The wildly successful class eliminations for Super Stock and Stock will continue for the third season and will expand to 11 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events. The class eliminations events also will take place in conjunction with the three JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals races. This program has experienced expanded participation from racers, and many are targeting their projected events.
New for the 2013 season will be bonus points awarded to the class winner at each national event who goes furthest under his or her class index on a class winning run. One bonus point will be awarded to the class winner at each event who goes furthest under his or her class index on a winning run in Super Stock Automatic, Super Stock Stick, Stock Automatic, and Stock Stick. This also includes the Combo.
Racers will earn points at their best four of six races that they enter. All events where class eliminations take place will be points-eligible events. Full details on the points and tiebreaker programs will be posted on NHRARacer.com.
Winners of the Combo and natural classes will receive one of the most coveted trophies in all of motor racing, an NHRA Wally, as well as contingency awards that will be part of the class competition at the JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals events and the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.
Year-end points champions are eligible for a minimum of $500 from each of their sponsors who post for class competition. Contingency sponsors in the class racing program include Comp Cams and Weld Wheels.
“We’ve been involved in class racing forever, and now that we are seeing it get back strong, I’m super excited,” said Scooter Brothers, chairman of the SEMA board of directors and chief operating officer of Comp Cams. “Something that really excites me now is people are actually building cars to run the classes that might be part of the Combo; that’s exciting. It becomes a race within a race, and it is really cool; the racers like it.”
“For Weld Wheels, 2012 was the first year paying class in our company’s long history with the NHRA,” said Kyle Fickler, vice president of Weld Wheels. “The stars lined up and we dove in head first, and as a first-year class contingency sponsor, we were very happy with the results.”
The 2012 champions were Rock Haas in Super Stock Automatic, Bill Dyer in Super Stock Stick, Leonard Mattingly in Stock Automatic, and Charles Downing in Stock Stick.
“I’m very pleased with what we have seen the past two or three years and very optimistic about the future for class racing,” said Mike Gruber, Performance Aftermarket Advisory Council committee member. “With what the NHRA has going on right now, I think it is going in the right direction. There is a certain element that runs just for class and is charged up about it.”
Champions in each category will be honored at their division award banquets at the end of the year. (NHRA)
