Justin Bond won for the first time in his career in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service, beating first-time finalist Brandon Pesz in the championship round at Houston Raceway Park.

Bond went 5.707-seconds at 249.35 mph in his ProCharger Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro to beat Pesz, claiming his first career NHRA Pro Mod win and also the first ProCharger-powered victory since the power adder was added to the class in 2020.

Texas is Steve Torrence’s home. The drag strips are too.

On Saturday afternoon, the two-time NHRA champion made a qualifying clean sweep of the Texas races securing the top spot at the pandemic-delayed NHRA Springnationals at Houston Raceway Park, a week after dominating the Texas Motorplex outside of Dallas.

If 2020 is to be Jack Beckman’s last season in a fuel-burning Funny Car, he’s apparently making the most of the opportunity.

Locked into a tight championship points race with teammate Matt Hagan, Beckman drove his way to the top of the Funny Car qualifying list with a 3.884 second elapsed time at 328.14 miles per hour. The run not only secured the top seed headed into Sunday’s final eliminations but also point him in the championship lead, at least provisionally.

Alex Laughlin is not a procrastinator. With two races left in the pandemic-ravaged 2020 season, the Texas-based Pro Stock racer is getting his season-firsts out of the way and doing so on the grand stage of his home state.

After winning his first NHRA Pro Stock race of the season in St. Louis, Laughlin drove his TexPlex Park/Havoline Chevrolet Camaro to the top of the qualifying list with a 6.506-second elapsed time at 210.73 miles per hour.

Matt Smith is intent on scoring a third NHRA series championship. Saturday afternoon at Houston Raceway Park, the second-generation drag racer secured his fourth consecutive No. 1 qualifier and both ends of the track record with a 6.729, 199.88 pass at the pandemic-delayed NHRA Springnationals.

The run came after what was absolutely a head-scratcher for Smith in the opening session.

Final round-by-round results from the 33rd annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park powered by Pennzoil, the 10th of 11 events in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series:

Point standings (top 10) following the 33rd annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park powered by Pennzoil, the 10th of 11 events in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series -

A 2005 movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Joie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, told the story of a bored upper middle class married couple, who lived a secret life as assassins for competing agencies, assigned to kill one another.

Matt and Angie Smith, Pro Stock Motorcycle assassins, sometimes wonder if the fictional account is a reality for them.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums us up, I think," admitted Matt, son of doorslammer racing icon Rickie Smith.

Defending world champion Jim Halsey gained ground in his quest for a second Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world championship when he qualified No. 1 Friday night at the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Proline Racing Brian Olson Memorial World Finals. Racing at Virginia Motorsports Park, Halsey shot to the top spot with a 3.638-second pass at 208.46 mph. 
 
Championship contenders John Strickland (Penske/PRS Pro Boost presented by WS Construction) and Dillon Voss ($hameless Racing Pro Outlaw 632) also qualified No. 1 in the pro classes, as well as JR Carr in Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock, Ashley Owens in Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle and Tim Essick in Drag 965 Pro Street.