Every drag racer has milestone moments in their career - the first time they win a national event, for example. Those moments usually don't coincide with their worst moment. For Top Alcohol Dragster newcomer Taylor Vetter, both moments occurred within seconds of each other at the Auto Club NHRA Finals last month.

"I'm still pretty emotional about the whole thing," said Vetter. "Just waking up and knowing that we were getting to race on Sunday was huge for us. When that win light came on in the semis, it was almost like disbelief. The guys were just so stoked, and it was awesome to see how excited they were. Because without them, I wouldn't be there. They work so hard, and they are such a fun group of guys."

The "guys" Vetter refers to - Nick Januik, Nick Shultzman, Cody Crubaugh, Jeremy Kilby, and Brian Stevenson - didn't have much time to celebrate. They had to hustle to get ready for the final round of competition.

 
When longtime crew chief John Medlen announced his retirement toward the end of the 2022 NHRA Camping World Series season, the Ron Capps Motorsports team knew they were left with big shoes to fill. For the past six years, Medlen had worked side-by-side with lead tuner Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli. The co-crew chiefs enjoyed tremendous success together, including most recently, having tuned team owner/driver Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Funny Car to two consecutive world championships, seven wins, 14 final rounds, and 10 poles over the past two NHRA seasons.
 
Rather than go the traditional route and tap into the pool of nitro crew chiefs with long resumes and proven track records, Capps and Antonelli decided to hire from within to fill the vacancy left by Medlen’s departure, and are pleased to announce that they have promoted car chief Tom Buckingham to the role of assistant crew chief. In his new position, Buckingham will continue to oversee the crew, but will also take on the added responsibility of many of the team’s day-to-day operations such as ordering parts, and coordinating work and travel schedules. He will also learn more about the tuning aspects of the car.

Funny Car Chaos creators Chris and Tera Graves have announced the expansion of their Nitro Chaos events to a four-race points series for the 2023 season. Nitro Chaos matches Funny Car Chaos with its rules-free approach, allowing any engine combination or car style. Well, there is one rule, you must run a minimum of 80%+ nitromethane, and that's it. 

Funny Cars, Fuel Altereds, Pro Mods, and dragsters compete heads up in 'A' and 'B' fields of eight qualified cars for guaranteed purses of $34,000+. This concept is a combined effort with Gerald Kramer and Iowa's Eddyville Raceway Park, where the first event was held in July of 2021. Top fuel star Scott Palmer won the elite 'A' Field and re-set both ends of the track record at the inaugural event.

Seemingly what could go wrong – did go wrong for NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Ryan Oehler in the 2022 season.

Oehler finished 10th in the final world standings but only won three rounds in an extremely frustrating season on his Buell.

“Pretty much from the get-go until the very end. We finally got a grip on everything going into the last couple races of the year,” said Oehler, who competed in the full 15 race schedule for the PSM class. “And it really felt good to have honestly really finally turned the page. And it just took basically the whole year to get everything sorted out.”

The 2023 Australian drag racing calendar has been dealt a major blow with the shock announcement that The Bend Motorsport Park Dragway in rural South Australia will not host rounds of the Burson Auto Parts Top Fuel Championship or 400 Thunder Aeroflow Drag Racing Series that were scheduled for March 2023.

This week they announced that operations will officially commence in March while the Grand Opening and major events won’t happen until October 2023.

Track management has given no reasons for the delay.

Tis’ the season for giving, and Kalitta Motorsports made good on their promise to feed the hungry during the holiday season.

Kalitta Motorsports, along with longtime sponsor DHL donated 750,000 meals to Feeding America, the largest charity working to end hunger in the United States.

The ‘Drive for Purpose’ charitable program, which exceeded its original goal of 500,000 meals, was based on win lights recorded by Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd at the Carolina Nationals in Charlotte, the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, the Texas Fall Nationals in Dallas and finally, the Nevada Nationals in Las Vegas -- along with fan and corporate donations.

The brand was out, and now they are back in. 

Today, the leading online national retailer revealed it would continue its sponsorship of Elite Motorsports in 2023. Jegs will again serve as the primary sponsor for driver Troy Coughlin Jr. 

CompetitionPlus.com had learned shortly after Indy that Jegs had planned to discontinue its drag racing programs, including the sponsorship of Coughlin in 2023. However, in the past few weeks, a significant internal campaign inspired the company to reconsider its position and keep Jegs in the straight-line sport. 

Towards the end of her successful quest for a fifth Pro Stock championship this fall, Erica Enders said to her challengers, “I am not scared. Bring on whatever you got.”

The driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage / SCAG Chevy Camaro can say that with confidence because of the tight-knit group that has surrounded her, one that not only prepares a quick and fast car for her but would go to war for her off the racetrack.

“I know it sounds clichéd, but they're the most important part of the puzzle, to have a group that operates as one and that you can trust, not just on making the race car safe for you, but trusting them with everything . . . whether it be something that you tell them, executing a job perfectly, having your back when somebody's doing something as stupid as running their mouth, or they're not trying to sneak your ride from underneath you,” Enders said. “There's no ulterior motives. There's just a good group of men. I didn't always have that, but I have it now. I feel like that was the most challenging part was to weed through all of the crap to get to the cream.

Veteran NHRA tuner Jim Oberhofer will join legendary Australian Top Fuel team Jim Read Racing for rounds three and four of the Australian Top Fuel Championship at Willowbank Raceway, January 6-7 and Sydney Dragway, January 27-28.

Oberhofer has close links with the Read family and last visited Australia in January 2020 where he worked alongside tuner Bruce Read on the car driven by three-time champion Phil Read.

“I am very excited about coming over,” said Oberhofer. “I have always enjoyed heading to Australia and being around the Read family – I always say they are my Australian family and Bruce Read is one of my dearest friends and a brother to me.” 

American Powertrain, the world’s largest TREMEC® Elite dealer, announces the return of their popular #BaconShift promotion. Beginning December 12th through January 6th, American Powertrain will reward customers with two pounds of Benton’s Bacon from Madisonville, Tennessee with the sale of any ProFit™ 5 or 6-speed manual overdrive transmission kit. With the moniker “The Best Bacon on Earth,” the company’s annual BaconShift promotion has been a huge hit and one that American Powertrain has received the most positive feedback from customers, according to American Powertrain’s Marketing and Sales Manager, Matt Graves.