Although not coming as much of a surprise, the Americans Drag Racing League announced on Friday that Top Sportsman, which was contested at the last two events on the schedule as an exhibition category, would become a full fledged ADRL class featuring a 16-car qualified field beginning at the next event, the Ford Drive One Summer Drags VII in Martin, Mich., July 15-16.

Top Sportsman will feature open participation for the qualified field, which will award $2,000 to the winner, with the runner-up earning $1,000, semifinalists $500, quarterfinalists $400, and first round qualifiers $300.

“We were blown away at the tremendous response we received from Top Sportsman drivers who expressed such great interest in racing in the ADRL, and we are elated to be adding them as an official class,” ADRL Director of Competition Tom Grooms said. “Our fans have already shown they love the diversity it brings to our program and expanding the field will only add to that. I can’t wait to showcase a full field of these talented drivers and cars to our fans.”

Top Sportsman will become the seventh official class in the ADRL lineup, joining Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous, Extreme 10.5, Extreme Pro Stock, Pro Extreme Motorcycle, and Pro Junior Dragster.

Photo courtesy: ADRL

Not only have the fans enjoyed the participation of the Top Sportsman cars at the four-car and six-car exhibitions that recently took place, but so too have the drivers.

“There’s a lot of really good Top Sportsman cars around and the ADRL is now a top place for these cars to race,” said Top Sportsman racer Tyler Hard, who competed in the four-car exhibition at Maple Grove Raceway. “It does provide more great racing for the fans, too. This is going to be exciting for our class and for the ADRL.”