




You have 60 runs if you have four categories and an infinite of drivers, and you want to be fair and balanced to all of them. When you think about what we try to cover in a normal event. “There’s a genuine excitement on my end,” Reintjes said, “because this platform, in an hour-and-a-half television show, really shows off eight stars. Drivers, sponsors, and fans stand to benefit. He said he sees a three-pronged value to trumping up this rather early bonus event (at race No. And Steve Reintjes, NHRA vice president of broadcasting, recognized that more is at stake and more substantial is the potential for gain with this race at this time of the season and in the evolution in the 71-year history of the sport. The three-round event will be folded into FOX’s qualifying presentation Saturday. However, in a larger sense, the NHRA is treating this first nitro-class bonus race since the final Traxxas Shootout in 2017 as a marketing tool to gain more (and, in particular, younger) fans and to promote the stars of the sport. So I don’t care who it is-I want to smack ’em down. I don’t know about these other cats, these other jokers, but I look at it as they’re taking my lunch money from me. 5 seed Antron Brown, still in the inaugural months of Top Fuel team ownership and seeking his first victory since last May at Atlanta, said in Zoom call with Toyota drivers Tuesday, “I don’t know how many zeroes are in this check, but I got some bills to pay. Drivers insist callout isn’t personal, but rivalries expected to surface with strategies.įor all the kidding and tongue-in-cheek threats – and even the compliments – NHRA’s elite-eight Top Fuel qualifiers for the NHRA’s Pep Boys All-Star Callout specialty race are focused on only one thing.Įach of the eight drivers wants to claim the $80,000 winner’s share of the $130,000 purse from the bonus race that will take place this Saturday during qualifying for the Amalie Oil Gatornationals at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway.Winner’s $80,000 payout is nearly double the prize for winning one Camping World Drag Racing Series event (which, surprisingly, tops out at $45,000, depending on circumstances).NHRA broadcast vice president Steve Reintjes sees triple opportunity at Gatornationals.
