Competition Plus Team
Since our inception, we have been passionately dedicated to delivering the most accurate, timely, and compelling content in the world of drag racing. Our readers depend on us for the latest news, in-depth features, expert analysis, and exclusive interviews that connect you to the sport’s pulse.
BOBBY BENNETT: MAYBE IT’S TIME TO REPLACE TOP ALCOHOL NAME WITH PRO COMP
Drag racing sometimes comes full circle. In watching the recent additions to the Top Alcohol Funny Car division, and most recently, both categories, we are watching two iterations of the old Pro Competition eliminator. To understand how Top Alcohol Racing got to this point, we must look back to the early days of this class.
For those born after 1981, here’s a brief history lesson. In 1974, NHRA launched a new top-of-the-food-chain sportsman drag racing category called Pro Competition, shortened to Pro Comp, where the quickest classifications of Competition Eliminator were elevated into a melting point of categories that ran heads-up.
In Pro Comp, there were supercharged, alcohol-burning dragsters (AA/DA), A/Fuel Dragsters (A/FD), supercharged-alcohol Funny Cars (BB/FC), and the wildly popular AA/Altereds, essentially watered-down AA/Fuel Altered but on alcohol. There were other classifications, but these were the primary players.
NHRA, faced with parity issues in Pro Comp, was continually fighting to keep the Alcohol Funny Cars as a viable entity against the Alcohol Dragsters. In 1982, the NHRA split Pro Comp into two categories: one for Dragsters and another for Funny Cars, with the Dragsters getting custody of the Roadsters.
The Pro Comp Dragsters and Funny Cars qualified and raced separately, but the winners in each category met in a final round-off. However, when the dragsters won eight of the 11 final rounds, the two categories finalized their divorce.
The newly created Top Alcohol Dragster division had four classifications available, which also included the injected-nitro cars. However, the dominance of the AA/DA combination inspired the alcohol reference. The Funny Cars had only one combination.
That brings us to where we are today.
Top Alcohol Dragsters have two primary combinations: the injected-nitro dragster and the blown alcohol dragsters (B/AD, formerly AA/DA). Starting in 2026, a supercharged nitro option will be available.
The Funny Cars will now have three viable combinations, two of which are nitro-fueled.
This evolution leads to an observation from someone who watched Pro Comp run its course and now Top Alcohol. Maybe NHRA, with its infusion of more nitro options in classes branded for Alcohol, should also rebrand the name.
I propose NHRA rebrand the Top Alcohol divisions as Pro Comp Dragster and Pro Comp Funny Car. The class was always the elevation from Comp Eliminator, anyway.
Unless something changes in the Funny Car, the NHRA would be justified in making it one Pro Comp class again.
In my opinion, NHRA has gone above and beyond in the last couple of years to stimulate growth amongst the Top Alcohol Funny Car division.
Remember, the NHRA could have dropped the class and cited a lack of participation. It would have been easier.
But for all the cries that NHRA doesn’t care about drag racing, exhausting every option to keep a waning class in competition goes against this very claim.
Two years ago, the NHRA introduced the injected-nitro Funny Car combination, and while the series intended to increase participation in the class, it didn’t have the desired impact. In fact, at the NHRA Finals, there were only 11 entries. Before the pandemic, at the same event, there were only 13 entries.
The problem is the class has been on a steady decline.
The immediate argument is the cost of running the cars doesn’t equal the purse. Let me ask this. When was the last time it did? And, for that matter, has it ever been that way in any of the classes? Drag racing has been and will always be expensive. The higher one goes, the more expensive it is to play.
I believe that 2026 will be a turnaround year for the so-called Top Alcohol Funny Car division. With the introduction of the new Del Worsham supercharged-nitro combination into the mix, this could be the final chance to breathe new life into the class.
I’ve heard that there are cars being built for the new supercharged-nitro Funny Car class, and a few of the injected-nitro cars are still being constructed.
So that’s where we are. Unless the 2026 infusion of more nitro into the Funny Car portion works, there won’t be a need for NHRA to split a proposed Pro Comp division into two separate entities. It’ll just be Pro Comp.
Then it will be 1974 all over again, albeit with less Funny Cars.
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Competition Plus Team
Since our inception, we have been passionately dedicated to delivering the most accurate, timely, and compelling content in the world of drag racing. Our readers depend on us for the latest news, in-depth features, expert analysis, and exclusive interviews that connect you to the sport’s pulse.
