Since seemingly Will Smith was a baby in a crib, he had one goal in mind – get a license to drive a Top Fuel dragster.

He can now check that goal off the list.

“Quite the experience,” Smith told Competition Plus about receiving his Top Fuel license while driving Larry Dixon’s Top Fuel dragster. “Definitely a sigh of relief, meaning of getting the goal accomplished, of getting it done. But I still don't think it's quite set in yet. But I couldn't have asked for it to go any better, honestly. Exceeded my expectations.”

Now, the intention is for Smith to debut in the Top Fuel ranks at the The Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals are Aug. 31-Sept. 5 in Indianapolis.

The plan was for Bob Bode to climb back in his seat of his nitro Funny Car at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 18-21.

Bode, who last raced late in 2020 season, confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com there has been a change of plans and his son Bobby will be driving instead in Brainered.

“He (Bobby) convinced me he wants to do it, and he’s going to drive,” Bob said. “I was supposed to, and I got all licensed and got all my paperwork because I have to drive within two years of the last time I drove. I was going to drive this one, but after Bobby’s good Houston run and a pretty good Norwalk (Ohio) weekend, he’s driving better than I probably would so it is hard to win the argument that he shouldn’t keep trying right now.

You know your family is badass when they name a colony after you. 

Buddy Hull is blaming it on ancestry.com, the DNA-based genealogy website where patrons spit in a cup, send it off and wait for weeks to learn how many famous kin-folk they have. 

That's what the Texas-based Top Fuel driver Hull did, and the results have him knee-deep in tracing the family tree. 

"No one in my family really truly knew how our family got to the U.S.," Hull said. "Four years ago, I really took it upon myself to learn. And so I did the typical, I spit in the cup and sent it into ancestry.com, and they got me started."

Anybody who knows NHRA \ Top Fuel owner-driver Antron Brown should know better than to think he would lose faith and lose confidence in himself and the people with whom he has chosen to surround himself. 

He might have lost some races – well, he did, 30 of them in a row . . . 13 this year and 17 last year since the May event at Atlanta. But he never lost sight of his goals. He’s all about goal-setting and working hard, and that combination produces positive results. 

One would think the easiest win would be the one where no one is in the opposite lane. That's what Bob Tasca III thought, but as it turned out, winning his second consecutive NHRA Camping World Series drag race, the hardest race to win was the freebie. 

For Tasca, it proved to be another challenge in a weekend where extreme heat tested the resolve of the most seasoned competitors. Tasca beat a familiar foe in the final round of the Menards NHRA Nationals at Topeka, Kan., John Force, the 16-time NHRA champion, in a battle that went down to the wire. It was the fourth time in four consecutive finals that Tasca got the best of his mentor. 

Troy Coughlin Jr. remembers the moment the phone call came in. He was a sixth grader, and on the other end of the cell phone, some twenty years or so ago, was his Uncle Jeggie Coughlin. It was the closest technology had to Facetime. 

Coughlin's father was in the final round against Mark Whisnant, and those unforgettable words came through the phone's speaker. 

Joey Gladstone came to Topeka, Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park, to show that his first Pro Stock Motorcycle victory at Sonoma, Calif., was no fluke. 

No one can doubt him after this weekend’s dominance. 

Justin Bond picked up his first win in the FuelTech NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by D-Wagon during the 2022 season on Sunday, capping off a memorable weekend as part of the 33rd annual Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park. 

The event, which was powered by M&M Transmission, was the fifth of 10 races during the 2022 FuelTech NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by D-Wagon season. 

Three-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown enjoyed a monumental day at Heartland Motorsports Park, picking up his first win as a team owner with his memorable triumph on Sunday at the 33rd annual Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor. 

Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Troy Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) and Joey Gladstone (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 14th of 22 races during the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. 

Top Fuel low qualifier Mike Salinas was careful in what he could say Saturday after securing his third 2022 No. 1 qualifier. He would love to tell what his team discovered on Topeka’s blistering hot racing surface, but a solemn oath prevents him from giving even the slightest clue.

The code of the Secret Squirrel bound Salinas. 

“Car’s running fine, not hurting parts. Real smooth, real clean. Really kind of funny,” Salinas said. “On the last run, we tried something, and we know it will go faster. We have a lot left in the tank, so it’s good and the guys are very comfortable, so we think we’re going to be ready for race day.”