Steve Earwood’s office was cluttered, but not to the extent it had been for decades.

He’d spent the first week of November clearing out and packing up in preparation of relinquishing the ownership reins. He’d been behind the massive desk for 30 years and eight months, transforming Rockingham Dragway from a track that opened only twice a year to one that was in operation almost year-round with motorsports events and testing, concerts, and more. 

By now, the multiple piles of race flyers, magazines, photos, diecast cars, and a couple of Bibles had been reduced to something far more manageable. The time had come to vacate the premises and hand the keys to new owners Al Gennarelli and Dan VanHorn. And beyond an impending trip to the West Coast, the 74-year-old Earwood hadn’t a clue what was on his horizon.

As a tradition established years ago, CompetitionPlus.com has asked members of the racing community to provide our readers with what they are most thankful for during this holiday season. This year's featured person is Josh Hart, driver of the R&L Carriers Top Fuel dragster. Hart recently completed his first full season in NHRA Top Fuel.. - Editor

Racers at the 2023 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod will be racing for more than just the $100,000 winner-take-all prize thanks to event sponsors like Red Line Synthetic Oil. The lubricants brand signed on to create the Red Line Oil Race Day Performance Bonus Program, putting up $5,000 for five different awards that reward performance and showmanship at the Bradenton Motorsports Park event on March 3-5, 2023. 
 
Red Line Oil Brand Director Mark Beatty has been involved with Drag Illustrated events since the inaugural World Series of Pro Mod at Bandimere Speedway in 2017. After the success of the three WSOPMs and two World Doorslammer Nationals, Beatty knew he had to get involved with the 2023 WSOPM. 

NHRA's Lonnie Grim could hardly contain his excitement as he spoke about the latest news regarding the new NHRA Factory X division scheduled to debut in 2023.

"We have 17 100% confirmed deposits with the major builders," Grim confirmed. "We have three other builders involved without the four major builders. The parts have been a little slow, coming from the composite component stuff. Everybody else has been rolling along with this build being steel roof, steel quarter."

Adding to Grim's elation, the first of the highly-anticipated Factory X cars will be displayed at the Performance Racing Industry trade show, December 8-10, 2022. Factory Stock Showdown racer Geoff Turk will have his new Dodge Challenger on display.

Angelle Sampey’s three-year run as a rider for Vance & Hines is over. The team announced she would no longer be with the team moving forward.

“Vance & Hines has a heritage of success on the track, and 2022 was a disappointing season for our company and our NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle team,” Vance & Hines president Mike Kennedy told NHRA.com. “While there were successes, like our win in Norwalk, Ohio, and the seven race weekends that we were the top qualifier. With our transition to a redesigned Suzuki [four valve] powertrain, at Vance & Hines, we expect to compete for championships.

Troy Coughlin Jr. had a strong 2022 NHRA season in the Pro Stock ranks. The talented driver won his first two career Pro Stock Wallys in Seattle and Topeka, Kan. He also added three runner-up finishes on his way to finishing a career-best fourth in the points standings.

Despite all these accomplishments, Coughlin Jr. was still a tough critic of himself.

“You know what? I give myself probably a C+,” Coughlin said for 2023 grade. “I wanted a little bit more; I wanted a little bit more out of myself. I think I could have driven a little bit better in quite a few areas. There's a lot of things I'm excited to work on in testing and just can't wait to get back out there again. I don't want to wait till March (for the season-opening Gatornationals, March 9-12 in Gainesville, Fla.).”

There was a time when Matt Scranton's name was drag racing household back at the turn of the century. Now he's making a comeback behind the wheel of a Pro 632 Camaro fielded by Curt and Lisa Steinbach.

Scranton's new story actually builds off of the story he began writing over two decades ago.

In 2001, Scranton was the NMCA Super Street champion following an undefeated season and concluded the season with both ends of the national record. A year later, he transitioned to the NHRA's new Xplode Sport Compact series and became the first import to break the 200 mph barrier behind the wheel of the Turbonetics Toyota Celica. He completed an undefeated season and became the NHRA's 2002 Pro Rear Wheel Drive champion. Scranton also won the 2004 series championship.

Back in 2021, Josh Hart turned plenty of heads in his inaugural NHRA Top Fuel season, finishing 11th in the points standings and winning two races in a limited slate.

Hart returned in 2022 to climb all the way up to seventh in the final points standings racing full-time and had two runner-up finishes and a 22-22 elimination-round record.
Despite the improvement, Hart knows he can be even better.

 
As a past Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Pro Jr. Dragster world champion, Amber Franklin knew what it would take to win a world championship in her first full season of $hameless Racing Pro 632 competition. The second-generation PDRA champion used a combination of determination, consistency, and strong performances to clinch the 2022 Pro 632 world championship. 
 
Franklin’s Pro 632 career started at the last two races of the 2021 season. When she raced to the final round at both events, Franklin and her team’s goals changed from merely making decent passes and winning a round or two to winning races and pursuing the 2022 championship. 

It's been a long time coming for John Durden, but on Sunday afternoon at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Californian finally drove his hot rod to victory at the COMP Cams Street Car Super Nationals presented by FuelTech and Summit Racing Equipment. After earning top qualifier honors Friday in the Precision Turbo presented by Energy Manufacturing Pro Mod class, Durden took his '59 Corvette to the Winner's Circle.

"I've been close three times," Durden said Monday. "We work hard and enjoy coming out. (SCSN Promoter) Mel Roth has treated me well and gave us a great race track. It's the biggest event on the West Coast to win and this is the one I cared most to win. Thank you to Mel and the PSCA crew!"

The Pacific Northwest was well-represented when it came to holding the big checks at the end of the day. Rian Hayward out of Marysville, Wash., not only took the MagnaFuel Outlaw 10.5 victory, his lap of 3.852 seconds at 192.25 mph blistered the existing track record for the class. The run was good enough to beat fellow Washingtonian Art Raz's 4.247-second run at 149.13 mph.