"The NHRA released the remaining dates and sites for their 21-race, 2023 Camping World Drag Racing Series on Monday during the final day of the U.S. Nationals. Additionally, there will be a pair of Pep Boys NHRA All-Star Callout races, first in Gainesville, Fla., and then at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Route 66 Raceway, located outside of Chicago, Ill, will also return to the schedule, replacing Virginia Motorsports Park, which will not return."


Interesting they won't go back to VMP. I always though that was a good race and a top shelf track.

I wonder who decided that, the Franklins or NHRA brass.


2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Season Schedule

March 9-12: 54th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville Raceway, Gainesville, Fl. The race will also include the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout.

March 24-26: 38th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, Phoenix

March 30-April 2: 63rd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com, Pomona Raceway, Pomona, Calif.

April 14-16: 23rd annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas

April 28-30: 13th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, zMAX Dragway, Charlotte

May 19-21: 23rd annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance, Route 66 Raceway, Chicago

June 2-4: 10th annual NHRA New England Nationals, New England Dragway, Epping, N.H.

June 9-11: 22nd annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol Dragway, Bristol, Tenn.

June 22-25: 17th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, Norwalk, Ohio

July 14-16: 43rd annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals, Bandimere Speedway, Denver

July 21-23: 34th annual Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals, Pacific Raceways, Seattle

July 28-30: 35th annual DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.

Aug. 11-13: 34th annual Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor, Heartland Motorsports Park, Topeka, Kan.

Aug. 17-20: 41st annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minn.

Aug. 30-Sept. 4: 69th annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis. The race will also include the Pep Boys NHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout.

COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Sept. 14-17: 38th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, Maple Grove Raceway, Reading, Pa.

Sept. 22-24: 15th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals, zMAX Dragway, Charlotte.

Sept. 29-Oct. 1: 12th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, World Wide Technology Raceway, St. Louis

Oct. 12-15: 38th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals, Texas Motorplex, Dallas

Oct. 26-29: 23rd annual NHRA Nevada Nationals, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas

Nov. 9-12: 58th annual NHRA Finals, Pomona Raceway, Pomona, Calif.

This is 100% my opinion...but I think the Franklin's owning the PDRA and Jeffers buying IHRA might have something to do with it. Especially since Jeffers' customer base is revolved around the PDRA-type cars. We'll know when the D1 schedule comes out, if not sooner.

Good to see Chicago back on the schedule, now I just need to get enough grade points to get in.

VMP just posed this on their facebook page. Sounds like it didn't make financial sense to have the event.

That is interesting, I imagine this is the same thing with Houston. I guess Houston will at least be open for 2023 but will not host an NHRA event.

"overly damaging to the health of the facility" hmmmm...

Franklins aren't dummies. Switch to IHRA coming?

Not sure how hosting a NHRA event, ends up costing the track money? The National event at Brainerd, will keep the track in the black, with that event alone. Everything else is profit.

Kind of sounds like they made money, just not enough money in their opinion.

Event sanction fees. The NHRA charges each track a fee to host a national event. The track keeps all revenue beyond the sanction fee. These days, gate admission, vendors, concessions, etc probably cover that cost, but may not make the facility enough money to justify the effort to promote and host such a large event. That's why title event sponsors are so important, and it sounds like VMP couldn't find a partner to sponsor the event. I'm sure the Lucas Oil partnership is a big reason Brainerd national event remains profitable for the track.

This thread got me curious about drag strip economics, so I did some searching online. A lot of the discussions I found weren't current, so today's situation probably makes things even tougher.

The gist of what I found indicated that an NHRA National event should be solid ROI, but it also means having to scale up the track's capabilities for increased attendance, security, higher insurance, track personnel, etc.. I have no idea what the failed negotiations between VMP and NHRA were about, but sure sounds like VMP decided it wasn't worth whatever the new terms the NHRA proposed. NHRA takes a cut off the top... perhaps they're raising their % and / or tightening up contract conditions for what the promoter can / cannot get compensated for in the event of weather issue. "Thanks, but no thanks!"

NHRA Divisional events have the reputation of being break-even, at best, for most tracks. There are large numbers of racers and increased payouts, but no corresponding increase in paying spectators and sales from concessions, etc. "Profitable Divisional" sounds like an oxymoron the way it was described by some.

The profitability of regular bracket series sounds like it lives or dies by the amount of sponsorship the track can bring in. Whether the sponsors are getting much back for their participation is questionable; one company stated they paid for series $ and high-visibility signage placement for a couple of years and were still waiting for new business to come in as a result.

Special events can go well or fail miserably, depending upon purses vs entries, cost of advertising vs number of butts in the stands, up-front money for "name" racers, etc.

The only thing that sounded like a "for sure" profitable event was a test & tune, simply because of no payouts. However, there's still a fixed cost that has to be covered by a minimum number of entries to make it worth opening the gates. I hit a couple of T&Ts earlier this year at a track that's trying to get its feet back on the ground and there were so few cars that I doubt they covered their costs; nothing is ever "pure profit".

Tommy Franklin didn't get to be Tommy Franklin by making bad deals or playing "look at me, everybody".