Ain’t Dead Yet! An Incredible 925 Cars Descend On NHRA U.S. Natl’s

Each and every week — sometimes daily, even — we read and hear the commentary rolling into our inboxes shouting emphatically that “drag racing is dying,” or more commonly, “such and such reason is why the NHRA is dead.”

But is it? Because the facts suggest otherwise.

In less than 24 hours, the 68th continuously-running edition of the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals, the longest, most prestigious drag race on the planet will kick off at the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. This year’s edition, which will mark the event’s return to its traditional Labor Day completion after a couple-year schedule adjustment, will be headlined by the attendance of 43 — count ’em, 43 — Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars. Add to that Pro Modified, the Factory Stock Showdown, the Mopar Hemi Challenge, the sportsman JEGS Allstars competition, the Top Fuel and Funny Car Pep Boys All-Star Callout races, the largest fields of Stock and Super Stock cars all year long, Mountain Motor Pro Stock, and Top Fuel Harley, and you get a show that has absolutely no equal.

There are in fact 925 individual cars entered in this week’s event, making it one of, if not the single largest motorsports-only (non-car show) event on the planet. IRP, as we will always choose to call it, literally becomes a city in and of itself for more than a week, as combatants from every corner of the nation, plus Australia, Canada, and elsewhere, whittle their categories down to just one, in what is the longest marathon event in the sport.

As a fully independent publication, we’re not ones to shill for any particular racing organization, but numbers like this — an event this big that continues to churn out huge car counts despite all the economic reasons it shouldn’t — speaks to the ongoing strength and health of the sport, and it deserves noting. Suffice it to say, if you aren’t at Indy, on your way to Indy, or wish you were going to Indy, then you may not really be a drag racing fan.