A couple days ago, the National Hot Rod Association announced that they would have elimination rounds broadcast LIVE on ESPN 2 from three different races during the 2014 season. Those races are the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire, the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, and the Mopar Mile-High Nationals from Denver. The three broadcasts are June 22, June 29, and July 20 respectively. Broadcasts will be three to three and a half hours in length and are an expansion from the 2013 season when one race’s final eliminations were shown live. These broadcasts will give you a shot to see unintentional cameos by our own Lohnes while he is working on the track announcing staff at a couple of the live races.

While the “bumping” of broadcasts has been getting the dander of drag racing fans up recently, we think that this announcement is pretty cool. Being able to watch live, as it is happening drag racing on TV instead of the internet is a big deal and even if you can’t tune in during the prescribed broadcast times, you can set your DVR and virtually tape the action to watch at your convenience. Just keep your eyes peeled for the guy with the massive head on the top end.

HERE’S THE FULL RELEASE FROM THE NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION –

The NHRA, in conjunction with broadcast partner ESPN, will feature three live broadcasts during the remainder of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Hosted by Dave Rieff and analysis by Mike Dunn, the first live event will air on ESPN with three hours of coverage of the Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H., on June 22 from 2-5 p.m. EDT. The next live broadcast will be the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago on ESPN2 June 29 for three hours from 3-6 p.m. EDT. The Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver on July 20 will be a three-and-a-half-hour show on ESPN from 2:30-6 p.m. EDT.

Last season, viewers of the Houston event witnessed live elimination rounds of the world’s most powerful form of motorsports and were given a blow-by-blow account of the challenges facing the teams in their bid to hoist an NHRA Wally. This year, the live Sunday broadcast will not only feature the intense on-track action but also highlight the drama and intensity in the pits to see which teams will rise to the challenge of preparing their cars for each subsequent round of racing.

The first two sessions are to be aired on a very short tape-delayed basis, but the network will catch the race-day action live, beginning with the semifinals. From there, the cameras will stay with the racing action as teams advance to the final round on a short turnaround time. The time between rounds will make the pit stops between semifinal and final rounds among the most intense and exciting in all of motorsports as teams service their race vehicles and return to the starting line. Watching the live action will raise the pulse of the viewers as the racers do battle live at the track.

The broadcasts of the Countdown to the Championship will have a new aspect, as all of the qualifying shows in the six-race playoff will re-air on Sunday afternoon. This will allow the viewers an opportunity to catch all the qualifying action prior to the start of the final round coverage Sunday evening. Airtimes for the rebroadcasted qualifying shows will be on NHRA.com leading up to event weekend.

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