We and our third-party partners use cookies and other tracking technologies (“Cookies”) to enhance your browsing experience, to serve ads, and to analyze performance, activity, and traffic on the Site. We do not use Cookies to serve you targeted ads unless you click “Accept All Cookies.” You can change your preference at any time by clicking the “Cookie Preference” link in the footer of the Site. For more information on how we use Cookies, please read our Privacy Policy. By interacting with the site, you agree to be bound by our Terms of Use.
Cookie Preferences
Manage your cookie preferences below.
Opt-out of sales/sharing/targeted advertising
With your consent, the Site uses cookies and other similar tracking technologies (“Cookies”) to enhance our marketing efforts and serve more relevant content and advertisements to you. Some Cookies may collect personal information that is used in a way that is considered a Sale, Share, or Targeted Advertising as those terms are defined under applicable state privacy laws. You can control how we use cookies. By sliding the toggle above to the left (so that it is grayed out) and clicking the “Save Preferences” button, you can opt out of Sales, Sharing, and Targeted Advertising via Cookies. By sliding the toggle to the right (so that it is green) and clicking the “Save Preferences” button, you can opt in to Sales, Sharing, and Targeted Advertising via Cookies. If at any time you change your mind, you can always update your preferences by clicking on the “Manage Cookie Preferences” in the footer of the site.
Joe Santangelo, winner earlier this season at the Virginia NHRA Nationals, scored again in Super Stock with his Camaro at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, where he was joined by fellow winners Monty Bogan, Todd Ewing, Ray Sawyer, and Johnny Brooks.
You can’t measure competitive drive. It also isn’t very much fun to try. So, I’ll share three of my favorite Bob Tasca III stories to try to paint a picture of how much the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals Wally means to him.
The first time I…
Jose Gonzalez sealed the deal in Bristol, capturing the Wally from the bottom of the qualifying sheet at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The win is Gonzalez’s second in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Services and his…
Someone stopped Steve Torrence. Mike Salinas got past the defending Top Fuel world champion with brute force thanks to an incredible race car tuned by Alan Johnson. A 3.836-second pass was enough to beat Torrence for the first time since April,…
Bob Tasca III won for the first time since 2012 with a 4.008-second pass at 316.23-mph at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The victory kept John Force, his former teammate, from winning his 150th Funny Car Wally.
Tasca returned to…
NHRA National Dragster photographer Jerry Foss captured the moments of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals on Sunday, including the first round win of Lex Joon's NHRA Top Fuel career. We've got all those moments for you here.
Jose Gonzalez reached his third E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Services final of his career and second of the season. All the more impressive? Gonzalez made the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals Pro Mod final from the No. 16…
John Force has a shot at his 150th career victory at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol. The 16-time champion defeated Jack Beckman in the semifinals and will race Bob Tasca III in the final round at Bristol Dragway.
Force ran a 4…
Reigning world champ Joey Severance won in Alcohol Dragster and Nick Januik scored in Top Alcohol Funny Car to lead the list of champions as Division 5 kicked off its Lucas Oil Drag Racing season at Bandimere Speedway.
The following are Saturday's final results from the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, West Central Division event at Bandimere Speedway:
TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER
Joey Severance, 5.466, 264.23 def. Christine Chambless, 5.519, 260.…
Mike Salinas will race in his fourth career final round in a bid to stop Steve Torrence from winning his sixth race in a row. He made a spectacular run to defeat Doug Kalitta, running a 3.817-second pass at 320.20-mph to secure lane choice against…
Erica Enders got a shot to race on Sunday as an alternate in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Services. She’s making the most of that opportunity and will race in the semifinals against Jose Gonzalez, the No. 16 qualifier…
Ron Capps got a step closer towards defending his NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals title with a second-round win against Shawn Langdon. He made a 4.039-second pass at 312.28-mph, the quickest of the second round, and will have lane choice against Bob…
Steve Torrence’s march towards his sixth-straight Wally continued at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. He ran the quickest time of the second round of Top Fuel, a 3.842-second hit at 320.89-mph that put hometown hero Clay Millican on the hero.…
Bob Rahaim took down defending E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Services champion Mike Janis in the first round at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. That was one of a pair of big upsets, and Rahaim did it the hard way. He…
Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Make-a-Wish Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat made a booming 3.964-second pass to defeat Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan in the first round of Funny Car at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Johnson will get No. 1…
Testing did not set expectations high for the Parts Plus Top Fuel dragster team. Clay Millican, driving a Your Car Your Data-bannered dragster at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals this weekend, remained optimistic. He felt reasonable for doing so.…
Leah Pritchett made it down the track in three of her four qualifying runs at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals with an average pass of 3.824-seconds on those successful hits. That’s not world-beating (one of those successful passes was a 3.896, in…
Dutchman Lex Joon is heading to the second round for the first time after defeating Leah Pritchett in the first round of Top Fuel at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
16 Jun 2019
Jacob Sundstrom, NHRA National Dragster Associate Editor
Lex Joon scored the first round-win of his career in a wild ride against Leah Pritchett. The Dutchman had to pedal his Top Fuel dragster multiple times in the first round of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, but that seemed tame compared to what…
Bob Tasca III is one of the most fiercely competitive people in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing. He recently brought Jon Schaffer on board to join crew chief Eric Lane, replacing Mike Green just eight races into his tenure on the Ford Motorcraft Funny…
The NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals conclude Sunday with eliminations in Top Fuel, Funny Car, E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Modified, Mountain Motor Pro Stock, Mickey Thompson Top Fuel Harley and Lucas Oil Sportsman drag racing.
Eliminations…
The 17th annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance came to an exciting conclusion Saturday as drag racing champions were crowned and winning cars in the Axalta Show 'N Shine car show were announced.
The 17th annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance came to an exciting conclusion Saturday as drag racing champions were crowned and winning cars in the Axalta Show 'N Shine car show were announced in front of thousands of…
John Force will chase down his 150th win from the No. 1 spot at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. He will receive a bye run in the first round because of the 15-car field, getting the 16-time champion one step closer to another incredible milestone…
Doug Kalitta held on to the No. 1 position at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals to earn the 50th pole of his Top Fuel career. The Mac Tools Top Fuel driver is competing in the 500th race of his career and is chasing his second win of 2019. He won…
Marc Caruso made a solid pass of 5.877-seconds at 245.05-mph in the final qualifying session of the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Services. Then things went wrong. Caruso’s parachutes failed to deploy, and he didn’t have…
Roy Hill settled in, gripped the microphone and a wide smile broke out on his face.
“We’re going to have some fun,” he said, while sitting between legendary car builder and former NHRA Pro Stock racer Vincent Nobile.
Former doesn’t…
NHRA National Dragster photographer Jerry Foss captured the action at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals on Saturday and we've got some of the best images for you.
Improvement was not an option for most Funny Cars, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t room to impress in Thunder Valley. John Force and his PEAK Blue Def Chevy Camaro certainly did that on a 126-degree track in the third Funny Car session on Saturday…
Leah Pritchett is enjoying one of her best weekends of the season at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Her 3.82-second pass scored her three bonus points after the driver of the Mopar Top Fuel dragster banked a pair of bonus points in the second…
Sidnei Frigo made the best run of the third qualifying session of the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by J&A Services at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The Brazilian racer did not improve on his Q2 time, which already put him in…
By using our website, you agree to our Terms of Use. You also agree to our use of cookies, which we use to enhance user experience, display targeted ads, and to analyze performance, user activity, and traffic on our website. We also may share personal information about your activity on our website with our advertising, analytics, and business partners. For more information on our use of cookies and our sharing practices, please read our Privacy Policy.