Phillips Connect has announced that Sensata Technologies will join the Justin Ashley Racing team as a partner for the remainder of the 2022 NHRA Camping World drag racing series. 

Drag racing has evolved dramatically over the last decade with racers looking to their team for data insights about the vehicle’s performance that could give them an edge on the track. As innovators in their respective industries, Phillips Connect and Sensata Technologies will take their growth initiatives to higher speeds.

While COVID restrictions in China [where key automotive resources and materials originate] are just now starting to ease slightly, Russia’s military assault on Ukraine has kept the global supply-chain situation unstable. Inflation hovers at undesirable levels, and it’s most noticeable in America at the gas pump. Labor shortages and sometimes astronomical shipping and transportation costs have sent ripples of concern through specific economic sectors. 

Christian Hinton, in a January 31 article for SEMA, wrote that more than 80 percent of its members have experienced supply-chain disturbances and that prices are expected to remain elevated into 2023. Despite that, he said, the specialty-equipment market continues to grow and that SEMA calculated the worst is behind us. In the Camping World Drag Racing Series, teams from the big-budgeted ones to the small-resource entries report they’re doing fine so far and are keeping their fingers crossed. 

Don Schumacher, who has his Top Fuel operation and two Factory Stock Showdown cars, is keeping a close eye on the availability of raw materials because of his interconnected DSM Precision Manufacturing. According to jpmorgan.com’s May 25 article, “Ukraine is the largest exporter of alumina to Russia and operations were suspended in early March. The potential for alumina shortages is an immediate and tangible issue, which could be problematic for supply chains, as aluminum is a critical metal used in packaging, transport (automobiles and aerospace), renewable energy infrastructure, and wiring.”

The Mid-West Drag Racing Series (MWDRS) is saddened over the passing of Pro Mod driver Ronnie Hobbs following an on-track incident during Friday night qualifying at the MWDRS Great Bend Nationals at SRCA Dragstrip. 
 
Hobbs, a recent winner in Stroud Safety Pro Mod, lost control of his screw-blown “Texas Rattlesnake” ’17 GT350 Mustang, impacted the right-side retaining wall, and exited the racing surface. He passed away at the scene. 

Raymond Commisso was a driving force in the Pro Modified division for years. Apparently, he's planning a comeback. These photos are of his new Camaro from Jerry Bickel Race Cars. We are told the car will run in the NHRA's Pro Modified division with appearances in the PDRA's Pro Boost division.

Bob Brockmeyer, inventor of the Compulink Timing System, the official timing system of the NHRA, thought he'd seen it all until Sunday.

Apparently, according to Brockmeyer, the parachute of a Pro Stock car nudged one of the timing blocks yet kept the system close enough that it didn't trip the alarm like it would had a timing block been displaced. Still, the misalignment was enough to give a bogus reading in the second round of Pro Stock eliminations but not enough to send off an alarm that the block had been compromised.

Life is pretty dang awesome for Mike Salinas. 

He won his third NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel race of the year and sixth overall Sunday at Epping, N.H., defeating Justin Ashley in the final round of the New England Nationals. 

Matt Hagan’s first season with Tony Stewart Racing continued its torrid success Sunday at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

Hagan clocked a 3.992-second elapsed time at 327.98 mph to defeat Robert Hight who slowed to 6.232 seconds at 110.15 in the final round before a sellout crowd at New England Dragway.

NHRA’s Pro Stock class had not competed in a national event since Houston on April 24.

Erica Enders won that race at her hometown track in the farewell event at Houston Raceway Park and she kept her momentum going Sunday, June 5.

Enders, a four-time world champ, clocked a 6.547-second time at 211.00 mph in the final round to defeat Elite Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield who came in at 6.553 seconds at 212.13 mph.

About a dozen years ago, Top Fuel racer Antron Brown won the Finals at Pomona, and in the sports section of USA Today newspaper the next morning, a blurb read that “Anson Brown” had won the race. 

Anson Brown was barely in kindergarten when that misprint occurred. One day he might be in the winners circle – and in the pages of the newspaper. But first things first.

Starting this weekend at the NHRA’s New England Nationals at Epping, N.H., the articulate and already-automotive-savvy high-school student is joining his father’s AB Motorsports Matco Tools/Toyota Dragster team as a crew member during his summer break.

For the first time this year, Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan knocked off Robert Hight in the final round, powering to an impressive third win of the season on Sunday at the NHRA New England Nationals at a sold-out New England Dragway.
 
Mike Salinas (Top Fuel) and Erica Enders (Pro Stock) also picked up wins at the eighth of 22 races during the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. For the second straight day, NHRA and New England Dragway officials announced a sellout crowd at the facility.