Sometimes the best measure is to let others take risks and then sit back to determine what works and what doesn't. This practice is the luxury NHRA had back through the years when it had competition in the drag racing sanctioning body world. The fringe series, American Hot Rod Association [AHRA] and International Hot Rod Association [IHRA], always daring to be different, created programs and procedures that often found their way into the NHRA's formula.

"The NHRA did the smart thing," confirmed noted drag racing historian Bret Kepner. "They let the IHRA or the AHRA start these weird things, and they sat back and watched to see if it worked. And if it worked, they used it, and if it didn't work, they didn't use it."

If you raced IHRA Top Sportsman during the years of 1986 through 1989, it was important that you brought a label to the race. Usually, that label was the world’s fastest [insert car year and make here] and that was usually enough of a calling card to generate match races, t-shirt sales and magazine articles.

The growing popularity of the Pro Modified movement afforded the pioneering drivers such as Charles Carpenter an abundance of match races. He booked as many as 55 races/match races in one season.

There was no official World’s Fastest Group per se, but the ability to claim a niche in the fast-growing class was enough for the multitude of teams in the fledgling movement to seek out a unique identity.

R.C. Sherman’s unheralded introduction didn’t inspire any real titles, but when Dave Bishop proclaimed Charles Carpenter’s 1955 Chevy as the “World’s Fastest ’55 Chevy” – those immortal words spoken by a part-time journalist was enough to inspire other racers.

Back on April 21, NHRA and the Bandimere family jointly announced the 2023 Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals on July 14-16 at Bandimere Speedway would be the last NHRA national event at the historic track just outside of Denver.

First opened in 1958, the Bandimere family has agreed to sell the current property and land, with the 2023 racing season marking the end of drag racing at the Morrison, Colo., location.

Now the final act of the Mile-High Nationals is just days away, CompetitionPlus.com caught up with Tami Bandimere, who is part of Bandimere Speedway’s executive team, to talk about how hectic things have been.

The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series made waves on Sunday as viewers flocked to watch the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals eliminations from Summit Motorsports Park. FOX Broadcast Network reported an impressive average of 818,000 viewers tuning in for the event, reflecting a 17-percent increase compared to last year's race at the same venue. The excitement reached its peak during the later rounds, with nearly 1 million viewers watching the action unfold.

This surge in viewership comes as part of the NHRA's partnership with FOX Broadcast Network, providing a valuable opportunity to showcase the sport to a wider television audience. 

"Presenting NHRA championship drag racing all summer long on FOX Broadcast Network is a terrific opportunity to showcase our sport to an expanded television audience," said NHRA Vice President of Broadcast, Steve Reintjes. "Last weekend was a fantastic start to our upcoming run of FOX broadcasts."

​Never in the wildest dreams of veteran Top Fuel racer Clay Millican’s mind did he ever imagine that he, competing full time with the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, would one day be sharing a team with drivers in NASCAR, IndyCar and a wide range of motorsport disciplines.

“I would have never thought I’d be at the 24 Hours of Daytona or on the starting line of the Indy 500,” Millican said. “That is something I never imagined. But it has certainly expanded my horizon to motorsports a little bit.”

Millican is of course referencing his new partnership with Rick Ware Racing which has taken ownership of his 11,000-horsepower dragster. RWR owns teams in NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA and a few smaller series. And now, of course, NHRA.

Pro Modified racing fans can look forward to an exciting weekend as the fifth edition of the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod returns to Bradenton Motorsports Park from March 1-3, 2024. The event's highlight will be the Pro Mod showdown, where drivers will compete for a whopping $100,000 prize. Additional classes for the event will be announced at a later time.

Expressing his enthusiasm for the upcoming event, Wes Buck, founder, and promoter of WSOPM, said, "We couldn't be more excited to go back to Bradenton on the first weekend in March for another incredible weekend of Pro Modified racing. I love the opportunity to create some continuity. As excited as I was about year one and all the good things that came from this event, I'm even more excited to build on it. To go back to the same venue is huge. That was the first time we'd ever put on an event at BMP. We learned a lot about the track itself and the local area, and we can only grow from here."

The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and its broadcasting team recently received eight prestigious Telly awards and one platinum Viddy award in recognition of their outstanding work. The Telly awards, which honor excellence in video and television, mark the most awards NHRA has received in a single year, bringing their total to 33 Telly awards over the past nine years.

Out of the eight awards, NHRA secured five Silver Tellys in the General Television/Sports category. This recognition was given to the entire NHRA on FOX crew for their coverage of the Reading and Brainerd events, as well as their Pep Boys NHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout show from Indy. The NHRA Senior Director of Production, Rob Hedrick, praised the production team, calling them amazing and highlighting the talent of the creative professionals involved in showcasing "the fastest, most explosive motorsport on earth." He expressed immense joy seeing the team's hard work acknowledged by their industry peers.

Respected EFI system tuner Ben Davidow has officially assumed ownership of BigStuff, the pioneering engine management company founded by drag racing legend John Meaney. The ownership transition was completed in December 2021, with Davidow now overseeing the day-to-day operations and the overall business while Meaney continues to guide BigStuff's next-generation Gen4 Extreme platform.

As part of his strategic vision, Davidow is determined to expand the BigStuff team and enhance customer service for clients worldwide. The company has already taken its first steps in this direction by establishing two offices in North America – one in Southern California and another in Michigan.

Joey Haas laid the proverbial smackdown on the rest of the field this past weekend at the second edition of Funny Car Chaos' Summernationals from Cordova Dragway.

Haas, at the wheel of his big bad nitro-burning Funny Car dubbed "Nimrod," outlasted over 30 other Funny Cars to capture the trophy in the Rodaks Custom Roasted Coffee 'A' field. He not only qualified No.1 overall, but he also set low elapsed time and top speed of the meet during eliminations, sweeping the weekend and earning max points en route to his dominating victory.

Robbie Massey, Tom Furches, and Neil Girot also came up big in Cordova, joining Haas in the winners circle.  

Dallas Glenn always dreamed of one day being able to turn on win lights and have the type of season that Greg Anderson and Jason Line enjoyed throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Growing up racing quarter midgets and other circle-track cars as a child, Glenn realized from an early age that wasn’t the life for him. When his dad, Steve, went drag racing, Glenn thought he would give that life a try, serving as a crew member on his dad’s team at the age of 16. That, he said, is where he got hooked.