NHRA Announces Traxxas Nitro Shootout At Mac Tools US Nationals

The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) has oftentimes had races within a race promoted by sponsors of one type or another. 

There's the K&N Challenge for Pro Stock and at one time there was a Ringers Gloves competition for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

Now new participant Traxxas has announced a Traxxas Nitro Shootout for both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes that will be staged at the Mac Tools US Nationals over the Labor Day weekend, easily NHRA's biggest race of the season.

"The NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootouts redefine what a race within a race is all about," said Mike Jenkins, owner and president of Traxxas, which builds the coolest remote control racers on the planet. "We worked with NHRA to craft a program that rewards the winners of NHRA Full Throttle events and the leaders in the points standings, while at the same time provides an opportunity for fans to vote for their favorite drivers."

The Nitro Shootout gives three opportunities for eight Top Fuel and Funny Car teams to qualify for this special race.  

Point leaders in both categories following the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway automatically qualify as top seeds, even if they've not won a national event this year.

The first seven winners in both categories will qualify, beginning with this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Pomona and concluding at the Brainerd race. If the points leaders do not win one of the first 16 events of the season in their category, their provisional spots will bump the seventh event winner in each class. If there are less than seven different winners prior to the start of the Mac Tools US Nationals, rankings after Brainerd will fill any open positions up to No. 7. Seeding for the top seven positions will be based on season-long point standings after Brainerd.

Finally, once the first seven positions in the field are set, the eighth and final spot in Top Fuel and Funny Car will be determined by a fan vote and lottery-style drawing.  The fan-vote selections in each category will be eligible to become the eighth seeds in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootouts.

Voting for the final spot takes place on NHRA's Facebook page and through a lottery-style drawing at the Mac Tools US Nationals. Every unqualified driver in Top Fuel and Funny car, who has competed in all 16 events leading up to that race will be included in the Facebook fan vote. Based on the percentage of fan votes received, drivers receive an equivalent percentage of chances in the lottery.

Confused yet? NHRA gives an example: if a driver earns 15 percent of the fan vote, he or she will have 15 chances out of 100 in the lottery-style drawings and every eligible driver will have at least one chance in that drawing.  

The money is darn good for this new Traxxas Nitro Shootout. The winners in each category will receive $100,000 and the program will award the top four finishers in each event, with runners-up receiving $15,000 and the semifinal losers earning $7500 each. The Traxxas Nitro Shootouts--held within qualifying for the Mac Tools US Nationals, will be featured on the Sunday, September 2nd ESPN2/ESPN2HD qualifying shows.