Drag racing has lost another legend.

In 1988, NHRA announced the new Houston Raceway Park as a means of keeping NHRA drag racing in Texas with the departure of the Texas Motorplex for a brief stay with the IHRA. Today, NHRA and the track located in Baytown, Tex., have announced the 2022 NHRA Springnationals, April 22-24, will be its final national event. 

"Our family is extremely proud to have showcased the top level of professional drag racing for 35 wonderful years," said Seth Angel, Houston Raceway Park Track Operator. "It's been a dream come true to meet and work with all the incredible drivers, team owners and NHRA executives who come together each year to entertain the millions of racing fans in our area.”

A 4.095 elapsed time isn’t exactly setting the strip on fire, but back in 2011, it was enough to provide Cruz Pedregon with a No. 1 qualifying position at the NHRA Mile High Nationals. What was most impressive about the Snap-on Tools-sponsored driver is his run was .08 quicker than No. 2 qualifier Robert Hight.

In seven of the last ten seasons, Pedregon has qualified no lower than fourth at Bandimere Speedway.

Unfortunately for the competition, Pedregon enters this weekend chock full of momentum from a win at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

NHRA and Virginia Motorsports Park have teamed up to announce May 13-15, 2022, as the triumphant return of the Virginia NHRA Nationals to Richmond. Furthermore, due to a full second-half schedule and travel logistics, the 2021 Virginia NHRA Nationals have been canceled.
 
“Virginia Motorsports Park is saddened to miss the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series for the second year in a row,” said Tommy Franklin, VMP President and owner.

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Longtime Jim Dunn Racing supporter, Lescure Company out of northern California, will be the primary sponsor on the team’s Nitro Funny Car at the first two races of NHRA’s western swing in Denver and Sonoma.  The mechanical contracting company has been an associate and primary sponsor of the Dunn’s Funny Car team for many years and welcomes the opportunity to add the Denver promotion prior to their home race in Sonoma.

 As the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) enters the second half of its eight-race 2021 season, the all-eighth-mile series is preparing to honor one of the sport’s most prolific engine builders at the upcoming Summer Shootout presented by Ty-Drive. The Virginia Motorsports Park event, July 15-17, will host the Sonny Leonard Memorial Race for the PDRA’s Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock class. 
 
“Following the loss of Sonny Leonard over the offseason, our Extreme Pro Stock racers and Sonny’s family at Sonny’s Racing Engines started thinking of ways to honor Sonny,” said Tyler Crossnoe, the race director at PDRA and vice president at Virginia Motorsports Park. “It made a lot of sense to hold a memorial race at his home track, Virginia Motorsports Park. Sonny was a huge part of the PDRA community, especially in the Extreme Pro Stock class. From both the PDRA and VMP perspectives, we’re proud to host the Sonny Leonard Memorial Race this weekend.

For NHRA Top Fuel legend and three-time world champion Antron Brown, there’s something even more important than the success of his career – the success of his children. Now, as his middle child, Anson, prepares to age out of Junior Dragster competition, Antron is preparing for the next generation of Brown family racers in full size drag racing.

Before he got started racing in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle in 1998, Antron attended Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School to complete their Pro Stock Motorcycle class; he joined the Don Schumacher Racing team in 2002 and returned to the School with teammate Angelle Sampey in 2005 to brush up on his skills.

If drag racer Alex Laughlin were a major league baseball player, he'd be known as a utility player. In other words, he's a jack of all trades and has pretty much mastered all of them.

"That's really what I should've done because I'd make a lot more money, for sure," Laughlin admitted.

For the record, Laughlin has licensed and raced an NHRA Pro Stocker, a Pro Modified, an A/Fuel Dragster, and has even won behind the wheel of a Radial vs. The World car, essentially a Pro Modified car on drag radial tires.

For a man who fights fire for a living, driving a fuel Funny Car in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series should be another formidable challenge.

Chris King will make his competition debut next Friday at the Dodge NHRA Mile High Nationals.

King, who has experience behind the Top Alcohol and Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars, will drive a Toyota for Mark Howard's Papillion, Neb.-based Howard Motorsports Funny Car operation.

Oh yes, with the Facebook posts of Rickie Smith headed to Jerry Bickel's Race Car shop one simply had to know something was up. Here it is. The Trickie one, Trickie Rickie Smith has taken delivery of this supercharged Camaro from Bickel's race car emporium. The question remains. Will this be a flirtation just like in the past? Or is the Trickster in this for the long haul. Time will tell.