There are better-suited race cars that Jason Ochoa could have chosen than a 1972 Vega to run Competition Eliminator. But for the second-generation drag racer from  Amarillo, Texas, there was no other ride he wanted to drive.

Ochoa races the Vega in NHRA Competition Eliminator's D/Super Modified division with a small block and a five-speed. But this is no average version of Chevrolet's gas-friend compact from the 1970s.

"We built this car back in 2015 because my dad owned this car since I was about eight years old," Ochoa said. "When my dad passed in 2015, we decided to send it down to EasTexas Race Cars and have it converted to a Comp car."

Next weekend, during the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., drag racing pioneer Shirley Muldowney will be inducted into The Legends of Thunder Valley at Bristol Dragway. Track officials will place her name high above the track, on the grandstand suite fascia, alongside the other members of the esteemed group of 20 male members.

As she has done so many times in her career in other instances, Muldowney is the first female inducted into The Legends of Thunder Valley. Muldowney, 83, is the 21st inductee.

 “I’m overly excited,” Muldowney said. “I’ve always looked up at those names and wondered, ‘Hey, why isn’t my name up there?” 

Fresh off his first win of the season in Chicago on May 21 in Chicago, Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown believes weather could be the great neutralizer this weekend in Epping, N.H.

The weather Friday through Sunday at NHRA’s New England Nationals calls for highs in the mid to upper 70s on Friday and Saturday with a high of 82 on Sunday. The humidity is supposed to be in the 40 to 60 percent range all three days. 

Brown thinks those numbers could benefit his Matco/Toyota team.

Bill Bader Jr., a second-generation drag strip owner from Norwalk, Ohio, understands the old saying, "To whom much is given, much is expected."

Now, make no mistake, Bader was given little. He had to earn it. It was indeed one of the lessons he had to learn from Bill Sr., as he eventually took over the Norwalk Raceway Park his dad built into an incredible facility and summarily took it to the next level. 

"I've completed 46 years in motorsports entertainment, and I've had the good fortune of being mentored and being taught by a number of really bright minds," Bader said. "I feel that after so many years, my father, myself, my family, the dear friends that work with us here, we commit our lives to this. I think it's important at some point that you start to give back to an industry that has been very good to you."

Iconic doorslammer racer Rickie Smith has forgotten more about drag racing than most will ever know. However, the one thing he will never forget is the car first car that threw him back in the seat.

At a casual glance, a 1974 Maverick might not have instilled fear in the hearts of many drag racers. But a specific iteration of this car, a hidden powerhouse, sent shockwaves through the racing community. 

Country music icon Keith Fowler had a 1974 Maverick purpose-built for the IHRA’s new Super Modified division. Unlike the music he promoted, he intended for this car and his young driver, Rickie Smith, to make, as they say in the South, some racket.

  
With all the momentum on his side, Matt Hagan plans to go with an old look to keep things rolling this weekend.

Hagan, who pilots a Tony Stewart Racing Dodge SRT Hellcat nitro Funny Car, has won two races in a row in Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago and he told CompetitionPlus.com he will be sporting his good luck mustache this Friday through Sunday at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

“I better start drawing my handlebar mustache because every time I have run a handlebar mustache up there, I have won the race,” Hagan said. “It is kind of a funny thing I was joking (NHRA’s) Joe Castello in the winner’s circle (in Chicago), and he was asking me ‘What about the handlebar?’ I was like dude I’m going to have to send you daily pictures of how it is drawn.”

As Lake Speed Jr. sees it, if a racer or team owner can qualify for a Hall of Fame, so should those who make them go fast. Speed pounds the drum these days for the newly formed Engine Builder Hall of Fame. Right now, it is a virtual existence, but soon, there will be a physical presence in Lincoln, Neb., at the American Museum of Speed. 

"The idea for this came a couple of years ago," Speed said. "I do a lot of testing out at Ron Shaver's, Shaver Specialty Racing Engines, and we were sitting in his office at the end of the day, he was saying, 'This engine builder away recently." 

Speed listened to Shaver reel off a list of accomplishments, and standing in awe of the stats.

The relationship between Hot Rod magazine and the NHRA goes back some time. In 1948, NHRA founder Wally Parks helped co-publishers Bob Petersen and Bob Lindsay introduce the most iconic publication to ever feature high-performance automobiles. Two years later, Hot Rod was used as the springboard for the formation of the National Hot Rod Association.

Just like Hot Rod has survived a sometimes tumultuous publishing landscape, the NHRA has survived the trials and tribulations of being drag racing’s premier race series. 

This weekend, they will come together as Hot Rod Drag Week competitors make their way to the big stage of drag racing. They will participate in a special drag and drive exhibition during the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway. This special feature marks the first time Drag Week competitors have attended the historic facility in Epping.

Clean-sweeping has become the trend for Jim Halsey’s through much of his PDRA career. The veteran Pro Nitrous racer and four-time champion for the second race in a row won an event from the No. 1 qualifying position at the American Doorslammer Challenge, the third race of the PDRA's Red Line Oil Drag Racing Series.

Also getting in on the clean sweep was Todd Tutterow, who claimed the Pro Boost title, while Darryl Stewart won his first Extreme Pro Stock crown.

Halsey continued his strong performances in his new Gene Fulton-powered 1968 Camaro, stopping fellow Maryland-based nitrous racer Fredy Scriba in the final round. Scriba’s 3.673 at 203.03 was his best performance of the weekend, but it wasn’t quick enough to get around Halsey and his 3.665 at 207.53 

There were no cell phones, and some count their blessings.

There was no social media to add to the shame as if any of the willing participants had any.

And for some, this proved to be a blessing.

Many have labeled Brainerd International Raceway's Zoo as the wildest experience in drag racing. However, back in the 1970s, a pair of national event campground venues would have made the Zoo look like a Yacht Club gathering.

If you attended a race at Rockingham Dragway or its cousin drag strip, Thunder Valley Dragway, which is now Bristol Dragway, back in the IHRA days, then you know what we are saying.