NHRA officials and FOX Sports announced on Saturday that a LIVE 30-minute show will be added to FS1’s lineup on Saturday, Aug. 20 to televise the postponed finals rounds of Top Fuel and Funny Car action from the NHRA Northwest Nationals.
Therefore, the Top Fuel final - contested between Antron Brown and Steve Torrence - and the Funny Car final - contested between Den Worsham and Ron Capps - will be held this weekend during the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn. Both rounds will be taking place during the third round of qualifying.
Meanwhile, in Pro Stock, underdog Aaron Strong will not be on hand at this weekend’s event, and so he and Vincent Nobile will race the Pro Stock final from the NHRA Northwest Nationals in an additional two weeks time at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
“This is another example of what a great partner FOX has been for us this year,’’ said Ken Adelson, NHRA vice president, executive producer & chief content officer. “FOX officials have stepped up for us every time we needed their help to do what’s best for all our fans and the television viewers at home. We truly appreciate the opportunity to bring to the FS1 viewers the final round live to see which drivers end up with the Wally from the Seattle event.”
According to Neilson Media Research, in its new partnership with FOX Sports, the first 16 races of the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series have seen a viewership increase of 43 percent for Sunday eliminations, with the 18-49 demographic up 82 percent on the season. Three elimination shows have seen ratings over 1 million viewers, with the greatest at 1.4 million viewers from the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals from Atlanta Dragway on May 15. Viewership for all shows during the course of the year totals 25.7 million people, an 80 percent increase over 2015.
NHRA just came off of three back-to-back-to-back weekends on FOX national broadcast stations, with the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals seeing an 82 percent increase over 2015 and the NHRA Northwest Nationals seeing a 60 percent increase, with a 103 percent increase in the 18-49 demographic.
Additionally, attendance at NHRA events across the country has increased as well, with four days of sellout crowds. According to NHRA, this includes “a standing room only crowd for the elimination rounds of the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals – the first Sunday sellout of the year.”
NHRA will be LIVE on FOX national broadcast stations again on Sept. 5 for the U.S. Nationals.
Additional coverage of this weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals begins at 10 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1 with a 2-hour qualifying show, with LIVE coverage of the final eliminations from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1.
