Paul Lee hit the reset button on his 2022 season, and the result of the do-over will be on display at this weekend's NHRA Springnationals at Houston Raceway Park.

On March 25, Lee announced the hiring of Dustin Heim as the team's new crew chief with the departure of Jim Oberhofer. Today he's confirmed the addition of a co-crew chief in Jason Bunker, who has most recently been with Tony Jurado and Justin Ashley.

“I am very excited to be joining Paul Lee’s team,” says Bunker. “The opportunity to be fully involved with a nitro funny car team in Indy was the perfect next step for me and my family. Taking a look at the equipment that Paul has purchased over the last couple of years, this team has all the potential to run with the top funny car teams in this sport. And to work together with Dustin is going to be a really great time, and we both can’t wait to hit the track in Houston.”

Rodger Brogdon has a tough time believing when he races this weekend at Houston Raceway Park; it will be his last time competing at the facility located in Baytown, Texas, just outside of Houston. 

Brogdon, who lives in nearby Tomball, is one of several Houston-area racers saying goodbye to his hometown track, hosting its final NHRA national event. 

"It's terrible. Anybody in this area been going there for all these years, it's going to be a bad deal, but it's out of our control," Brogdon said. "There's so many people that ask me, "What are you going to do? Where are you going to race? I mean, is anybody else building a new track?" All kinds of questions like that constantly, but you can't prepare for something like that. I tell them all the same; I haven't heard of any new tracks, any quarter-mile tracks, at least, getting built."

Rob Wendland thought he had died.

The longtime NHRA crew chief underwent surgery Jan. 25 to remove a section of his tongue because of a cancerous growth. And for a moment, he thought he hadn’t made it.

“I woke up in the recovery room, and there was nobody around. There wasn’t even a nurse around,” he said, speaking in almost hushed tones, clearly still moved by the experience. “It was an open room, and there were other people [lying] around. I swear, I thought I was dead. You’re looking around, and there’s nobody moving. It was just the craziest [feeling]. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh – I guess those prayers didn’t work.”

But the prayers had worked. That didn’t mean Wendland was left with no challenges. But he was alive.

The Angel Family, owners of Houston Raceway Park, never had a plan to exit from drag racing. But when an opportunity came along that was too good to resist, they had to act. 

"We found ourselves in a situation where we sat on a piece of real estate that was in an area that was growing in an industrial world," said Seth Angel on the Competition Plus POWER HOUR show. "We just found ourselves where we had to make a decision as a family, what's the next step for us.

"We decided, we've got three and a half decades, 35 years of the history of the sport under our belts, and we've accomplished so much and done so many things. While we didn't want to leave the sport, we just really found ourselves at a crossroads where we, as a family, had to make a decision on what was our next step. Ultimately we decided to sell that piece of real estate. And that's where we're at."

Kevin Brannon grew up around drag racing, having watched his parents race down the track nearly every weekend.

The Spartanburg, SC-based, past NHRA Super Comp champion showcased his talents Friday at the Silverstate Million Dollar Friday at the K&N Spring Fling Million at The Strip in Las Vegas.

Brannon fought his way through six rounds of eliminations to end up in a quarter-final round which was nothing short of a murderer’s row of competition. Round seven pairings included Dylan Hough and Spencer Massey, Doug Foley Jr. and Andy Schmall, Dan Northrop and Kevin Brannon, and Chris Gulitti on the bye.

New Braunfels, Texas-based Bahnbrëcker Slow River Blend Whiskey has signed on as an associate sponsor of Cruz Pedregon Racing for the final NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series national event at Houston Raceway.  

​“Big Daddy” Don Garlits will make his return to Mo-Kan Dragway for the first time since the mid 1980s in a two-day celebration of Mo-Kan’s 60th Anniversary set for Friday and Saturday, July 15th and 16th. 

This event will be headlined by Nitro Chaos, an all nitromethane-fueled, heads-up, run whatcha’ brung contest of horsepower. Mo-Kan Dragway owner Carl Blanton and Nitro Chaos promoter Chris Graves have a long history and share the deep passion for the sport, and feel that Nitro Chaos is the perfect event for this special race weekend. Having the world’s greatest drag racer as feature guest and Grand Marshal truly sends this event over the top. 

What started out in in 2018 as the fulfillment of a missed opportunity has turned into passionate pursuit of off-road excitement by racing legend Don “Snake” Prudhomme who will once again take on the Yokohama NORRA Mexican 1000 RALLY, Presented by Method Race Wheels, April 29 - May 6, 2022. Driving in his MAVTV/Lucas Oil sponsored CanAm Maverick Turbo which he piloted to a class victory in 2021 Prudhomme will be looking to go back-to-back in the grueling 1000 mile off road race. This year Prudhomme will be joined in the cockpit by Nick Firestone, from Phoenix, Arizona, who will be doing double duty as co-driver and navigator. Firestone and Prudhomme were connected through racing legend PJ Jones, who will once again be leading the support team efforts for the team.

And to think Stevie "Fast" Jackson didn't think the NHRA listened to him. 

The two-time NHRA Pro Modified champion had his wish granted by the NHRA when they announced the addition of bonus points to their championship program. 

Jackson lobbied for change on a recent episode of the CompetitionPlus POWER HOUR saying, "All this sandbagging and flying in for Q3 and qualify number one and flying back out 15 minutes later," Jackson said. "You give everybody qualifying bonus points in Pro Mod where it's enough to where it's rounds of racing at the end of the year; you'll stop all the bullcrap sandbagging. 

Chris Graves wasn't sure whether his concept would work or not. 

Six years later, he's grateful the concept did indeed work, and plenty of others are too. 

Graves bet the farm on Funny Cars, and what a wager it has turned out to be.