The Sports Report: Behind the scenes in the exclusive 700-point club
Since the modern points system was introduced in 2005, the magical 700-point barrier has been eclipsed just 25 times by 20 different drivers. While we wait for the start of the 2026 season, let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest points totals in NHRA history.
Ask any NHRA Sportsman racer how many points they’d like to score in any given year, and they’ll almost certainly fire back with “just enough to win a championship” or some kind of similar assessment. That certainly rings true because winning a…
The Sports Report: Whitfield is motivated for another title run after near miss
Had things gone just a little differently, Kris Whitfield would be the 2025 Super Comp world champion, but he’s not the least bit bitter, just highly motivated for 2026.
Kris Whitfield doesn’t lie in bed at night and dwell on things that might have been, but he does admit he felt a bit of a sting losing the 2025 NHRA Super Comp world title late in the season.Whitfield is well respected as one of the sport’s best big…
The Sports Report: Dan Fletcher: Still hanging tough after all these years
Life is a bit different these days for Dan Fletcher, but after three decades and 108 career victories, he keeps rolling along as one of NHRA's most successful racers.
Dan Fletcher knows that he’ll never challenge John Force’s current record of 157 NHRA wins. There’s also zero chance he comes anywhere close to Force’s 16 championships, but he’s quite secure in the knowledge that he’ll forever be ranked among drag…
Cal Method wins one for the ages
At the age of 81, Cal Method reset the record as NHRA’s oldest national event winner with a Stock victory at the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle.
The first time that Cal Method appeared in an NHRA national event final round, Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated as the 37th president of the United States, the Beatles had just released Yellow Submarine, and it would be six months…
The Sports Report: Off and running with coast to coast Lucas Oil Series action
Last weekend, the 2025 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series kicked off with a pair of events in Orlando, Fla., and Phoenix. Here’s our recap of opening day for NHRA Sportsman racers.
While much of the country remains frozen or at least facing weather conditions that are too cold to race, the 2025 season kicked off last weekend with a pair of NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional events.
The Southeast Division held…
The Sports Report: So close, and yet so far away
When it comes to prominent NHRA Sportsman racers who haven’t yet won world titles (but should have), the list is long, and there are a few names that stand out.
We recently posed a simple question to a handful of NHRA Sportsman racers and other knowledgeable insiders: “Who is the best current NHRA Sportsman racer who has yet to win a world championship?”
Not surprisingly, many likely candidates were…
10 unforgettable Sportsman moments from the 2024 season
Now an annual tradition, we've once again selected 10 unforgettable Sportsman racing moments from the recently completed 2024 NHRA Drag Racing season.
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…
The Sports Report: Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. chasing history, again
With the 2024 season winding down, Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. is headed to Las Vegas with a rare chance to win a pair of NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Sportsman titles in Super Stock and Stock.
In 2022, Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. won the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Stock world championship at the final event of the season. After a long and exhausting season, Hidalgo managed to hold off two-time champ Brad Burton to win via a tiebreaker, so it…
Remembering Scotty Richardson
From teenage prodigy to five-time NHRA world champion to a dominant figure in high-stakes bracket racing, there was nothing Scotty Richardson couldn’t do, and do well.
In the mid-1980s, Edmond Richardson hit the NHRA scene like a bolt of lightning, winning just about everything in sight, but he typically wasn’t quick to accept much credit. Instead, the talented Texan would often defer praise to younger brother…
The Sports Report: James Hinkle delivers third win of the season in Norwalk
The 2024 season hasn’t yet reached the halfway point, and James Hinkle already has three national event wins in Right Trailers Top Sportsman, and he's in a prime position to contend for a championship.
For most racers, a single NHRA national event win is enough to constitute a successful season, so that means that three wins in less than a half season would be considered extraordinary. That’s exactly the position that James Hinkle finds himself in…
The Sports Report: Gator Bites
NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Sportsman highlights from the 55th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at historic Gainesville Raceway.
