Joe Comella won last season’s Dodge Hemi Shootout, and although he should have been overjoyed, the perfectionist in him just didn’t let him go into overload elation. 

This year, ditto. 

From Thursday’s Q-2 session, Comella established himself as the driver to beat with an 8.421 elapsed at 158.80 miles per hour. And in Friday’s final round during the Dodge HEMI Shootout, he saved his best for last with an 8.407, 159.19 to beat a red-lighting Eldon Baum Jr.

Hector Arana Sr.’s return to competition in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks was supposed to happen at the 68th annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals Sept. 2-5 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

However it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen according to his son Hector Arana Jr., who is entered to compete in Indy in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

Steve Comella will lead the Dodge Hemi Shootout field headed into Friday's elite showdown of 1968 Mopar muscle known as the Dodge Hemi Shootout, a race-within-a-race at the 2022 Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Comella surpassed Wednesday's leader Jim Pancake for the top spot during Thursday's two qualifying sessions, amping up his performance in consecutive sessions and ending with an 8.421, 158.80 best. Pancake ended the day second quickest with an 8.491, followed by the only other car in the 8.4-second range, James Daniels, with an 8.492.

There was a time when Jim Epler’s first 300-mph run was believed to have been the last major milestone for nitro racing. Wednesday afternoon, Mr. 300 MPH proved he’s still got a flair for milestones. 

Epler, the Executive Vice President for Phillips Connect, announced, along with NHRA, the formation of the “Phillips Connect 300 at the 1/8” program, a special club that will honor the first ten drivers in either Top Fuel or Funny Car to reach the 300-mph milestone in the 1/8-mile.

The stage is now set, starting with this weekend’s Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, for racers to reap the rewards of a program that will award the first racer for reaching the 300-mph mark by 660 feet in qualifying or eliminations with a $30,000 bonus. Each of the next nine competitors to reach the mark will also earn recognition and a bonus.

Super Stock and Stock took center stage at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals for the first day of qualifying.

Ernie Neal jumped out to an early lead in Super Stock and maintained the top spot throughout three sessions by running a 10.967 elapsed time, which is 1.1690 seconds under the Super Stock/P Automatic index. 

Dan Jacobs is second with a 9.331, -1.419 against the GT/K index, while Lincoln Morehead is third with a 9.642, -1.358. There are 141 entries in competition this weekend. 

Clay Millican will be the driver of the Top Fuel dragster owned by Rick Ware Racing [RWR], starting this weekend at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals. The Top Fuel team joins a portfolio that includes teams in the NASCAR Cup Series, Indycar, IMSA Sportscar, and World Supercross programs. The Top Fuel team will be based in Mooresville, N.C., sharing a footprint within RWR’s headquarters.

Ware purchased the Top Fuel assets of the Stringer Performance team.

It’s becoming an Indy tradition for Top Fuel racer Josh Hart. 

For the second time in his relatively short career, Hart will be racing pink on drag racing’s grand stage of the NHRA U.S. Nationals, bringing awareness to breast cancer through Brakes for Breasts charity campaign aligned with his primary sponsor TechNet Professional, an elite network of automotive repair shops across North America. 

The first time Mark Ingersoll won Indy as a crew chief, he fully understood his father's passion some 37 years ago. 

Buddy Ingersoll, his father, drove a BB/Altered Turbocharged Buick Regal to victory in Comp Eliminator and Ingersoll was there to witness it. 

As far back as he can remember, Ingersoll learned from Buddy the prestige of the Labor Day extravaganza. 

Legendary championship-winning racecar driver and team owner Tony Stewart is headed to the FOX broadcast booth for the biggest race of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season, this weekend’s prestigious Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
 
Stewart will join the NHRA on FOX team of Brian Lohnes and Tony Pedregon for eliminations on Monday, Sept. 5 at the Big Go, with eliminations set to air from 2-5 p.m. ET on FOX.

The variety of cars, combinations and competitors made for an outstanding weekend of racing at the NMCA All-American Nationals presented by Sick the Magazine, Aug. 25-28 at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
 
Racers took advantage of a well-prepared racing surface to post some impressive numbers during the fifth of six events on the NMCA tour.