Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway postponed

The Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, scheduled for Aug. 14-16 at Brainerd International Raceway, were postponed Friday for pandemic-related reasons, the National Hot Rod Association announced.

The NHRA event in Denver Aug. 7-9 also has been postponed, but an event was added for Indianapolis that same weekend.

"We are disappointed that we have to postpone our event," Kristi Copham, owner of Brainerd International Raceway, said in a news release, "but we hope that, by working closely with state and local authorities and NHRA, we can find a way to put on a Nationals race later this season, especially for our fans, who deserve to enjoy a great weekend of NHRA drag racing.

"We appreciate everyone's patience — our fans, vendors, staff and race teams — as we try to work through the issues that would allow us to hold the event, and we're continuing to work hard on it every day."

Glen Cromwell, president of the NHRA, said his organization has "worked to create protocols for a responsible restart of the sport. We saw those protocols work at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals last weekend."

UMAC adjusting

Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, which has seven Minnesota teams, announced its intention to pursue fall athletic competition under revised scheduling formats and resocialization protocols.

Soccer and volleyball teams will play the originally scheduled eight conference games and six-team conference tournaments. Soccer programs will be permitted to play two additional regular-season contests against UMAC teams or against nonconference opponents that have similar resocialization protocols. Volleyball teams can play on three additional dates under the same conditions as soccer.

Football schedules will be reassessed as the season draws closer.

Etc.

• The 2020 Roy Griak Invitational — a mega men's and women's cross-country meet for college and high school teams hosted by the Gophers in late September — was canceled in accordance with the Big Ten's move to conference-only scheduling for fall sports.