NHRA Drag Racing Season Kicks off on ESPN2

(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

The 2012 season for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will kick off this weekend in Pomona, Calif., with the 12^th season of exclusive coverage on ESPN networks. Qualifying and eliminations coverage from all 23 events in the series this season will air either ESPN or ESPN2 on a same-day basis, with 20 eliminations programs scheduled for prime time Sunday night airings.

All six eliminations programs in the NHRA’s “Countdown to the Championship” playoffs will have Sunday night prime time airings, and the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis will once again feature 11 hours of expanded coverage, including six hours of eliminations on Monday, Sept. 3.

Qualifying coverage from this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals in Pomona will air Saturday, Feb. 11, at 11 p.m. ET with eliminations airing Sunday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m., both on ESPN2.

ESPN2’s drag racing team returns in 2012 led by Paul Page, who became lead announcer in 2006. The award-winning Page has worked in motorsports broadcasting since 1974 and served as lap-by-lap announcer for the Indianapolis 500 on either radio or TV for more than 25 years.  

Former drag racer Mike Dunn, a 22-time winner in NHRA competition and one of only three drivers to have scored more than 10 wins in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, returns for his 11th season as ESPN’s drag racing analyst. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff return as pit reporters for the full season, with John Kernan and Jamie Howe splitting duty as a third pit reporter all year.

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will be featured on ESPN through 2016 as part of a five-year, multimedia rights agreement extension forged between the NHRA and ESPN in 2009. The NHRA has appeared exclusively on the ESPN networks since 2001. By the end of the extended agreement, the partnership will have been in place for 16 years.

ESPN2 also will continue its coverage of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the premier sportsman series in drag racing and, for many aspiring racers, a stepping stone for the future stars of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.