After months of planning, construction and fine-tuning, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is ready for its NHRA four-wide racing debut.
The DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals runs Friday through Sunday at the iconic drag strip, which will bring four-wide racing to the West Coast for the first time. Thousands of hours, tons of gravel and asphalt, pounds of steel rebar and cubic yards of concrete were used to convert the track from two to four lanes since November.
"This was a tremendous undertaking, and we're ready to bring four-wide racing to Las Vegas and the West Coast," LVMS President Chris Powell said. "I'm extremely appreciative of our drag strip staff, construction crews, Las Vegas Paving and everyone involved for their efforts throughout the past six months. Our fans are in for a thrill they won't soon forget, and we can't wait for our track to be showcased like never before."
Here is a look at what went into the drag strip's transformation:
FOUR-WIDE CONVERSION STATISTICS:
- Entire racing surface of old track was removed (only left wall remains)
- Underground tunnel extended 64 feet
- More than 225,000 pounds of steel rebar used
- 10,000 tons of gravel used
- 10,000 feet of fiber optic cable used for timing system
- 8,000 tons of asphalt used
- 4,400 cubic yards of concrete used
The DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals is the fourth of 24 events on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, which again will be carried on FOX Sports and FOX Sports 1. Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Tommy Johnson Jr. (Funny Car), Tanner Gray (Pro Stock) and Jay Turner (Top Fuel Harley) won titles at last year's spring event.
