Antron Brown piloted his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster to victory on Sunday at the ninth annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C.

John Force (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Chip Ellis (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners in their respective categories at the 19th event of 24 on the 2016 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule. The NHRA Carolina Nationals is the first race of the six race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Paradise is in the eye of the beholder.

In “real” life, Dave Richards owns a swimming pool company in Florida. Not a bad gig at all. It’s the select weekends of the year, though, when Richards gets to live the dream of piloting a nitro Funny Car at NHRA tracks around the nation.

A small-budget driver in a big-budget sport, Richards’ personality shines like a beacon. Driving for his brother, Paul, and raised in racing by his father Gary Richards, a match racer in the 60s and 70s, he raced his first Funny Car event in Epping in 2013 and hasn’t looked back.

Sunday's final Sportsman results from the ninth annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway. The race is the 19th of 24 in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series:

Final round-by-round results from the ninth annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway, the 19th of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series:

Point standings (top 10) following the ninth annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway, the 19th of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series -

Dickie Venables wondered if his day would ever come. 

Venables, crew chief for the Mopar-sponsored Funny Car driven by Matt Hagan, had long desired to win drag racing's most prestigious race, the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis as a crew chief. The last 12 years winning the event seemed like an impossible task.  

Venables has had his cars lose races they should have won, made a bad call here and there, and once had his trousers blown off on the starting line from an out of control Funny Car which left him embarrassingly in his underwear.

In addition to driving his Make-A-Wish Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing, Johnson has been serving as an unofficial weatherman around  zMAX Dragway.

Angelle Sampey is having fun again. That spells trouble for her fellow competitors in the NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

After securing the No. 1 qualifying spot at the Carolina Nationals Saturday with a pass of 6.815 seconds at 196.02 mph, the three-time world champion described how she has undergone a personal transformation since renewing her career.

Not much can intimidate Leah Pritchett when she climbs behind the wheel of her 330-mph Top Fuel dragster. A nitro-burning engine is about as volatile as it gets in the motorsports world.

However, if you put a fire hose in her hand and send her into a blazing building, all bets are off.

Thursday, in a training exercise with the Kannapolis [NC] Fire Department, Pritchett, in conjunction with her NHRA Carolina Nationals sponsor FireAde, she took part in a training exercise with a controlled burn of an abandoned house.

J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series racer Rickie Smith powered to a first round victory on Saturday during the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the NHRA Carolina Nationals. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing at zMAX Dragway is presented by the Real Pro Mod (RPM) Association.

Smith, the current points leader and a three-time series champion, defeated Jay Payne with a pass of 5.847 at 249.67 to the trailing run of 5.954 at 245.40. Smith will face Mike Castellana when racing resumes on Sunday.