Big news from the formerly named Heartland Park Topeka facility in Topeka, Kansas. The home of the NHRA Heartland Nationals will now be known as Heartland Motorsports Park and the track announced the fact that they have been working wit Larry Larson to put on a massive and high paying no-prep event in 2018. The No-Prep nationals will follow the ever more popular format of running the track backwards, starting in the shutdown area and running towards the starting line.
While this sounds completely insane, the reality is that Heartland Motorsports Park is one the LONGEST tracks on the NHRA tour and there’s more than ample room to have an eighth mile no-prep run completed (including shut down) before the time the cars actually get to the strip or anywhere near the starting line.
Sounds like fun to us!
No Prep Nationals Reverses Track and Starts in the Shut Down Area
The Inaugural No Prep Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park in 2018 will take no prep racing to the next level by providing the best un-prepped surface at the top end of the track, allowing participants to race back toward the tower suites. The event scheduled for September 28 & 29, 2018 will host Friday Grudge Racing, followed by Saturday eliminations with a combined purse near $70,000 in cash, plus additional prizes from local and national sponsors. Racing will take place throughout the day and night on Saturday, running until daylight Sunday if needed to accommodate all competitors. Heartland Motorsports Parkhas a 22-acre paved pit area for parking near the top end of the track, and will utilize its road course for staging before turning onto the starting area of the No Prep track at the top end. A mobile timing system used in the shut down area will provide ready to go 1/8th mile street racing. Fans will get to watch from up close, with guardwalls separating the crowd for safety, and providing the opportunity for event broadcasting.
Larry Larson, one of no prep racing’s most well-known and winningest racers, has been consulting and helping promoters of the inaugural track reversal race. “It will be something new and exciting for the sport of drag racing. So many of us have gone down a drag strip the traditional direction, but this time we will get to compete at one of the nicest facilities in the country, and run the track backwards to start and race on a true no prep surface from the top end.”
More details and competition rules will be provided following the upcoming PRI Show in Indianapolis in December.
When are people going to realize No Prep is dumb? Is it going to take the death of several of its “stars”? You would think that seeing so many idiots wad up their $100000+ cars doing this would teach them….
It is no more challenging than trying to get a 10000 hp Top Fuel car down a prepped track .
Good Luck with this event, as we all know HPT needs all it can get!
I’ve been there since the beginning…