When the NHRA is scheduled to return in June in Gainesville, Florida, the plan is to have fans not only in the stands, but in the pits where race teams work on their cars.
“Our goal is to go back racing with fans,” NHRA president Glen Cromwell told NBC Sports. “We are the most fan-friendly [sport]. I think that’s what separates our sport from everybody else, the accessibility and interaction that our sport has. I just don’t see [racing] happening without fans.”
Cromwell didn’t rule out racing without fans if a workable model can be found, but he told NBC Sports that the NHRA’s focus is on racing with fans when the rescheduled Gatornationals are run June 5-7. Including the Gatornationals and 16 additional events, the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season would consist of 19 races, down from the 24 scheduled before racing was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first two events of the season were held as scheduled.
The NHRA announced in March that its six-event Countdown to the Championship playoffs won’t be held this season, with the champions determined by the season-long point standings as had been the case before implementing the playoff format.
Cromwell told NBC Sports that the NHRA is working with local officials where tracks are located in addition to the Centers for Disease Control to make sure their plans are safe for everyone who would be in attendance, competitors, spectators, sponsors and those working at the tracks.
“Our goal is to put a schedule together that we believe is the most responsible and safe schedule we can,” Cromwell said. “If we go to a certain state that does not allow us to race with fans, we’ll have to make a decision at that time on how to address that.”
The state of Florida has already welcomed the return of professional racing without fans and UFC competition is set to be held in Jacksonville without fans beginning May 9. The mayor Homestead, Florida, has said NASCAR would be welcome to race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, though without fans. Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach and Tampa Bay Downs have been running thoroughbred horse races without fans.
If pit access is permitted at NHRA events, Cromwell said it will be handled differently than in the past due to the pandemic.
“It’s going to be a phased-in program, a slow process,” he told NBC Sports. “… We want to make sure fans feel comfortable around other people.”