News

NHRA Cancels 2021 Arizona Nationals in Phoenix

By Drag Illustrated | January 15, 2021

NHRA and Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park have made the difficult decision to not host the 2021 NHRA Arizona Nationals, leaving an opening on the 2021 schedule which NHRA is optimistic will be filled with an event at a facility that has not hosted a national event before.

The ongoing COVID-19 restrictions due to the public health situation in the Phoenix area and state of Arizona were taken into account by officials at NHRA and Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in determining to not hold the event this year.

“We’ll miss our annual stop at Wild Horse Pass, but we are working on new options for 2021,” said NHRA president Glen Cromwell. “We hope that fans in the area will try to make it to another one of our events.”

The Gila River community, track and NHRA officials mutually agreed not to host the Phoenix event in 2021, primarily based on COVID-19-related issues.

“We have enjoyed being host to the NHRA Arizona Nationals for the past 36 years,” said Mark Grado, General Manager of Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. “However, due to many circumstances beyond our control, including current COVID-19 restrictions, unfortunately the event is not feasible for the 2021 season.”

“Our focus remains on making the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series a memorable experience for our fans, racers, sponsors, partners and tracks. We’ve gotten interest by other tracks in adding an event to the schedule. We’re not sure if this is possible for 2021, but we’re definitely looking into it,” Cromwell continued.

The 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is set to begin March 11-14 in Gainesville and currently includes 22 events at race tracks across the country.