The National Hot Rod Association recently announced that the 2018 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series will return for the 17th consecutive season to many of the premiere racing facilities across the country. Next year's schedule will feature forty-four divisional events. The Lucas Oil sponsored series is the NHRA's premier sportsman racing program for drag racing. The series was created to show case competitors in Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, and Top Dragster.
Drivers compete for national, regional and divisional championships, and depending on their class, a share of more than half a million dollars in prize money. In addition to the divisional and regional races, the series features a standalone event each year called the SPORTSnationals. Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car classes will be the featured events. Bonus programs available to competitors in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series include the $100,000 JEGS Allstars. Individual sportsman divisions will also have additional bonus programs available to racers.
In a recent press release, Morgan Lucas the senior vice president of sales and marketing for Lucas Oil said, "We are pleased to once again express our support of competitors across the country in the series. Sportsman competitors are one of the keys to success of NHRA drag racing and we look forward to the coming season." The thirty-something corporate executive is no stranger to the fastest sport on the planet. Before his retirement as an active driver, Lucas won 12 Top Fuel Wally trophies from the pro ranks and 11 as a sportsman-level competitor in the Top Alcohol Dragster division.
The 2018 sportsman season kicks off at Orlando Speed World Dragway on Feb. 23-24 and features double header events at Heartland Park in Topeka, Mission Raceway Park, Texas Motorplex and Rocky Mountain Raceways. In 2018, there will be two stops at Woodburn Dragstrip in Oregon as well as The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the series finals Nov. 1-4. Graduates of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series include Morgan Lucas, Brandon Bernstein, Shawn Langdon, Courtney Force, Erica Enders, Brittany Force, Alexis DeJoria, and Jeg Coughlin.
Photo courtesy of dreamstime.
