INDIANAPOLIS -- Supposedly, the U.S. Nationals is the National Hot Rod Association's premier event, held at its flagship track. Yet while the Nationals still have a big-event feel after 45 years, most would agree any flag flying at Indianapolis Raceway Park these days is at half mast.

It is not as if the sport of drag racing is viewed as dead. Speedway Motorsports Inc. spent more than $12 million to refurbish an old drag strip at Bristol, Tennessee, and the company is planning an elaborate drag strip operation for its Las Vegas racetrack, complete with lots of corporate suites. Except for the difference in featured events, Raceway Associates' Route 66 Raceway at Joliet, Illinois feels similar to baseball's Safeco Field, Camden Yards and Coors Field.

"You can see the handwriting on the wall," said H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and No. 2 executive of North Carolina-based SMI. The new drag strip facilities, he said, are intended to have "the same standing, or a little better, as a football or baseball stadium."

In the meantime, IRP hasn't kept up with the competition. "It was almost embarrassing coming into our flagship race and seeing gravel in the pit area," said driver Ron Capps. NHRA officials, painfully aware of the big investments being made elsewhere, say IRP will undergo a major facelift. The question is, "When?"

"We haven't forgotten about the drag strips," said Tom Compton, the NHRA's executive vice president and general manager. "We have plans to make it what it should be."

It wouldn't be the first overhaul for IRP. In recent years, the non-profit NHRA has put at least $2.5 million into the raceway's oval, building a new 15,000-seat grandstand, luxury suites and a control tower. However the money was spent only after arm-twisting from NASCAR, which runs Craftsman Truck and Busch Grand National series events at the raceway in the days leading up to the Winston Cup Brickyard 400.

Part of the planned IRP renovation is being driven by new and announced projects. In effect, projects like Joliet, Las Vegas and Bristol are spiffing up the drag-racing experience, expanding the sport's audience by making it seem more civilized to the non-die hard fan. It's similar to what new oval racetracks like Texas Motor Speedway and California Speedway have done for NASCAR and open-wheel racing.

"The pressure is on, especially by Bruton Smith," Capps said of the chief executive of Speedway Motorsports. "It's something (the NHRA) had to do...I'm glad to see them responding to it."

Compton declined to discuss the IRP project in detail. "We've only agreed we want to do this," Compton said. Officials are still studying proposals, nearly all of which include suites and other amenities. The timetable calls for a decision on final plans by year's end. Construction would occur in 2000, with an eye toward finishing in time for the 2001 U.S. Nationals.

However, one idea not considered for IRP is a second pair of drag strips, something that SMI intends to build outside its Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For now, it will have the standard two lane strip, but there will be enough room to build an adjoining pair of lanes -- a four-lane drag strip if you will. Speedway Motorsports officials say such a set-up is necessary for the sake of television. With four lanes instead of two, there will be less time between races. "We've been discussing it because it's the only way we'll see live television of any consequence," Wheeler said.

The sanctioning body and SMI don't see eye to eye on this. The NHRA says it's unclear whether a four-lane drag strip would really speed up the action at any event, including the U.S. Nationals. "We've talked about it for years and years," Compton said of the idea. "Right now, we haven't figured out how that would benefit the event." Speedway Motorsports, though, is well known for making lots of suggestions to a sanctioning body, and it isn't giving up on the notion. "I think sooner or later, they'll come around to this," Wheeler said.

In any event, NHRA drivers are glad to see the association planning to revamp IRP. "You've got to have your flagship race be the biggest, neatest event you put on," said driver Tim Wilkerson. "If we're going to attract corporate sponsors, we need a certain amount of elegance we don't offer now."