DENSO will not only be the primary sponsor of this weekend’s upcoming NHRA stop in Sonoma, they will also be the primary sponsor on the side of Clay Millican’s 11,000 horsepower Parts Plus top fuel dragster. Stringer Performance will again showcase the DENSO brand at the annual visit to California’s wine country during the second of three events in NHRA’s famed Western swing.

“DENSO continues to be a great partner and having them with Clay at their own NHRA race event is something very special. We value DENSO and their commitment to offering Parts Plus a full line-up of products, which makes this a win-win!” said team owner, Doug Stringer.

Clay Millican not only drives the Stringer owned Parts Plus top fueler, he also is a major player in the social media world with his highly successful YouTube channel and will continue to drive custom content related to this exciting DENSO program from their Sonoma race all weekend.

Mike Salinas smiles as the notion hits him.

If someone had walked up to him before the 2022 season and said, “By the midpoint season, you’ll be the number one points guy, and you’ll be the most dominant Top Fuel driver in the class this year to this point.” 

I would have responded, “It would be nice in my dreams. It’s something we’re working on.”

Tony Schumacher was hopeful his return to driving a Top Fuel dragster full-time would result in an epic 2022 season.

So far this year, if Schumacher didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck.

Schumacher’s latest misfortune came at the Mile-High Nationals in Morrison, Colo., outside of Denver Sunday.

That didn't take long.

Megan Meyer, a two-time NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster world champion, announced her unretirement earlier this year and wasted little time rekindling her winning ways.

Meyer took home top honors in the "A" Field at the recently-completed Nitro Chaos event at the legendary Mo-Kan Dragway, a facility named for its proximity to the Missouri-Kansas state line. Joining Meyer in the winner's circle was Dave Gallegos, who took home the "B" Field honors.

In the offseason, NASCAR and racing legend Tony Stewart constructed the Tony Stewart Racing team with nitro Funny Car driver Matt Hagan and his wife, Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett.

Hagan’s team has not missed a beat, winning three races.

Last season, nothing went right for Robert Hight.

After dominating the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series in 2019 and then missing the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Hight had high expectations that his team would pick right up where they left off last season. But that never happened.

It has been three years since the Pro Stock category last raced at Bandimere Speedway, the track affectionately known as Thunder Mountain.

At that event Greg Anderson picked up the win in a very close race against Matt Hartford, after which the class took a break from the facility until its return this season. And no one has looked forward to that return more than Hartford.

Reigning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion made the decision to switch from Buell to Suzuki in the offseason.

However, he didn’t get rid of his championship-winning Buell and that was a good thing this weekend.

Smith brought back out his Buell to compete in the high-altitude of the Mile-High Nationals.

Smith rode the Buell to a dominating win in 2021 at the Mile-High Nationals and history repeated itself Sunday at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., just outside of Denver.

Longtime Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous driver Chris Rini scored his first-ever Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) win Sunday night at the Drag 965 Summer Shootout presented by Classic Graphix at Virginia Motorsports Park. Rini’s .006 reaction time and 3.732-second, 202.97 MPH pass gave him the win over first-time finalist Dane Wood and his 3.963 at 178.00. 
 
The final rounds closed out a long weekend that extended into Sunday due to afternoon rain showers on Friday and Saturday. A brief shower on Sunday afternoon also tried to derail the completion of the series’ fifth of eight races.