Drivers, fans gear up for drag racing debut

Wednesday, March 22, 2000 | 10:13 a.m.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway already has exceeded any other National Hot Rod Association event in terms of "pre-sale" tickets for the final round of the April 6-9 SummitRacing.com Nationals, but drag racing fans aren't alone in their anticipation of the inaugural event.

Tony Schumacher, the reigning NHRA Winston Top Fuel champion, said he couldn't wait to propel his 6,000-horsepower dragster down the new quarter-mile at "The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway."

"I wish I was there yesterday," Schumacher said in a telephone interview. "I love Las Vegas. I go out there a couple of times a year and when they said that not only was there going to be a race track, but that (track owner) Bruton Smith was building it, we were all pumped.

"From what we've heard from NHRA, it's going to be a sellout crowd. It's an exciting town, that's a town that people come looking for a good time, looking to be entertained and NHRA Winston Drag Racing is about as exciting as it gets."

Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc. also owns the year-old Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., site of last year's inaugural Winston Showdown all-star event. The dragway opened to rave reviews from competitors, and Schumacher said he expects the same from SMI's newest facility.

"We went to Bristol and the track was brand new but it was built right and we went right down the race track -- everybody did, really -- and we didn't struggle at all and we thought we would," Schumacher said.

"I assume that this track is going to be good and I'm sure we'll relate it to some of the other tracks with similar conditions."

Like Schumacher, NHRA Funny Car driver Al Hoffman said he doesn't expect any problems with the new racing surface at the $10 million facility.

"I feel like the track will probably be pretty good," Hoffman said. "Usually, the first time you go down a new track, it's green and it takes a while to come around.

"NHRA's (track safety crew) went into Bristol as a new track and within three runs, that thing was excellent and I'm expecting they'll do the same thing in Vegas. So the fans, I think, are going to see an excellent race."

Schumacher and Hoffman agreed that the NHRA is long overdue to come to a market such as Las Vegas, which is expected to draw drag racing fans from Southern California and Arizona to fill the 30,000-seat grandstands for Sunday's eliminations.

"Coming into Vegas is something I felt we should have done a long time ago," Hoffman said. "I feel like it's a good market for NHRA and I'm really excited about getting there.

"We've got 31 Funny Cars entered (at Las Vegas) so far and I heard that some of the classes are turning cars away right now."

Schumacher said expanding the series into new markets such as Las Vegas was a natural progression of the sport's increasing popularity.

"It's a new market (and) it's a market where we should have had a race there for a long time," he said. "It's such an exciting town and putting a race there is just proof that NHRA is growing.

"I think you're going to start seeing some other tracks go up just because the NHRA is growing. There's room for more (races) and the fans are growing like we've seen this year and we're going to just keep adding on. We're all hoping Vegas works and, again, from the numbers we're seeing with the pre-sales, it's going to be great."

While LVMS officials won't release advance ticket sales figures, it is believed the track already has sold more tickets for Sunday's final eliminations than each of the NHRA's three events this season -- including the Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., and the hugely popular Gatornationals last weekend in Gainesville, Fla.

According to figures released by the NHRA, last week's Gatornationals drew an event-record 146,702 fans for the four-day event while Pomona attracted 119,200 for the season opener last month.

With only 30,000 permanent seats, it is unlikely the SummitRacing.com Nationals will surpass the Gatornationals in total attendance. But LVMS general manager Chris Powell urged fans to buy their tickets early for Sunday's finale so as not to get turned away in the event of a sellout.