NHRA officials have announced that a national event exclusively showcasing NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series sportsman competition will be held in 2004. The NHRA SPORTSnationals will be contested April 23-25 at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, La., one of the marquee quarter-mile tracks in NHRA's Division 4.

The NHRA SPORTSnationals will feature a guaranteed purse of more than $50,000 and competition in six NHRA Lucas Oil Series categories, including Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Street. NHRA Lucas Oil Series national event points will be awarded to drivers in all categories except Super Street.

"We are thrilled to announce the addition of the NHRA SPORTSnationals to the 2004 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series schedule," said Tom Compton, president, NHRA. "The SPORTSnationals is an event that sportsman racers have wanted for some time and we feel that with the support of the sportsman racing community, we can build it into one of the most anticipated events for sportsman racers each year."

The three-day event also will feature class eliminations in both Stock and Super Stock, as well as a Hemi Shootout. In addition, several NHRA professional teams are scheduled to participate in exhibition races on Saturday evening. As an added convenience, participants may pre-enter or register on-site.

"Today's announcement reaffirms NHRA's commitment to continue to provide unique competition opportunities for our sportsman participants," said Len Imbrogno, director of sportsman racing and member tracks, NHRA. "In the future we will continue to work with our member tracks and sponsors to develop challenging racing events to highlight our sportsman racing programs, the grassroots foundation of NHRA."

NHRA hosted the SPORTSnationals from 1974-1986 at a trio of tracks, including Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky. (1974-'80; 1985-'86), the old Houston International Raceway (1981-'82) and Indianapolis Raceway Park (1982-'84).