1/4_Mile_King

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series stars and married couple Melanie Troxel and Tommy Johnson Jr. will host a reality racing competition program that will debut Sunday on ESPN2.

Part of the ESPN2 Garage group of automotive and motorsports programs, King of the Strip will feature 13 amateur drag racers in competition. But in this competition, more is at stake than just pride because each racer must be willing to give up his or her car to the winner if he or she loses. The winner has the opportunity of advancing to the next episode and the next competitor.

Set at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, site of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, NHRA's biggest event, each episode of King of the Strip will feature the previous show's champion facing a new challenger drawn at random. The drag racers will utilize the track's timing system in a best-three-of-five-races format. Each of the losing cars will be locked in an impound lot at the track until the final episode.

In the series finale, the last racer will be given the ultimate choice of keeping all the cars won along the way or taking what's inside a race car trailer filled with cash and prizes.

Troxel, a multi-time winner in the NHRA Top Fuel class, and Johnson, a winner in NHRA Funny Car, will negotiate and referee the trials and tribulations of each of the competitors. Others contributing to the show include NHRA drivers Larry Dixon, Bruce Litton, and Lisa Kubo and noted engine specialists Tom Abbett and Steve Schmidt.

The premiere episode of King of the Strip will air at 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday, July 8.

Designed to complement ESPN's extensive coverage of NHRA, NASCAR, IndyCar, and Champ Car racing in 2007, ESPN2 Garage is dedicated to the automotive, motorcycle, and motorsports world. ESPN2, the television home of NHRA, will air more than 1,100 hours of motorsports programming in 2007.