For years now, NHRA racers have been hoping the sanctioning body will find a way to make the U.S. Nationals, its oldest and allegedly most prominent race, worthy of the media hype.
 
The NHRA made a move this past Tuesday, announcing an increase in points for the Labor Day weekend classic at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

For years now, NHRA racers have been hoping the sanctioning body will find a way to make the U.S. Nationals, its oldest and allegedly most prominent race, worthy of the media hype.
 
The NHRA made a move this past Tuesday, announcing an increase in points for the Labor Day weekend classic at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.
 
And eight-time and current Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher, who has won that event nine times, is all for it. He said he wouldn’t mind seeing an even bigger increase than one and one-half points.
 
"Indy is supposed to be bigger. It's the Big Go. It's supposed to be the biggest race. It has more money, more people show up to win it, and it should come with more points," he said. "I think most people always felt that. Just to have it as just another race never made sense.
 
"Being an important race for so many cars that can come in and change the position they go into the Countdown, I think it's really cool. I almost wish it was double points. I've won it enough times where it would have always helped me," Schumacher said.
 
"But take that out and still, for everybody, because we're going into a race now where it's we haven't even started to qualify yet - all things being even, I still wish it was a lot more points," he said. "I think it makes the sport bigger, makes it more important, and starts to do what it needs to do at Indy."
 
Graham Light, the NHRA's senior vice-president of racing operations, recognized that and the significance of the race's position in the 24-event schedule. It is the last of the 18-race so-called "regular season," the last chance to qualify for the field of 10 drivers eligible for the championship. The six-race Countdown to the Championship will start with the Sept. 12-14 Pep Boys Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway at Concord, N.C.
 
"With more points up for grabs, we certainly expect to see a lot of movement throughout the top 10s in each of the Mello Yello Series classes on the final day of the regular season,” Light said. "The Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals is already one of the most pressure-packed events on the circuit, and we expect that level of excitement to increase significantly with this points increase."
               
The 61st Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals is scheduled for Sept. 2-7. It will include two bonus races, the Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Top Fuel and Funny Car.
 
As for the Countdown, which the NHRA sprang on the racers and public in 2007 and the next year tweaked to its present format, Schumacher said he wavers on how he feels about it.
 
"I go back and forth on it, honestly," he said. "The last year before the Countdown, we won the championship by setting a world record on the last run of the year. If they could do that every year, they'd be sold-out shows. The Countdown was really put in effect to keep people watching at the end of the year, when most of the time by Reading, Pennsylvania, someone had the championship locked up in the old way and people didn't even need to see it.
 
"Is it doing what it's supposed to do? I haven't seen the numbers, but I would assume it's probably a good call. If not NASCAR would have backed out of it a long time ago," Schumacher said, referring to NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, NHRA's playoff model."
 
He indicated he wouldn't mind if the sanctioning body refined it again.
 
"I think NHRA has got a job to do," Schumacher said. "They've got to look at each way, and maybe they can fine tune it. And I don't know better ways, but they've got a marketing department and they can come up with ideas that are great. And we look and we listen, and if we can evolve it even more and listen to ideas and make it better, that's what we're going to do."
 
Schumacher said that considering this sport, basically, is entertainment, it needs to try fresh and engaging ideas to keep the sport alive and relevant.
 
"We are entertainment. That's what it is. We show up and we have to win and it's our job, but we're entertainment," he said. "We're competing with a lot of other companies doing the same thing, and we just have to make it better for the fans in any way we can. Better for the fans, more exciting for them at the end of the year when it's important. At the end of the day, we have to sell commercials, TV slots. It's what we do. Let's keep it going."
 
Mike Green, Schumacher's crew chief for the U.S. Army Dragster, had a suggestion.
 
Schumacher said Green "brought it up last year, and I thought it was fantastic. He said, 'You know, once you get into the Countdown, when you qualify [and] you're the No. 1 pick, you get to walk up and choose who you race.' There's other ideas out there that are floating out there. I thought that was great. You walk up, if I'm No. 1 going into the last race and the No. 6 guy is Kalitta and he needs to beat me to be the champ he can walk up if he's the qualifier and choose me."
 
He conceded that some clever ideas might need some massaging before they are widely considered fair and effective, but he said he hopes the racers and the NHRA keep working together to figure out ways to grow the sport.
 
"There's ideas. That being said, it's going to make it so confusing for the fan who walks up to understand who's racing who. You wouldn't know until Sunday morning. But we'll just keep working on it, man," he said.
 
One thing that's clear is the new points structure for the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle lasses at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals this fall.
 
The point-and-a-half scale means the winner of the race in each pro class will claim 150 points. The runners-up will earn 120 points. Semifinalists will earn 90 points apiece. The second-round finishers will earn 60 points each, and first-round finishers all will claim 30 points.
               
A maximum of 208 points is available at the event to a single racer in each Mello Yello Series category. That includes qualifying points (15 points to each driver who makes at least one qualifying attempt). In addition to 165 points for winning and making a qualifying attempt, the maximum number includes 20 points for setting a national record, eight points for earning the No. 1 qualifying position and a maximum total of 15 points for earning three qualifying bonus points in each of the five qualifying sessions. So the qualifying bonus points will remain the same as at all other races.
 
Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals points structure:

Winner: 150, Runner-up: 120, Semifinalist: 90, Quarterfinalist: 60, First round finisher: 30
All drivers, one qualifying attempt: 15, National E.T. record: 20, Qualifying position points: 1-8, Qualifying bonus points: 1-3 per session
 
NHRA National Events points structure:

(All races except Indianapolis)
Winner: 100, Runner-up: 80, Semifinalist: 60, Quarterfinalist: 40, First round finisher: 20
All drivers, one qualifying attempt: 10, National E.T. record: 20, Qualifying position points: 1-8, Qualifying bonus points: 1-3 per session

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