The Funny Car Chaos Classic, the second annual season opener for the popular flopper series, brings all of the action annually with sixty-plus entries to the hallowed grounds of the Texas Motorplex. We have highly-acclaimed photographer Dave Kommel bringing us a photo gallery of the event.

​Technically he wasn’t wrong. 

NHRA’s Jeffrey Young responded to rumors which suggested that Wild Horse Motorsports Park was going away as a drag racing venue. Multiple reports had circulated the web hinting the track would be demolished to make way for hotels, a concert venue, and office buildings, among other things.

“It’s not going anywhere,” Young responded to CompetitionPlus.com in a January 23, 2021 article. “We plan on being back there in 2022.”

Apparently, beyond 2023 is another story. 

Multi-time Funny Car Chaos Champion Ken Singleton experienced a fire behind the wheel of his race car on Friday evening during qualifying for the Funny Car Chaos Classic at the Texas Motorplex.

According to witnesses, the car became engulfed in flames at half-track, and once it came to a stop, he was able to exit the car under his own power as the safety team of the Texas Motorplex arrived. Singleton was said to be alert and talking to race officials before he was airlifted to Parkland Burn Hospital.

Team spokesperson Tammy Singleton delivered this update on the team's Facebook page.

March 3, 2002.

It was a good day for late-winter drag racing in central Florida.

Seventy-eight-degree temps warmed the asphalt, the fans, and racers at Orlando Speed World Dragway. Cloudy skies, and a comfortable southerly breeze of 15 miles per hour.

It was a near-perfect setting for the kickoff of the Fun Ford Weekend season, especially for racers from cold climates who had toiled through the winter to get back to action.

So what could go wrong?

​Pep Boys Auto Service & Tires recently announced that Pep Boys, one of the nation’s leading automotive service networks, is partnering with NHRA Top Fuel driver Mike Salinas at several events on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule this year. Coming off of their first win of the season in Phoenix, the Scrappers Racing team, led by Salinas, first revealed this new partnership at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. when the 11,000-horsepower dragster rolled up to the starting line displaying a new Pep Boys livery, catching the attention of everyone in attendance as well as the thousands tuned in to NHRA on Fox. 

This partnership marks the first time that Pep Boys, a staple in American auto service for more than 100 years, has sponsored a driver in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and the esteemed car care provider plans to partner with Salinas for several additional events throughout the 2022 season including the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., close to the Pep Boys headquarters in Philadelphia.

What started out to be a discussion about next weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ended up being a declaration of love.

All that moderator Brian Lohnes asked John Force toward the end of an NHRA-arranged Zoom press conference with the John Force Racing (JFR) team was which lane in a four-wide race he prefers.

Before he closed the session by saying, “Robert [Hight] stole my line: the one you win in,” Force poured out his heart about drag racing and its premier sanctioning body and pronouncing the sport has a bright future.

“The pandemic about took me out, mentally and financially. And the sponsors stayed by me, by us. In the process, I changed a lot of how I looked at things,” he prefaced. “But I know how to get my mind right.”

Veteran nitro Funny Car Paul Lee didn’t like the trend his team has been since 2021.

The 2021 season saw Lee finish 12th in NHRA’s point standings after compiling a 7-15 elimination round record.

Unfortunately, things haven’t gotten better in 2022.

Lee failed to qualify for the season-opening Winternationals and then lost in the first round to Robert Hight and Chad Green in Phoenix and Gainesville, Fla., respectively.

 Bob Tasca III will return to defend his win at the 4- Wide Nationals in Las Vegas on April 1–3. This time around he will be in a BG Products’ wrapped Ford Mustang. This is the first of three races in 2022!

“I’m thrilled to have BG on board as a primary sponsor for three races in 2022. They have been a huge supporter of our race program and I have always wanted to run an all BG Mustang,” said Tasca III. 

BG Products, Inc., is a market leader for top quality automotive maintenance products through creative innovation and an unprecedented standard of excellence. They provide products and equipment to a worldwide network of distributors since 1971. 

AMALIE Motor Oil revealed plans to join Dan Mercier Racing as an associate sponsor on the Mercier Racing Top Fuel Dragster driven by Terry McMillen, a two-time NHRA winner, including the 2018 US Nationals. AMALIE will also be an associate sponsor on the Mercier Racing A-Fuel Dragster driven by Dan Mercier

“We’re so excited to have AMALIE joining us for 2022,” McMillen said. “The pandemic caused us to have to pause our contract with AMALIE. So, having them on the side of our Mercier Racing dragster just feels right. Dan runs a family-friendly team that fits so well into our family racing roots and the AMALIE Family.”

“AMALIE, a family-owned company, manufactures and blends a wide variety of high quality, top-performing lubricants for automotive and industrial applications,” said Harry Barkett (President and CEO of AMALIE). “Both Terry McMillen and Dan Mercier are considered part of the extended AMALIE Family. Terry has been a friend and the pilot of the Xtermigator for over 20 years, he is a true professional and competes with the highest level of intensity I’ve seen.” Harry continued, “Dan was a customer for years prior to becoming an AMALIE distributor. He is a consummate businessman who is doing a tremendous job growing our brand north of the border and we look forward to continued success on and off the track.”

Al Segrini held his own as a nitro racer, posting five NHRA national event wins in nine final rounds and one in IHRA competition. When you pulled to the starting line to race, you weren't exactly enthused to see the popular driver in the other lane, and it had as much to do with him being a popular racer as it did that sometimes bad stuff happened to you in your lane.

Weird stuff usually happened to racers when Segrini was in the opposite lane.

Just to think, it all started in 1974 when Segrini lined up against his hero Jim Liberman for the Summernational final round.