NHRA Adds Incentives for Racers, Promises $25 Million Prize Fund for 2025
The NHRA's U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis is the cutoff race for title-eligible racers, the one which determines seeding for the six-race Countdown to the Championship.
But this time, after 18 years of the playoff system, the sanctioning body will award more than just a 10-point advantage after "The Big Go" to the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series leaders in the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes. Although it didn't specify how the additional bonus money would be split, the NHRA did say Wednesday that the combined payout for those No. 1-ranked drivers would be nearly $400,000 as part of an overall $25 million fund this season.
'It is always our goal to incentivize our amazing racers at all levels, and we've been intently focused on introducing new ways to reward our drivers and race teams,' NHRA president Glen Cromwell said.
'We're excited to award $25 million to these incredible teams and competitors who race at such a high level and put on a tremendous show for our fans across the country. We are thrilled to introduce programs like a regular-season championship across our four professional categories, which provides added excitement to the regular season and the world's biggest drag race, the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals.'
The '25 in '25' purse includes the event earnings for drivers in the Mission Foods and Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series on the 20-race national-event tour, as well as the year-end championship purse for the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, payouts for the All-Star Call-out races in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in the four professional categories, and other incentive programs.
The 2025 season will open March 6-9 with the 56th annual Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at Florida's Gainesville Raceway, the first of 14 races that compose the regular season. The points will reset for the championship competitors during the last six races of the year.
In 2024, Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Austin Prock (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) claimed championships in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Of the four, only Prock and Herrera entered the playoff as top seeds. Doug Kalitta was the Top Fuel leader by the end of the Indianapolis showcase event, and Dallas Glenn was atop the standings in Pro Stock.
The Top Fuel class has produced the most champions from the No. 1 berth (10), with Steve Torrence earning three of his four straight crowns that way. The 2020 season did not have a Countdown because of the pandemic. Just four times did the Funny Car top-ranked driver become the champion, and Ron Capps did it twice (2016, 2021). In Pro Stock, it happened seven times—and Erica Enders (2015, 2022) was the lone competitor to do it more than once. Nine is the magic number in Pro Stock Motorcycle, with Matt Smith, Eddie Krawiec, Andrew Hines, and Gaige Herrera each doing it multiple times.
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