Sales of specialty-equipment parts reached a new high in 2021, increasing to $50.9 billion in retail sales for the first time in history – up from $47.9 billion in 2020.

The finding comes from the new “2022 SEMA Market Report,” which is available for download at www.sema.org/research and provides the automotive aftermarket industry a comprehensive review of the specialty equipment market in 2021. The report includes new data on the U.S. market size, consumer profiling, industry trends, and changes in the vehicle population.

NHRA lead television analyst Brian Lohnes has had some pretty exciting assignments in drag racing over the last two decades. His latest has him feeling extremely excited.

Lohnes will oversee the newly formed NHRA DRAG group, short for Drag Racing Announcers Group.

"This is going to be effectively a modernization of the famed announcer school that the late Dave McClelland had years ago, and it will be done remotely as to include as many people as we can in the program," Lohnes explained. "There will be video (zoom) classes which will be on a different topic each time. These will be recorded as well, so they can be watched when members can view them."

Current points leader for the 2022/23 Pro Stock Championship, Tyronne Tremayne is currently being treated for a serious injury after falling on his shoulder while leaving work on Friday. The heavy fall left him needing immediate surgery and will require 6-8 weeks’ recovery time but could be up to a year for full use of his arm.

Phillips Connect has announced that Sensata Technologies will join the Justin Ashley Racing team as a partner for the remainder of the 2022 NHRA Camping World drag racing series. 

Drag racing has evolved dramatically over the last decade with racers looking to their team for data insights about the vehicle’s performance that could give them an edge on the track. As innovators in their respective industries, Phillips Connect and Sensata Technologies will take their growth initiatives to higher speeds.

While COVID restrictions in China [where key automotive resources and materials originate] are just now starting to ease slightly, Russia’s military assault on Ukraine has kept the global supply-chain situation unstable. Inflation hovers at undesirable levels, and it’s most noticeable in America at the gas pump. Labor shortages and sometimes astronomical shipping and transportation costs have sent ripples of concern through specific economic sectors. 

Christian Hinton, in a January 31 article for SEMA, wrote that more than 80 percent of its members have experienced supply-chain disturbances and that prices are expected to remain elevated into 2023. Despite that, he said, the specialty-equipment market continues to grow and that SEMA calculated the worst is behind us. In the Camping World Drag Racing Series, teams from the big-budgeted ones to the small-resource entries report they’re doing fine so far and are keeping their fingers crossed. 

Don Schumacher, who has his Top Fuel operation and two Factory Stock Showdown cars, is keeping a close eye on the availability of raw materials because of his interconnected DSM Precision Manufacturing. According to jpmorgan.com’s May 25 article, “Ukraine is the largest exporter of alumina to Russia and operations were suspended in early March. The potential for alumina shortages is an immediate and tangible issue, which could be problematic for supply chains, as aluminum is a critical metal used in packaging, transport (automobiles and aerospace), renewable energy infrastructure, and wiring.”

The Mid-West Drag Racing Series (MWDRS) is saddened over the passing of Pro Mod driver Ronnie Hobbs following an on-track incident during Friday night qualifying at the MWDRS Great Bend Nationals at SRCA Dragstrip. 
 
Hobbs, a recent winner in Stroud Safety Pro Mod, lost control of his screw-blown “Texas Rattlesnake” ’17 GT350 Mustang, impacted the right-side retaining wall, and exited the racing surface. He passed away at the scene. 

Raymond Commisso was a driving force in the Pro Modified division for years. Apparently, he's planning a comeback. These photos are of his new Camaro from Jerry Bickel Race Cars. We are told the car will run in the NHRA's Pro Modified division with appearances in the PDRA's Pro Boost division.

Bob Brockmeyer, inventor of the Compulink Timing System, the official timing system of the NHRA, thought he'd seen it all until Sunday.

Apparently, according to Brockmeyer, the parachute of a Pro Stock car nudged one of the timing blocks yet kept the system close enough that it didn't trip the alarm like it would had a timing block been displaced. Still, the misalignment was enough to give a bogus reading in the second round of Pro Stock eliminations but not enough to send off an alarm that the block had been compromised.

Life is pretty dang awesome for Mike Salinas. 

He won his third NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel race of the year and sixth overall Sunday at Epping, N.H., defeating Justin Ashley in the final round of the New England Nationals. 

Matt Hagan’s first season with Tony Stewart Racing continued its torrid success Sunday at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

Hagan clocked a 3.992-second elapsed time at 327.98 mph to defeat Robert Hight who slowed to 6.232 seconds at 110.15 in the final round before a sellout crowd at New England Dragway.