One of the juiciest storylines in this year’s Top Fuel class will be the inevitable comparison of the performances from reigning champion Steve Torrence and eight-time champ and decade-long class commander Tony Schumacher, who’s returning to a fulltime schedule for the first time since 2018.

That’s especially true after Torrence – still enjoying the shine last November from his fourth consecutive title – teased about Schumacher, “I’m going to tell him, ‘You left, and I’m the sheriff now.’”

WHILE THE DRIVER’S AWAY  . . . Dad Gary Densham will play. The 75-year-old drag-racing veteran erased any speculation about who’s the driver of their family-owned Ford Mustang Funny Car. It’s his son.
 

“Steven’s the driver. I’ll be driving here and I’ll be driving at Pomona – only because the Super Bowl screwed us up,” Gary Densham said. enshams adjusting their plans. 

Reigning Super Gas and three-time NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series champion Luke Bogacki has used a range of Moser Engineering products in every one of his race cars for over two decades. Each of the horses in the Luke Bogacki Motorsports stable will again be fitted with those respected, reliable components, but for 2022 and beyond, the outside of each car will fly the recognized flag of Moser Engineering as the primary sponsor.

When Justin Ashley won the Top Fuel final at last October’s NHRA Texas Fall Nationals Stampede of Speed, he got the dubious treat of donning a cowboy hat, straddling a mechanical bull while trying to handle a 12-pound Wally trophy, and celebrating like a city-slicker Suburban Cowboy.

“That, I wasn't so sure about,” the Phillips Connect / Vita C Dragster driver said this weekend during preseason training at Chandler, Ariz. “Being from New York, wearing a cowboy hat, riding a bull, that stuff doesn't really go with me too well. But you learn from each experience, right?” 

If he thought that – and scrambling to complete the winners circle photo shoot before an unforgiving tornado was about to bear down on the East Texas landscape – was a challenge, he knows he has an equally daunting task awaits him. Starting this coming Friday, the Lucas Oil Winternationals at California’s Pomona Raceway will kick off a 22-race season that is expected to feature the most grueling competition the Top Fuel class ever has seen. 

Leah Pruett isn't intimidated at the prospect of driving a Top Fuel dragster. But then again, she never had a fuel-burning Funny Car pull alongside her while she was piloting one of the long sky cars either. 

That's precisely what happened on the final day of the PRO Nitro Spring Training test session. Pruett and Tony Stewart Racing teammate Matt Hagan decided to give the fans a treat and run side-by-side.

Rust can be a temporary setback; just ask one of drag racing’s incoming next-generation drivers. 

After sitting out for nearly two seasons, past NHRA Rookie of the Year Top Fuel driver Austin Prock thundered through the traps on the final day of the PRO Nitro Spring Training test session at Wild Horse Motorsports Park with the quickest run of the day, a 3.685, 333.66. Prock is tuned by the combination of Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler. 

Veteran Pro Stock driver Deric Kramer had a decent 2021 NHRA campaign, finishing 10th in the season points standings.

However, one runner-up effort and three semifinal appearances wasn’t exactly what Kramer was looking for last year. He wants more success.

Kramer will be at the PRO Nitro Spring Training, Feb. 12-13, at Wild Horse Motorsports Park in Phoenix to get ready for the season-opening Winternationals Feb. 17-20, in Pomona, Calif.

On his first day on the track as a team owner/driver, Ron Capps showed them who's the boss. 

In one of the final pulls of Day Two testing at the PRO Nitro Spring Training event, Capps drove his way to the top of the Funny Car leader board with a 3.874-second, 325.14 mile per hour pass.

"It's a good start," Capps said. "We didn't get to run yesterday. The first day there were a lot of cars that did run, and we were a little behind, just getting our stuff together. These guys right here, I talked about starting a team with NAPA and everything, but I talked about the first thing we did was people. It's all about people.

So much for flying under the radar.

In his first run of the 2022 season, three-time champion Robert Hight showed right out of the box why he stands as a favorite for the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Funny Car title. 

Hight was the first car at the  Professional Racers Organization Nitro Spring Training at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park to make a full pull and made it count with a 3.911 second, 323.11 mile per hour pass. 

Hight's run was his first time in the car since last November's AAA Finals in Pomona, Ca.