NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series on tap for 2009

The Series, which is headlined by the powerful Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car classes, features 44 races across the country throughout NHRA’s seven geographic regions. Competitors in eight classes in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series vie for divisional and national championships and a share of the year-end purse worth more than $560,000.

In addition to the Alcohol-powered categories, the Series also features NHRA’s Comp Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Street classes. Each division also runs a Top Sportsman and a Top Dragster series in conjunction with their Lucas Oil events, and a Sportsman Motorcycle Series presented by Harley Davidson is contested in selected divisions.

"It’s hard to believe that the 2009 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series is already around the corner," said Lucas Oil President and CEO Forrest Lucas. "We are so pleased and excited to continue our involvement with NHRA’s sportsman racers. They really are the backbone of this sport and we know first-hand what it takes to be involved in drag racing at this level and it’s not easy. We truly appreciate every one of those racers who is out there supporting the Lucas Oil Series."

The NHRA Southeast division will kick off its Lucas Oil season in with two races in February. The first will be at Bradenton (Fla.) Motorsports Park followed a week later by a race at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway. Racers will return to Florida in March to Orlando Speed World Dragway then head north to South Georgia Motorsports Park in Cecil, Ga., in April. The next Lucas Oil event on the division schedule is in September at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga. Racers will close out the season in Reynolds, Ga., at Silver Dollar Raceway.

The 2009 schedule also includes three JEGS SPORTSnationals events and the JEGS Allstars Invitational. The SPORTSnationals are designed to highlight NHRA’s sportsman racers and give them a national event all their own. They will be run in Belle Rose, La., Fontana, Calif., and Columbus, Ohio. The JEGS Allstars event is the culmination of a year-long points battle where the top points-earning drivers in each class represent his or her division and square off against each other at the NHRA national event at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. The JEGS Allstars purse is worth $100,000.

In addition to giving local racers an opportunity to race for championships close to home, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series has been a training ground for many drivers in NHRA’s POWERade Drag Racing Series. Funny Car racers Jack Beckman and Tony Bartone are among today’s pros who have earned national championships in the Lucas Oil Series. Other former Lucas Oil national champions include Pro Stock drivers Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Jason Line, as well as Top Fuel pilot Steve Torrence. Many other current POWERade racers claim divisional titles on their resumes.

Headquartered in Glendora, Calif., NHRA is the primary sanctioning body for the sport of drag racing in the United States. It presents 24 events through its NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. NHRA has 80,000 members and 140 member tracks. NHRA-sanctioned sportsman and bracket racing series provide competition opportunities for drivers of all levels.

 NHRA develops the stars of tomorrow by offering the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, NHRA Summit Racing Series and NHRA Street Legal Drags presented by AAA. NHRA also offers the O’Reilly Auto Parts Jr. Drag Racing League for youth ages 8 to 17.

- Eric Lotz -