Point standings (top 10) following the 34th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, the second of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series -

Courtney Force was not going to be denied.

The Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro Funny Car driver was not content to sit back and take the No. 2 starter label for the Arizona Nationals, especially not when she had the same elapsed time Friday as provisional leaser Jack Beckman – and especially when she clocked it first

Deric Kramer enjoys a stout duel.

After all, he’s a swordfighter. The Sterling, Colo., resident is immersed in SCA rapier combat – fencing – a sport with Renaissance roots in Europe. It’s a sport that’s probably as complicated and foreign to drag-racing fans as drag-racing is to the rest of the world.

If Alex Laughlin was looking for a challenge, he found it last week. Not that driving an NHRA Pro Stocker to the top of Friday's NHRA Arizona Nationals wasn't a challenge; but when you pilot what is essentially a Pro Modified car on 10.5-inch tires, this takes the complexity to another level.

Over the off-season, Laughlin purchased a C-6 Corvette with the intent of competing in major drag radial events such as those promoted by Donald "Duck" Long, and competing in the volatile Radial vs. The World [RvW] division.

Last weekend in Valdosta, Ga., Laughlin's diametrically opposite worlds collided and the experience was one he enjoyed.

The 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season continued Saturday as Courtney Force set both ends of the Funny Car track record at the 34th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Deric Kramer (Pro Stock) are also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the second of 24 events on the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

No one probably has a recording of the advice Jack Beckman was giving Courtney Force when she attended the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School, preparing to license in the Funny Car class, and he was the instructor. But this imaginary conversation probably never took place:

Tony Schumacher never doubted himself or his team or Don Schumacher Racing’s ability to give him the right resources to compete for a record eighth Top Fuel championship. He struggled last season but vowed his U.S. Army Dragster was better than that. And he knew at some point he was going to have to deliver proof.

If a runner-up finish in the season-opening Winternationals weren’t evidence enough, Schumacher’s provisional No. 1 qualifying performance Friday at the Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park should be.

Legendary drag racer Bob Glidden was known for a lot of things – his 85 NHRA victories, 10 NHRA championships, 122 final round appearances and nine U.S. Nationals titles.
 
But one of the things the Ford racing icon was best known for was his work ethic - the grit and determination of he and his Glidden Family Racing team that made he, his wife Etta, and sons Bill and Rusty, legends in the sport of drag racing.

Pleasant surprises have become the norm for Nostalgia Top Fuel driver Pete Wittenberg.

Wittenberg, of Anaheim, Ca., scored his first career Nostalgia Top Fuel crown Sunday evening at the Good Vibrations 60th Bakersfield March Meet in Bakersfield, Ca.

It certainly wasn't the kind of monumental victory he'd envisioned for such a prestigious race, stopping the timers at 14.224 seconds, when his opponent Mendy Fry crossed the centerline to surrender a sure victory.

For the sophomore driver of the Circuit Breaker Top Fuel car, he'll take them as he can get them; absurd or conventional. 

Veteran Pro Stock driver Matt Hartford confirmed to Competition Plus he will be making his 2018 season debut Feb. 23-25 at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.
 
“We look forward to racing in Phoenix because it is our hometown track,” Hartford said. “You get friends and family that can’t make it to any of the other races around the country, so you get to see them, and they get to see you race, and we look forward to that.”