John Force is blaming his medication for last weekend’s “woe is me, I’m old and I’m done,” interviews last weekend following NHRA national event victory No. 157.

One might have wondered as after his top-end interview, Force handed his trophy to Prock and walked away. Some believed Force had quit on the spot. 

“I went back and I said, ‘Did I lose my mind? What did I say?” Force responded when he asked in the days following Epping if he was going to Bristol. “I went back. I know I went in the press room, said a lot of stuff. I’m a 100 years old. I got to leave here sometime. All I was saying is, ‘Here’s the future of John Force racing, this kid right here.” 

While only a few nitro racers who raced the old configuration of Bristol Dragway still compete in the NHRA Mission Series, and the cars might be as different as night and day between now and then, one aspect remains the same: Bristol is still an extremely challenging facility for tuners. 

Clay Millican crew chief Jim Oberhofer raced many dates at Thunder Valley with Connie Kalitta, the 1979 IHRA Pro Dragster world champion. 

The Mission Foods 2Fast2Tasty Challenge has become a regular staple in the NHRA's Saturday afternoon qualifying sessions. Before a packed house at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, it delivered quite the show with Clay Millican scoring a victory in the Top Fuel portion in explosive fashion. 

Millican was joined in the Winner's Circle by Austin Prock (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock), and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle). Three of the winners, Millican, Prock, and Smith, ended the day as the event's No. 1 qualifiers. 

Millican picked up his first Mission Challenge by stopping Shawn Langdon in the final round on a run where he exploded the supercharger at the finish line but had enough momentum to score the win. 

Millican was first off the line and held on for a 3.839, 302.41 win. Langdon made it close with a 3.861, 310.70. 

Bristol International Dragway. Personally, what I still remember the most is how damp and green the whole facility was. The IHRA Spring Nationals, traditionally held on the first weekend of June, was going to start the next day, and the regular rain in the mountains of east Tennessee was all new to me. As I recall now, the big reason I had made the trip down was to go to a drag racing memorabilia show that Don Gillespie had decided to host, and number of my northeast biddies had told me it was worth making an 8-hor drive for. At that time, I was publishing a little magazine called Quarter Milestones devoted to those racing artifacts, and I had gotten photo credentials as well to try and take some car features for one of the numerous car magazines then offered on the newsstand. 

There are certains in life—death, taxes, and rain at Bristol Dragway.

Officials have adjusted the Final Eliminations schedule in anticipation of the inclement weather for Sunday at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. 

It has been an up-and-down NHRA season so far for veteran Top Fuel driver Clay Millican.

Millican, however, has been trending upward the last three races, and that trend continued Friday at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Millican captured the provisional No. 1 qualifying position with his 3.786-second time at 325.06 mph in Q2.

Austin Prock knew driving a Funny Car was going to be a challenge. Driving a Funny Car at Bristol Dragway, he knew, was going to be a whole new ballgame. The temperamental racing surface for the picturesque drag strip carved out of the hill of eastern Tennessee lived up to its reputation during the first day of the 23rd annual Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Prock drove his way to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position with a 3.958 elapsed time at 317.34 miles per hour. 

Joining Prock atop the Friday night leaderboard was Clay Millican (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle). Bristol marks the eighth of 20 events on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. 

Prock's best run came in the Q2 session when Funny Car drivers finally broke into the three-second zone. If his Friday night run holds, it will be his sixth of the season. 

When one talks about the legends of drag racing, Larry Carrier's name rarely is mentioned as often as it should be.  

Every drag racing fan in the country should know of Carrier's commitment and accomplishments in the sport.

He built one of drag racing’s more legendary facilities carving a drag strip from between two mountains in the mountains of northeast Tennessee.

He founded drag racing’s second oldest sanctioning body.

He introduced R.J. Reynolds as the first major series sponsor in drag racing.