NHRA Axes Seattle Race Weekend, Finds New Date for Pomona

The easing of mask-wearing mandates and rising national vaccination rates were not enough to save the 2021 Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Kent, Wash., located just south of Seattle.

The Washington round, which was scheduled for July 30-Aug. 1, of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing season has been canceled. In its place, and on the same dates, the NHRA is slotting in the previously postponed 61st annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com at Pomona, Calif.

The Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, which traditionally kicks off the NHRA season, was postponed prior to the start of the NHRA season due to state health guidelines in California.

“We are very excited to have the Winternationals back on our schedule,” said Kasey Coler, NHRA vice president of Track Management and Operations. “The Winternationals is a historic event and we’re thrilled to be returning to Pomona.”

Meanwhile, NHRA and Pacific Raceways officials have decided to just cancel the 2021 Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals. Latest government guidelines in Washington allow for 50% capacity at outdoor sporting events with certain criteria.

According to the latest state guidance in Washington issued the week before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 13 relaxed masking restrictions, sports venues that add "vaccinated sections" to their seating configurations are able to increase their capacity. With the vaccinated sections in the mix, outdoor venues in Washington are currently able to add vaccinated sections and increase their capacity to 50% or up to 22,000 people (whichever is lower), while the number of unvaccinated people who attend is capped at 9,000.

Outdoor sporting events are slow to attract fans in Seattle. The Seattle Mariners home baseball game on May 13 at T-Mobile Park attracted just 12,514 fans. Capacity for the baseball stadium is 47,943.

“NHRA needed to make a decision to move forward to allow teams and touring staff time for travel preparations,” said Glen Cromwell, NHRA president in a press release.

Apparently the NHRA and Pacific Raceways were not confident that the maximum allowed attendance would meet the venue's projected number of fans needed to make the event viable financially.

“Although what we heard yesterday (with easing of restrictions) was encouraging for our state, the path for large events in 2021 is still not clear,” said John Ramsey, general manager of Pacific Raceways. “An event like this requires a lot of advance planning. We needed assurance from the state and county that we could run an event of this size without any restrictions, but we were unable to get a guarantee. Fans of the Flav-R-Pack NHRA Northwest Nationals deserve confidence in the event dates and experience. We will be 100% ready for the series to come back July 29-31, 2022.”

One other event on the NHRA schedule remains on the postponed list. No word yet on the Virginia Nationals at Richmond, Va., which was originally scheduled for June 4-6.