Best of Behind the Scenes
Hot Rod Magazine's Douglas Glad on Drag Week and the Project X ’57 Chevy
How a high school hot rod evolved into a 260-mph NHRA exhibition car
The quickest street car on the planet paradox; a Pro Mod Camaro you can road trip
Breaking down the silliest NHRA silly season we've seen in a while
Hot rodding icon Gene Winfield says he's "Just getting started"
NHRA returns to 2021 SEMA Show with live interviews and legendary breakfast
In-N-Out Burger 75th Anniversary Festival
JEGS Allstars Top Alcohol Funny Car champ Brian Hough
JEGS Allstars Top Alcohol Dragster champ Julie Nataas
JEGS Allstars Top Sportsman champ Robert Strohm
JEGS Allstars Top Dragster champ Al Kenny
JEGS Allstars Stock champ Jerry Emmons
JEGS Allstars Super Stock champ Bryan Worner
JEGS Allstars Comp champ Doug Engels
JEGS Allstars Super Street champ Jacob Rutledge
JEGS Allstars Super Gas champ Rusty Cook
JEGS Allstars Super Comp champ Ray Miller III
Antron Brown explains how team ownership will redefine his success
Champions crowned at JDRL Eastern Conference Finals in Bristol
Random Dragster Insider generator
Cruise nights return to Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona
Champions crowned at JDRL Western Conference Finals in Tulsa
Steve Johnson and Dallas Glenn talk Charlotte victories on NHRA Insider podcast
4/27: It’s 427 day—and in 1963, Chevrolet created two engines to rain down Turbo-Fire on the competition
Nitro Time Machine: Eddie Hill, Kenny Bernstein, Butch Leal prevail at '88 Southern Nationals
4/21: Not just a date, but a legendary 421-cid Pontiac engine that changed drag racing forever!
4/09: It’s 409 day—The engine that inspired a song, and a legion of drag racers
Double your success in 2021; NHRA Be a Winner, Be a Member program
Tom Bailey vs. Rod Tschiggfrie: NHRA Street Car Shootout at the 2021 Gatornationals—Round 1
The best Father's Day, ever
With a win and a runner-up, Greg Stanfield and his son, Aaron, came within one round of having the perfect Father’s Day in Bristol.
Greg Stanfield got beat by first-time winner Marty Rinehart in the Bristol Super Stock final but the sting of losing was tempered by the Father’s Day gift he got from his son, Aaron, which happened to be the Bristol Top Dragster Wally. The younger…
Three years running
Dan Northrop accomplished a feat even more rare than a national event double when he won his third-straight Englishtown title
A year ago, I used this space to write about how Dan Northrop went to Englishtown and successfully defended his 2015 Super Gas title. Northrop hadn’t raced with a throttle stop in a year but that didn’t stop him from defeating John Labbous Jr. in…
Pouring it on
John Labbous Jr. wins his fourth Super Gas race of the season to take commanding points lead in his first trip to New England Dragway
In 1987, when “Super Steve” Cohen won NHRA’s first Super Comp national championhip, he won so early and so often that he had the title sewn up by mid-July. History might well repeat itself this season thanks to the incredible win streak that John…
Sportsman's paradise
Last weekend's JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals in Bowling Green, Ky., was a haven for NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series drivers, including four first-time winners.
Louisiana has long been known as the “Sportsman’s Paradise” or so it says on the official state license plates, but last weekend, that unofficial title may have shifted a bit north to Bowling Green, Ky., the site of the annual JEGS NHRA…
The fifth dimension
Austin Williams accomplished an almost unheard of feat by winning the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals for the fifth straight year
Thankfully for Austin Williams, Heartland Park Topeka is less than 500 miles from his home in Burleson, Texas, but even if the distance was twice that far, he’d still be happy to make the trip. It isn’t hard to understand why Williams might have a…
Five shots, zero doubles
At the Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, five drivers made it to the late rounds with a chance to double up. None of them were able to seal the deal in one of drag racing's most challenging feats.
With two completed doubles and another near miss in the first six races of the 2017 season, it was temping to think that it was getting easier for a Sportsman driver to notch two wins in the same weekend.
Not so fast.
Yes, Ed Oplin opened the…
Another week, another double
With a little help from his friends, John Labbous Jr. becomes the latest driver to double-up after winning the Super Comp and Super Gas titles at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.
Believe it or not, a double victory remains one of the most difficult feats to accomplish in NHRA drag racing. As most drivers know, winning one race is hard enough but to win two on the same day is extremely problematic. Despite the challenges of a…
Double threat
After an incredibly hot start, Kevin Helms is leading the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series points standings in both Super Stock and Stock.
Kevin Helms missed his second career double by a fraction of a second when he lost in the Super Stock final, but that was about the only thing that went wrong for the four-time champion during last weekend’s NHRA SpringNationals in Houston.…
Just get out and race
For performance car enthusiasts, there are more options now than ever to take part in organized drag racing events
Last week’s introduction of the amazing 840-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon should permanently put to rest the notion that the U.S. is no longer a car culture. The launch of the Demon was covered far and wide by major media outlets…
Family vacation
On a rare off weekend, three-time Pro Stock champion Jason Line took his family (and his Buick) on a weekend holiday
Jason Line and the KB Racing team are generally all business with the sort of 24/7 mindset that is necessary for success in Pro Stock. However, with a three-week break between the national events in Las Vegas and Houston, Line…
Pure perfection
Dean Hall’s Top Sportsman win in Las Vegas might have featured the best driving performance in the history of the class.
