Under the threatening skies of Indianapolis, the second annual RoofTec Comp Cash Clash played out historically. For the first time in Competition Eliminator history, an all-female final round battled for the richest purse ($90,000) ever presented for the division at the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Second-gen Comp racer Cali Neff drove her J/Dragster Automatic entry to victory over teammate Kayla Mozeris. The drivers left with nearly identical reaction times, but Neff stretched it out at the finish line, running -.566 under with a 7.654 elapsed time to score her first career win in the race-within-a-race on Friday evening. Mozeris made a race of it to the stripe with a -.531, 7,499.

Under the threat of bad weather on the horizon of Indianapolis Raceway Park the NHRA and its racers were able to get in Friday’s single session. The lightning flashed in the distance as Brittany Force scored the No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel. Blake Alexander (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock)and Angie Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Force is in the midst of her championship survival during the final race of the regular season. She sits tenth in the standings, uncharacteristic of the two-time series championship.

However, what is on par is her 3.740-second elapsed time at 334.32 mph to kick off the race weekend. If it holds, the two-time world champion would pick up her second No. 1 this season and the 48th in her career. More importantly, Force must stay in the top 10 to secure a spot in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. A win at the world’s biggest drag race would clinch that for Force, after her first win since her 2022 championship season.

It worked so well the last time. 

For the second consecutive NHRA U.S. Nationals, two-time NHRA Funny Car champion will roll to the Indianapolis Raceway Park starting line with a Funny Car paying homage to his former team owner and admitted hero Don Prudhomme. 

In a throwback to Prudhomme’s old red, white, and blue Army cars, Capps has adjusted the livery to promote his longtime sponsor, NAPA Auto Parts. The scheme is a proven winner as Prudhomme won four consecutive  NHRA titles, starting in 1975.

If you were in the Glidden Family you had three key traits. You worked hard. You won. Then you won the NHRA U.S. Nationals... and you did that a lot. The Gliddens won Indianapolis and if they didn't win the event, they at least reached the final round. If you were going to beat the family from nearby Whiteland, Indiana, you had to do it on the money run. 

Bob Glidden won his first U.S Nationals title in 1978 with the undefeated Fairmont and added another with a Plymouth Arrow in 1979. He didn't win another until 1983, but that hardly mattered as he reached the final in every Big Go in the 1980s. Consider this: from 1977 through 1989, Glidden went to 13 straight Indy final rounds.

Sometimes, an idea hits; for Elon Werner, it has hit big time. 

Last year at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Werner and his Werner Communications LLC brand launched Drag Race Bracket Bonanza [DRBB], the first free online drag racing bracket fantasy game. A year later, like a favorite television show, some cannot seem to live without it. 

“I have been blown away by the global response and interest to Drag Race Bracket Bonanza,” said Elon Werner, president of Werner Communications. “We offered seven brackets at the end of 2023 and in 2024 we are wrapping up the regular season and about to go into the Countdown for the second time. The number of players has increased during every national event since we launched DRBB. We continue to get positive responses on social media and our email marketing from players who love picking their drivers and winning prizes.”

Rickie Smith stood on the starting line at Bristol Dragway and looked up at the names above the hospitality suites when he concluded, "I'm the only one out of all of those names still out there racing." Well, there is one who is out on medical leave... John Force. 

Indeed, of the 22 names considered the Legends of Thunder Valley, Smith is the only one in competition. This weekend, he's racing in the PDRA's Thunder Valley Throwdown. Smith is in the Pro Nitrous field heading into Saturday's final eliminations. 

Ironically, the last time Tommy Franklin raced at Bristol Dragway, a decade ago, led to his being in Bristol for the PDRA's Thunder Valley Throwdown. 

Franklin was part of the scarce car count that participated in the failed Xtreme Drag Racing League, a spinoff of the American Drag Racing League, a series that also fell on rocky ground. 

Franklin's passion for keeping major league doorslammer alive led to a group, including him, that formed the PDRA a decade ago. The successful businessman ended up becoming the last man standing in the group. In the end, PDRA has outlasted them all.