In the summer of 1974, a then 25-year-old Kenny Horne went to the final round of Stock at the Summernationals in Englishtown, where he lost to Kenny Koonce. Six years later, Horne drove to his second final in Gainesville, where he once again…
The Sports Report: Is it Miller’s time? Just maybe.
Brandon Miller is paying his dues in Pro Stock this season, but he’s also a leading contender for the Top Sportsman title with his six-second Chevy S-10 truck.
When it comes to Pro Stock, Brandon Miller readily admits he’s still in the early learning stages of his career, but when it comes to the Right Trailers Top Sportsman class, that’s a different story.
Behind the wheel of his six-second Chevy S-10…
The Sports Report: Winning Indy was so nice, Bo did it twice
Bo Butner accomplished a rare feat when he successfully defended his 2022 Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals Super Gas title
Winning the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals ranks as one of the most difficult feats in drag racing, particularly for a Lucas Oil Series Sportsman competitor. Huge fields coupled with six grueling days of competition conspire to test even the…
The Sports Report: Lauren Freer’s history-making double
Lauren Freer became the 30th driver to double up at an NHRA national event and the first woman to accomplish the feat when she claimed the Super Comp and Super Gas titles at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk.
There are two events in NHRA Drag Racing that are special but not exceedingly rare and that is female winners and national event doubles. Heading into last week’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, there had been 97 women winners and 29 unique…
The Sports Report: Irvin Johns proves that aging is just another word for living
When he turned on the win light in the Super Stock final at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals, Irvin Johns, 79, became NHRA’s oldest national event winner and he's not about to stop anytime soon.
The beauty of NHRA drag racing is that there are almost no restrictions on who can participate, and that’s especially true when it comes to age. Despite the mystery surrounding his age, it’s fairly common knowledge that Chris “the Greek” Karamesines…
Brad Burton’s hot start fuels desire for third NHRA world title
Two-time NHRA Stock champ Brad Burton is an early favorite for the Super Stock title following back-to-back victories in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
As the old saying goes, you can’t win a championship in the first three races of the season, but you certainly can lose one.
Or can you?
If there is any sportsman racer in the entire NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series who is suited to putting…
The Sports Report: Sherman Adcock goes three-for-three in Southeast Division
Two-time world champ Sherman Adcock Jr. takes the early lead in Super Gas after winning the first three Southeast Division Lucas Oil Series events of the season.
NHRA Lucas Oil Series world champions won’t be crowned for nearly eight more months, so any sort of speculation regarding future titles would be premature. That being said, it’s awfully hard to overlook the red-hot start by Division 2 Super Gas…
The Sports Report: Top 10 Alcohol Moments of 2022
Last week, we had some fun with the top NHRA Sportsman racing moments of the 2022 season, and now it's time for the Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car classes.
Last week, we had some fun with the top NHRA Sportsman racing moments of the 2022 season, and now it's time for the Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car classes. Not surprisingly, there were many memorable moments to consider, and breaking…
The Sports Report: Top 10 Sportsman moments of 2022
With 22 national events, 44 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series regional and divisional events, plus a JEGS SPORTSnationals and JEGS Allstars thrown in for good measure, it was hard to find a weekend where there wasn’t coast-to-coast action for NHRA’s Sportsman stars. The sheer number of racers and races make it almost impossible to sort through the year’s most memorable events, but we’ve done just that in our annual list of Top 10 Sportsman moments.
With 22 national events, 44 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series regional and divisional events, plus a JEGS SPORTSnationals and JEGS Allstars thrown in for good measure, it was hard to find a weekend where there wasn’t coast-to-coast action for NHRA’s…
The Sports Report: Locke goes the distance to clinch Super Gas title
Bob Locke needed some coaxing just to get to Pomona, and once he got there, he needed to win the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals in order to clinch the 2022 Super Gas championship, and he did just that.
How’s this for a storybook ending? Bob Locke needed nothing less than a victory at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals in order to be crowned the 2022 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Gas champion, and he delivered just that to win the…
The Sports Report: Dan Fletcher becomes NHRA’s second winningest driver
Dan Fletcher is quick to admit that the odds of him catching John Force for the NHRA win record of 155 races (and counting) are slim and none, but he’s known for quite some time that second-place Frank Manzo, who retired with 105 victories, was well within reach.
