Kind of a DRAG

Friday, April 7, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

Professional drag racing enters a new era this weekend when The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosts a National Hot Rod Association national event for the first time in Nevada.

Besides being the newest stop on the 23-race NHRA schedule, the $10 million, 30,000-capacity state-of-the-art dragway at LVMS immediately established itself as the standard by which all future drag-racing facilities will be measured.

And that's just fine with the powers that be at the NHRA.

"I think it's incredibly good for the sport," NHRA president Tom Compton said of the innovative facility. "What Speedway Motorsports and Bruton Smith's operation has done has been very healthy.

"It's nice to have facilities that offer all the amenities that people have become accustomed to. This (track) won't be the last. It just keeps getting better -- for the drivers and the fans."

And the drivers in the five professional categories -- Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle and Pro Stock Truck -- are as impressed with the racing surface as they are the luxury suites that line the top of the grandstand.

"We can't find a bump in the first 300 or 400 feet and that's exciting because bumps really upset these Pro Stock cars," said two-time NHRA Winston champion Jim Yates. "This is one of the first tracks I've been to where we've got concrete to the eighth-mile, which is very critical to our cars."

Reigning Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher agreed, but no one is predicting record-setting times this weekend because the new racing surface will remain an unknown quantity until today's qualifying sessions.

"The biggest thing you have to adjust to as a team is a new surface because it doesn't have much, or any, rubber on it," two-time Top Fuel champion Gary Scelzi said.

"Las Vegas has 700 feet of concrete, so that's not going to be as much of a problem there; the problem at Las Vegas is going to be when the rubber starts to come off the surface. The problem then becomes tire-spin at the top end."

Nonetheless, Scelzi said he likes his chances this weekend to post his second victory of the young season.

"I'd say our chances of winning are better at Las Vegas than they were when we went to St. Louis in '97 or Chicago in '98," Scelzi said of the two most recent inaugural NHRA events. "I really like our chances at The Strip. (Crew chief) Alan Johnson is a genius when it comes to controlling the power and not spinning the tires near the finish."

Scelzi and Schumacher, who each have a victory this season, are locked in a tight battle in Top Fuel, with Schumacher holding a 31-point edge.

In the Funny Car standings, nine-time NHRA Winston champion John Force is looking to gain some ground on Jerry Toliver, whose two wins this season have him leading Force by 74 points after three races.

"I think the battle with (Toliver) is heating up and there's a lot of good cars out there," Force said. "It's going to be one of those real good years with the fight -- and I think the fans have been needing this because we've dominated for so many years."

In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin Jr. has won two of the three events this season and holds a 26-point edge over five-time and defending Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson coming into the SummitRacing.com Nationals.

Coughlin, the 1998 Winston Rookie of the Year, opened the season with back-to-back victories at Pomona, Calif. and Phoenix, and will be challenged by five-time Winston champ Warren Johnson, two-time champion Jim Yates and hometown favorite George Marnell.

Single-day tickets for the Summit Racing.com NHRA Nationals are scaled from $10-$60 while all-event passes are $115. Reserved seats are virtually sold out although some general admission tickets still remain.