For years, drag racers have chased championships, national event victories and the occasional payday capable of carrying a team through the next few races.
This weekend at Darana Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, they’re chasing something considerably larger.
The IHRA Triple Crown has introduced a $1 million bonus in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Modified, Mountain Motor Pro Stock, and Pro Stock for any driver capable of sweeping all three races in the series. Combined with event purses that range from $150,000 for Nitro winners to $50,000 in other professional categories, the program has created one of the richest opportunities the sport has seen in decades.
The concept sounds simple enough. Be the driver who wins three races and collect a million dollars as an additional prize added to the already $450,000 winner’s purse in the nitro divisions.
The reality is considerably more difficult, especially in fields packed with former champions, national event winners and racers who understand that a single mistake can end their chances.
That’s why Friday’s qualifying sessions carried a little more significance than normal. Two qualifying sessions to get into the field; miss that and you miss your chance. Then it becomes the reality that no one can collect a million-dollar bonus without winning every single round of competition.
Funny Car veteran Del Worsham has spent enough years in the sport to appreciate what a prize of that size could mean. Not that Worsham hasn’t won the lion’s share of prize money in the rejuvenated IHRA having made the final round of every event for the last two seasons except for one.
The former world champion has won major races, championships and substantial purses throughout his career, yet he still paused when asked about the impact of a seven-figure payday.
“It’s an enormous opportunity… I think not just myself, I think any racer out there, a million-dollar payday would have to be a life-changing amount of money that could really change the way you do things,” Worsham said. “To me, I think the million dollars here would be equal to winning Atlanta in 1991, where the $20,000 catapulted me to be able to run the whole season. With a million dollars, I could probably go to all the races I want to go to the rest of the year.”
Worsham views the bonus through vast experience while others see it as an incredible opportunity afforded to more than just the top teir teams.
Jason Harris, one of the leading contenders in Pro Modified, operates a team that doesn’t enjoy the financial advantages of some larger organizations. For him, the bonus isn’t just a headline-grabbing number. It’s a chance to fundamentally change the way his team operates.
“A million dollars for my racing program would just, it’d be life changing for me,” Harris said. “We’re a lower budget team. We rely on a lot of good sponsors, small sponsors, and a million dollars, I could probably race three years.”
Harris’ answer was echoed elsewhere in the pits.
Mountain Motor Pro Stock standout John DeFlorian had just secured the No. 1 qualifying position when the conversation turned toward the Triple Crown bonus. Like Harris, he immediately focused on what the opportunity could mean beyond a single race weekend.
“That’d be life changing. Life changing,” DeFlorian said. “The thing of it is, is it all starts right here. And everybody here knows that it means nothing if you don’t win this race, other than it’s still … I mean, it’s good, but as far as it doesn’t give you the opportunity to go up there and be able to, maybe, have a piece of history happen.”
Top Fuel racer Shawn Reed became one of the first high-profile drivers to commit to the Triple Crown concept when the program was announced. Reed backed up that commitment Friday night by recording the quickest 1,000-foot elapsed time in IHRA Top Fuel history and earning the No. 1 qualifying position.
Even after the record run, Reed wasn’t interested in discussing what might happen months from now.
“It’s just one round at a time,” Reed said. “You can’t even think about that. That’s so far down the road and you got to get through round one tomorrow and then you got to get through number two and then you got to get through number three. And then if you can win that thing, then you got a couple months to think about the chances and the possibilities like winning the lotto.”
Funny Car racer Dale Creasy Jr. shared a similar outlook.
Creasy arrived in Hebron carrying memories of a costly DNQ at the facility’s previous IHRA event. After recovering to earn the No. 1 qualifying position this weekend, he had little interest in looking beyond the next round.
“Tomorrow morning, first round is the only thing that I’m thinking about right now,” Creasy said. “I don’t look at the ladder because anything could happen. We are capable of running as good as anybody here and we proved that today, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen tomorrow.”
Creasy’s perspective highlights one of the challenges built into the Triple Crown format.
A driver can possess the quickest car in the field, earn the No. 1 qualifying position and still see the million-dollar opportunity disappear with a broken $5 part. The bonus rewards perfection in a sport where perfection rarely survives for long.
That reality is one reason racers throughout the pit area continue talking about the Triple Crown. The money is impossible to ignore and the challenge may be even harder to overlook.
Worsham understands both sides of the equation.
The veteran has seen purses rise and fall throughout his career, but he admits a seven-figure bonus remains difficult to comprehend.
“I’m obviously at the very end of my career, not the beginning,” Worsham said. “It could really be a game-changer for somebody who’s looking to get started right now. It’s a lot of money, man. It’s worth it. It’s a game-changer. A million dollars is a lot of money, probably even to a billionaire.”
What Worsham fails to understand is the lack of NHRA top ten finishers that didn’t even give the series a try. He offered one final observation about the opportunity sitting in front of the competitors gathered at Darana Raceway.
“I guess everybody already has a million dollars so they don’t need it.”
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