So, you want to host a four-wide drag race in your hometown. Well, it is a common wish on the minds of many track owners and drag racing promoters across the country. After all, what could be more exciting for race fans than to watch 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars line up four abreast and blast down 1,000 feet of pavement in a little over three and half seconds at over 330 mph. Although the original idea for multiple lanes extends back to the hot rod days a local drag strips in the 1960s, it really wasn’t practical for high-horsepower classes on the then narrow quarter mile raceways.
Building a NHRA Four-Wide Facility
Considering all that would be need to upgrade facilities to accommodate modern day racecars, no one thought it was a feasible idea until the late 1990s when billionaire track owner Bruton Smith suggested building a track wired and widen to stage such high-speed events. When the owner and CEO of Charlotte Motor Speedway decided to expand his facility to include the zMAX Raceway dedicated to hosting NHRA’s fastest cars and drivers in four-wide competitions. But, making four-wide racing a reality is a tremendous undertaking. Just as the management of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
For the most part, any track that wants to enter the four-wide arena will need double-the-everything. That’s right, it will take a lot more of everything from the length of your underground track tunnel to the tons of additional steel rebar used for reinforcement. Las Vegas Paving was contracted to rip up the existing racing surface and build “The Strip” just 25 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip. It would take 10,000 feet of fiber optic cable for a four-wide timing system. Moreover, repaving the facility would prove to be a huge undertaking that required 10,000 tons of gravel, 8,000 tons of asphalt, and 4,400 cubic yards of concrete, and nobody is saying it wasn’t worth every penny.
Round One for Pro Stock 4-Wide at Las Vegas
Troy Coughlin Jr. laid down a quad-sixes pass with a 6.666 ET to claim a round one win over runner-up Erica Ender’s 6.667 ET to advance to the semifinal round along with Gainesville winner Dallas Glenn and runner-up Bo Butner. Kyle Koretsky nailed a .002 reaction time for winning pass over runner-up Mason McGaha enroute to eliminating Greg Anderson who is always a favorite at four-wide events. In the final quad grouping, Cristian Cuadra relied on a near perfect .001 RT to outrun a quicker and faster Aaron Stanfield.
Pro Stock Four-Wide Semifinal Elimination Runs
With a low relative humidity of seventeen percent and a track temperature of 116 degrees, Mason McGaha pulled a .001 RT for a round winning run over Dallas Glenn. Glenn was late off the tree but put down the quickest pass at 6.682 ET to nipped Kyle Koretsky’s 6.700 ET by inches to advance as runner-up to the Pro Stock Finals. Erica Enders doesn’t like to lose at anything she’s does, but Cristian Cuadra beat her off the tree with a .006 RT to Ender’s .018 reaction time. Enders rebounded for the win with a 6.684 ET advancing to the Finals alongside Cuadra who posted a 6.700 ET.
Enders Breaks Tie with Ninth NHRA Win at The Strip
Erica Enders became the most successful driver in the NHRA professional classes at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after claiming the Wally Sunday, when she outran her Elite Performance Motorsports teammate Cristian Cuadra. The victory broke a tie with eight-time Las Vegas winners Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel). Cuadra left the start first with a double-buckshot-five reaction time, but Enders posted a victorious 6.668 ET. Dallas Glenn was off the tree right behind Enders but lost traction handing third to McGaha.
Photo courtesy of shutterstock.com
UP NEXT:
NHRA SpringNationals at Houston
Teams have two weekends off before NHRA action resumes April 22-24 at Houston Raceway Park for the 2022 NHRA SpringNationals for Round Five.
