The Camping World Era of NHRA Drag Racing began in October, but it’s generating even more excitement as business mogul Marcus Lemonis opens up about his decision to become the series sponsor and what kind of an impact he hopes to make in the sport. Lemonis spoke November 23 with CompetitionPlus.com Senior Writer Susan Wade and shared some of his insights about what’s meaningful to him:

SUSAN WADE: What intrigued you about the NHRA and drag racing that made it an attractive property?

MARCUS LEMONIS: Motorsports has been a pretty good investment for our company – actually, very good investment for about 10 years now. We’ve had the truck series for just shy of 10 years now. And what I really started to notice is that out of all sports sponsorships – we do a lot – the highest conversion rate of familiarity with our brand and loyalty to our brand comes in the motorsport space. NASCAR has been an amazing partner, but I’ve always studied NHRA from a distance and really tried to understand how it works . . . because obviously the size of the attendance at the races was always different from what NASCAR had, at least back in the day, huge crowds. And what I didn’t realize was that NHRA gets the same thing. It just gets it over a series of days.

The beginning of the road to earning the nickname "Fast" for two-time NHRA Pro Modified champion Steve Jackson started with a 383 stroker engine in a pick-up truck.

Jackson is best known for his exploits behind the wheel of supercharged combinations, but isn't primarily known is his background with nitrous-injected engines and what led to him becoming presently one of the top nitrous tuners in the game despite not driving one.

To tell the story, we must go back to the 1990s. Then 16 years old and working at a gas station, Jackson got a hankering to put nitrous oxide on his Chevy truck. so he went to his manager at the Tim Taylor Service Station with an exciting proposition.

In Top Fuel Motorcycle, Larry “Spiderman” McBride, of Newport News VA, saved the best for the last of the event, putting a 5.678, 265.95 up on the scoreboard to win the event. His booming MPH is a new national record with the sanction, eclipsing the old mark of 263.10 set last year. In a post-race interview, when asked what it’s like to run that kind of speed on a motorcycle in the quarter-mile, Larry replied “Like Elmer used to say, it feels Goooood! It’s awesome, really; there’s no way to put it into words.” 

Other new national record marks were set at the event in:

Continuing a busy off-season of marketing partnership additions and renewals, 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year Justin Ashley announced today that Auto Shocker™, Biocide Systems’™ best odor eliminator on the market, has renewed their associate sponsor agreement on the Strutmasters.com Top Fuel team for the 2021 NHRA Camping World NHRA Drag Racing Series. Auto Shocker has been aligned with Justin Ashley since the end of the 2019 season and was prominently featured on his Top Fuel dragster during all 12 national events in 2020. Moving into the 2021 NHRA season, Auto Shocker and Justin Ashley Racing have a number of consumer promotions as well as social media programs in the planning stages.
 
“I’m proud to represent Auto Shocker and Biocide Systems’ line of odor eliminating products,” Ashley said. “They have the most effective odor eliminators on the market. Last season we had success introducing these products to the NHRA community and its audience. In 2021, we’re going to expand upon that and use all of our resources to show the world how great these products are. I couldn’t be more excited to continue our marketing partnership next season.”

Second-generation Funny Car racer Jason Rupert knew one-hundred percent he wanted to go NHRA Fuel Funny Car racing in the Big Show, and wasn't the least bit intimidated. That is until he looked in the box.

"The Box," as many refer to as the black box, includes many wiring and timers that control a fuel car's engine management program.

"I look in that thing, and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, what is all that stuff?" Rupert recalled, with a chuckle.

Deep in the heart of Texas, John Andretti had a feeling deep in his own heart that he might have made a really poor decision.

There he sat in Major League Baseball All-Star Jack Clark’s NHRA Top Fuel dragster for an engine warm-up, beginning to wonder why he had agreed to such an enterprise. After all, Andretti swore he truly didn’t have a clue about this unique type of race car, except that it had four wheels, a steering wheel, and an engine. And he hadn’t gotten any pointers from anyone about how to drive this thing.

“I climbed in with the rear wheels jacked up off the ground, and they started the engine. I couldn’t hear anything! And I certainly didn’t know they initially start the car using a (relatively mild) alcohol-based fuel.” He said, “‘This thing doesn’t seem that sporty,’ I thought.”  

If there's an age limit when it comes to chasing your dream, someone forgot to tell Ron Allison.

Allison, 76, and from Sparta, Tenn., never envisioned he'd get a crack at racing Super Stock, but there he was in Holt, Fla., on Saturday killing it.

Allison's dream was delayed 53 years from the day he dreamed of racing a Super Stock car. He was in his 20s when he decided to take the plunge into Super Stock racing. Allison built a car, but before he could get the car up to full speed, life got in the way.

Steve Davis closed out the 2020 season by driving his "Spinny" Chevy II to the A/Gas title, stopping Leslie Horne's "Chick Magnet" Chevy in the final rounds.

Joining Lee in the winner's circle was Cody Welch (B/Gas), Charlie Lee (C/Gas), and Robert Pelfrey (Super Stock).

Drag racing Legend Harold "Bo" Laws passed away on November 21, 2020. 

Laws began business in 1965 as an automotive repair shop named Bo Laws Automotive. By 1970, the small firm grew to five employees successfully tuning and race prepping Corvettes and muscle cars, quickly advancing his expertise to building drag race engines.

In 1973, Laws purchased an old building at 1015 W. Church Street in Orlando, Fla., which had been condemned and was part of an estate sale. The building was later expanded to 15,000 square feet and still serves as company headquarters, manufacturing racing products for customers around the world.

Dom Lagana is finally home.

The NHRA tuner/driver was injured in a non-racing automobile accident on August 9, 2020, and has been hospitalized ever since.

"103 days in the hospital since my accident on August 9th, and I'm happy to say that I'm finally back home," Lagana said. "I had severely bad burns to my body, which resulted in my lower legs getting amputated. This hasn't been an easy journey, but I am so lucky to have such an amazing support system around me. I am forever indebted to all the doctors, nurses, and therapists who saved my life.