NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

When it comes to the School of Automotive Machinists and Technology NHRA Factory Stock Showdown, the Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals doesn’t just represent the start of a new season, it is more likely the dawn of a new era. The new generation of…

Bryan Warr enjoyed his trip to the NHRA Arizona Nationals so much  he decided to stay an extra week at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park so he could compete in the Division 7 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series opener, and by the time he…

Todd Barton’s ’55 Chevy Super Gasser attracts a lot of attention because, for one, it is one of just a handful of vintage Chevy “shoeboxes” remaining in NHRA competition. The car also features an eye-catching paint scheme which is important to…

In Pomona, the Mountain View Racing team rightfully garnered a lot of headlines after their Pro Stock driver, Vincent Nobile, qualified at the top of the quick 16-car field. By Sunday afternoon, it was the “other” Mountain View driver, Paul…

While we prepare for the official start of the 2018 season this week, let’s begin with a quick history lesson. In 1968, the factory muscle car wars were at the forefront of NHRA drag racing. Manufacturers were engaged in a constant battle of one-…

Kyle Seipel has won 11 NHRA national event titles during a career that is now well into it’s fourth decade and he’s also got wins in five different eliminators but, the impact of Seipel’s career can’t be measured by wins and losses. Growing up in a…

There is an old adage that suggests one should never bet on a drag race, but anyone inclined to do so would be wise to put their money on Jimmy DeFrank, at least when it comes to the ability to post a top-10 finish. Since making his…

Some would say that Bo Butner never forgot where he came from, but it’s more accurate to say he never actually left. For all his success in the Pro Stock class, including the 2017 Mello Yello championship, Butner considers himself to be a sportsman…

For NHRA Lucas Oil Series racers, the 2018 season includes 25 national events and 44 divisional events from February through November so predicting a champion in mid-January is almost a pointless exercise. Almost. Despite the parity that…

Heading into the 2017 season, Greg Stanfield wasn’t planning on doing much driving. A four-time Super Stock national champ turned Pro Stock racer, Stanfield was content to take a step back and support his son, Aaron, who has blossomed into one of…

Had he scored just three more points, one more win light in a long 10-month season, Chris Cannon would be celebrating the 2017 NHRA Lucas Oil Super Gas championship instead of pondering what might have been. After what was easily the best season of…

For Super Gas racers Chris Cannon and John Labbous Jr., the Auto Club NHRA Finals was anything but “just another race.” Labbous entered the final race of the season at the points leader, but his edge over Cannon in the standings was a precarious…

Justin Lamb locked up the national championship in Super Stock a couple of weeks ago and he’s on the verge of adding the Stock title after a dominating win at last weekend’s Toyota NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas. Lamb drove his new Redback Boots…

By his own admission, John Ezell lives a lifestyle that is “nothing fancy,” which is to say that he prefers boots and jeans over expensive clothes, and the weekends that mean the most to him are the ones spent at the drag strip with his family.…

Any sportsman racer will can attest that winning just one national event is difficult, but doubling up, or winning two races in two weeks borders on the impossible. Two racers who recently defied the odds are Slate Cummings and Tommy Phillips, who…

Like a last-second field goal or walk-off home run, the Super Comp victory at last weekend’s Division 4 Lucas Oil Series event at Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Nobile, Okla., was a game changer. Williams, the 2014 NHRA Stock national champ,…

The recently completed AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals featured a host of 3.6-second Top Fuel runs and the sport’s quickest Pro Mod field. The event also hosted the quickest 32-car field in Top Dragster presented by Racing RVs.com and…

Four years after he made his last competitive run in the Pro Stock car and more than two decades after he left the Comp class, Tom Martino returned to take care of some unfinished business. Martino has five Pro Stock wins as a driver and many more…

I spend a fair amount of time in this column discussing and dissecting doubles since it seems like someone in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series wins two classes, or at least comes very close to it, at almost every event. The reality is that a…

During Thursday’s Stock Class eliminations at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, more than 160 drivers from all over North America slugged it out for bragging rights and a coveted gold NHRA Wally trophy. A total of 39 individual class…

Winning any Comp race is hard. Winning Comp at Indy, the sport’s oldest and most prestigious event, is even harder. Winning Comp at Indy in a supercharged, methanol-burning low-six-second ’23-T altered? That’s nearly impossible, at least until Brad…

In 1967, Ben Wenzel walked into Martin Chevrolet in Hemlock, Mich. plunked down a then-hefty sum of $3,463.50 and drove off with a shiny new ’67 Z-28 Camaro, squealing the tires not long after leaving the parking lot. A half-century later, that…

Every kid who has ever played Little League Baseball has dreamed of one day playing in the Major Leagues, but the reality is that few ever make it that far. Eric Bell is one exception. A native of Modesto, Calif., Bell was drafted in 1982 and…

The Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals doesn’t start for two more weeks yet there were officially 634 racers on the grounds of Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis last weekend. The large gathering of Sportsman racers was made possible when the North…

During a three-week swing that included the Division 7 Lucas Oil Series event in Sonoma, the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals, and the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Justin Lamb competed in five events. His combined record for the five includes a…

As the son of former national champ Jerry McClanahan and the father of 2010 Super Stock national champ Ryan, Brian McClanahan has been to the winner’s circle many times at NHRA national events, but he didn’t have a Wally trophy to call his own until…

The first half of the 2017 NHRA season featured five doubles at national events, but that remains a rare feat that has only occurred 38 times by 24 different drivers. In Denver, Kris Whitfield pulled off a feat that is even more rare when he won…

There may be no such thing as a perfect race, but even if that’s the case, the JEGS Allstars event, heled each year at Route 66 Raceway, certainly comes close. Each year, 80 of the best racers in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series earn exclusive…

The Fallen Patriots NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by K&N Filters had a JEGS Allstars double, a traditional double, and a rare father-son final round, but all of them took a backseat to the most newsworthy event of the weekend: Dan Fletcher’s…

Although it may be factually correct, Rob Kropfeld doesn’t want to simply be known just as the guy who won his first Wally with an 11-second reaction time nor should he be. Kropfeld’s Super Gas victory in Norwalk was indeed his first in NHRA…