Scotty Cannon was up before sunrise last Saturday, hitting the road out of Lyman, S.C.

He was set to become the 20th inductee into Bristol Dragway’s Legends of Thunder Valley. But he wasn’t headed to Tennessee. He was going to Atlanta to help a buddy tune his race car.

“I'm getting a taste of the old days,” said the six-time IHRA Pro Modified champion and 28-time winner in the class he pioneered.

But today’s drag-racing scene and modern cars are far different than they were when he and Bill Kuhlmann, Al Billes, Freddy Hahn, Tim McAmis, and Ed Hoover – and even Shannon Jenkins, Mike Castellana, and Mike Ashley – were ushering in the class, inventing it. Now these 21st Century Pro Mods, with their sophisticated telemetry, require different skills than Cannon had to employ with his popular nitrous-injected ’41 Willys or his supercharged ’63 split window Corvette. Even the NHRA Funny Car class, in which Cannon competed for six years, has made huge performance strides seemingly overnight.

Drag racing innovator and Pro Stock icon Richard Maskin passed away October 16, 2021, at the age of 74.

Maskin was the founder and driving force behind the Dart Machinery brand in 1981, a leader in cylinder head technology that expanded to include engine blocks and intake manifolds. 

Maskin was well known for his participation in Pro Stock as a team owner and crew chief first with AMC entries and later with GM-powered efforts. 

Mike Salinas wasn’t kidding. 

After he defeated Steve Torrence in Sunday’s Top Fuel final round of the Thunder Valley Nationals to score back-to-back victories at Bristol Dragway, the San Jose, Calif., businessman told the crowd he was going to buy a home in East Tennessee.

Mission accomplished.

Alexia DeJoria wanted to get a win in the last three races, and she did just that at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., Sunday.

Angelle Sampey is the winningest women racer in NHRA history, and she keeps on winning.

Sampey’s latest victory came Sunday at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Newly crowned world champions Jim Halsey (Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous), Chris Garner-Jones (Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle) and Tim Essick (Drag 965 Pro Street) bookended their championship seasons with victories at the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Brian Olson Memorial World Finals presented by ProCharger at Virginia Motorsports Park. 
 
Randy Weatherford (Penske/PRS Pro Boost presented by WS Construction), John DeFlorian (Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition), and Chris Holdorf ($hameless Racing Pro Outlaw 632) also won in the pro classes. 

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​​Alexis DeJoria powered to her first win in more than four years, rolling to the victory in Funny Car on Sunday at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Mike Salinas (Top Fuel) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won in their respective categories at the 18th of 20 races during the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the fifth race in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. It was also the first time the race in Thunder Valley took place in October and during the playoffs.