NHRA officials postponed both SPORTSnationals events scheduled for this weekend after weather forecasts in Kentucky and Maryland left little room for a clean sportsman racing program.
The JEGS SPORTSnationals at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the Testo SPORTSnationals at Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland, will both move to August dates.
The Beech Bend event is now scheduled for Aug. 26-30 as part of a revised JEGS Speedweek format. The Cecil County event will move to Aug. 13-16, with its original format unchanged.
For sportsman racers, the early call matters. These events require travel, time away from work, crew planning and equipment movement, and dragging racers into a washed-out weekend rarely serves anyone well.
“NHRA officials have worked with both tracks and event sponsors to make this decision as early as possible,” said Jason Galvin, NHRA Sportsman Manager. “We value our sportsman racers and want to deliver the best experience for them at each event and feel this solution is the best moving forward for all parties.
The Beech Bend move also reshapes JEGS Speedweek, with the previously scheduled North Central Division Lucas Oil Series event now taking place first, followed by the SPORTSnationals.
The event will still include class eliminations for Stock and Super Stock. The Top Alcohol portion of the Lucas Oil Series divisional will also remain part of the weekend.
Full details are expected in the coming weeks, but the revised schedule gives Beech Bend a larger August sportsman package leading into the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
NHRA said the decision in Kentucky was made with Broc Porter at Beech Bend Raceway Park and the team from JEGS Performance, who were updated on the revised plans.
The Cecil County event will keep its existing format, including the Northeast Division Lucas Oil Series event, followed by class eliminations and the SPORTSnationals race to finish the weekend.
In Division 1, NHRA said Division Director Mark Dawson worked with Jim Halsey and the Cecil County Dragway team, along with Michael Ficacci at Testo, to create a workable solution.
Weather postponements are never ideal, but in this case, the larger win may be avoiding a weekend of stalled race cars, wet pavement and racers waiting on a forecast that already had the upper hand.
