The NHRA announced today that it is expanding the popular NHRA Factory Stock Showdown that debuted at last year’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis to three events for the 2013 season, with new stops at NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events in Englishtown, N.J. (May 30 – June 2) and the fall event at the zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C. (September 13-15), joining the U.S. Nationals at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis on the weekend of Aug. 28 – Sept. 2.

The Factory Stock Showdown pits the exciting new factory-built race cars from Detroit’s “Big Three” — the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet, the Chevrolet COPO Camaro, and the Dodge Challenger Drag Pak — in a heads-up contest for factory supremacy in front of a national event crowd. This year, along with the addition of two new events, the class will be split into two separate divisions within Stock Eliminator to allow for more parity. The new class index is expected to draw in more participation from racers with these new cars and their varying engine combinations.

The two classes within the Factory Stock Showdown will be:

FS/AC: Minimum weight up to 400 CID 3250Lbs, 401 to 450 CID 3350Lbs, index 10.50
FS/DC: Minimum weight 451 + CID 3200Lbs, all supercharged 3500Lbs, index 10.20

Each class will run as its own category within Stock Eliminator Class Eliminations at Englishtown and Indianapolis, and will be run as a stand-alone event with a winner crowned at the Charlotte event in both classes. Those two winners will then line up for the NHRA Factory Stock Showdown Championship with a three-tenths staggered start advantage going to the FS/AC winner, based on the 10.50 to 10.20 index difference.

Veteran sportsman racer and former Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series champion Bo Butner was the winner of the inaugural Factory Stock Showdown in Indianapolis last September in his Cobra Jet Mustang, as he ran a 9.10 in the final to defeat fellow Cobra Jet runner Brett Candies. With the 2014 Cobra Jet scheduled for assembly and delivery prior to the two fall events and the 2013 COPO Camaro expected sometime during the year, who will reign this season is anyone’s guess.