Chemistry. In drag racing, chemistry plays an important role in pretty much everything that happens on the track. Racers mix fuel with expert precision; the slightest change in humidity may send crew members scurrying to make necessary adjustments; fluids are carefully weighed and measured. However, most teams will agree, it takes a different kind of chemistry, on and off the track, to be successful in this sport. Chemistry among the crew is vitally important. The formula has to be just right. After all, combining personalities, egos, temperaments and competitive drives, can be a recipe for disaster in normal, day-to-day functions. Throw in the intensity of NHRA Championship Drag Racing and the chances for combustion multiply. 

This year at the Camping World Drag Racing Series races, fans will see signage all over for “Toyota Gazoo” or “Toyota Gazoo Racing.” 

Just exactly what does that mean, “Gazoo?” 

Toyota Racing representative Lisa Hughes Kennedy had the answer. 

While we reported some time ago Rickie Smith's return to a Mustang for Pro Modified, we were able to snap a few pics of the new horse rolling out of Jerry Bickel's shop.

Radial vs. The World driver Jason Lee had a feeling something good was going to happen Wednesday night during the opening session of the Duck X Productions marquee event, Lights Out 13, at South Georgia Motorsports Park. 

Credit a successful test at Orlando Speed World ahead of the event for the impetus of his success. 

"We just made small changes and to keep improving," Lee explained. "But as the air gets better, we're definitely going to look to go a lot faster. We tested last week, and we're just duplicating what we've already done in testing.

The NHRA stands poised to make a run at a demographic they haven't held firmly since the late 1960s, and to do so, they plan on playing games, literally. 

Since the pandemic hit in early 2020, NHRA has been working with video game developers to create a game that genuinely extols the virtues of the straight-line sport. 

A lot of the details on the upcoming game remain hush-hush, but what has leaked out, one can assume strategically, is it should be available in time for the Countdown. 

One person, who knows more about the game than he's allowed to tell, is NHRA's FoxSports announcer Brian Lohnes. 

The Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series (MWDRS) presented by J&A Service will add its first two-wheel class when it welcomes Top Fuel Motorcycle to its class lineup at three races in the 2022 season. Pingel Enterprises, a long-time supporter of Top Fuel Motorcycle racing, has signed on as the presenting sponsor. 

The nitro-burning motorcycles join the all-eighth-mile series’ headlining classes, Pro Modified and Top Alcohol Funny Car, as well as Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, and Jr. Dragsters.

Starting to come back stronger from his 2020 pandemic-caused hiatus and encouraged by a season that netted him three victories in five finals, John Force has tweaked his four-team program a bit this year.

For one thing, he has hired his own in-house team of sponsorship-procurement specialists. 

“I’ve realized it’s time to build my own marketing team, not go with an agency,” the multiple-car team owner said. “And it’s costing me. Took money out of my savings to hire them. I brought some guys from basketball. I brought some guys from IndyCar and NASCAR to chase money. Racing is a rich man’s sport. That’s why the Torrences can do it; that’s why [Connie] Kalitta and [Don] Schumacher, people with money, can do it. I’m a truck driver. That’s where I come from. And I have to have sponsors to make it. 

Sparkling Ice +Caffeine, part of the Talking Rain Beverage Company, has partnered with Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) for its inaugural season in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.
 
Sparkling Ice +Caffeine will serve as the primary sponsor for TSR driver Leah Pruett and her 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster in two NHRA events this year – this weekend during the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, and July 29-31 in the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent Washington. For all other races, Sparkling Ice +Caffeine will be an associate sponsor on Pruett’s Top Fuel dragster with logo placement atop the driver canopy.

This time last year, Josh Hart was an unknown quantity in the Top Fuel class. He was a former Lucas Oil Series Top Alcohol driver from Ocala, Fla., who had achieved some success, especially in winning the U.S. Nationals twice. But he was the toast of the Camping World Drag Racing Series after winning in his first weekend, at his home track at Gainesville and in the fall at Charlotte. 

He brought not only a quiet perseverance to the sport but also a handful of brand-new sponsors, including his current primary marketing partner, R+L Carriers. And for that, he gained the admiration of his peers, including Funny Car’s Cruz Pedregon and fellow Top Fuel team owner Antron Brown. 

Funny Car driver Jim Campbell, whose Jim Dunn Racing team doesn’t participate in testing, has no problem at all with using a practice Christmas tree to work toward cutting consistently quick starting lights. It’s a tool he uses, for sure. But he cautioned that it’s not necessarily realistic preparation for competition. 

The missing element, he said, is the human drama. 

“Practicing on a practice tree is nothing. That's just a mechanism to get your hand-eye coordination. There's not 10,000 other things going on.