Record Gainesville viewership accompanies massive turnout at
Gainesville Raceway, including Saturday sellout crowd
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – March 15, 2023 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series opened the 2023 season with impressive viewership numbers on the FOX network, as coverage of eliminations from the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals delivered a total audience of 1.12 million viewers. This marked the highest viewership for raceday at the Gatornationals during the NHRA on FOX era.
In all, 1.684 million total viewers tuned into the weekend broadcasts across FOX, FS1 and FS 2, accompanying the huge crowds in attendance all weekend at legendary Gainesville Raceway, including a sellout crowd on Saturday. The total viewership for the weekend is also a record at Gainesville since the NHRA and FOX relationship began in 2016.
“We’re thrilled to cap off the incredible display of NHRA fans in attendance at Gainesville with record-setting television viewership for the event,” NHRA Vice President of Broadcasting Steve Reintjes said. “The total viewership for our weekend of shows outpaced any previous season at Gainesville in the Fox Sports era. We were encouraged to see viewership grow throughout the entire air window during Sunday’s finals, with more than 1 million viewers tuned in for the final 1.5 hours of the broadcast.”
Along with more than 1 million viewers tuning in for the final 1.5 hours of the show, the broadcast from Gainesville also peaked with an audience of more than 1.5 million viewers.
Fans that tuned in and flocked to the famed facility saw a thrilling weekend of action, including a victory from Josh Hart in the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout, plus race wins from Mike Salinas in Top Fuel, Matt Hagan in Funny Car, Troy Coughlin Jr. in Pro Stock and Gaige Herrera in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
The race also set the field for the upcoming Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, which takes place as part of the NHRA Arizona Nationals on March 24-26 and marks the final race at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix.
The NHRA and FOX relationship began in 2016, and NHRA and FOX Sports announced a multiyear extension of their agreement last year, including expanded coverage, the NFL adjacent event during the Countdown to the Championship, and five hours of finals coverage at the NHRA U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend each year.
For more information on NHRA, please visit www.NHRA.com.
About Camping World Holdings, Inc.
Camping World Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL, (together with its subsidiaries) is America’s largest retailer of RVs and related products and services. Our vision is to build a long-term legacy business that makes RVing fun and easy, and our Camping World and Good Sam brands have been serving RV consumers since 1966. We strive to build long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders by combining a unique and comprehensive assortment of RV products and services with a national network of RV dealerships, service centers and customer support centers along with the industry’s most extensive online presence and a highly trained and knowledgeable team of associates serving our customers, the RV lifestyle, and the communities in which we operate. We also believe that our Good Sam organization and family of programs and services uniquely enable us to connect with our customers as stewards of the RV enthusiast community and the RV lifestyle. With RV sales and service locations in 42 states, Camping World has grown to become the prime destinations for everything RV. For more information, visit www.CampingWorld.com
About NHRA
Headquartered in San Dimas, Calif., NHRA is the primary sanctioning body for the sport of drag racing in the United States. NHRA presents 21 national events featuring the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series, Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown™ and Top Fuel Harley Series. NHRA provides competition opportunities for drivers of all levels in the NHRA Summit Racing Series and NHRA Street Legal™. NHRA also offers the NHRA Jr. Street® program for teens and the Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League® for youth ages 5 to 17. With 120 Member Tracks, NHRA allows racers to compete at a variety of locations nationally and internationally. NHRA’s Youth and Education Services® (YES) Program reaches over 30,000 students annually to ignite their interest in automotive and racing related careers. NHRA’s streaming service, NHRA.tv®, allows fans to view all NHRA national events as well as exclusive features of the sport. In addition, NHRA owns and operates three racing facilities: Gainesville Raceway in Florida; Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park; and In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Southern California. For more information, log on to www.NHRA.com, or visit the official NHRA pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Source: National Hot Rod Association
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