Weldon High Performance has signed as presenting sponsor of CompetitionPlusTV.com, the video department of iconic internet drag racing magazine CompetitionPlus.com. CompetitionPlusTV presented by Weldon High Performance celebrates its tenth year and the popular YouTube Channel has grown to over 42,000 subscribers largely in part to its original and historical content including its Legends: The Series and Storytellers videos. 

Local hero Phil Read etched his name in the record book after fending off Peter Xiberras in the final round of the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel championship at Sydney Dragway. 

“It was great to race against Peter,” said an elated Read. “I went a little bit deep on the line and Pete did as well but shouldn’t beat himself up too much. I wasn’t sure I had won until the officials came up and told me because, when I pulled the 'chutes, Peter went flying past."

Veteran owner-driver Phil Lamattina led down NHRA legend Larry Dixon in the B final and RAI star Wayne Newby came from behind to account for rookie Shane Olive in the C final.

 
Ron Capps can tell lots of tales about drag racing – about times before he ever sat in a Top Fuel dragster or Funny Car. He and brother Jon followed all the heroes of their childhood and watched both of their parents race, at coastal California dragstrips at Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo.
 
“I grew up around the sport of drag racing,” Ron Capps said. “I probably was conceived at a racetrack. It’s been everything in my life.
 
And it’s about to become even more intense, according to his colleagues.

NHRA Top Fuel pilot, Alex Laughlin, will be back in a Pro Stock Car for the first two stops of the 2022 Camping World Drag Racing Series.  Laughlin, four-time NHRA National Event winner will start the season in Pomona, California at the Winter Nationals with Powerbuilt as the Primary Sponsor on the Prusiensky Racing Dodge Dart. 

“I received a call earlier this off-season from Alan Prusiensky asking if I would be interested in wheeling his spare car in Pomona and Phoenix”, said Laughlin. “It really got my attention because my current Top Fuel program with Scott Palmer wasn’t set to debut until the third race in Gainesville. I gave the folks at Powerbuilt a call, pitched this spontaneous idea, and they were in from the start. They’ve stood by me through so much in these short three years together and I am so thankful for their support.” 

Pro Modified racer Lyle Barnett was red-hot at the end of the 2021 NHRA Pro Modified season, winning the final two races. When the competition drifted over into the fan-vote realm of the Virtual Reality Hot Rod Association, Barnett merely picked up where he left off. 

Barnett scored his seventh win of the season, stopping Mike Castellana at the Le GrandNational in Montreal and, in doing so, clinched the series title.

" I don't have to press the gas or the trans-brake button to let go of it on time, to guide that seat down through there," Barnett said. "But for a week at a time, I'm pecking the hell out of the screen of my phone, promoting it on social media, making videos. Stevie gave me a good run for my money there for about four weeks, and we were back and forth on social media. And it was really fun. But I think that ... I said it after; I think it was race three when Stevie and I went for a spread of five votes, decided in a race where you had over 6,000 votes cast.

That optimistic outlook is part of what Quain Stott is relying on to get him over the stress, loss and illness he’s endured over much of the last three years. 

In April of ’21, the former Pro Modified champion and Southeast Gassers Association owner lost his partner of 36 years, Cynthia Phillips. In September, a case of COVID pneumonia nearly killed the 61-year-old Stott – and at the time, he would have considered death a blessing, given how lonely he was for Phillips. 

“I’m glad the last three years are over,” Stott said Wednesday from his Stott Speed Shop office in Columbus, N.C.

Pro Stock rookie Camrie Caruso will begin her NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series professional career with crew chief Jim Yates calling the shots. Caruso will start the historic Winternationals and Arizona Nationals with California-based Powerbuilt Tools as her primary sponsor. 

“I am excited to get my rookie year of Pro Stock started and I really appreciate Powerbuilt Tools coming on board for my first two races as a primary sponsor,” said Caruso. "Powerbuilt Tools will then be an associate sponsor for the rest of the season.”  

It's race day at Sanair International Raceway. Qualifying is complete, now it's time to begin the process of eliminating down for a winner of the Le GrandNational, Race 7 of 9 in the Virtual Reality Hot Rod Association. 

It's all fun in fantasy land to get away from the troubles of what is happening in the real world. 

For those new to this fantasy world, this is how it works. The race with the most votes advances to the next round. We had a day of voting to seed the eight-car fields. 

First-round ends tonight at 6 PM EST. 

During the last four seasons of NHRA competition there’s been no driver more dominating than Top Fuel's Steve Torrence.

The Kilgore, Texas, native won four consecutive world championships on the strength of 34 victories in 78 races.

Those are mind-boggling numbers for sure, but some that Torrence’s crew member Dom Lagana keeps in perspective.

Second year driver Buddy Hull, who finished No. 14 in points in Top Fuel during his rookie season last year, will be back in action during the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series driving a Tim Wilkerson-tuned Top Fuel dragster. Hull purchased the Top Fuel operation that Wilkerson, a two-time Funny Car winner in 2021, ran at a handful of national events with Keith Murt driving. 

The race car will race under the Buddy Hull Racing banner with primary sponsorship from Hull’s business Vertex Roofing and General Contractors as well as associate sponsor support from DFW RV Center, Lucky’s Diesel Shop and 1st Class Graphics.