Q & ABOB HARRIS By Nate Van Wagnen
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Known for years as the track owner and promoter of Piedmont Dragway ’ s Big Dog series , Bob Harris signed on as the PDRA ’ s race director when the organization formed in 2014 . He ’ s been at the helm of the series since then , handling the rules packages and leading day-to-day operations at the races . As the 2017 season entered the halfway point at the North-South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway in June , Harris sat down with Drag Illustrated to discuss the current state of the PDRA and what lies ahead for the series . Pro Nitrous and Pro Boost are really strong right now . To what do you attribute the success of those classes ?
I think they ’ re healthy because there ’ s nitrous cars all over the country . It ’ s the same deal with Pro Boost . You have the newer generation liking turbos and then there ’ s the guys who have had Roots cars forever and have been running at their local track or local heads-up series . Now they ’ ve come onboard with the PDRA over the last three years thinking , “ Okay , this is fast racing . It ’ s tough and very competitive , yet it ’ s friendly and fun . We don ’ t have to travel to twenty-some races a year .” I think that ’ s why it ’ s strong .
The PDRA started the year with strong car counts and fan attendance at the southern races . As you go into the summer months and a new market in Indianapolis , how do you keep up that momentum ?
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It may be tough . There ’ s more to keeping that momentum than most people would think . First of all , it ’ s hard to run a race all at night because nobody wants to stay out that late – not the racers or the fans . Then you have the kids out of school and families are planning vacations . Planning the summer races is something we ’ ll have to look at again this winter . But then again , it was roasting hot at Darlington and the fans were still out there sitting in the stands , so those factors might not mean as much as we think .
We ’ re at the halfway point in the season . How do you feel about the overall state of the PDRA right now ?
That ’ s one thing I really do feel good about . We started off at Rockingham in 2014 with 159 cars . These are real numbers . As the year went on , we picked up some cars and started seeing 160 , 170 ; just under 200 for the first couple years . Last year , we crept up and averaged around the 200-car mark , then we had an astronomical 366 cars show up at Virginia for the World Finals . We started off this year at Valdosta with around 200 , then we went to GALOT and had about 260 . We ended up with around 254 at Darlington . I think the 200-car mark is a good average . And I see new faces all the time , so it ’ s not just the same people coming to every race . That means people are hearing about what we ’ re doing and they want to get involved . We ’ re always getting positive feedback from racers and fans after their first race . As an organization , that ’ s what we want .
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PHOTOS : JOE MCHUGH |
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