Formula One Merges With NHRA To Form F1 presented by NHRA Series
In a move designed to expand its appeal in the American market, Formula One has announced that it will be merging with the NHRA for all future U.S. events. The partnership, which will finally show us what the world's highest-tech automobiles can do in a straight line, will start next season and will add a significant number of new dates to the series schedule.
Major changes to the F1/NHRA series, or F1 presented by NHRA as it will be officially labeled, include the addition of four quarter-mile-long straight-aways to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in addition to the widening of the return lanes and the addition of banking to tracks at Pomona, Gateway International Raceway, Englishtown, and Bakersfield, California. From a technical perspective, Formula One cars will remain open wheel, but they will switch to nitro-methane as a primary fuel source, while a number of steering and suspension geometry adjustments will be made to Top Fuel cars (which will run during the same events, at the same time, in a different class).
Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Management and Administration, hailed the move as one that should cement the flagging popularity of F1 racing in the United States for the rest of the decade. 15-time Funny Car champion John Force also released a statement regarding the merger, which said: "Sometimes, when a chicken chases a fox, and the fox slows down just along enough to let him catch up, sometimes that chicken wishes he'd stood in bed that morning."
