{"id":63599,"date":"2019-07-05T19:49:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T02:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=63599"},"modified":"2019-07-05T19:49:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T02:49:12","slug":"win-light-returns-to-nhra-qualifying-runs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/win-light-returns-to-nhra-qualifying-runs\/","title":{"rendered":"Win Light Returns to NHRA Qualifying Runs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JR
JR Todd runs at Epping. Photo Courtesy of NHRA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nobody knows why NHRA decided not to show win lights for qualifying runs, but it turned out to
\nbe a erroneous call. That\u2019s why, starting this weekend in the seventh annual NHRA New
\nEngland Nationals, the sanctioning organization is bringing back the win light for all activities,
\nincluding the premier Mello Yello categories of Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock
\nMotorcycle.<\/p>\n

Only the two nitro classes are running at Epping, New Hampshire this weekend, but spectators
\npresent for all class runs at New England Dragway will get to see who was quickest from
\nChristmas Tree to finish line beams once again, knowing which is the first car at the stripe.
\nNHRA said the change is due to fan feedback.<\/p>\n

The feedback fans gave to NHRA indicated the excitement of qualifying was lacking when they
\ndidn\u2019t know who made the better pass as cars lined up to set times for Sunday eliminations.
\nWhile the competitor reaching the finish line first isn\u2019t always the driver with the lowest elapsed
\ntime – which is what counts for elimination ladder positions – not knowing who arrived at the line
\nfirst made the exercise less exciting for those in the stands and standing next to the drag strip\u2019s
\ntwo lanes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFierce competition is part of what makes NHRA Championship Drag Racing such an intense
\nexperience,\u201d said Josh Peterson, vice president of racing administration. \u201cOur fans want to see
\nvictories and defeats, regardless of which days they attend our events.
\n\u201cAt its core,\u201d Peterson continued, \u201cdrag racing is a contest between two individuals, racing side
\nby side – whether they are competing for the best time or to advance to the next round. It\u2019s
\nevident that fans want to punctuate that contest with a win light. We are excited to turn it back
\non starting with the NHRA New England Nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Gibbs, formerly an official with NHRA and currently the producer of Nitro Revival in May,
\nas well as other nostalgia events, summed up the feelings of many close to the sport. \u201cIt\u2019s
\namazing that they ever got talked into the nonsensical deal (of not showing winners) in the first
\nplace… and that it took so long to acknowledge there was a \u2018popular demand\u2019 to reverse the
\ndecision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Win lights on qualification runs return to NHRA this weekend at the New England Nationals.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":63601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029,3399],"tags":[6595,976,7,4485,6936,6937],"class_list":["post-63599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","category-nhra","tag-2019-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-season","tag-epping","tag-nhra","tag-nhra-new-england-nationals","tag-qualifying-lights","tag-win-lights-return"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/156-JRTodd-Friday-Epping-min-e1562381238989.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-gxN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63603,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63599\/revisions\/63603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}