Camrie Caruso will become NHRA’s second full-time Pro Stock driver in NHRA history during the 2022 season. This was announced on Friday at the NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex outside of Dallas, Texas.

The third-generation drag racer will follow in the footsteps of her grandfather “Papa” Joe Caruso, and most recently, her father, Pro Modified competitor Marc Caruso. 

“I’m very excited to make the move up to NHRA Pro Stock,” said Caruso, 23. “We weren’t planning on this, but everything kind of fell into place over the last few weeks. I think it’s going to be a cool opportunity with everything that comes along with it.”

Some might find it hard to believe the Texas Motorplex, one of drag racing's seven wonders of the world, was inspired by the need for a clean toilet. 

The year was 1981, and popular Funny Car racer Billy Meyer was driving his iconic Skoal Bandit Chevrolet Citation. After a season that started off with controversy because of Meyer's tobacco-based sponsorship in the Winston Drag Racing Series, Meyer's sponsor, Lou Bantle, the Chairman of the Board at U.S. Tobacco, decided to bring his wife to the drag races for the weekend. 

There are numerous class combinations one can race in NHRA's Stock Eliminator. The only problem this creates really isn't a problem at all. Some classes only have one car to fight it out for the class crown in Stock class eliminations. When this happens, the NHRA fields a combo class and separates them from manual and automatic classifications.

We present to you the action from the Stick-Shift Combo Shootout.

Pro Stock Countdown to the Championship contender Matt Hartford is inviting anyone attending the NHRA’s FallNationals at Texas Motorplex this Friday to stop by his pit area at 11:30 a.m. to learn honing and cylinder sealing – straight from the authorities at Total Seal and Rottler Manufacturing.

This edition of Trackside Tech Talk offers a special chance to learn from experts Keith Jones of Total Seal Piston Rings and Ed Kiebler of Rottler Manufacturing and benefit from direct contact with the experts on the subject. They plan to discuss a broad range of topics and will answer questions.

For the upcoming NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee, Oct. 15-17, Josh Hart will go pink in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness month. His TechNet Professional Top Fuel dragster will feature the signage of Brakes for Breasts.

"It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I'm proud to team up with TechNet Professional to promote Brakes for Breasts at the Thunder Valley Nationals," said Josh Hart, a two-time Top Fuel winner this season and contender for NHRA Rookie of the Year. "Each year at Burnyzz, we purchase plenty of Carquest Brakes from Advance Auto Parts and support this amazing organization."

Davis Motorsports announced world championship-winning crew chief Mike Green will return to the team for the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. The Smart Sanitizer Top Fuel Dragster powered by Vita C-Shot will once again be driven by 2020 Summernationals winner Justin Ashley. Currently, Ashley and the Davis Motorsports Top Fuel team are battling for the 2021 NHRA Top Fuel championship with four races remaining in the Countdown. The team is sitting fifth in the point standings, less than a round out of third place. 

“From my standpoint I wanted a shot at working with Mike Green for a long time,” said team owner Dustin Davis. “He is an elite crew chief. There is nothing he hasn’t done in this sport. I can’t say enough about Mike. There is an expectation level that comes with him that is so refreshing. We started talking early this season as things really started to get rolling about what we needed to do to keep him here next season. He was very upfront about everything. We were able to get it done. My No. 1 priority over everything was keeping him here.”

Stampede of Speed racing action got underway Monday night with a variety of race cars, Top Fuel Harleys and music from country musician Scott Sturgeon as the Texas Motorplex hosted the Scott Palmer Nitro Side Show. The show was scheduled to highlight match races, grudge races, exhibitions and big money payouts. 

Frankie Taylor took out Doug Reister for $10,000 as the opening pair of grudge match competitors. The pair of Pro Mods blasted down the track with Taylor keeping it hooked up for the whole 1/8 mile to grab the dough. In a preview to the big money grudge match for an estimated $140,000 Stevie Fast Jackson and Bubba Stanton each took a shakedown run. Neither driver tipped their hand to their full potential, setting up a high stakes run for all the cash. Chuck Loftin and Terry Haddock took to the track with their nostalgia Funny Cars and it was Loftin getting the best of the Nitro Top Fuel and Funny Car pilot. Two Top Fuel Harley’s from the Jay Turner stable closed out round one of the Nitro Side Show as Jay Perry took off on Jay Turner to get the win light. Turner had issues off the starting line and Perry kept his 5,000 hp bike firing on all eight as it belched header flames down the left lane.

Kevin Rivenbark had no clue his Thursday was about to go upside down -- until it did.

In the blink of an eye, Rivenbark’s best test pass of the day at GALOT Motorsports Park on Sept. 30 went all kinds of wrong. The parachute on his 200-plus-mph Pro Boost Camaro didn’t deploy properly and sparked a crash. The incident did significant damage to the car whose driver was comfortably atop the standings entering last weekend’s PDRA Drag Wars at the Benson, N.C., track.

“It went through the (timing) traps at 3.637 (seconds), the fastest of the day except for Johnny Camp,” said Rivenbark, a 2016 and ‘19 PDRA champion. “It can be good one minute and then bad very quickly.”

Soon after his return to the team’s hauler, another competitor, Stan Shelton, offered Rivenbark the use of his car for the weekend and beyond. Rivenbark entered the event with a 322-point edge over fellow North Carolinian Todd Tutterow, but when the weekend ended, a first-round loss by Rivenbark and a runner-up finish for Tutterow had slashed that margin to a mere 19 points.