Just nine passes into a return to racing after taking a couple of years off to focus on family and career, Daniel Pharris proved he's still the man to beat with a record-setting 3.498-seconds pass at 212.73 mph, marking the first-ever official run in the 3.40s on drag radial tires.

It placed Pharris and his Procharger-boosted '69 Camaro on top of a list of 13 Radials vs. the World qualifiers for promoter Donald Long's Sweet 16 event at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Halfway through a planned eight rounds of qualifying, Jason Lee was second at 3.53, Bryan Markiewicz held third with a 3.54, Steve Jackson fourth with the first non-Procharger qualifier at 3.60 in his screw-blown Camaro, and Marcus Birt leading the nitrous brigade with his C7 Corvette in fifth.

It’s been said that one of the things which upset NHRA founder Wally Parks was for drag racers to fight amongst themselves. Working together to stress the positive aspects of the sport is the only way for drag racing to rise above and move ahead. Negativity in the public eye does no good. “We need to make sure we leave something behind for another kid from Minnesota,” says native Minnesotan and (do we dare say?) now former Pro Stock racer Jason Line.

NHRA, Atlanta Dragway and Lucas Oil have teamed up to announce Lucas Oil as the title sponsor of the Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals.

As a long-time NHRA partner, Lucas Oil joins the finale of Atlanta Dragway. The 40th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals will serve as the final national NHRA event at the historic track.

Pro Stock owner-driver Alan Prusiensky has found sponsorship the hard way before.

While engine testing his Dodge Dart on the dynamometer at his Rockaway, N.J., shop, a fuel line came loose, sprayed fuel all over the booth, and ignited a blaze. He emptied two full-sized extinguishers that contained Cold Fire/FireFreeze, an environmentally friendly fire-suppressing agent. When he went to the Cold Fire/Firefreeze office nearby to have both canisters filled, the woman who owned the business asked what caused a fire so drastic that he needed two cannisters to douse. Prusiensky told her. She took an interest in his racing. It turned out her company had had a sticker on John Force’s Funny Car years ago. Later, Prusinensky and wife Christine approached the woman about a possible marketing partnership, and they struck a deal that lasted for a handful of races.

But with current sponsor eCar Mover, Prusiensky didn’t have to do anything dramatic, intentionally or unintentionally.

Nitro Madness at the Motorplex, the season-opener for the Redline Shirt Club Funny Car Chaos event, lived up to its billing as it crowned winners in four competition divisions. Kyle Smith, Doug Schneider, Bill Bernard, and Tom Furches took home Funny Car wins. Aaron Morrow won the Outlaw Fuel Altered division.

The quickest eight Funny Cars comprised the Rodak's Custom Coffee "A" Field and was paced by past NHRA Funny Car champion Del Worsham, who turned in a 3.210 elapsed time at 270.90 miles per hour.

While Worsham was dominant in qualifying and eliminations, Smith methodically worked his way through the field starting from the No. 6 position.

Milan (Mich.) Dragway announced Tuesday, March 30, that it won’t open as planned April 10. 

A release on the milandragway.com homepage stated:

You could consider the Hirata Motorsports team a double threat.

Driver Will Smith, team owner Dave Hirata and crew can go toe to toe with anyone in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks, and they would be an odds-on favorite to win the party after the Christmas tree is shut down for the night. 

Hirata owns and tunes, and Smith drives, an A/Fuel Dragster that covers the quarter-mile in the low to mid 5.20s at more than 280 miles an hour.

NHRA Summit E.T. Racing Series competitors will compete across the country to become one of the 32 racers to converge upon the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to compete for the Summit Racing Series National Championships. After a midseason move in 2020, NHRA has announced early this year that the Summit National Championships will once again return to Las Vegas at the Dodge NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil October 29-31, 2021.
 
Thousands of competitors in Super Pro, Pro, Sportsman, and E.T. Motorcycle will compete at participating NHRA member tracks, earning track championship points. Top points earners at the end of the season will be selected to represent their home track in the divisional Summit Racing Series E.T. Finals. Seven Division E.T. Finals events will crown champions in each category who will earn a spot on drag racing’s most prominent stage in Las Vegas to compete for the NHRA Summit E.T. Racing Series National Championship.

D-A Lubricant Company has confirmed an associate marketing partnership with NHRA Top Fuel Dragster Driver Joe Morrison for the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and beyond. The partnership will ensure that the Leverich Racing Top Fuel Dragster team’s engine will be lubricated by USA born PennGrade 1® High-Performance Oil – “The Original Green Oil.” The partnership also extends Morrison as an authorized dealer of D-A Lubricant solutions.

Family-owned and operated, located in a state-of-the-art facility in Lebanon, Indiana, D-A stays true to its roots. D-A has historically taken great pride in producing industry-leading engine oils, transmission lubricants, greases, gear lubricants, hydraulic oils, antifreezes, specialty products and industrial grade lubricants. Today, D-A Lubricant Company includes the brands of Reliant (HDEO), PennGrade® (PCMO), PennGrade 1® (Racing), Wearguard™ (Industrial), Blue Flame™ (Natural Gas) lubricants.

​The Apex Epoxy Flooring Super Thunder meeting at Willowbank Raceway, April 2-3 has been cancelled.

Race organizers made the decision after the Queensland State Government imposed a mandatory 3-day lockdown for the capital city Brisbane and surrounding districts including the city of Ipswich the home of Willowbank Raceway.