With thousands of racers and hundreds of events to choose from, it’s just about impossible to pick just 10 favorite moments from the recently completed 2024 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, but once again, we’ve managed to sift through an entire year’s worth of data to pick 10 of our favorites. Presented in no particular order, here we go.

BO KNOWS SUPER GAS

For most racers, at win at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals is a dream come true and a career-defining moment, but Bo Butner isn’t like most racers. Butner pulled off what might well be considered the most amazing hat trick in drag racing when he won the U.S. Nationals Super Gas title for the third straight season. Butner has been a consistent winner in every class he has ever raced, including Pro Stock, but he’s still a Sportsman racer at heart, and he proved it again this year in Indy.

This year at the Big Go, Butner parked his Corvette roadster in the winner’s circle for the third straight year after beating Dalton Deffenbaugh in a close 9.901 to 9.911 final. For those keeping score, Butner has won 23 straight rounds at NHRA’s biggest and most prestigious event. For what it’s worth, Butner also collected a pair of titles in the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock class and now has wins in seven different NHRA eliminators.

TRICKIE RICKIE TAKES COMP TITLE

By now, we should all have learned not to be surprised by anything that Rickie Smith does, but the guy affectionately known as “Trickie Rickie” pulled off perhaps his most memorable feat when he drove his five-second Pro Mod Mustang to a win in Comp eliminator at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. With no Pro Mod class on the schedule, Smith had planned to use the zMax Dragway event primarily as a test session in his nitrous-equipped Ford, which just happens to fit into the A/PM class. Smith thought to himself, “Why not?” and submitted an entry.

A legend in doorslammer racing with decades of experience in Pro Stock and Pro Mod, Smith hadn’t raced in a Sportsman class for decades, which also meant he’d have to adjust to a full five-tenths Christmas Tree, which isn’t an easy feat. That didn’t seem to matter as Smith’s last three lights in eliminations were .035, .032, and .028 as he took down Joel Warren in the final. Smith’s 5.764 run during qualifying is also the quickest run in the history of the Comp class.

TORRES CLAIMS TITLE AFTER CLUTCH POMONA WIN

There is a certain amount of pressure that comes with any final-round appearance, but when that final round also decides a world championship at the season’s final event, the gravity of the situation becomes much greater. That’s the spot where West Coast veteran Val Torres Sr. found himself at the recent In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona as he staged against formidable opponent Kris Whitfield in the final round.

In what was arguably the biggest round of his long career, Torres gave up a slight lead at the start but rallied to win with a 9.919 to Whitfield’s 9.887 breakout. With the win, Torres scored enough points to finish in a tie with Division 1 racer Keith Mayers at 624 points. Torres claimed the title via a tiebreaker, which happened to be his head-to-head win over Mayers in the semifinals. Nearly 700 drivers raced in Super Gas during the 2024 season at more than 65 national and divisional events, so what are the odds the title would be settled in the final round of the season?

DON THOMAS BREAKS THE BANK

The RoofTec Comp Eliminator bonus fund, a program initiated by longtime Pro and Sportsman racer Rodger Brogdon, has given a huge lift to racers in Comp eliminator, and no one knows that better than Don Thomas, who claimed the massive $250,000 bonus during the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas. Driving his B/Econo Dragster, Thomas defeated Brian Browell in the first round of eliminations to clinch the title in the 10-race series, which features a total payout of $750,000.

“I don't know that I can put it in the right words,” said Thomas, who won three races in five final rounds this season and finished a very respectable No. 4 in the Comp world championship standings.
“It's overwhelming, honestly. We've all thought about it all year, but I don't think it really hits you. I don't know when it'll set in.”

JAMES HINKLE GOES THREE-FOR-THREE

When it comes to making up for lost time, few have done it better than James Hinkle. Coming into the 2024 season, Hinkle had never won an NHRA national event title, but he took care of that fairly quickly when he drove to a win in Right Trailers Top Sportsman at the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Hinkle didn’t stop there. He also bagged wins at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte and then completed the trifecta with a third win at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk.

