Nearly two years ago, NHRA promised its legion of fans in the New England states that it would soon bring the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series – the fastest, most exciting form of motorsports on the planet – to that region of the country.
Wednesday, NHRA made it official by announcing the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will visit New England Dragway in Epping, N.H., for the inaugural NHRA New England Nationals on June 20-23, 2013.
The announcement marks a process that began more than a decade ago when NHRA decided it wanted to stage a national event in this region of the country. NHRA enjoys the most geographically diverse schedule of any of the major motorsports and the addition of New England only reinforces that position.
"This is a landmark announcement for NHRA and the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series," NHRA President Tom Compton said. "We identified the New England area as one of the primary regions to expand our schedule and today's announcement is very exciting for everyone involved in NHRA."
New England Dragway will be making capital improvements to the facility over the course of the next 12 months in preparation for the arrival of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series in June 2013. The facility joined the NHRA member track network in 2011 with the goal of one day hosting a national event. The nearly two years of hard work put in by track officials and its owners have resulted in today's announcement.
"To bring the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series to New England and specifically the state of New Hampshire is very exciting," said Joe Lombardo, track general manager, New England Dragway. "We have started the process of preparing our facility to host an event of this magnitude and look forward to hosting the stars of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing next June."
The event will be headlined by 15-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force, seven-time Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher, as well as many other top stars including New England's own Bob Tasca III, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Greg Anderson, Cruz Pedregon, Courtney Force, Morgan Lucas, Robert Hight, Terry McMillen, and Jeg Coughlin, among others.
The event expects to entertain fans from the entire New England region, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Canada. The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is broadcast on ESPN2/ESPN2HD.
Fans attending the event are in store for an experience unlike any other in sports and entertainment. NHRA showcases the world's fastest race cars, a spectacle of high speed, side-by-side races with jaw-dropping performances where the sophisticated machines accelerate to more than 100 mph in less than a second and routinely exceed 300 mph.
A total sensory racing experience that you can see, hear, feel and taste, every NHRA Full Throttle event is a highly engaging and genuine fan experience that provides all-day entertainment on and off the track with NHRA's open pit environment that allows every person attending an event to get up close and personal with the sport's biggest stars.
The New England area has a long and storied drag racing history with the sport making its debut at the old Newington Airport in 1953. Eventually, and after much due diligence, New England Dragway was opened in September 1966. The facility has been active ever since, becoming an NHRA member track in 2011 and it will now host the biggest drag racing event in the history of the facility as well as the state of New Hampshire – an NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.
NHRA and New England Dragway officials will make additional announcements in the coming weeks and months regarding sponsors, tickets and promotional events and activities. Tickets for the event are expected to go on sale on Tuesday, Nov. 13. For more information, log on to NHRA.com.
