Paul Lee and his McLeod Racing Nitro Funny Car are returning to Sonoma Raceway with a new marketing partner, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions, and the support of long-time partner Denso. The team is gearing up for what they describe as a wide-open weekend, hosting a full hospitality event with partners Mainline Sales and Breen Design Group. With their tune-up progressing in the right direction, led by John Medlen and Jason Bunker, the team remains focused on achieving consistency.

Denso is a major sponsor of Paul Lee Racing and will have a significant presence at the race. Executives and guests from Denso will be there and the company's logo will also be prominently featured on the Funny Car, highlighting their partnership with Paul Lee Racing.

Dan Muramoto, Manager of the Marketing Department at Denso Products and Services Americas Inc., expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership. 

Unless you went into the pits Friday at Pacific Raceways during the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals and noticed the cluster of folks in black shirts around a basic dragster beside a rather non-descript hauler parked on the far edge of the Top Fuel enclave, you didn’t get to see team owner-driver Ron Smith.

The 80-year-old retired Boeing engineer from Kapowsin, Wash., didn’t make a pass in Friday’s lone qualifying session. For some reason, the car wasn’t ready, despite the diligent attention everyone – including July 14 Lucas Oil Series Top Alcohol Dragster Division 6 race winner Kim Parker – was lavishing on it. But the hearts of the driver and crew member Harold Goens still need a bit of tuning, when right now a fix isn’t readily available.

Goens is Smith’s son-in-law, and both still are reeling from the loss in April of Smith’s daughter and Goens’ wife Ronnell from a brain aneurysm. They had experienced the same situation with Smith’s wife nine years before. She, too, had suffered a brain aneurysm, was airlifted to Seattle trauma center Harborview Hospital, and a week later was taken off life support. This is new territory, racing without Ronnell.

Mike Salinas wants to win NHRA Top Fuel national events – that goes without saying.

However, the highly successful California businessman isn’t worrying about wins until the final six races of the season – the Countdown to the Chapionship.

The NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout field is set for this weekend's 35th annual Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals at the picturesque Sonoma Raceway. This event is the final race in the renowned NHRA Western Swing series, and the eight riders in the All-Star Callout are determined to battle it out.

Gaige Herrera secured the top seed position, ensuring he will select his first-round opponent in this unique specialty race. Following Herrera, the riders seeded second through eighth are Hector Arana Jr., Eddie Krawiec, Matt Smith, Steve Johnson, Angie Smith, Chase Van Sant, and Mark Ingwersen.

The specialty event commences with the actual callout on Friday at 7:45 PM PT on the starting line stage. Herrera will exercise his right to choose his first-round opponent, with Arana Jr. having the subsequent pick if not called out, followed by Krawiec. This process continues until all the first-round matchups are determined.

Reigning Australian Top Doorslammer champion, Kelvin Lyle, has announced his retirement.

The decision comes in the aftermath of a high-speed crash in the final round of the 2022-23 season at Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, June 17.

Lyle suffered four broken ribs, bruising and abrasions and spent several days in an induced coma.

Drag racers and fans lamented the permanent closing of Atco Dragway as one of the most brutal losses they've experienced. Hall of Fame drag racing announcer Bob Frey feels their pain.

For Frey, Atco Dragway was his sandlot. It was the first place anyone trusted the self-proclaimed geeky kid with a microphone.

Actually, trust wasn't the proper definition, as Frey won the role fair and square back in 1965. Who would have ever thought one of the most iconic drag racing speakers would have such humble beginnings?

Rachel Curl, daughter of drag racing legend Randy Meyer never thought she would get to drive her injected nitro-powered A/Fuel dragster at her home track Mo-Kan Dragway. 

Not only did she get the opportunity when Nitro Chaos rolled into town for its penultimate race of the 2023 season, she made the most of it as well by defeating two top-of-the-line A/Fuel dragsters, beginning with her sister Megan Meyer in the semis and then Todd Bruce in the final en route to securing the momentous win at her home track in the 'A' field.

"I've been racing at that track since I was in juniors (Dragster)," Curl said. "Megan and I went to college right down the street from it, and that's where we would go bracket racing when my dad was off racing NHRA stuff, so it meant a lot.

A year ago, Joe and Cathi Maynard invested significantly in major league drag racing. Shortly following the 2022 NHRA Sonoma Nationals, the power couple announced they were purchasing a majority interest in Don Schumacher Racing and assuming control of the Tony Schumacher-driven Top Fuel dragster. One race later, along with partners Eric and Kim Lehman, Schumacher clinched his first win for the team in Seattle, Wash. 

If a great journey starts with one first step, the JCM Racing organization has evolved into a full-on sprint with the expansion into a three-car operation including Tim Wilkerson and Justin Ashley. They've also expanded into a driver development program overseen by Maynard's son, Joe C. Maynard, and the move to the front and center is in full-speed-ahead mode.

A drag racer was killed in an accident on July 21, 2023, while racing at U.S. 41 Motorplex in Morocco, Indiana. A day later, a jet drag racing community member succumbed to injuries sustained in a high-speed crash.

A statement issued by the Newton County (Ind.) Sheriff’s Department confirmed that it responded to the US 41 Motorplex for reports of a fatal injury crash involving one vehicle.

A preliminary investigation by Deputy Sanders indicated a 1996 Mustang (driven by a 45-year-old man from Mackinaw, Ill.) was making a solo pass when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed just past the finish line. The Mustang collided with a guardrail, causing it to go airborne before it stopped in a wooded area. The crash resulted in the car catching fire and the racer’s death.

With multiple NHRA national event facilities falling by the way the wayside in the last few seasons, Top Fuel racer Clay Millican believes there are replacements available, but only if the series, drivers, and team owners, as well as race fans, are willing to think outside of the traditional box. 

Millican made the suggestion first in the CompetitionPlus.com NHRA Northwest Nationals event notebook and later in an Autoweek article.  One aspect of his suggestion is that Millican speaks from experience about the viability of eighth-mile racing while burning nitro.

It was in 2005 that Millican won the richest Top Fuel drag race at the time, the Rocket City Nationals at Huntsville Dragway in Alabama, an eighth-mile drag race that paid $101,000 to the winner.