NHRA Top Fuel championship contender Leah Pruett has a long history of drag racing at Pomona, Calif. – not just in the nitro-powered class but dating back to when she was in the second or third grade in nearby Redlands.

The racetrack has changed names more than once, and now it’s In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, home of this weekend’s Auto Club Finals. And Pruett, for the first time in her career, is ranked third in the standings, just 34 points off leader Steve Torrence’s pace.

The rumor became a reality today as NHRA announced the return of Virginia Motorsports Park to the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Championship Drag Racing Series. The event fills the first of two TBA events on the schedule.

The Virginia NHRA Nationals outside of Richmond, Va., will be held June 21-24, 2004. Tickets will go on sale for the event on November 13, 2023 first for existing customers, and on December 18, 2023 for those new customers. 

For NHRA Funny Car racer Robert Hight, the “Cruz Pedregon Factor” is guiding his thinking heading into this weekend’s Auto Club Finals at Southern California’s In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

The Auto Club Chevy Camaro driver is in a battle for the championship with Bob Tasca III and fellow three-time titlist and points leader Matt Hagan. Hight is in third place, two points behind Tasca and just 17 off Hagan’s pace.

It’s a known fact that to get to the second round; one must win the first round. And, after seven consecutive first-round losses, to get not only a round win but to come within a round of the final can make one feel like they have won a national event.

By nature, Top Fuel racer Josh Hart is a positive thinker. He has tried to see the good always in life when the solid ground often appears to be sinking sand.

But in taking out two 2023 NHRA Top Fuel point leaders in one day and scoring his first round wins since the NHRA Heartland Nationals back in August at Heartland Motorsports Park, Hart was almost as overjoyed in the forward progress as he was in winning the Pep Boys All-Star Shootout to start the season.

They served, and now In-N-Out Burgers wants to serve them.

In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip will commemorate Veterans Day on November 11, 2023, by providing a complimentary combo meal to all veterans and active military members.

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Proclaimed as the greatest NHRA national event ever, and rightfully so, the 1975 NHRA World Finals from Ontario, Ca., had everything for the race fan from an incredible facility, championship battles and world record times.

Watch Don Garlits' incredible 5.6-second barrage, as well as the first Funny Car 5-second run, and Pro Stockers from an era that made fans gravitate towards the factory hot rods.

NHRA has confirmed five eligible candidates for its 2024 Rookie of the Year award in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. Those candidates are Chase Van Sant, David Cuadra, Eric Latino, Dan Mercier,  and Jerry Tucker.

The candidates comprise three Pro Stock drivers, a Top Fuel competitor, and a Pro Stock Motorcycle rider. 

The leading candidate appears to be Van Sant, who sits No. 6 in the national Pro Stock Motorcycle point standings. Van Sant, representing the White Alligator Racing team led by former champion Jerry Savoie, has impressed with four semi-final and four quarterfinal appearances this season.

If you’re going to win a championship, it only makes sense to do it when it’s a prestigious season. Ten years ago, Tommy Franklin was one of a group of investors who invested to get the Professional Drag Racers Association [PDRA] off the ground. 

In the end, Franklin had to pull off the driving effort of a lifetime to put it together against a murderer’s row of competition, including defending Pro Nitrous champion Jim Halsey. 

Allen Johnson isn’t exactly an old dog, but he’s been learning a lot of tricks this season. 
 
Johnson, who won the 2012 NHRA Pro Stock championship and is credited with 27 national events, retired from professional drag racing in 2017. He had a few stints behind the wheel of the family’s Factory Stock Showdown car before returning in 2023 as the driver of Geoff Turk’s Factory X entry. 
 
“It brings back a lot of old memories and getting to see all my old friends, but the performance of the cars coming around,” Johnson said of the Dodge Challenger he pilots.