Ted Jones had an open-door policy with IHRA founder Larry Carrier, and while he tried to not wear out his welcome, on a fall day in 1976 he couldn’t resist bringing his idea to the boss.

Jones was the VP of Competition for the five-year-old sanctioning body, and little did he know that his intuition would one day change the way the Pro Stock division would be contested. The IHRA was always searching for its niche in a drag racing world dominated by the National Hot Rod Association, and to a point the now-defunct American Hot Rod Association.

Jones wanted to do away with the status quo for the Pro Stocks. He was tired of following the NHRA’s lead of factoring cars into competitiveness, and the aggravation that came along with policing it. His idea of throwing the standard formula of pounds to cubic inch out the window had the potential to be taken one of two ways – (A) the greatest thing since sliced bread or (B) downright blasphemous. The bottom line is that Jones had to deal with the never-ending issue and not Carrier.

“It was a nightmare without end because you always had to adjust the rules,” Jones, who now owns a television production company, said. “You had several weight breaks and they were for every combination under the sun. You had them for staggered valves, cylinder heads, wheelbase, and so on and so forth.

“Most every Pro Stocker had to run a small block because if you didn’t, you’d have to run so much weight that it was unreasonable and the parts breakage for running such a heavy combination was unreal. It was a real headache.”

SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) announced a five-year vision to expand the SEMA Show into an “all-city” experience. Officially called SEMA Week, the expansion’s goal is to create the most passionate and exciting automotive event in the world. SEMA Week will kick off in 2023 with new concepts, activities, and events introduced over the five-year roll-out period.

The PDRA (Professional Drag Racers Association) came along in 2013 when the eighth-mile, doorslammer drag racing community was in the midst of a tempest. Almost ten years later the organization has weathered the storm. 

The all-eighth-mile championship drag racing tour returns in 2023 with an eight-race schedule in 2023. The 2023 schedule includes stops at staple PDRA facilities like Virginia Motorsports Park and GALOT Motorsports Park, as well as returns to U.S. 131 Motorsports Park and Darlington Dragway. Along with eight points races, the 2023 PDRA schedule features the third annual Summit Racing Equipment PDRA ProStars specialty race. 

The way Steve Gibbs gets around makes moving around at 82 years old look so effortless. It could be in the genes or the daily regimen of living healthy. Those who know Gibbs understand his passion for preserving what many call drag racing's golden age is the genuine factor.

The former NHRA competition director channels a burning passion into drag racing, keeping him on his toes and feeling younger with each passing year.

Six years have now passed since Gibbs left the NHRA's Heritage Series and created his own deal, a revival of sorts, ensuring once a year, the initial movers and shakers of drag racing can get together and relive what many have declared as the good old days of drag racing.

With apologies to Mario Andretti, whose autobiography is titled “What’s It Like Out There?” Tony Stewart’s latest insider report might be headlined, “What’s It Like In There?”

Inquiring NASCAR minds want to know. Stewart’s associates in circle-track / stock-car racing have been curious about his drag-racing experience.

“They've asked questions about it. Obviously, when I ran the Top Fuel car, they had a lot of questions,” he said. “Kyle Larson was there when I ran my last run, in Charlotte last year. So it was fun for those guys and fun to show them around and show them something different, because I know how cool it was for me. It was cool to just see it.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Dougzilla!

It’s highly unlikely that anything can top the thrill of driving a Top Fuel dragster. 

But Doug Herbert, a winner of 30 Top Fuel national events as a driver, has found something that – in many ways – is as close as he’ll get to recreating the excitement of racing.

Haley James made a little drag racing history Oct. 30, when she became the first woman ever to win a Duck-X Productions event by beating Stephen Barnett in the No Mercy 13 Ultimate Street final.

James made an outstanding 4.46 pass at 161.11 mph down the South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP) eighth mile to beat Stephen Barnett in the final round. Along the way she also officially lowered the class ET mark to 4.45 seconds in the quarter finals.   

“I honestly am speechless, it really hasn’t sunk in yet,” the Brownsburg, IN-based racer said of her record-setting ways. “But I know it means a lot, to me and my team.”

Earlier this year McKinney Corp. based in Lafayette, Indiana, acquired Florida-based Tommy Waters Race Car Products and added the entire suite of their products to the expansive list of offerings to their long list of winning customers.  Since 1981 customers who want to win and utilize the best and safest products have relied on McKinney Corp. products and services. The addition of Tommy Waters Race Car Products including SFI 4.1 Certified transmission shields, motor plates and SFI Certified 30.1 Flex Plate shields continues to make McKinney Corp. the premier destination for motorsports and fabricated products for any industry.

“We acquired Tommy Waters Race Car Products earlier this year and have been working to reach out to their customers as well as new customers,” said Murf McKinney. “We started as a motorsports company in 1981 and we have diversified into commercial machining and fabricating as well over the years. Our expert staff is growing and we are equipping them with state of the art CNC machinery.”

Drag Illustrated has announced the return of the World Series of Pro Mod (WSOPM), an invitation-only, $100,000-to-win event celebrating the Pro Modified division. New for 2023, the race will take place March 3-5 at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida, with an outlaw eighth-mile format. Forty drivers will be invited, and 32 drivers will qualify for the main field.
 
“Pro Mod is the universal language of drag racing,” said Wes Buck, founder and editorial director, Drag Illustrated. “This is the largest inventory of pro-level, heads-up race cars on the planet. This is a brand of drag racing that has a unique cult following and, in my opinion, is home to many of our sport's biggest personalities and most competitive racers. It's a style of drag racing that has grown by way of regional series all across the country and around the world that are healthy and thriving. It's our goal with the World Series of Pro Mod to bring racers from all those various sanctions and series and let them race for the largest purse in Pro Modified history, on the grandest stage and under the brightest lights possible.”

As a 22-year-old rookie in 2011, Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Hector Arana Jr. was the recipient of the Auto Club Road to the Future Award as NHRA’s rookie of the year and was series runner-up to champion Eddie Krawiec.

By 2017, he had qualified for the Countdown to the Championship for seven consecutive seasons.

The following year, he opened the Pro Stock Motorcycle season at Gainesville, Fla., by breaking the class’ 200-mph barrier (201.01).

And then his career was derailed by that dirty, four-letter word: cash.