After making his NHRA driving debut in a Top Alcohol dragster at last year’s NHRA Nevada Nationals, Tony Stewart is ready to compete full-time in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for McPhillips Racing. 

Stewart advanced to the Finals in his first NHRA event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last October, where he finished second to Madison Payne by two-10,000ths of a second. Stewart’s 5.258-second, 271.57 mph run in the Finals came up just one inch short out of 15,840 inches on the quarter-mile long drag strip, which made his desire to return to the seat even stronger.

As far as the Vance & Hines Pro Stock Motorcycle team sees it, the 2023 season cannot come soon enough. Two weeks ago, the team departed Gainesville chock full of positive energy following a beneficial test session, and now with the approval of the first new Suzuki Hyabusa body in over a decade. 

Not only did the bike perform above and beyond, rookie NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Gaine Hererra and seasoned veteran Eddie Krawiec laid down multiple 200-plus mph runs. 

"This was a great week for our team," said Crew Chief Andrew Hines. "Working with Gaige and Eddie, seeing how well our bikes performed, and now receiving approval from the NHRA, everything is coming together for this season."

Chad Reynolds, who, along with Brian Lohnes, founded the popular Bangshift.com website, plans to return to familiar surroundings in 2023. He will return as the announcer for the Mid-West Drag Racing series this season. Bangshift.com formerly provided the livestream for the popular series. 

“We are extremely happy to have Chad back with us this year,” said series founder Keith Haney. “He’s got a huge personality, and we think the fit with Luke will be amazing. We’ve got several cool announcements to come.”

Reynolds joins Luke Clevenger in the booth, who is in his third full season with the series. 

 
 
After a solid sixth-place finish in the 2022 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster world standings, Julie Nataas will be back in the seat in 2023.

Nataas will enter her fifth season of full-time competition with Randy Meyer Racing piloting the Oslo Tapet & Gulvbelegg (OTG) dragster.

The plan for this season is for Nataas to compete in 17 races between NHRA national events and regional races as she aims to win her first world championship and the team’s fourth in five years.

One of the few holdouts of the conventional vs. canopy cockpit has now gone over to the other side. Or at least they are taking it for a spin.

During a test session last week at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway, Kalitta Motorsports rolled out its first canopy-equipped dragster. Doug Kalitta was the first of the team's two drivers to drive it during the private test session.

"It's pretty nice," Kalitta said while waiting out a rainstorm Saturday. "We've still got some modifications to do on it, so we'll go back and make some changes. But so far, so good. As far as being able to see out of the thing, you can see well. It's kind of nice, actually. It's kind of like a Radillac, a Cadillac with the Radman's name in front of it."

In the baseball-themed movie "For the Love of the Game," Kevin Costner -- playing the role of fictional major league baseball pitcher, Billy Chapel -- told his catcher Gus Sinski, "I'm gonna throw a little harder than usual today. There's your warning."

Sinski responded, "Chap, don't throw it away too early."

Robert Hight, a three-time world champion who was a catcher in high school, could be playing the dual role of Chapel and Sinski when the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series kicks off.

"I think I'm more hungry than ever," Hight said on the CompetitionPlus Power Hour. "After a year like last year and how it ended, we definitely have something to prove, and can't wait to get back in there. I've been thinking about it a lot."

February 14th, 2023, will mark 10 years since Rapisarda Autosport International made its debut on the NHRA tour at the opening round of the season at the 53rd Annual Winternationals at Pomona Raceway.
Four weeks earlier, team owner Santo Rapisarda stunned the drag world on both sides of the Pacific when he announced he had signed 3-time NHRA champion Larry Dixon and legendary crew chief Lee Beard as Director of Operations to spearhead a multi-million dollar campaign to tackle the NHRA Mello Yello series. 

Rapisarda had previously competed on the NHRA tour on a part-time basis. 

Drag racing has lost one of its greats as Frank Aragona, Jr., 53, passed away following a brave battle with cancer on February 10, 2023. The three-time champion from Freehold, NJ, was a three-time NHRA Comp Eliminator champion who supplemented his success with seven NHRA Division 1 titles as well as 16 national event victories and 40 more on the divisional level. His three world championships in Comp Eliminator place him in a tie with four other Comp racers (David Rampy, Bill Maropulos, Norwin Palmer, Bruno Massel Jr.) for the most championships. He is only the third Comp racer to win back-to-back titles, joining Dean Carter and Coleman Roddy. 

While Aragona is primarily known for his success in Comp Eliminator, he did win a Super Comp title at the 2015 NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway. 

The news of longtime Sportman racer Mark Sharrock becoming a Top Fuel owner with his driver Sydney Shaw is old news.

How Sharrock got to this point of his life being a deputy constable in Kaufman County Texas and an owner of Top Fuel team is far more compelling.

Sharrock spoke with CompetitionPlus.com at length recently to discuss his journey.

From the time drag racing journalist Dave Bishop proclaimed Charles Carpenter's all-steel 1955 Chevy as the fastest of its kind back in 1983, the auto repair business owner from Charlotte, North Carolina, was destined for big things. 

Next month, the latest of many accolades bestowed upon the drag racer considered the Godfather of Pro Modified will put Carpenter in the midst of one of the richest Pro Modified events ever.

Carpenter will serve as the Grand Marshal of the 2023 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Modified, March 3-5, at Bradenton Motorsports Park. He will give the command and flip the starter switch for the first pair of Pro Mod eliminations on Sunday morning.