It has often been said that a driver needs at least one lucky round in order to win an NHRA national event, but for Las Vegas Top Sportsman champion Dean Hall that might not be the case. Luck is often a rare commodity,…
More Gators Gold
Beyond the event winners, there were a handful of Sportsman racers who also made their mark on the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals.
There is a strong likelihood that the recent Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals will be remembered as one of the best races of the 2017 season and for Sportsman racers Lester Johnson, Roy Hill, and Carl Tasca, it was certainly a memorable race.…
The hottest driver in drag racing
Meet Terry Nagel, the NHRA Stock racer who has won three of his last four events, including the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals
Last weekend at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, nitro racers Leah Pritchett and Matt Hagan had their two-race winning streaks snapped in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively. There is one other driver who suffered no such loss of…
Fast Five: Factory Stock Showdown
The popular School of Automotive Machinists and Technology NHRA Factory Stock Showdown returns at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Here are five questions that are will be answered in Gainesville.
The Amalie NHRA Gatornationals will not only feature the first event of the season for racers in the Pro Stock Motorcycle and the J&A Service Pro Mod series, but it will also mark the 2017 debut of the new and improved School of Automotive…
Fifty plus one
Jeff Lane and his son, Cody, each celebrated wins at the Division 7 opener in Phoenix. For Jeff, it was win No. 50, and for Cody, it was his first.
When Jeff Lane turned on the win light in the Comp final at last weekend’s Division 7 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series opener at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, it represented a significant milestone in an already remarkable career. Lane’s…
By George, He's Done It
It took George Stassi 50 years to finally win his first NHRA national event, but he quickly found out that it was worth the wait.
During his five decades as a dedicated NHRA Sportsman racer, George Stassi Jr. has seen and done a lot, but he hadn't turned on a win light in a national event final round until last weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports…
In defense of bracket racers
With a competitor base numbering in the tens of thousands, E.T. bracket racing is not only the most popular form of drag racing competition in the world, but from a driving standpoint, it’s also the most challenging.
There are those who think that E.T. bracket racing is easy or that bracket racers are somehow inferior to those racers who compete in heads-up or performance-based classes. People with that mindset are sadly mistaken.
Bracket racing, where…
Twice as nice
Veteran racers dominated the Lucas Oil Series Sportsman action in Pomona, including Ed Olpin, who scored the first double of the new season.
It certainly didn’t take long for the first double-up of the new season. At the Circle K NHRA Winternationals, the first of 25 national events to be contested during the 2017 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series season, Utah’s Ed Olpin accomplished a…
And they're off
The 2017 season officially starts this weekend, and among other things, that means Jimmy DeFrank will have an opportunity to pursue a sixth Super Stock national championship.
Much like baseball’s spring training, the start of each new season of NHRA Drag Racing brings with it a renewed sense of optimism and hope. The first day of the season-opening Circle K NHRA Winternationals means fresh paint, fresh parts, and an…
Five burning questions for 2017
Want to know what’s going on in NHRA Sportsman racing in 2017? Here are a few things to look out for as the new season kicks off
Technically, the 2017 season kicked off last weekend with the Pacific Division National Open event at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Calif., and we’re less than two weeks from the first national event of the season, the Circle K NHRA Winternationals…
Thumbs-Up
Practice Tree races have become a hugely popular way for racers to pass the downtime during the winter months. Here’s a look at a couple of the biggest and most successful ones in the country.
On Jan. 7, Justin Vickers won $10,000, and he didn’t burn a drop of racing fuel in order to do it. Vickers, who lives in Ohio, made the trek to Alabama for the 4th annual Practice Tree Showdown presented by Plourd Racing Products and emerged as the…
Who's Next?
Predicting the next national champions is hard work, but here are ten racers who have never won a championship, but could easily breakthrough for a title in 2017
Quickly scanning the numbers, more than 5,000 racers competed in at least one event in Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Dragster, and Top Sportsman last season and a significant number of those racers entered enough events to…
Remembering George Howard
George Howard long ago secured his place in drag racing history. The longtime track operator, race promoter, who passed away on Sunday, January 8, after a brief illness, had the audacity to think that he could offer a top prize of $40,000 for an E.T…
Top five sportsman moments of 2016
The quest for 100: In the 62-year history of NHRA drag racing, just two drivers – John Force and Frank Manzo, have managed to win 100 national event titles. For most sportsman racers, even those who travel often and attend many…
The rarest double of them all
Other than the final round of the Auto Club NHRA Finals, where he lost to Bob Gullett’s nearly perfect run, there likely isn’t much that Jeff Strickland would have changed about the 2016 season. Strickland opened the year with a…
Championship Sunday
The final NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional event of the season at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway wasn’t much different from the traditional and much-hyped Championship Sunday in college football, when conference titles are…
The end of an era?
Tommy Phillips won for the 38th time in his career when he wheeled his CBS ArcSafe Corvette to the Super Gas title at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas. Shortly after the final, he acknowledged that he’s contemplating big changes in the…
In the Nick of time
When he rolled through the gates of Silver Dollar Raceway for the recent Division 2 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event, Nick Folk had already done the math and quickly concluded that the odds were not in his favor, or so he thought. Racing at…
Hall in the family
For Rusty Hall, winning the Stock final at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals wasn’t all that difficult. Although he trailed Bobby Brannon off the starting line, Hall decided to hit the brakes, then watched his win light shine after Brannon…
Four Score
So you’ve never heard of Gage Burch? Stick around a while, you almost certainly will. As a quick introduction, Burch is a 16-year-old drag racing prodigy from Palmetto, Fla., who is in the process of making the jump from the NHRA Summit…