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The latest update as of July 20, 2020
It was one very busy weekend in the world of drag racing, led with the fourth (of who knows how many?) NHRA national event of 2020, the Lucas Oil NHRA Summernationals held at Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis. As was done last weekend, Fox Sports Racing carried qualifying on a tape-delayed basis on Saturday, then the final eliminations went live on the entire FOX network on Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather ended things just before the final rounds could be run, with a major thunderstorm postponing the final rounds until the U.S. Nationals on September 5th. First time finalists will be featured in both Top Fuel and Pro Mod, in what will unfortunately be a somewhat anticlimactic ending to what was shaping up to be two very interesting and exciting finals.
On the NHRA Regional event stage, two events went off without any weather troubles, out west at Sonoma Raceway for the first Western Regional race of 2020, and in the midwest, the JEGS Sportsnationals - North Central Regional - Division Three race at Columbus, OH's venerable National Trail Raceway. The two events were headlined with the Top Alcohol cars and while there no changes at the top of the points standings, there was some definite movement below the apex. Here's the latest updated standings (and verified by a quick visit to NHRA.com) posted below. NOTE: The points in red are those not counted towards racers' totals due to them being waived.
With the truncated season due to "you-know-what", Top Alcohol racers can only count their best two races out of their first five regional events, and the best five out of seven national events. At this point, it's interesting to note that only one national event has seen the alky gang - five and a half months ago! - at the Winternationals. And the next national event currently scheduled to include the alcohol cars is the NHRA Indy Nationals in Indianapolis, running from August 6 - 9. However, the alcohol cars will only be running for regional points as the event will focus on the Pro categories for Saturday-Sunday, while the Sportsman cars - including Top Alcohol - will run on Thursday - Friday. We've not seen an event schedule yet, and the Top Alcohol cars may indeed be part of the "big show" on the weekend, but that remains to be seen.
Unless the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals is cancelled or postponed, the first true national event for Top Alky since the Winternationals will be that one, running from August 21 - 23, then followed in quick succession by the NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, and the Denso Spark Plugs U.S. Nationals on the weeks following. Three nationals in three weeks for the alky cars. Hmm... that could decide the season championships before Labor Day.
