The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, aka NHRA Sportsman Drag Racing, will once again be televised on ESPN2 this year. Featuring NHRA Top Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars, along with highlights from Competition Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Stock, and Stock Eliminator, it promises to be another great year of Sportsman Drag Racing for those of us that can’t be at each and every NHRA National Event. The thing we are most excited about is the NHRA Sportsman Spotlight, because it will feature BangShift.com Fans Lewis “the stat guy” Bloom, and Alan Reinhart, going to local NHRA tracks and giving special attention to interesting stories at the local level. We’ve had the pleasure of working with both Alan and Lewis, and can tell you they are both die hard drag race fans, and we know they will do a great job. So, if you can’t get enough drag racing by watching NHRA’s “big show”, then make sure you tune in for all 16 one hour Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series telecasts. That is unless ESPN decides that the Professional European Sock Monkey Football Federation is more important and holds our telecasts hostage until the Monkeys are done…..uhhhh….well you know what monkeys do to footballs.

We’re excited for racing, and have set the DVR so we don’t miss anything.

NHRA Press Release

Glendora, Calif. (Feb. 20, 2013) – The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series will again be televised in 16 one-hour shows on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD, with coverage from select NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series national events, it was announced today by the world’s largest motorsports sanctioning organization.  The popular NHRA Sportsman Spotlights, focusing on NHRA’s Member Track network, will be showcased as part of the race-coverage telecasts.

The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series coverage will air on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD on a tape-delay basis as part of NHRA’s relationship with ESPN, in its second decade as the exclusive home of NHRA Drag Racing.  All 16 telecasts will air on Saturday or Sunday.  The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series has a long-standing tradition of serving as a highly-competitive developmental arena for the future stars of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Returning as anchor of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series telecasts will be long-time NHRA announcer Dave Rieff.  Rieff has been involved for many years with NHRA coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD.   The color analyst role for the shows will be filled by a rotation of two veteran NHRA announcers, Alan Reinhart and Bill Stephens.  Reinhart, whose announcing career spans more than two decades, has been the lead public address announcer of Lucas Oil Series racing at national events and brings extensive knowledge of the series and its competitors.   Stephens has been involved with NHRA on the ESPN telecasts for many years and returns to the sport in 2013 both on-site as a public address announcer and in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series telecasts. ESPN2 is now available in nearly 100 million households.

The popular NHRA Sportsman Spotlight segments will continue in 2013. The segments will showcase unique and interesting stories from NHRA Member Tracks in each of the sanctioning body’s seven divisions as well as focus on the different racing programs available for the weekly NHRA enthusiast.  Two new faces will be a part of the special feature in 2013.  Lewis Bloom, currently involved in the NHRA Mello Yello telecasts on ESPN and best known as “Stat Guy,” will split duties with Reinhart, as they will visit the member tracks and share their reports with viewers during the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series telecasts on ESPN2.

2013 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Television Schedule