The JEGS SPORTSnationals is headed home. The wildly popular SPORTSnationals, the premier standalone national event in NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, is returning to the facility it first called home when it was created in 1974, Bowling Green Kentucky’s Beech Bend Raceway Park. The race was held at Beech Bend until 1981, when it moved to several facilities, including a return to Bowling Green for the 1985-86 seasons. After 1986, the event was shelved until 2005, when JEGS signed on to sponsor the event’s revival. Since it’s reincarnation, the SPORTSnationals has been held at National Trail Raceway in Ohio, No Problem Raceway Park in Belle Rose, Louisiana, The Strip in Las Vegas, and Auto Club Raceway in Fontana, California.

In conjunction with the return to Beech Bend, JEGS’ director of media and motorsports, Scott Woodruff, announced some enhancements to the SPORTSnationals format and purse.

“The event payout and contingency postings will raise to the NHRA national event level and every racer will get a grade point. Our goal is to make this the most exciting event for NHRA sportsman racers. We think having one must attend event will resonate with the NHRA sportsman racing community,” said Woodruff. “Bringing the event back to Beech Bend Raceway where it started in 1974 will be special.”

Beech Bend is known for it’s family-friendly atmosphere, which boasts a stellar amusement park, complete with water park for the sweltering Kentucky summers, to complement the full 1/4-mile drag strip and 3/8-mile oval track. Sportsman ace Luke Bogacki said of the move, “Bowling Green is one of my two favorite tracks. It wouldn’t bother me if they had six national events and eight divisional races! That facility is the original home of the SPORTSnationals, which I remember reading about growing it. It just feels right to me for it to return there.”