Dan Fletcher is quick to admit that the odds of him catching John Force for the NHRA win record of 155 races (and counting) are slim and none, but he’s known for quite some time that second-place Frank Manzo, who retired with 105 victories, was well…
Sports Report: Tyler Cassil beats the heat for NHRA’s latest double
When Tyler Cassil claimed the Super Stock and Stock titles at the Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor, he became just the 29th driver to double up at an NHRA national event. The rare feat has been achieved just 43 times since 1991.
The 100-degree heat that enveloped Heartland Motorsports Park during last weekend’s Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor made for challenging conditions for both racers and fans, but the heat appeared to have had little effect on Tyler…
The Sports Report: One man’s quest for an NHRA national record
Sportsman racer and U.S. Air Force veteran Fred “Sarge” Elsass chronicles his quest to set an NHRA national record in Stock Eliminator at the recent Division 3 Lucas Oil Series opener in Indianapolis.
Some stories seem to write themselves and this is certainly one of them. Following last month’s Division 3 Lucas Oil series opener in Indy, longtime class racer and U.S. Air Force veteran Fred “Sarge” Elsass wrote to chronicle his quest to set a…
The Sports Report: Is there another title (or two) in store for John Labbous?
A lot has changed in drag racing over the past few years, but one thing that has remained constant is the ability of John Labbous Jr. to secure his place among NHRA’s best by finishing in the Top 10.
A lot has changed in drag racing over the past few years, but one thing that has remained constant is the ability of John Labbous Jr. to secure his place among NHRA’s best by finishing in the Top 10. Super Comp and Super Gas are two of drag…
The Sports Report: Sitting Priddy
After years as a successful crew chief, Ryan Priddy is finally getting his shot at the big time in Comp eliminator, and so far, he’s making the most of it.
To suggest that Ryan Priddy’s Comp victory at the recent NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas was a long time coming would be a big understatement. Priddy is best known for his role as a longtime crewmember for the SoCal-based Mountain View team,…
The Sports Report: A pair of doubles in the Arizona desert
Leo Glasbrenner and Don Meziere have both kicked off the 2022 Lucas Oil Series season with back-to-back victories in Pomona and Phoenix.
In last week’s Sports Report, we highlighted Top Sportsman racer Don Meziere’s impressive victory at the season-opening Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. Not that anyone thought it was a fluke, but just to be sure,…
What happens when you’re both lucky and good? Just ask Top Sportsman winner Don Meziere
Top Sportsman racer Don Meziere opened the new season by winning his sixth NHRA national event title at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com, but it was far from easy
Don Meziere has now won six NHRA national events including three at Auto Club Pomona Raceway and none of them have come easily. In 2014, Meziere won his first national event in Super Comp, but he had to beat Steve Casner in the final by .015-second…
The Sports Report: Stanfield takes his shot at a fifth championship
It’s been 27 years since Greg Stanfield won the last of his four NHRA Super Stock championships but after winning in Bristol, he’s on the verge of another one.
The last time that Greg Stanfield was crowned an NHRA world champion, there was no World Series due to a baseball player strike, Johnny Carson made his final appearance on The Tonight Show, and the internet was still a mystery to most people. That…
The Sports Report: What Nick Isenhower does for an encore
Less than a month after winning the Dodge//SRT U.S. Nationals, Nick Isenhower returned for an encore performance at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.
Winning any race in Super Comp is a ridiculously difficult feat given the level of competition that exists today and winning back-to-back races would appear to be significantly more difficult, especially when one of those events is the Dodge//SRT U.…
The Sports Report: Fletcher on the verge of more history
When Dan Fletcher won the Super Stock title at the DeWalt NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte, it gave him 105 national event victories. He’s got one more to go to pass Frank Manzo for second on NHRA’s all-time wins list.
There was a time when the news of a Dan Fletcher victory would barely register a blip on the drag racing radar screen. For most of his career, Fletcher won often, securing a total of 104 national event wins since his inaugural win at the 1994…