Halloween Weekend in Las Vegas is crucial to Full Throttle championship chasers
Halloween is celebrated each year on Oct. 31. This year, Oct. 31 also marks the day of final eliminations for the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Oct. 28-31 NHRA Las Vegas Nationals is the next-to-last event on the 2010 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule and the meet is a must-win for any driver or rider who aspires to claim the championship crown.
Children dress up in colorful costumes and go door to door, ringing doorbells and hollering “Trick or treat.” For them, a treat might be a handful of their favorite candy.
For drag racers, the proverbial doorbell is the Christmas tree. They pull up to the starting line and wait for the green light to discover whether they’ll receive a trick (losing traction and going up in smoke on the starting line) or a treat (lighting the win indicator on their side of the track as they cross the finish line.
For kids, Halloween is fun. For drag racers, there is no time for ghosts, goblins or pumpkins. Every waking moment at the track is focused on qualifying, razor-sharp reaction times and winning rounds. For them, the ultimate treat is to win the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals and leave town with the points lead en route to the season finale in Pomona, Calif.
All drivers and riders competed from opening day in the Countdown to 10. At the close of the 17th race on the 23-event schedule, the top 10 competitors in Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle were placed in a six-race shootout for the championship.
In the Top Fuel Dragster ranks, former champions and perennial favorites Larry Dixon (consecutive crowns in 2002 and 2003) and Tony Schumacher (seven titles) are battling Cory McClenathan, Shawn Langdon, Brandon Bernstein, Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown, Morgan Lucas, Steve Torrence and Australia’s David Grubnic for the pot of gold at the end of the 1,000-foot rainbow.
For more information, please call LVMS at (702) 644-4444 or visit www.LVMS.com. Follow LVMS on Facebook and Twitter
