NHRA’s new pandemic-inspired two-day format has affected many competitors, and not in a positive way. Two-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Matt Smith isn’t one of them.

For Smith, the two-day format is a blessing, and the proof is in the pudding as the Denso EBR rider secured this third No. 1 qualifier this season, and 40th of his career, as he rides into race day at the NHRA Gatornationals as the racer to beat. So strong has the second-generation competitor been that he’s qualified no lower than third all season.

Bob Malloy’s record-setting run on a Top Fuel Harley was a clear case of the elements of the wedding adage being a perfect fit - like a glove.

You know the one: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”

Bit by bit, here it is:

Something old: Malloy’s bike. More about that in a minute.

In the first NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series race outside of Indianapolis since February, Top Fuel’s Clay Millican powered to the No. 1 spot in qualifying during Saturday’s 51st annual AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.

Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Deric Kramer (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the seventh race of the 2020 NHRA season. Eliminations for the AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals begin at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday. After resuming its season in July, the past four NHRA races had been in Indianapolis before this weekend’s Gatornationals, which is taking place in September for the first time in NHRA history after being postponed six months

Strange Engineering is finishing 2020 in a big way by passing on huge savings to our loyal customers by offering free freight on “prepaid” complete rear end assemblies.  

Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Hector Arana Jr. loves to compete.

He has become a standout in NHRA’s PSM ranks, winning 15 races and collecting 12 runner-up finishes in 147 career races.

Regardless of what happens in the future with NHRA and its series sponsor issues, the Professional Racers Organization [PRO] says it’s committed to finishing the season. This proclamation was handed down by the organization, representing professional drag racing teams in the NHRA.

This season has been one of constant adjustments since a pandemic brought the world to its knees back in March. The latest in a series of setbacks, including limited spectator attendance and reduced purse structure, was the revelation of the series that longtime series sponsor Coca-Cola had opted not to honor its existing contract with NHRA.

NHRA returned to racing in July with a series of events with limited attendance at Lucas Oil Raceway outside of Indianapolis, a course of action PRO’s leader Alan Johnson says involved the owner’s organization.

Follow A Dream Top Alcohol Funny Car owner Jay Blake has had a lot of free time lately. His team has been sidelined due to the coronavirus pandemic and being without a primary sponsor.

During his free time, he recently made a bench for the New England Dragway Hall of Fame in Epping, New Hampshire. Blake -- who is blind following an accident -- did the majority of the work on his own.

Consider noted drag racing historian and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Bret Kepner as one of those paying attention to the brewing controversy surrounding the NHRA's Factory Stock Showdown and the decision by the leading Ford Cobra Jet racers to skip the most prestigious drag race in the world - the NHRA U.S. Nationals.

For Kepner, the connection is far more than historical. It's personal. 

Kepner, along with then ADRL President Tim McAmis, was behind the creation of the ADRL SuperCar Showdown Series in 2012, a style of racing added to the NHRA's curriculum later that same year as the Factory Stock Showdown, a race-within-a-race at the NHRA's U.S. Nationals. 

The 2020 pandemic season is the gift that keeps on giving.

In the latest blow to major league drag racing, NHRA series sponsor Coca-Cola has opted not to continue their sponsorship, which was to run through 2023. It is uncertain if this withdrawal affects the 2020 points fund purse.

“Recently, Coca-Cola had a change of heart, and told us they would walk away from their agreement to sponsor our professional series -- not at the end of 2023, as promised in their agreement, but now, after being with us since 2002,” NHRA President Glen Cromwell. “We’re deeply disappointed that they’ve taken this position.   

“NHRA has always treated our sponsors as part of our family. Family sticks together when times get tough. But it seems The Coca-Cola Company is using the pandemic as an opportunity to break their promise. We can’t let that stand. We owe it to everyone who makes the NHRA so excellent – all our employees, teams, tracks, fans, partners and sponsors – to hold Coca-Cola to its promises.”

In today’s society due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have to wear a mask in an attempt to stop the virus. NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car pilot Ron Capps was inspired by a picture to make a vintage drag racing mask.

He used a picture from the late Tom McEwen’s racing career as the inspiration for the mask. At first, they were just going to be for his family and close friends.