Sign up for our newsletters and email list.
BOBBY BENNETT: MAYBE IT’S TIME TO REPLACE TOP ALCOHOL NAME WITH PRO COMP
Drag racing sometimes comes full circle. In watching the recent additions to the Top Alcohol Funny Car division, and most recently, both categories, we are watching two iterations of the old Pro Competition eliminator. To understand how Top Alcohol Racing got to this point, we must look back to the early days of this class.
For those born after 1981, here’s a brief history lesson. In 1974, NHRA launched a new top-of-the-food-chain sportsman drag racing category called Pro Competition, shortened to Pro Comp, where the quickest classifications of Competition Eliminator were elevated into a melting point of categories that ran heads-up.
In Pro Comp, there were supercharged, alcohol-burning dragsters (AA/DA), A/Fuel Dragsters (A/FD), supercharged-alcohol Funny Cars (BB/FC), and the wildly popular AA/Altereds, essentially watered-down AA/Fuel Altered but on alcohol. There were other classifications, but these were the primary players.
NHRA, faced with parity issues in Pro Comp, was continually fighting to keep the Alcohol Funny Cars as a viable entity against the Alcohol Dragsters. In 1982, the NHRA split Pro Comp into two categories: one for Dragsters and another for Funny Cars, with the Dragsters getting custody of the Roadsters.
The Pro Comp Dragsters and Funny Cars qualified and raced separately, but the winners in each category met in a final round-off. However, when the dragsters won eight of the 11 final rounds, the two categories finalized their divorce.
The newly created Top Alcohol Dragster division had four classifications available, which also included the injected-nitro cars. However, the dominance of the AA/DA combination inspired the alcohol reference. The Funny Cars had only one combination.
That brings us to where we are today.
Top Alcohol Dragsters have two primary combinations: the injected-nitro dragster and the blown alcohol dragsters (B/AD, formerly AA/DA). Starting in 2026, a supercharged nitro option will be available.
The Funny Cars will now have three viable combinations, two of which are nitro-fueled.
This evolution leads to an observation from someone who watched Pro Comp run its course and now Top Alcohol. Maybe NHRA, with its infusion of more nitro options in classes branded for Alcohol, should also rebrand the name.
I propose NHRA rebrand the Top Alcohol divisions as Pro Comp Dragster and Pro Comp Funny Car. The class was always the elevation from Comp Eliminator, anyway.
Unless something changes in the Funny Car, the NHRA would be justified in making it one Pro Comp class again.
In my opinion, NHRA has gone above and beyond in the last couple of years to stimulate growth amongst the Top Alcohol Funny Car division.
Remember, the NHRA could have dropped the class and cited a lack of participation. It would have been easier.
But for all the cries that NHRA doesn’t care about drag racing, exhausting every option to keep a waning class in competition goes against this very claim.
Two years ago, the NHRA introduced the injected-nitro Funny Car combination, and while the series intended to increase participation in the class, it didn’t have the desired impact. In fact, at the NHRA Finals, there were only 11 entries. Before the pandemic, at the same event, there were only 13 entries.
The problem is the class has been on a steady decline.
The immediate argument is the cost of running the cars doesn’t equal the purse. Let me ask this. When was the last time it did? And, for that matter, has it ever been that way in any of the classes? Drag racing has been and will always be expensive. The higher one goes, the more expensive it is to play.
I believe that 2026 will be a turnaround year for the so-called Top Alcohol Funny Car division. With the introduction of the new Del Worsham supercharged-nitro combination into the mix, this could be the final chance to breathe new life into the class.
I’ve heard that there are cars being built for the new supercharged-nitro Funny Car class, and a few of the injected-nitro cars are still being constructed.
So that’s where we are. Unless the 2026 infusion of more nitro into the Funny Car portion works, there won’t be a need for NHRA to split a proposed Pro Comp division into two separate entities. It’ll just be Pro Comp.
Then it will be 1974 all over again, albeit with less Funny Cars.
John Doe
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BOBBY BENNETT: MAYBE IT’S TIME TO REPLACE TOP ALCOHOL NAME WITH PRO COMP
Drag racing sometimes comes full circle. In watching the recent additions to the Top Alcohol Funny Car division, and most recently, both categories, we are