Hinkle finished the season with a perfect score at national events, and that was key to his fourth-place finish in the battle for the world championship. For good measure, Hinkle also drove to a runner-up finish at the Division 3 NHRA Lucas Oil Series event at National Trail Raceway in Ohio.

EPIC STOCK POINTS BATTLE GOES TO SORENSEN

No Sportsman racer has ever scored 700 points and not won a NHRA Lucas Oil Series world title, until now. Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. put up a monster total of 712 as he pursued his second title in Stock eliminator, but that wasn’t enough as Joe Sorensen bested him by a single point in an epic battle that went down to the wire.

Sorensen has long been one of the most successful class racers in the Pacific Northwest, but his 2024 season was one for the ages with three wins in six final rounds, including a clutch win at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas to lock up the top spot. Hidalgo also had an amazing season and didn’t walk away empty-handed as he won the Super Stock world title. Ironically, the two raced head-to-head in Dallas with Hidalgo taking the win. The race was memorable as both drivers were nearly perfect at the start.

BRAND AND STALBA DOUBLE IN DALLAS

Winning the JEGS Allstars event is on every Sportsman racer’s to-do list, and right next to it is an elusive Dallas double. This year, both Michael Brand and Tom Stalba pulled off the rare feat, albeit in two distinctly different fashions. Brand, who represented the Southeast Division, went the distance in Stock eliminator at both events, driving his Cobra Jet Mustang to nine straight round-wins during eliminations.

Stalba won the JEGS Allstars title in Super Comp when he defeated Michael Holcombe in the final round. That win helped the Division 1 team secure the overall points title. On Sunday, Stalba bagged his second win when he drove his Corvette roadster to the Super Gas title, making an almost perfect run in the final against Rusty Cook.

NEFF AND MOZERIS MAKE INDY HISTORY

The three-car Neff Racing Comp eliminator team pretty much ran the table at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals with each of the drivers scoring a pretty big honor. Clint Neff kicked off the event by qualifying No. 1 in the 60-car field with his A/Econo Dragster. Neff’s daughter, Cali, then took the spotlight with a victory in the RoofTec Comp Clash when she defeated teammate Kayla Mozeris in an historic all-female final round.

Mozeris wasn’t the least bit discouraged by her final-round loss and quickly bounced back on Monday to win the Comp title over Joe Carnasciale. Mozeris, who previously has wins in Super Stock and Stock, became just the 12th woman to win the U.S. Nationals and just the fourth woman to win a national event in Comp, joining Amy Faulk, Maryann Austin, and Jacklyn Gebhardt.

VERSITILE HOEFER COMPLETES RARE DOUBLE

Division 7 racer C.W. Hoefer is equal parts E.T. racer and NHRA class racer, and he proved it in 2024 when he won big races in both disciplines. Hoefer kicked off the season by winning the Stock title at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. It was his first national event win in his first final, and it was a solid effort, including a final-round win over Cliff Hanson.

Later in the season, Hoefer earned a trip to the NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals in Las Vegas and made the most of it by winning the national championship in the Sportsman class. Hoefer isn’t the first driver to pull off the NHRA Lucas Oil Series/Summit Series double, but it remains an impressive achievement, nonetheless.

WEBBER FAMILY HAS A WEEK TO REMEMBER

Cody Webber used a late-season rally to win the world championship in Right Trailers Top Dragster, but on a personal level, what his family did at the start of the season might be even more memorable. The Webber family enjoyed an amazing run in April when Cody won the Top Dragster title at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. At the same event, brother Chad scored a victory in Super Comp at the weather-delayed final rounds from the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. Father Bill provided an exclamation point when he won the divisional event in Las Vegas a week later.

By the end of the season, the Webber family had accomplished quite a bit as Coby's world title was accompanied by Bill’s 10th-place finish in Super Comp. Collectively, the Webbers combined for five wins in seven final rounds.