 4, 2020, 3:31 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

John Force

The first two races – the Winternationals at Pomona and Arizona Nationals – were completed before the coronavirus pandemic knocked all U.S. motorsport out of action. The third and fourth races of the season, at Indy, will run on consecutive weekends, July 11-12 and July 18-19, at the home of the newly-sponsored Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals. The season will conclude Nov. 13-15 in the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

The revised schedule is subject to changes due to evolving facts and guidelines.

The Indianapolis events will be open to a limited number of spectators, with offers being extended via email to NHRA members and 2020 U.S. Nationals ticket holders. The first event will feature all four Mello Yello classes – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle – while the second event will feature Top Fuel and Funny Car along with the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Service, Mickey Thompson Tires Top Fuel Harley Series, and the SAMTech.edu NHRA Factory Stock Showdown. Neither event will include Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competition.

Thus the revised 2020 schedule will consist of 19 total events, with the events in Chicago, Norwalk, Richmond, Epping and Sonoma – as well as the spring events in Las Vegas and Charlotte – all canceled. By contrast, the NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, previously announced as canceled, has returned to the 2020 schedule in late August.

The first four events – both Indianapolis events as well as the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle and the Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver – will be broadcast on the FOX Broadcast Network.

Sixteen of the events on the revised schedule will be condensed to two-day competition schedules for the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series classes due to economic and logistical factors. This will entail one day of qualifications (two rounds) on Saturday and Final Eliminations on Sunday. Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series classes will begin racing on Friday.

The JEGS Allstars competition, originally scheduled as part of the Chicago event, and the Mickey Thompson Tires Pro Bike Battle, originally scheduled as part of the Sonoma event, will both be contested at the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals.

Due to the compressed schedule, points will not be reset after the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

Revised 2020 NHRA schedule:

July 11-12 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing at Lucas Oil Raceway, Indianapolis
July 18-19 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing at Lucas Oil Raceway, Indianapolis
July 31-Aug. 2 Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals, Seattle
Aug. 7-9 Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals, Denver
Aug. 14-16 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 21-23 Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals, Topeka, Kan.
Aug. 28-30 NHRA Southern Nationals, Atlanta
Sept. 3-6 Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis*
Sept. 11-13 Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals, Reading, Pa.
Sept. 18-20 NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Charlotte
Sept. 25-27 Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville, Fla.
Oct. 2-4 AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, St. Louis
Oct. 9-11 NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol, Tenn.
Oct. 16-18 AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals, Dallas
Oct. 23-25 Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals, Houston
Oct. 30-Nov. 1 Dodge NHRA Nationals, Las Vegas
Nov. 13-15 Auto Club NHRA Finals, Pomona, Calif.

All events listed above will contest Mello Yello Drag Racing Series on Saturday and Sunday only

*The U.S. Nationals will have one Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying round on Friday and two rounds on Saturday

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article NHRA announces revised tentative schedule

Next article John Force Racing pauses racing activities until 2021

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

3 h

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Indonesian GP

3 h

Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams

Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Phoenix II

3 h

Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride

Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux

FIA F2

F2 FIA F2 3 h

Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts