Leah Pruett put together an impressive run in the heat on Friday at New England Dragway, rolling to the provisional No. 1 position in Top Fuel at the NHRA New England Nationals.

Funny Car’s Chad Green is also a provisional No. 1 qualifier at the seventh of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

Pruett went 3.856-seconds at 319.37 mph in her 11,000-horsepower Rush Truck Centers dragster for Tony Stewart Racing, making one of only a trio of three-second runs in the class on Friday. Pruett is after her first No. 1 qualifier this season and 14th of her career, as well as her first victory of 2023 and at New England Dragway.

On June 1st, 2023, NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) officials announced that the newly constructed Flying H Dragstrip near Kansas City was added to the NHRA Member Track Network. Owned by local business owner Scott Higgs, Flying H Dragstrip broke ground earlier this month and is expected to be completed later in the year.

The new dragstrip is set to become a premier race track in the Kansas City area, providing world-class amenities to bring sanctioned NHRA events to the facility. It is also a great addition to NHRA's West Central Division (Division 5).

"It's an exciting time for us and an exciting time for drag racing to be bringing racing back to Kansas City," Higgs said. "It's a big deal for all of us at Flying H Dragstrip, and we're really looking forward to building a standout facility that has a great atmosphere and a strong family environment."

There’s a lot to be said for consistency, and for four-time NHRA Top Fuel champion, a points lead without a national event victory speaks volumes for his consistency of performance.

Torrence, the 40-year-old Texan, has led the Top Fuel point standings after all but one race this year. The 53-time national event winner heads into New England Dragway for the NHRA New England Nationals with a record of solid performances at the Epping, New Hampshire facility. He won back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.

Josh Hart seems like the type of racer who will try something different. 

That rang true Monday, May 29 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. 

As part of the grand prize Snap-on Tools Superspeedway contest event, Hart an NHRA Top Fuel championship contender squared off against Cruz Pedregon a two-time NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion in 1992 and 2008. 

Snap-on Tools hosted 24 VIP contest winners and their guests at the Indy 500 on May 28, and then at an all-day fully immersive day of drag racing that included instruction in the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School culminating with a side-by-side exhibition race between Hart’s R+L Carrier Top Fuel dragster and Pedregon’s Snap-on Tools Dodge Funny Car. 

There was a time when nothing could replicate the sound of a nitro-burning Funny Car burning out at Thunder Valley Dragway, Larry Carrier’s picturesque drag strip carved out in a valley in Eastern Tennessee. Some say it was that cackle and subsequent thunder of the launch which best epitomized the moniker, which made the drag strip one of the best places to watch a drag strip.

A lot has changed since 1998, when Bruton Smith completely revamped the facility to represent one of the most beautiful drag strips on tour. With the renovation, some of the acoustics are different from what they were back then.

Or are they?

Jerry Eckman is willing to wager most of his racing friends have no idea he’s a Vietnam veteran. The former Pro Stock driver doesn’t talk about the days in a Southeast Asia jungle a lot, but if someone asks, he’s willing to share the experience.

He’s decided to open this chapter of his life to the readers of CompetitionPlus.com, a time in his life he characterizes as both painful and rewarding.

He’s decided to open this chapter of his life to the readers of CompetitionPlus.com, a time in his life he characterizes as both painful and rewarding. The pain came in seeing numerous kids both American and South Vietnamese lose their lives fighting for their countries.

“I was having the time of my life, a young man running all over Europe and having a good time,” said Eckman. “My enlistment was up after three years but I wanted to stay a little longer to see more of Europe. When my time in Europe was completed, I came back to the States.”

Morris Johnson Jr. can’t help it. Every time he hears those lyrics from the famous Lee Greenwood song “Proud to be an American” his eyes well up with tears.

“I am the kind of guy who looks at the flag for the greatest country in the world and gets goose bumps,” Johnson admits. “I get a tingle that I don’t know that everyone gets when they see the flag or the Star Spangled Banner is sung. When Lee Greenwood sang that song it became almost as popular as the national anthem.”

Johnson, of Smith Mountain Lake, Va., remembers the day a pair of brothers approached him on behalf of their deceased brother who lost his life during the Vietnam War. The Pro Stock driver was already emotionally charged after watching the skydiver fly above him carrying the flag as the Greenwood song played over the public address system.