NHRA announced its new 23-race NHRA

POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule for 2007 Aug. 30.  During the announcement,

the world’s largest motorsports sanctioning body announced the addition of

Norwalk Raceway Park, which sits between Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, to the 2007

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule.

Also announced was the addition of a 16th event for the Pro Stock

Motorcycle category, to take place at Texas Motorplex near Dallas.

In all, six national events have been moved on the schedule.  The

series will continue to book-end the 23-race, 10-month season at Auto Club

Raceway at Pomona in Southern California, officially kicking off the season Feb.

8-11 with the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals and concluding the season and

crowning the NHRA POWERade Series World Champions at the Automobile Club of

Southern California NHRA Finals, Nov. 1-4.

The schedule features only one stretch where the competitors are

off for more than one week, that being between the Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA

Nationals in Phoenix, Feb. 23-25, and the traditional East Coast opener, the

ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., which will be held March

15-18.

Among the many changes to the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing

Series schedule is the relocation of the Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals from

National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio to Norwalk Raceway Park, one of the

premier drag racing facilities in the country, June 28-July 1.  Located near

Cleveland, Ohio and not too far from the metropolitan markets of Toledo, Ohio

and Detroit, Mich., the new summer race optimizes the 23-race schedule bringing

the excitement of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing to not only the entire state of

Ohio, but residents of Southern Michigan.   

NHRA also announced significant changes to its schedule, moving

the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway to April

26-29, followed by the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International

Raceway in St. Louis, May 4-6.  The O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at

Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway, which traditionally held a late-April date, will move

to May 18-20, while the NHRA Supernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park

in Englishtown, N.J., just outside New York City, will continue to run June

21-24.

Another change to the schedule will be the move of the Toyo Tires

NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. to Aug. 16-19, which will

be the last race to determine the Top Eight positions for the NHRA POWERade

Countdown to the Championship. 

The O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka

(Kan.), will move off Memorial Day weekend to the following week, becoming a

three-day event, June 1-3, followed by the NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway,

just south of Chicago.

The world’s largest, most prestigious and longest running drag

racing event, the 53rd annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, will be held once again

on Labor Day weekend, Aug. 29 – Sept. 3 at O’Reilly Raceway Park at

Indianapolis.  The race, which already features two lucrative bonus events, the

Skoal Showdown and Ringers Gloves NHRA Pro Bike Battle, will deliver further

excitement as it will be the first race of the NHRA POWERade Countdown to the

Championship.

The O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis (Tenn.)

Motorsports Park, will move to be included as part of the NHRA POWERade

Countdown to the Championship, Sept. 14-16. 

The final race to secure the top four teams remaining in the

Countdown to the Championship will be the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at

Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, Va., Oct. 5-7.    NHRA also announced

that the Pro Stock Motorcycle class will add a 16th event to its current

schedule, competing at the O’Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex

outside Dallas, Sept. 20-23.

The Western Swing will remain in tact, beginning with the Mopar

Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway near Denver, July 13-15, followed by

the Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals presented by Lucas Oil, July 20-22 at

Pacific Raceways in Seattle and the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon

Raceway, in Sonoma, Calif., July 27-29.

The final two races of the season, the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA

Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Oct. 18-21, and the

Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., Nov. 1-4,

will represent the Countdown to One in the drag racing world competing for the

claim to the NHRA POWERade World Championship.