Final impressions from Day 3 at the NHRA’s Arizona Nationals

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Stock cars. Indy cars. Formula 1. Formula E. Sports cars. Sprint cars. Rallycross. New England modifieds. Go-karts. Legend cars. Bandoleros.

Now dragsters.

When it comes to automobile racing, I feel like I’ve almost seen it all. And NHRA was as memorable an experience as anything I’ve covered.

I didn’t realize it until it was happening on Saturday evening, but fans at Firebird Motorsports Park got to watch the finish of a race from two weeks ago. The conclusion of the Winternationals at the Pomona Dragstrip in Southern California was postponed in March because of rain, so it was resumed in Chandler, and Justin Ashley earned his third consecutive win in the Top Fuel event.

John Force won the Winternationals’ Funny Car competition. It was his first win in two years, but the drag racing GOAT now has 156 career victories — eight of which occurred in the Pomona event.

To an NHRA newbie like me, starting a race in one place and finishing it in another sounds absurd. Imagine if NASCAR had to postpone a race at Richmond last weekend and said, “Oh well, we’ll just finish it in Martinsville on Sunday.” That could never happen.

If anything, the only reasonable way to make such a move would be if NASCAR went from Daytona to Talladega or vice versa or if the series went from one tri-oval-shaped 1.5-mile track to another. But even that wouldn’t work for tracks like Atlanta Motor Speedway, now reconfigured for pack-style racing, or Texas Motor Speedway, which has wider, flatter Turns 1 and 2 than the typical 1.5-miler.

“It’s rare. This doesn’t happen often. But ironically, it’s happened twice to us in the past. Once in 2020, there was a 49-day wait to return and run the final. And then last year, the racing in Epping (New Hampshire) rained out, and we had to finish in Bristol too,” Ashley said. “So we have some experience. I don’t know how much that really helps. It is unique, though, because you are going from one track to another and from one surface to another.”

On a fundamental level, it is easier to say most drag stips are the same. They don’t vary in shape and size (unless two-lane versus four-lane venues are considered) like tracks in circuit racing series. But if you ask a seasoned veteran or an engineer from any NHRA team, I guarantee they’d tell you the differences between strips at different venues. Each surface has its own bumps and imperfections, which makes a difference in how teams approach a race weekend.

“It will test you mentally; it will test your patience,” Ashley said about waiting to complete the Winternationals. “I think a few times, I woke up in a hot sweat, especially the last week or so, trying to get this race underway. I’m just happy to be able to collect the win.”

Starting and finishing a race in different places is certainly odd, but it’s not a bad way to keep the industry on schedule as best as possible. The 2016 IndyCar race in Texas started on June 12, but rain postponed the event until it could be declared official. The weather was bad enough that the series rescheduled it for August 27.

Teams had to pack up, go home, continue with the summer schedule as planned, and then return to Texas on a scheduled off weekend. Logistically, that wasn’t ideal for anyone in the industry, especially if there were individuals who made plans with family or friends on August 27.

Picking up where the Winternationals left off at the next race is not a thought I’d have ever considered to be a possibility, but NHRA makes it work. And the two drivers who won in the Nitro-powered classes were deserving individuals.

The Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock divisions of the NHRA Missions Foods Drag Racing Series competed on Sunday. Some lower series also raced, too. Many racing leagues run the lower series a day or two before the top series’ event. In NHRA, everyone competes on the same day.

It was another unusual aspect of drag racing to me. On-track action lasted about six hours at Firebird, with all the classes doing their rounds. Time passes quickly because when you’re engaged in what’s happening on the strip, you’ll get excited to see who moves on to the next round and who goes home. Obviously, most attention is paid to the Mission Foods Series, though. That’s the big leagues of drag racing.

In circuit racing, there are times when nothing exciting happens on the track, and a high-speed parade can span for dozens and dozens of laps. With drag racing, something is at stake every time cars get staged at the start line.

Driver accessibility is as good in drag racing as in any professional motorsports league, too. Fans with any admission ticket can visit the paddock and meet their favorite driver. John Force, the life of the party character that he is, was out and about taking selfies with fans and ensuring everyone got their chance to meet him.

Tony Stewart, who advanced beyond the Top Fuel opening round for the first time Sunday after beating Brittany Force, stuck around to chat with fans even after he was knocked out after the semi-final round.

“The one thing really is that every ticket really is a pit pass,” Ashley said. “This is not like any other motorsport on the planet. You have the fastest-accelerating vehicles on the planet. Where else do you get people who walk up and down the pit area and speak with teams or speak with the drivers? Or who could watch the car get taken apart and put it back together between rounds up close and personal?

“It’s like sitting in the dugout at a Major League Baseball game. So I think that in addition to the cars and the horsepower itself, really separates NHRA from everything else.”

Two years ago, Firebird (then Wild Horse Pass) Motorsports Park was due to shut its doors permanently. A plan to expand Interstate 10, which runs next to the venue, was approved, and it looked like NHRA wouldn’t return after March 2023.

However, the Radford Racing School completed a deal with the Gila River Indian Reservation last summer to keep the racing complex in business.

NHRA track announcer Alan Reinhart, an Arizona native, thanked fans over the PA system throughout the race weekend for coming.

But it wasn’t the typical “Thanks for coming out!” He meant it from the bottom of his heart.

Firebird is Reinhart’s home track, where he’s watched racing for decades. Naturally, he would have been devastated to see it close, but instead, he took pleasure in offering gratitude to the sold-out crowds on both Saturday and Sunday.

The state lost the Queen Creek dirt track, Arizona Speedway, a year ago. It would have been a stinger for Phoenix’s racing fans if the Valley Area lost another venue. It’d have left Phoenix Raceway as the city’s only major motorsports facility.

The fans packed the grandstands, and fun was had at the strip throughout the weekend. Twenty-four months ago, it looked like an impossibility.

NHRA is an entertaining sport to watch in person. And the loyal fans of Firebird came out in droves, filled the bleachers, and proved that drag racing is here to stay in Arizona.