The Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association (NEOPMA) will celebrate its 30th season of competition in 2022 with a full schedule made up of eight points races and an invitational, non-points race. The season will conclude with a special $30,000-to-win race at Maryland International Raceway. 
 
“I couldn’t be prouder of the fact that we’re celebrating 30 years of fast doorslammer racing in 2022,” said John Mazzorana, founder and president of NEOPMA. “This club and its members have seen the highs and lows of the sport over the last 30 years and we’ve stood the test of time. We’ve adapted to keep up with the changing trends in the sport, but we’ve always acted in the interest of providing a safe, fun place for racers to compete and put on a show for the fans at the tracks that bring us in.”

PerTronix Performance Brands, a leader in aftermarket automotive products including Ignition, Exhaust and Fuel Systems, announced today the completion of a growth investment transaction with Charger Investment Partners (“Charger”), a private equity firm based in El Segundo, CA.

“PerTronix Performance Brands is committed to driving growth and has proven success with the acquisition of two industry-leading brands, Aeromotive Fuel Systems, and Taylor Cable Products, in the past 13 months. Charger’s operational knowledge and investment background brings value to our organization and will support the growth of our brands and the ability to leverage future opportunities,” said, Robyn Hetland, CEO.

The 2021 season was quite memorable for Aaron Stanfield for more ways than one.

The Bossier City, La., native won his second world championship in a row in Factory Stock Showdown and driving for Elite Motorsports he finished fifth in the Pro Stock world standings, highlighted by three wins in Epping, N.H., Sonoma, Calif., and Pomona, Calif., 1.

“Any year you can win some races and come out on top with a championship is always a really good year,” Stanfield said. “It was really cool to be able to share a championship with my dad. He won a world championship in Super Stock. Both of us winning world titles in the same year is going to be a really good memory. It had been awhile since my dad had won a world championship.”

 
An increasingly competitive $hameless Racing Pro Outlaw 632 class made sure Wes Distefano didn’t have an easy road to his second consecutive Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) world championship. Still, Distefano made it look easy with four wins and three runner-up finishes in the eight-race 2021 PDRA season. 
 
“It's not that we expected to come out and win the championship again,” Distefano said. “We fought and we enjoyed the challenge and the adversity and we just worked through it right up until it was clinched. We never took it for granted. We just worked and did our job. As soon as it was done, it was on to the next thing. We wanted to win the next race.”

An especially busy off-season continues this week for four-time reigning world drag racing champion Steve Torrence, who briefly will downsize his horsepower requirements in support of his many rodeoing friends at the 63rd annual National Finals Rodeo beginning today at Thomas & Mack Center.

While he is accustomed to the 11,000 horses that propel his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster to speeds exceeding 330 miles per hour, the 38-year-old is just as comfortable with one horsepower, which is what he uses to work cattle.

Superstar rider/tuner Richard Gadson is well-known for his success in the sportbike drag and grudge racing world. Now Gadson is going Bagger drag racing in a big way with Live Oak, California-based V-Twin speed merchants 187 Custom Cycles.

“I would like to say that myself and the rest of the 187 team are looking forward to working and growing with Richard,” said 187 owner Patrick Lynch. “We have some big plans for 2022 in the Bagger world, but also have had conversations leading to bigger things outside of the Bagger world.” Hmmmm.......could Pro Stock Motorcycle be in this team’s future?

Gadson rode Mike Beland’s turbo Bagger “Meth Beth” at the Atlanta AHDRA race last year, but his recent work helping Chris Bostick’s NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle has him on an all-motor binge.

The Virtual Reality Hot Rod Association, a fan-vote drag racing series created by CompetitionPlus.com during the pandemic shutdown, will return on Monday November 30, 2021, for its third season.

The inaugural series featured five events and crowned champions in five professional categories. Defending series champions include TJ Zizzo (Top Fuel), Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car), Bruno Massel (Pro Stock), Steve Johnson (Pro Stock Motorcycle), and Rickie Smith (Pro Modified).

The series was created by CompetitionPlus.com founder Bobby Bennett; ironically, on March 13, 2020, the first day he began to show symptoms of the Covid-19 virus.

In recognition of native son Steve Torrence’s record-setting performance this year on the NHRA Camping World drag racing tour, the City of Kilgore temporarily will rename Kilgore Street in honor of the four-time Top Fuel Champion.  

In addition, Torrence will for the second time in four years serve as Grand Marshal of the city’s annual Christmas Parade, Tuesday, Nov. 30.

In a special ceremony at on Saturday, Nov. 27, during the city’s “Mingle and Jingle” event at the corner of Kilgore and Main, Mayor Ronnie Spradlin presented the 38-year-old Kilgore resident one of the four red-and-white “Steve Torrence Way” street signs commissioned for the occasion.  

Unheralded Stuart Moresby scored his first-ever Doorslammer title after defeating fellow Western Australian Pino Priolo in the 47th Annual Goldenstates meeting at the Perth Motorplex.

Joining Moresby in the winner’s circle was veteran Greg Durack, who broke a 40-year drought to claim his first Gold Christmas tree in Top Fuel Bike.