John Hale knows what the expense is like to run drag racing teams.

Hale runs his own Nostalgia Funny Car team and he drove a nitro Funny Car for Jim Dunn Racing in the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

For years, Johnny Pluchino had a gut-level confidence that, given the chance, he could be a championship-caliber driver in the Extreme and Mountain Motor Pro Stock ranks.

This year, when his father, John Pluchino, gave him the wheel of the family’s 2013 Ford Mustang full-time, the younger Pluchino more than delivered.

On Saturday at GALOT Motorsports Park, rookie Johnny Pluchino put the unofficial wraps on the PDRA’s Extreme Pro Stock title. His closest pursuer, J.R. Carr of Pasco, Wash., took himself out of contention with a first-round redlight at the Benson, N.C., track.

Pluchino capitalized by winning the event -- his fourth victory in five PDRA races in the COVID-shortened season. All that’s left to do to officially lock up the crown is show up for the season finale later this month at Virginia Motorsports Park.

The wait is over for Bobby Bode.

Bode, 18, the son of veteran nitro Funny Car owner/driver Bob Bode, finally was able to complete the requirements to receive his nitro Funny Car license.

Multi-time drag racing world championship-winning team Kalitta Motorsports announced today a multi-race entertainment and hospitality partnership with Ferguson Facilities Supply Central District a division of Ferguson, the largest U.S. distributor of plumbing supplies, PVF, waterworks and fire and fabrication products, which will begin during the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. The partnership will include activation at four national events, the Spring Nationals in Houston, the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis and the FallNationals in Dallas which are all key markets for the Central District.
 
“We have been talking through this season with John Morris from Ferguson Facilities Supplies. We are hosting a group this weekend at the Texas Motorplex to get the ball rolling,” said Chad Head, Kalitta Motorsports General Manager. “They are excited about using our VIP pit side hospitality for their employees and customers. Our goal is to put all our partners in the best position to grow their businesses. Ferguson Facilities Supply is a great addition and we are looking forward to expanding their customer base in the Central District in 2021.”

Brian Amrosini, the acknowledged "Wheelie King" from Kenosha Wisconsin was crowned overall winner of the 26th World Power Wheel Standing Championships at Byron Dragway.

After climbing atop the leader board with a 410-footer in Round 1, Ambrosini sealed the deal with his 447-foot wheelie in his second attempt of three in Round 2. Ambrosini was presented with the $10,000 Champion's check and handcrafted trophy by Byron Dragway owner B.J. Vangsness.

Newly licensed Pro Modified Driver Luis De Leon will make his NHRA debut this weekend in the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Modified Series presented by J&A Service at the FallNationals at Texas Motorplex. He will be piloting the 2018 Imperial Construction Chevrolet Corvette owned by PJS Racing.

“I am very excited for this opportunity,” De Leon said. “We stayed after the St. Louis national event last week, despite the track conditions, for me to make the passes I needed to get my Pro Mod license. I drove all three team cars back to back and made 8 total runs. The car is different than what I am used to.”

Sydney Marshall quite literally came of age within the confines of Orlando Speedworld Dragway. His parents met there in the mid-'90s and he frequently visited the track as a young boy, developing a true and deep love of drag racing long before he was even out of grade school.

"So it just felt natural to ask for a job when I got old enough to work," Marshall recalls of starting in the OSD water box as a 16-year-old high school student.

Now 21 and studying engineering at University of Central Florida, Marshall also serves as OSD track manager and track prep specialist. He says "trying to make everybody happy" is the greatest day-to-day challenge he faces.

Chris McGaha and his Harlow Sammons racing team will run the Reher-Morrison wrap this weekend at the AAA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex in honor of the late four-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Lee Shepherd.  

“Lee Shepherd was a Pro Stock racer you strive to be like,” McGaha said. “He was a good old racer from Texas that I have wanted to commemorate for some time now. What better opportunity than racing in front of not only my home crowd, but Lee Shepherd’s home crowd, too, to pay my respects.” 

The twin-turboed '02 Mustang of Bridgewater, MA's Manny Buginga rocketed to the top of X275 qualifying with a 4.238-seconds pass at 170.04 mph in the sixth of seven rounds during Duck X Productions' Sweet 16 Ver. 3.0 at South Georgia Motorsports Park..

Charles Hull of Brunswick, GA, also stepped up in the final session with a 4.251 at 168.14 that boosted his turbocharged '92 Mustang from eighth to second place. With a 4.257 at 166.70-mph pass, Delaware's Ron Rhodes rounded out the top three over the quickest field in class history, anchored at 16th by a 4.335-seconds effort at 165.94 mph by New Jersey racer Robert Williams.

With a unique screw-blown small-block powerplant beneath the hood of "El Diablo," his Reese Brother's Race Cars 2019 Camaro, David Reese stepped up with a 3.531-seconds pass at 211.33 mph in Saturday's fifth round of qualifying to take over the top spot in Radials vs. the World qualifying for Duck X Productions' Sweet 16 Ver. 3.0 at South Georgia Motorsports Park.
Then he sat back through three additional qualifying sessions on Sunday while 22 rivals took shot after shot trying to unseat the Temple, GA-based chassis builder from his lofty perch.