Steve Torrence and team overcame near-tragedy to win third straight championship
They say that the measure of a champion is not how they deal with success, but how they deal with adversity, and Steve Torrence and the crew of the now three-time champion Capco Contractors team are evidence of that.
They say that the measure of a champion is not how they deal with success, but how they deal with adversity, and Steve Torrence and the crew of the now three-time champion Capco Contractors team are evidence of that.
After skipping the season…
Consistency, resiliency earned Matt Hagan a third Funny Car championship
Matt Hagan and crew chief Dickie Venables made the most of a shortened season with unparalleled consistency and performance that carried Hagan to his third NHRA FUnny Car world championship.
As a guy who rides a tractor when he’s not wheeling his 11,000-hp Mopar Funny Car, the farmer in Matt Hagan is very familiar with the old encouragement to “Make hay while the sun shines.” So, when the two-race-old NHRA racing season resumed in…
Erica Enders joins exclusive company with fourth Pro Stock championship
Erica Enders wins back-to-back Pro Stock world championships for the second time in her career, joins exclusive company as a four-time Camping World NHRA World Champion.
The list is fairly impressive, and it includes Bob Glidden, Warren Johnson, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Lee Shepherd, Greg Anderson, and now, Erica Enders. Those are the only NHRA drivers who have won four or more world titles in Pro Stock. Enders became…
Matt Smith rebounds from disappointing 2019 finish to claim fourth Pro Stock Motorcycle title
After a disappointing finish to the 2019 season, Matt Smith came out swinging in 2020 and was rewarded with his fourth Camping World NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world championship.
After a disappointing finish in 2019, where he lost the championship largely due to a mechanical failure on the last day of the season in Pomona, Matt Smith entered 2020 with a lengthy to-do list, and by the time it was over, he’d checked off…
Megan Meyer clinches second TAD championship with dramatic mic-drop win
Just a few months after announcing her retirement from driving, 2019 Top Alcohol Dragster champ Megan Meter won her second straight championship in dramatic style at the season finale in Las Vegas.
As hard as it is to believe, the second straight world championship that she could claim by lighting the win light in the final round of the season-ending Dodge NHRA Finals in Las Vegas was not even the last thing on Megan Meyer’s mind as she…
After years of close calls, Doug Gordon finally wins first TAFC championship
For the last six years, Doug Gordons has been in the Top Alcohol Funny Car championship discussion but never won the title. That all changed in 2020.
The last place that Doug Gordon and his father, Mike, wanted to be at the late-season Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals in Houston was at the top end, with TV cameras trained on them as they waited to see whether points rival Sean…
Comp champ Craig Bourgeois beat COVID-19, persistent rivals for second title
2015 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Comp champ Craig Bourgeois won his second title in 2020, but he had to not only beat reigning champ Frank Aragona Jr. and hard-charging Doug Engels, but also defeat COVID, too.
The spring of 2020 was not kind to Craig Bourgeois. After finishing second behind Frank Aragona Jr. in 2019, falling just short of winning what would have been his second NHRA Comp world championship, the Louisiana veteran opened his 2020…
Bryan Worner tops twin brother Byron in historic 1-2 finish in Super Stock
Bryan Worner won his first Lucas Oil Series Super Stock championship in 2020, holding off his twin brother, Byron, who finished second.
Bryan and Byron Worner are twin brothers who were born moments apart, and they both work as firefighters near their home in Eastern Pennsylvania. Now, the Worner brothers have something else in common: They are both NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing…
Brian Preszler's Super Gas championship; a national title, won at the divisional level
First-time champ hit the road with two cars and couldn’t be stopped
The first thing everybody notices is the car. Brian Preszler’s ’57 Corvette roadster is so striking it would’ve made Zora Arkus-Duntov a drag racing fan. In its second year of competition with Preszler at the wheel, the car gleamed, beamed, and took…
Jody Lang's first Stock championship is a long time coming but well worth the wait
After a number of near misses and close calls, Jody Lang finally broke through for his first Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Stock world championship this season.
How many remember the 2011 season when Jody Lang finished with a staggering 699 points, but lost the Stock world championship to Joe Santangelo, who scored 701? And how about 2005, when Lang posted another monster score of 672 points, but…
Young and quick an unbeatable combination for Top Sportsman champ Darian Boesch
Driving one of the quickest cars in the class, 21-year old Darian Boesch earned three wins on his way to the championship in Top Sportsman presented by Vortech Superchargers.
Bracket racing what is essentially a Pro Mod car might be the ultimate test of man and machine, and Darian Boesch passed with flying colors in 2020, winning the world championship in the Top Sportsman presented by Vortech Superchargers class.…
Christopher Dodd tunes his way through troubles to become the Super Comp champion
Chasing gremlins and a Super Comp championship during drag racing's most challenging year
Like many 2020 NHRA champions, Christopher Dodd’s season got off to a very late start. He’d planned on making the Division 4 stop in Belle Rose, La., his season opener, but his father was waiting on an engine for his Comp car, so they chose to skip…
Anthony Bertozzi fends off all challengers in Top Dragster to lock up second world title
Nearly two decades after winning the Super Stock championship, Anthony Bertozzi returned for an encore performance in the Vortech Superchargers Top Dragster class.
By the time he arrived in Las Vegas for the final events of the 2020 season, Anthony Bertozzi almost certainly felt like a marked man. Entering the homestretch as the points leader in Top Dragster presented by Vortech Superchargers, Bertozzi was…
2020 Mickey Thompson Tires Top Fuel Harley Series champ Randal Andras
Randal Andras dominated the competition in the Mickey Thompson Tires Top Fuel Harley Series in 2020, winning six of the eight events en route to winning Jay Turner Racing's fourth straight championship, but only after he got his mojo back.
The way that Randal Andras explains it, the biggest hurdle for any rider in NHRA’s Top Fuel Harley class is not just that you’re straddling a 1,500-hp, nitro-burning rocket that, for safety reasons, you’re not even allowed to sit on until the engine…
2020 SAMTech.edu Factory Stock Showdown champion Aaron Stanfield
Short of winning the Powerball lottery, there isn’t much else Aaron Stanfield could have done to make his 2020 season any more successful. Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanfield persevered to put together one of the greatest seasons for any NHRA driver.
Short of winning the Powerball lottery, there isn’t much else Aaron Stanfield could have done to make his 2020 season any more successful. Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanfield persevered to put together one of the…
2020 E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod champion Stevie Fast Jackson
Fueled by fans and out to punish the competition, Steve Jackson's second championship in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service was brutal for everyone — including "Stevie Fast."
Forged from the Southeast’s grudge-racing world, Stevie “Fast” Jackson’s mixture of performance, self-promotion, and maniacal work ethic have produced back-to-back championships in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Service…