A Drag Race At The Strip At Las Vegas Motor Speedway Is A Very Singular Affair 

Every race has a distinct personality, none more so than the two NHRA POWERade events at The Strip at LVMS.  In fact, there’s really a considerable difference between the spring Summitracing.com Nationals and the fall ACDelco Nationals.  But, just as those events seem to have their own personalities, which in some respects seems surprising because it is, after all, the same facility, there are also very distinct differences between the two Pomona events.  Beyond those duplications, anyone who has attended or competed in the Gatornationals will tell you it’s nothing like racing at Houston Raceway Park, or in Atlanta or at any other venue on the schedule.

A Drag Race At The Strip At Las Vegas Motor Speedway Is A Very Singular Affair 

Every race has a distinct personality, none more so than the two NHRA POWERade events at The Strip at LVMS.  In fact, there’s really a considerable difference between the spring Summitracing.com Nationals and the fall ACDelco Nationals.  But, just as those events seem to have their own personalities, which in some respects seems surprising because it is, after all, the same facility, there are also very distinct differences between the two Pomona events.  Beyond those duplications, anyone who has attended or competed in the Gatornationals will tell you it’s nothing like racing at Houston Raceway Park, or in Atlanta or at any other venue on the schedule.

You would think that every drag strip is pretty much the same as any other, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Pomona, for example, is decidedly downhill, although that might not be visibly apparent from either the grandstands or from behind the wheel.  Bandimere Speedway in Denver (Okay, it’s actually Morrison, CO) is visibly deceiving because of its uphill shutdown area – but so, too, is The Strip.  Memphis has that bump the drivers talk about.  Columbus has a patch of asphalt where water tends to bubble up at the most inopportune moments.  In truth, the only constant is the 1,320 feet of racing surface.  Everything else is distinctly Seattle, or distinctly Englishtown, and so-on.

 Ironically, from both The Strip and Bandimere there’s an incredible view into downtown, but even that’s not a real similarity.  In one instance that view is into a vibrant and constantly-being modernized downtown business district, while in the other the view is into the bright lights and non-stop action of Glitter Gulch, America’s leader when it comes to gambling, light night shows, awesome dining, cutting edge hotels and astonishing shopping opportunities.

There’s a certain ambience evident at every Bruton Smith-owned facility, with The Strip being no exception.  Smith’s trademark management style is to hire experienced people to run the show, and then let them do so until they prove incapable of delivering the goods.  That might not be an exclusive style of management, but what Smith has succeeded in doing is peopling his offices with individuals who have vast experience in drag racing despite the fact that few may be aware of it.  In the case of General Manager Chris Powell and Director of Strip Operations Chris Blair, both had significant experience in the quarter mile sport through their positions with Sports Marketing Enterprises, the offshoot firm that ran the Winston Drag Racing program.  In short, they know the players, know the competitors, know the audience and know the NHRA officials, and woe be unto anyone who tries to pull the proverbial wool over their eyes.  It was, to some extent, these two who led the effort to secure that second, fall date for LVMS early on (although some title rights difficulties also played into that).

Almost forgotten now is that Smith envisioned side-by-side drag strips at LVMS, which helps explain the still temporary grandstands on the north side of the track, as well as the now obviously undersized media and race control building behind the starting line.  The plan was that when that second strip was built the current tower would have been expanded accordingly, but now that that appears unlikely, Smith and his minions will probably begin working on expanding the tower where it stands.  The one thing you can count on with this group is their refusal to let their facility be out done by another track.

Behind the two Chris’s is a cadre of dedicated workers intent upon giving the paying spectators as well as the competitors a positive drag racing experience, with few of them working harder than Senior Director of Public Relations Jeff Motley and Public Relations Manager John Bisci.  Sure, you’ve never heard of them, and why should you have?  A public relations specialist should be unknown and unseen, but without their behind-the-scenes efforts it’s likely the record crowd that highlighted the ACDelco Nationals might never have materialized.  

