On the heels of its 10th anniversary season of all-eighth-mile drag racing action, the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) announced today its eight-race 2024 schedule. The series will head to Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., for the first time, while also returning to five familiar racetracks throughout the East Coast and Midwest. Along with eight points-earning races, drivers will compete for the opportunity to take part in the fourth annual Summit Racing Equipment PDRA ProStars.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s not broken, don\u2019t fix it. Simple, right?\u201d said Tyler Crossnoe, series director, PDRA. \u201cOne of the hardest parts of the entire series is finding the right track partners and facilities to host events that can hold 3-second, 200-plus-MPH runs for Pro Mods, park over 300 85-plus-feet-long motorhomes and stackers, and have the right amenities for fans to enjoy a day or weekend at the races. The concept sounds very simple, but it is one of the hardest things we face each season.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only are there racer logistics to keep in mind, but staying in the same market year after year is extremely important to building a fan base, something that we are beginning to take very seriously here at the PDRA,\u201d Crossnoe continued. \u201cWe\u2019ve given the racers a great racer-based platform for years. It\u2019s now time to continue to tweak, get better, and begin to showcase the insane amount of talent to motorsports fans of all ages. Moving into 2024, we are honored to return to familiar stops like GALOT, Virginia, Norwalk, Maryland, and U.S. 131, along with adding a new world-class facility in Bristol Dragway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2024 PDRA season will kick off at the traditional host of the season opener, GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson, N.C., on April 3-6. Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie will host its first of two points-earning events on April 18-20. In what has become a Memorial Day Weekend tradition, the PDRA will head to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, on May 23-25. The first half of the season will wrap up June 13-15 at Maryland International Raceway.<\/p>\n
The Summit Racing Equipment PDRA ProStars race, held in conjunction with VMP\u2019s Night of Fire on July 13, will bring together some of the most consistent PDRA drivers in winner-take-all, chip-drawn shootouts. The one-day event also features concerts, exhibition cars, and a family-friendly festival atmosphere.<\/p>\n
The second half of the season begins Aug. 1-3 at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich. A few weeks later, the series will take on \u201cThunder Valley\u201d at Bristol Dragway on Aug. 22-24.<\/p>\n
Bristol Dragway (Van Abernethy photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Originally built in 1965, Bristol Dragway is located in Bristol, Tenn., near NASCAR\u2019s Bristol Motor Speedway. Though known for its history, Bristol Dragway is also a state-of-the-art facility within the Speedway Motorsports portfolio of racetracks. Under the leadership of the late Bruton Smith, Bristol Dragway became one of the marquee tracks in the Southeast.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, Tommy [Franklin, PDRA owner] and I have said, \u2018We need to be in Bristol. We need to fill that spot on the map,\u2019\u201d Crossnoe said. \u201cIn 2023, the facility invested into their racing surface right before the national event, which yielded some of the best racing in years at the historic facility. After a site visit a few weeks ago, meeting with Brandon, Trey, Jack, and the team, both sides were excited. We knew that this needed to happen for 2024 and conversations began to ramp up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to bring the PDRA\u2019s talent pool to a new market and one that I believe will thrive in the fact that there has not been an eighth-mile Pro Modified series at the facility in over 10 years,\u201d Crossnoe added. \u201cInaugural events in a new market and facility are always tough \u2013 there are always things that are not going to go as planned. Our team is known for adjusting on the fly, and I\u2019m sure we will continue to do just that to ensure the best show and race possible. After all, it\u2019s Bristol, baby!\u201d<\/p>\n
After taking the month of September off, the season will wind down back at GALOT on Oct. 3-5 and VMP on Oct. 17-20.<\/p>\n
April 3-6 \u2013 East Coast Nationals \u2013 GALOT Motorsports Park \u2013 Benson, NC<\/p>\n
April 18-20 \u2013 Mid-Atlantic Showdown \u2013 Virginia Motorsports Park \u2013 Dinwiddie, VA<\/p>\n
May 23-25 \u2013 American Doorslammer Challenge \u2013 Summit Motorsports Park \u2013 Norwalk, OH<\/p>\n
June 13-15 \u2013 North vs. South Shootout \u2013 Maryland International Raceway \u2013 Budds Creek, MD<\/p>\n
July 12-13 \u2013 Summit Racing PDRA ProStars \u2013 Virginia Motorsports Park \u2013 Dinwiddie, VA<\/p>\n
Aug. 1-3 \u2013 PDRA\/US 131 Northern Nationals \u2013 US 131 Motorsports Park \u2013 Martin, MI<\/p>\n
Aug. 22-24 \u2013 Thunder Valley Throwdown \u2013 Bristol Dragway \u2013 Bristol, TN<\/p>\n
Oct. 3-5 \u2013 DragWars \u2013 GALOT Motorsports Park \u2013 Benson, NC<\/p>\n
Oct. 17-20 \u2013 Brian Olson Memorial World Finals \u2013 Virginia Motorsports Park \u2013 Dinwiddie, VA<\/p>\n
PDRA will make additional announcements regarding its 2024 season during the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show, Dec. 7-9, in Indianapolis.<\/span><\/p>\n\n The post Bristol Dragway Joins Five Familiar Tracks for PDRA\u2019s Eight-Race 2024 Schedule<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the heels of its 10th anniversary season of all-eighth-mile drag racing action, the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) announced today its eight-race 2024 schedule. The series will head to Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., for the first time, while also returning to five familiar racetracks throughout the East Coast and Midwest. Along with eight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,78117,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-race-pages","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91206,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90402\/revisions\/91206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}