NHRA's Lonnie Grim could hardly contain his excitement as he spoke about the latest news regarding the new NHRA Factory X division scheduled to debut in 2023.

"We have 17 100% confirmed deposits with the major builders," Grim confirmed. "We have three other builders involved without the four major builders. The parts have been a little slow, coming from the composite component stuff. Everybody else has been rolling along with this build being steel roof, steel quarter."

Adding to Grim's elation, the first of the highly-anticipated Factory X cars will be displayed at the Performance Racing Industry trade show, December 8-10, 2022. Factory Stock Showdown racer Geoff Turk will have his new Dodge Challenger on display.

Angelle Sampey’s three-year run as a rider for Vance & Hines is over. The team announced she would no longer be with the team moving forward.

“Vance & Hines has a heritage of success on the track, and 2022 was a disappointing season for our company and our NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle team,” Vance & Hines president Mike Kennedy told NHRA.com. “While there were successes, like our win in Norwalk, Ohio, and the seven race weekends that we were the top qualifier. With our transition to a redesigned Suzuki [four valve] powertrain, at Vance & Hines, we expect to compete for championships.

Troy Coughlin Jr. had a strong 2022 NHRA season in the Pro Stock ranks. The talented driver won his first two career Pro Stock Wallys in Seattle and Topeka, Kan. He also added three runner-up finishes on his way to finishing a career-best fourth in the points standings.

Despite all these accomplishments, Coughlin Jr. was still a tough critic of himself.

“You know what? I give myself probably a C+,” Coughlin said for 2023 grade. “I wanted a little bit more; I wanted a little bit more out of myself. I think I could have driven a little bit better in quite a few areas. There's a lot of things I'm excited to work on in testing and just can't wait to get back out there again. I don't want to wait till March (for the season-opening Gatornationals, March 9-12 in Gainesville, Fla.).”

There was a time when Matt Scranton's name was drag racing household back at the turn of the century. Now he's making a comeback behind the wheel of a Pro 632 Camaro fielded by Curt and Lisa Steinbach.

Scranton's new story actually builds off of the story he began writing over two decades ago.

In 2001, Scranton was the NMCA Super Street champion following an undefeated season and concluded the season with both ends of the national record. A year later, he transitioned to the NHRA's new Xplode Sport Compact series and became the first import to break the 200 mph barrier behind the wheel of the Turbonetics Toyota Celica. He completed an undefeated season and became the NHRA's 2002 Pro Rear Wheel Drive champion. Scranton also won the 2004 series championship.

Back in 2021, Josh Hart turned plenty of heads in his inaugural NHRA Top Fuel season, finishing 11th in the points standings and winning two races in a limited slate.

Hart returned in 2022 to climb all the way up to seventh in the final points standings racing full-time and had two runner-up finishes and a 22-22 elimination-round record.
Despite the improvement, Hart knows he can be even better.

 
As a past Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Pro Jr. Dragster world champion, Amber Franklin knew what it would take to win a world championship in her first full season of $hameless Racing Pro 632 competition. The second-generation PDRA champion used a combination of determination, consistency, and strong performances to clinch the 2022 Pro 632 world championship. 
 
Franklin’s Pro 632 career started at the last two races of the 2021 season. When she raced to the final round at both events, Franklin and her team’s goals changed from merely making decent passes and winning a round or two to winning races and pursuing the 2022 championship. 

It's been a long time coming for John Durden, but on Sunday afternoon at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Californian finally drove his hot rod to victory at the COMP Cams Street Car Super Nationals presented by FuelTech and Summit Racing Equipment. After earning top qualifier honors Friday in the Precision Turbo presented by Energy Manufacturing Pro Mod class, Durden took his '59 Corvette to the Winner's Circle.

"I've been close three times," Durden said Monday. "We work hard and enjoy coming out. (SCSN Promoter) Mel Roth has treated me well and gave us a great race track. It's the biggest event on the West Coast to win and this is the one I cared most to win. Thank you to Mel and the PSCA crew!"

The Pacific Northwest was well-represented when it came to holding the big checks at the end of the day. Rian Hayward out of Marysville, Wash., not only took the MagnaFuel Outlaw 10.5 victory, his lap of 3.852 seconds at 192.25 mph blistered the existing track record for the class. The run was good enough to beat fellow Washingtonian Art Raz's 4.247-second run at 149.13 mph.

The Funny Car Chaos Championship series presented by Spell Paving Services and Wulff Pumps is ready to rumble into another season of heads up, run whatcha’ brung Funny Car drag racing in 2023. The excitement shared by racers and fans of the now seven-year-old Funny Car Chaos concept has evolved into an all-out barnstorming tour of funny cars spanning the Southwest and Midwest regions from Louisiana to Illinois. Over 90 funny car teams participated in Chaos events in 2022, and although most would have never guessed it possible, series founder Chris Graves fully expects to welcome over 100 teams in the 2023 campaign with the buzz of new teams coming out and the addition of two new host facilities to the geographical footprint.

While the 18th running of the COMP Cams Street Car Super Nationals presented by FuelTech and Summit Racing Equipment was still going at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it was big news when next year's date was announced.

For years, racers and fans have kicked off their holiday season by coming to Sin City the weekend prior to Thanksgiving to be a part of drag racing's biggest bucket list event. Next year, SCSN moves up a month to Oct. 18-22, 2023.

The mission has been clear from the start.

Operation: Fill the Box, a non-profit effort headed up by Brian and Lisa Losness of Boise, Idaho, had the goal to send 1050 care packages to National Guard soldiers. The soldiers are with Task Force Rattler, which is currently deployed to both Kuwait and Syria.