Within the geological bowl that houses the city of Las Vegas, Nellis Air Force Base and the dramatically impressive edifice that is the Las Vegas Motor Speedway complex, there is probably a greater concentration of entertainment opportunities than in any other metropolis in the country.  The only area that might come close is the greater Orlando area in Florida, home to such venues as Disneyworld and Universal Studios.  Even Los Angeles pales in comparison to Las Vegas when it comes the latter’s heavy concentration of entertainment opportunities, although the City of the Angels does have that ocean front nearby.  But, for every bikini-clad California beach bunny there’s an equally impressive beauty calling Las Vegas home, for that concentration of entertainment opportunities includes a never ending demand for attractive dancers, showgirls and waitresses.  Only in Las Vegas is one likely to spot a stunning beauty working behind the counter of an all-night gas station/convenience store complex as she waits to be “discovered.”

 The crowd at Las Vegas is truly unique, particularly for the ACDelco Nationals.  The close proximity to the SEMA Show, which began the day after the race, helped attract a number of aftermarket representatives, including some representing overseas companies with no current ties to drag racing.  The mere fact that they attended the race is a positive, for if they came away with a good experience they just might influence their bosses to take a flyer on the sport

For every married guy hesitant to broach the subject of attending yet another national event to his long suffering wife, Las Vegas is the ideal race.  It’s the only race where he can say, in all honesty, “You can go shopping or gambling while I go to the track,” and have her actually believe him.  We talked to a number of fans who outlined that very scenario, often accompanied by rueful concerns that “I hope she’s not melting the Visa card,” a very real fear considering the high end shopping one can find from one end of Las Vegas Boulevard to the other.

In addition to the SEMA Show LVMS planned a two-night sprint car extravaganza at the Bullring that’s just off the drag strip’s shut down area, and while we can’t prove a significant crossover audience, it’s likely some of those fans showed up to watch the drags in the afternoon prior to the round track action.  Based on the number of people we spotted wearing winged warrior T-shirts, that appears to be the case.

LVMS has so many positives going for it that it’s hard to list them all.  From the dedicated exit off I-15 to the vast paved parking lots giving easy access to the track, the facility literally has it all.  Its Top Eliminator Club seating, at the top of the grandstands and just beneath the suite level, offers comfort and a totally unobstructed view.  Beneath the stands there’s a plethora of eating establishments to go along with the temporary eateries that are part of every POWERade Series event.

Unlike some facilities, the pits feature ultra-wide isles with plenty of room for overworked teams to muscle their cars around, to say nothing of the fans, who can stroll leisurely from team to team without fighting through an immovable mass of humanity.  But make no mistake about it; those pits are jammed with fans even though it might not seem so.

But beyond the amenities, beyond the nearby attractions, it still boils down to racing, and at LVMS the action was non-stop.  From Tony Schumacher’s stunning 4.40s in both qualifying and eliminations, to J.R. Todd’s continuing emergence as a topflight Top Fuel contender (thanks in no small measure to tuner Jimmy Walsh) to the crowd’s unending love affair with John Force, the AC Delco Nationals was another memorable affair.  Television failed to properly expose how hideous the yellow tones of Doug Kalitta’s Budweiser Shootout-winning one-off paint scheme was, but maybe it was lucky, because when they returned to their familiar “Big Red” Mac Tools race car body on Sunday they failed to return to the winners circle – and may have ceded this year’s championship to Schumacher, who went all the way.

Saturday’s Bud race was somewhat bittersweet for the competitors, as they knew it would be the last sponsored by the nation’s largest brewer.  More than just a business arrangement, there’s a personal connection between the suds maker and the drivers, and that connection is A-B executive Karen Holschlag, who has overseen the program for years.  She was teary-eyed as she hugged one driver after another at the finish line.

 Pro Stock was the Greg and Jason Show, as they dominated from start to finish.  Well, almost to the finish.  Line’s clinching of the POWERade championship in the semifinal round resulted in a protracted love fest, first at the finish line with teammate Anderson, and then on the starting line with the fans.  It was probably just enough to throw Line off his game long enough to have Richie Stevens cut a killer 0.002 Reaction Time and win on a five-hundredths of a second holeshot.

With Force outgunned by Tommy Johnson, Jr. in the second round (with the latter’s car displaying a Vote No sticker on a California ballot initiative on its flanks) Johnson was himself shot down in the finale by rookie Jack Beckman, Whit Bazemore’s replacement in the Matco Tools Dodge.  

With a venue like The Strip, the contenders could have had names like Langlo, Benjamin and Shorts, and the fans still would have turned out in record numbers.  In today’s world a drag race is about a lot more than what takes place between the start and finish lines.  It’s about the total NHRA POWERade “experience,” and few events can match those staged at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.