A source inside the NHRA has confirmed with CompetitionPlus.com that NHRA plans to have as many as eight more events following the Denso NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway Park outside of Indianapolis. This same source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said NHRA could hold at least one more event at the facility which has already staged three races since the global pandemic shut down the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Rumors have suggested the sanctioning body was going to close down following the U.S. Nationals, NHRA VP of Communications Jeffrey Young said the statement was absolutely false.  Young would not comment on the number of national event races the sanctioning body plans to contest for the balance of 2020.

The Holley NMRA Ford Nationals and NMCA Muscle Car Nationals, the leaders in the street-legal drag racing market, have announced the new home of the Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing is World Wide Technology Raceway (Madison, IL). The largest street-legal drag race event of the year happens May 13-16, 2021.
“The Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing will be the third stop for each series on the 2021 schedules,” said Rollie Miller, General Manager and National Event Director at ProMedia Events and Publishing. “This is the big one for us and the World Wide Technology Raceway facility and its staff are highly capable of handling this unique event. Thank you, Chris Blair and Curtis Francois for helping us bring this event to its new home.”

For the past 12 years, number-crunching and calculating occupied NHRA drag racers from about June and continued through season’s end in mid-November.

This year, because of the fluctuating schedule, the Countdown to the Championship – the six-race so-called playoff system that brought points and a half at some races and exclusion in a sport that was screaming for inclusion – has erased the need for that obsession.

Since 2007, pro racers have seen their points reset following the U.S. Nationals. Leaders in each class got to enjoy a 20-point advantage over their closest rivals, and the remainder of the 10 title-eligible drivers were ranked and separated by 10 points to start the runoffs.

Joey Haas will realize a dream at the U.S. Nationals Sept. 4-6 in Indianapolis.

The longtime alcohol Funny Car and Nostalgia driver will make his Top Fuel debut at Lucas Oil Raceway driving a dragster owned by Terry Totten and sponsored by Strumasters.com.

“I’m over the top with excitement,” said Haas, 29. “Any race would be huge, but this is that much bigger because it is Indy. We are going to try and keep them honest.”

His crew will be made up of Mark Howard, Scott Fritz, Pete Dove, Joe Haas, Joey’s father, and Joe Pryor. 

One of the most highly-anticipated traditions each year at Don Schumacher Racing is the annual Open House to benefit Riley Children’s Foundation. Since 2006, drag racing’s winningest organization has opened up its doors on Friday of the NHRA U.S. Nationals week to provide thousands of fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the racing powerhouse’s 145,000-square-foot Brownsburg, Ind. headquarters. Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Open House has been canceled, but DSR remains committed to raising funds for its hometown children’s hospital, and is launching a series of virtual fundraisers surrounding the upcoming Labor Day weekend NHRA event.

Kicking off today is a teamwide Cameo campaign, in which DSR’s roster of eight Mello Yello series drivers are available via the Cameo app or Cameo.com for special shout-outs. DSR drivers are available to send congratulatory messages, birthday wishes, words of encouragement, or to simply just say ‘hello’ to an adoring fan via a Cameo video. Cameo messages can be purchased for fifty dollars ($50 for Web and Android; $54.99 for IOS users), with 75 percent of the proceeds going towards Riley Children’s Foundation (Cameo retains the remaining 25%). The Cameo campaign begins today, August 20, and will run through Thursday, September 3, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Now takes place prior to AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, with double events in one weekend.

World Wide Technology Raceway officials announced a major participant-event change for its 2020 drag racing schedule. The track’s popular NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series regional event, originally scheduled for October, will move to the weekend of September 26-27 following the addition of a Lucas Oil Series divisional event on September 24-25.

“The many changes taking place with venues throughout the country presented this unique opportunity,” said Chris Blair, World Wide Technology Raceway’s Executive Vice President and General Manager. “One of the biggest expenses faced by the sportsman racer is the cost of getting to and from the track. This schedule adjustment will provide racers with the opportunity to make one haul to the St. Louis area, compete in two Lucas Oil Series events and remain on-site for the following weekend’s AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals.”

When the drivers in the NHRA Pro Stock class got together and decided to run throwback car designs at this year's 66th annual Denso Spark Plugs U.S. Nationals, five-time class champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. was quick to select his favorite ride.
 
"It was pretty easy for us to pick the 2000 design we used to win our first Pro Stock championship, which also happened to be the car I drove to my first Indy win in Pro Stock that same year," Coughlin said. "Fortunately, when we started to overlay that design on my current JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, it really seemed to fit really well. It was meant to be!"

Already a world champion after winning the 1992 Super Gas title, Coughlin was just a few years into his pro career when he entered the 2000 U.S. Nationals with a very competitive JEGS.com-branded Oldsmobile Cutlass. He was the runaway points leader, having won seven of the first 15 races of the year, and the chase pack seemed to be getting smaller and smaller in his rear-view mirror.

In a final-round clash of world champions, Sean Bellemeur maintained his perfect record Aug. 16, by scoring a second-in-as-many-tries Top Alcohol Funny Car win with the Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service (MWDRS). Bellemeur, the two-time and reigning NHRA TAFC champion, defeated first-time Funny Car pilot and defending NHRA Pro Mod world champ "Stevie Fast" Jackson for the Domino's Summer Speed Spectacular title at World Wide Technology Raceway, near St. Louis.

"Stevie and his team, they're proven champions, so it didn't surprise me at all they made it to the final," Bellemeur said. "He's a great driver, makes waves wherever he goes and likes doing it, so it was a fun weekend. And I'm especially glad the outcome turned out the way it did."

Tommy Johnson Jr. is uncertain if he wants to be through driving a nitro car at the end of the season. However, if his options dry up for 2021, it's been a great career.

The racing world learned on Wednesday afternoon that Johnson's stint of driving one of two charity-themed fuel Funny Cars for the Chandler Family under the Don Schumacher Racing umbrella ends at the end of the pandemic-spoiled 2020 season.

Johnson understood from the day he accepted the driving gig initially with the Make a Wish-themed Funny Car and later M.D. Anderson Cancer Center tribute, the program had a shelf life.

It's been a long time since Stevie "Fast" Jackson could say he was a rookie behind the wheel of any kind of race car. But there he was on Sunday, at the Midwest Pro Modified Series killing it.

Maybe Jackson, the man whose exploits behind the wheel of a doorslammer, might soon have a new t-shirt line to rival his "Shadow" Radial vs. The World design.

It could read, "Never in my life did I think I'd be racing a Top Alcohol Funny Car, but here I am killing it."