We all take for granted that Pro Stock has been a simple formula. Today, those that participate in the class carry a common weight of 2,350 pounds in a two-door American made coupe no older than five years old with the source of motivation coming from an engine that displaces 500-cubic inches. Sounds pretty simple, huh? It has always been the nature of man to start with things in a difficult fashion and make it easier as knowledge and technology permit. Such was the case with NHRA Pro Stock as it took them nearly a decade to make the drag racing equivalent to NASCAR an easy proposition.

When the NHRA announced that they would be changing to a "mountain motor" format for the 1982 season, they were the last of the three major sanctioning bodies to abandon the small block Pro Stocks. The AHRA, whose rules had initially mirrored those of the NHRA inevitably allowed small blocks the use of nitrous oxide as they converted over to the mountain motor format a year prior to the NHRA's decision to abandon ship.

The racing community continues to rally around next week’s Texas Stampede of Speed at the legendary Texas Motorplex outside Dallas. The week-long event that culminates with the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals is already being regarded as one of the sport’s richest weekends, and the team at Elite Motorsports and EliteHP are looking to pile on. 

On top of a wide array of cash prizes and incentives already in place for the event, Elite Motorsports and EliteHP will be paying $2,000 to the Pro Stock low qualifier, $1,000 to the Pro Mod low qualifier and $1,000 to the Comp. Eliminator low qualifier. The winner and runner-up in Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Super Stock and Stock will also earn an additional $750 and $250, respectively, for their efforts. 

It's the kind of event which usually grows out of beer, machismo, and a group of restless fellas standing around a shop.

However, for Byron Dragway, the World Power Wheelstanding Championships was born out of the forward-thinking of a promoter who knew the importance of pleasing the paying customer. 

Racers For Christ was founded in 1971 by Arnie Krueger.  He had a vision to start a Christ centered fellowship for motorsports enthusiasts in Southern California.  The ministry began to grow and was eventually incorporated in 1978.  

In 1984 Ken Owen was elected as the new president of RFC.  Ken was instrumental in establishing a strong RFC presence within the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).  When Ken retired at the end of 2004, Larry Smiley was promoted from South Central Region Director to President of RFC.  Larry and his wife Linda also served as the NHRA National Event Series Chaplains.  When Larry retired at the end of 2017, he was then succeeded by Eddie Baugher. Eddie and his wife Kelly are also serving as the NHRA series chaplains.

Donald Long has brought championship small-tire drag races to the masses for over a decade. During this time, the winners of his events were declared race champions for his style of racing.

Other tracks presented their variations of what this style of racing should be, and they, too, crowned their champions. 

However, there was no one singular champion. Now there will be. 

Jock Ervin, crew chief for NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle leader Steve Johnson, will miss the rest of the Camping World Drag Racing Series season while mending from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.

According to a Tuesday post on his Steve Johnson Racing Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/stevejohnsonracing), Johnson announced that Ervin is “okay.”

The incident happened as he, his wife, and friend Chris Dalton were driving from Charlotte back to the team’s race shop at suburban Birmingham, Ala., following the recent DeWalt Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway at Concord, N.C.

Dom Lagana sadly knew the odds were likely not in his brother’s favor. 

Dom, then 14, was in the team’s tow vehicle making a mad dash to the New York Raceway Park shutdown area just moments after his old brother Bobby had just made a run in the family’s Top Fuel dragster. The throttle had stuck, sending the Twilight Zone dragster off the track, through the sandtrap, and deep into the woods in Leicester, New York. 

“It was like an airplane wreck,” Dom recalled. “They kept pointing towards the sandtrap when we drove down the racetrack to get the car. Unfortunately, stumbling upon the car, it was like, ‘He’s gone. There ain’t no way anybody survived this.’ I mean, we ran through the woods for a quarter-mile, me, my dad, my uncle Alfie and a couple of our crew guys, and it was insane. It seriously looked like an airplane wreck. 

Six days of racing action in October includes total purse over $1 million

For over three decades, Texas Motorplex, located between Ennis and Waxahachie on Highway 287, has hosted the premiere National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event in the state of Texas -- the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals. Millions of fans have experienced 330-mph races and have seen champions such as John Force, Don Prudhomme, Steve Torrence, Eddie Hill, Kenny Bernstein, and many more set records and amaze crowds. This year during the inaugural Stampede of Speed, October 2-10, six days of racing events plus a full day of professional testing will pump more money into the wallets of race teams from across the country than ever before.

“No one has ever put together a multi-day schedule as diverse or rich as the Stampede of Speed,” said Texas Motorplex General Manager Andy Carter. “We will be paying $25,000 to win Pro Mod on Tuesday night, over $30,000 in low-qualifier bonuses will be on the line on Friday night during the Friday Night Live event, and on Sunday our race purse for the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals will be over $1 million for all the classes combined, including the largest payout for the Camping World Drag Racing Series in over two years.”

The NHRA Top Fuel father-son duo of Billy and Steve Torrence celebrate with lunch at their favorite Mexican restaurant every Monday after one of them wins a race.

Maybe this week they ought to invite fellow Top Fuel racer Josh Hart.

Matt Hagan is back in the winner’s circle.

The reigning NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion sat out the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis and the event in Reading, Pa., after testing positive for COVID-19.