We’ll preface this story by stating that while there certainly isn’t a lot of reality to the Discovery Channel’s new car-themed reality program “Street Outlaws” in terms of actual illegal activity, we don’t condone the message that the show is attempting to convey. Nonetheless, the show is still fair game for discussion, and as one of just a handful of drag racing-esque television programs on the air these days (as either fresh content or re-runs), we became curious from the get-go to see how this new show stacked up to its legitimate cousin, the NHRA’s Mello Yello Series broadcasts on ESPN.

It’s no secret that the NHRA’s tape-delayed broadcasts on ESPN2, which run the gamut in air-times, from live to prime-time to the middle of the night, have been struggling for years in the ratings and continue to sink year-over-year, while other “car guy” programs that target the 18-49 year old male demographic run up the numbers.

Getting to those numbers, the NHRA’s qualifying and eliminations broadcasts have averaged a .02 rating and little more than 300,000 viewers and a .03 rating and just under 400,000 viewers, respectively. Likewise, Street Outlaws, which airs on Monday nights on Discovery, has averaged in the neighborhood of 1.5 million viewers and a 0.6 rating. That’s more than four times the number of Americans tuned in to watch the one-hour program on Discovery versus those watching NHRA drag racing.

Now, this certainly isn’t an apple to apples comparison, nor is Street Outlaws the direct competitor to the NHRA (that honor belongs to the NASCAR 1,000-pound gorilla). Street Outlaws airs exclusively in prime-time and follows Discovery’s even more popular car-themed “Fast ‘N Loud” program, which helps boost its numbers, however, it does shed some light on a trend in where the interests of the average car guy are these days. Based on our interactions with people, most of Street Outlaws’ viewers have picked up on the scripted and pseudo-legal nature of the show by now, but nonetheless, they’re still drawn in by the grass roots style of racing, the fast cars they can relate to, and the run-what-ya-brung nature of it all. We’re not convinced that anyone is watching the show because they’re drawn into the idea of illegal racing and racers being busted by the police, but rather, they’re into the cars and the racing.

Everyone from hardcore drag racers that know better to those with just the slightest of interests in automobiles are tuning in, and this style of television program and the cars and personalities that comprise it are proving to be what car guys as a whole want to see, and even though the concept is the same — two cars, lined up alongside one another, first to the finish line wins — the show is world’s apart from the big stage of the NHRA Mello Yello series. That makes the million dollar question: how does NHRA drag racing engage and reach that market and triple or quadruple its television numbers with actual, legit drag racing?