Veteran motorsports writer and nitro crew guy Brad Littlefield said it best. 

On his Twitter feed, the son of the supercharger expert Mert Littlefield wrote, “Godspeed Chris Vandergriff. Thank you for always being a kind, fun, generous dude. The lights dimming at the PRI Show meant it was time to beeline to the Hedman Hedders booth and watch you hold court.”

In one post, Littlefield said what thousands of Chris Vandergriff’s friends were thinking following his unexpected death following complications from a major heart attack on September 21, 2021. He was 51 years old. 

On Wednesday at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, long before any nitro or Pro Stock vehicles have either unloaded or even arrived, the Stock and Super Stock community prepares for the annual ritual of determining whose car is the best in class.

Following the pandemic-shortened format of 2020, the 2021 event returned to a bit of normalcy with the Class Eliminations format. With the event shortened by a day, the battle for class was moved up a day to Wednesday.

In this video feature, you see the sights and sounds of the A/Stock Automatic classification, the top of the food chain for the traditional Stockers dating back to the 1960s.

Funny Car team owner, crew chief and driver Tim Wilkerson will add one more title to the every-growing list of job responsibilities this weekend at the NHRA Midwest Nationals: Top Fuel team owner. Wilkerson will debut a Top Fuel dragster with Kentucky businessman and former Top Fuel racer Keith Murt behind the wheel when the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series gets underway at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis, September 24-26. The most recent Funny Car national event winner will have his son Daniel Wilkerson operating as crew chief for Murt during the event.
 
“I started putting this Top Fuel dragster together earlier this year with the plan to get Daniel licensed in it,” said Wilkerson, following his victory at the DeWalt NHRA Carolina Nationals. “I ran into Keith at the San Antonio Funny Car Chaos race, and we got to talking. He wanted to get back into racing, so we worked out a deal. He is going to run the car this weekend and then Daniel is going to get his license in it on Monday after the race.”

Lamattina Top Fuel Racing will be taking a two-pronged attack in the newly announced Australian Top Fuel Championship.

The Australian Championship-winning team has flirted with a second car at selected events over the recent past, but the new championship structure will see two of Australia’s premier drivers push the team to highest level. With the second LTFR seat previously occupied by a ‘who’s who’ of drag racing royalty that includes John Lamattina, Cameron Ferre, Richie Crampton, Kelly Bettes and Aaron Hambridge – the new team driver is the highly experienced and regarded, Shane Olive.

Olive will join the team for the new Australian Top Fuel Championship that will include two races at the team’s local Sydney Dragway plus two races in Victoria, a round in Western Australia, and a secret Grand Final event.

400 Thunder has released details of their 2021-22 calendar that will start in November and run to June.

The six-round series will feature three events at Willowbank Raceway, Queensland, two at Heathcote Park Raceway, Victoria and a single yet to be confirmed meeting at Sydney Dragway.

Robert River remembers the crash vividly – and fortunately, he walked away.

River, who competes on a limited NHRA Pro Stock schedule, was involved in a horrific accident while competing in a Nostalgia Pro Stock event at the World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova (Ill.) International Raceway Aug. 28.

Robert and his father, David, a fellow Pro Stock racer, had never been in a racing accident.

MMPSA returns to action this weekend at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis with a boost from Vitamin Energy. The Midwest Nationals will be held at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, IL this coming weekend. The partnership with MMPSA runs concurrent with the introduction of the Vitamin Energy lineup into all 350 Menards stores throughout the Midwest. Vitamin Energy encourages NHRA fans to visit a Menards store near them or buy Vitamin Energy online at Menards.com.

Every shot of Vitamin Energy is super infused with vitamins that combine a powerful energy formula. There is a Vitamin Energy shot to fit every lifestyle: IMMUNE+, FOCUS+, B12 14,000%, WORKOUT+, MOOD+, IMMUNE+COCKTAIL, and VITAMIN D+. For more information about Vitamin Energy please visit us online at VitaminEnergy.com.

Whoever coined the phrase, “Once you race Top Fuel, there’s no going backward” obviously never met Spencer Massey. 

Massey is having the time of his life drag racing, and sometimes it’s behind the wheel of an 11,000-horse Top Fuel dragster. In Charlotte, Massey is making one of his infrequent appearances as driver of the Pat Dakin-owned Top Fuel dragster. 

“I'm always happy when I'm here at the racetrack,” Massey said, after procuring the No. 9 qualifying position at the DeWalt Tools NHRA Carolina Nationals. “It doesn't matter if I'm driving my Top Fuel car or Pat Dakin’s Top Fuel car, my alcohol dragster, I'm happy I'm at the racetrack. But definitely getting back inside one of these race cars is something way different than you could ever explain. I mean, heck, it's been a couple of years since I've been at a race. I've run this car at a match race to keep my license current. But when you’re at a race and your lined up against everybody, it's nothing like being out at an NHRA Top Fuel drag race. 

Consider Josh Hart to be the champion for the underdog. You can also consider him to be the underdog with the most vicious bite. 

Sunday at zMax Dragway, in the most improbable fashion, the soft-spoken Hart stepped up in the final round to beat the seemingly unstoppable Brittany Force in the Top Fuel final round at the DeWalt Tools NHRA Carolina Nationals.