The twin forces of a pandemic and economic downturn has provided a unique opportunity to reset the sport for the first time since the formation of ANDRA in 1973. The crisis will irrevocably alter how drag racing will be conducted in the future. There is no ‘snapping’ back to what was: in fact, that would be a wasted opportunity.

To get some skin on how Australian drag racing may rebound, Competition Plus has canvassed a broad cross-section of views from key stakeholders, racers, team owners and industry experts in Australian drag racing community. 

Global Electronic Technology announced today they have expanded their branding within the NHRA to include the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks. 

Third-generation drag racer Krista Baldwin and her  A/Fuel Dragster team is ready to hit the track for the first time in 2020 at the Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals Presented by Pennzoil with Global Electronic Technology as her partner. Baldwin joins Paul Lee (Fuel Funny Car) and Antron Brown (Top Fuel) as a Global Electronic Technology teammate.

Michigan based transmission company Liberty’s Gears partners with the NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock Association for this weekend’s Dodge Indy Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Lucas Oil Raceway August 8-9, 2020. With the ink just barely dry, Liberty’s Gears owner Craig Liberty couldn’t think of a better fit.

“My Dad Joe Liberty started Liberty’s Gears back in 1971 with hopes of one day being the premiere choice in transmissions for all drag racers,” Craig Liberty said. “His belief of providing his customers with the highest quality components and use of materials and machining methods still ensure our customers today are running the best transmissions on the market.”

Whit Bazemore admits he took the coronavirus, the global pandemic which brought the world to its knees, seriously from the start.

Bazemore was diagnosed last month with COVID-19 and was hospitalized with severe respiratory issues as a result. He's on the road to recovery now, but to this day has no idea how he contracted what can be an invisible killer.

"I've been very careful," Bazemore said in an interview with CompetitionPlus.com. "I haven't eaten out, wear my mask in public all the time, really try to social-distance. I'm kind of antisocial, to begin with, so it's not that hard for me to try to be far away from other people as I can."

Southern California is the cradle of drag racing, but the NHRA has grown up. It’s celebrating its 70th birthday this season. And the reality is that it is moving away from home.

With the sanctioning-body headquarters at Glendora for sale and operations shifting to the more centrally located Indianapolis bedroom community of Brownsburg and leaving just a handful of executives on the West Coast, the sport no longer revolves around Pomona, Calif. 

But Del Worsham almost is the Lone Ranger among Funny Car team owners, still operating his fulltime Bandero/ROKiT Toyota Camry entry with driver Alexis De Joria (and occasionally his family-owned vehicles) out of his shop in Southern California, in the Los Angeles suburb of Orange. 

Johnny Pluchino’s quest for his first PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world championship received a major boost on July 25 when the second-generation driver scored his second event victory of the season at the PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park. 
 
The win gives Pluchino extra confidence as he prepares for his first quarter-mile NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock race of 2020 at the NHRA Indy Nationals, Aug. 6-9. 

As the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) enters what is now the halfway point in its 2020 season, the all-eighth-mile series has announced updates to its schedule and its rulebook.
 
The PDRA and its racers will have to wait at least a year to make their Maple Grove Raceway debut, as local restrictions on spectator events have forced the cancellation of the PDRA Northern Nationals, originally scheduled for Aug. 20-22 at Maple Grove.

After four months of postponement and ever-changing scenarios, NHRA went forward with a revised Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule that restarted with two-consecutive races at the storied Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis in Indiana. Sixteen-time Funny Car world champion and NHRA legend John Force sidelined his four-car team for the restart of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. The driver of the PEAK BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro SS announced today that John Force Racing will remain parked for the 2020 season in order to come back at championship caliber. 

“When I first got into racing, I always had a love for cars, I loved the comradery of the team, I loved the competition. As I evolved, I realized what it took to become a winner. It took money and that’s when I started chasing corporate America. I had no personal wealth, I had to find sponsors to get me the crew chiefs I needed to win,” said Force, owner and CEO of John Force Racing. “As the winning happened, I found a new love. The fans. The fans are what kept me motivated and made me never ever think anything would come to an end. Even in the hardest of times, I call them crossroads, I got through it with the help of the fans and my sponsors. I went from a one car team to a multi-car team, to having machine shops, chassis shops and paint shops and the technology to win.