A pair of two-time PDRA Pro Nitrous world champions, Tommy Franklin and Jason Harris, reached the winner’s circle at the third race of the PDRA’s 10th season Saturday night at the DeCerbo Construction American Doorslammer Challenge presented by Callies. Racing at Summit Motorsports Park, Franklin earned his first Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous win of the season, while Harris was victorious in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive for the first time in his career. 

 
Four-time and reigning Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world champion Jim Halsey closed out Friday qualifying at the DeCerbo Construction PDRA American Doorslammer Challenge presented by Callies with a weekend-best pass to qualify No. 1 going into Saturday eliminations. Halsey’s 3.639-second pass at 207.66 MPH gave the points leader his second consecutive low qualifier award at the PDRA’s third race of the season. 

It’s hard to believe a perceived typo led to one of the most successful aftermarket companies ever to service the motorsports industry. 

That was 1964 when a well-intended printer saw the name Stange Engineering on the ads he was hired to produce and took the initiative to correct the copy to read Strange Engineering. And the interesting part is the printer kept making the same mistake until the customer Bob Stange decided if you can’t beat them, join them. 

Stange, the patriarch behind the Strange Engineering brand, passed away peacefully at his on May 22, 2023. He was 84. 

Daren and Veronica Poole-Adams have a longstanding habit of sharing what brings them joy in order to enrich the lives of others. Daren, a lifelong drag racing enthusiast who accompanied his dad to Santa Pod Raceway in England before moving to the United States as a teen, knows first-hand how drag racing can have a positive impact on a child. Veronica – his wife of 30 years – loves the sport just as much, particularly the friends and racing family they have acquired through the years. With that community spirit in mind, the two have launched Rock-It Racing, a program born to inspire, encourage, and support the future of drag racing.

The Indy 500 is great over the Memorial Day weekend, but a Funny Car versus Top Fuel match race might just steal the show on Monday, May 29, in Indianapolis. 

Nitro racers Cruz Pedregon and Josh Hart will take part at Lucas Oil Raceway as part of the grand prize Snap-on Tools Superspeedway contest event. Snap-on Tools will be hosting 24 VIP contest winners and their guests at the Indy 500 on Sunday and then at an all-day, fully immersive day of drag racing that will include 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 Funny Car over at the drag strip.

In an article published in the Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal on May 22, it appears a strong line in the sand has been drawn by Heartland Motorsports Park owner Chris Payne, who owes Shawnee County more than $2.6 million in property taxes.

Payne in the article by Tim Hrenchir says he intends to close the racing facility if his appeal fails in his lawsuit against Shawnee County over a years-long tax battle.

Payne said that in an email last week to The Capital-Journal.

It all started for Jason Beckman with his “little Tony Stewart diecast on I-racing.” He said he wanted to recreate it, so he “spent a few hours watching YouTube tutorials” and taught himself how to use a graphic program. (He cautioned that the description “studied” is a bit too “generous.”)

This weekend, the extensive NHRA drag-racing community has seen the 16-year-old home-schooled Californian’s handiwork – or at least gotten a glimpse of it as it sped down the Route 66 Raceway dragstrip on Chris King’s Funny Car. Seeing that also was a first for the creative young man.

King is one of the many racers that Jason’s father, 2012 Funny Car champion “Fast Jack” Beckman, has helped though the years as a long-time instructor for the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School. And he turned to Jason Beckman for the artwork on his car when he was ready to return to NHRA action with his Howards Cams/Competition Products Dodge Charger for the first time since 2021.

RAM Clutches will return for a second season as title sponsor of the RAM Clutches Palmetto Shootout,' on June 24th at the South Carolina Motorplex [formerly Orangeburg Drag Strip] in Neeses/Orangeburg. This event marks the second consecutive year that the South East Gassers Association [SEGA] has brought its traveling time machine into Orangeburg, SC, where a record number of competitors plan to compete in the A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, H/Gas, A/FX, and Super Stock categories.