Gavin Carter, a rising talent in the drag racing industry, has been named Virginia Motorsports Park drag strip manager where he will be working closely with VMP Vice President Tyler Crossnoe. In addition to his new role at Virginia Motorsports Park, Carter will also continue his position in race operations at the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series.

Carter, 27, expressed excitement about his new role and highlighted his longstanding working relationship with Crossnoe. 

The World Drag Racing Alliance (WDRA) will introduce a new class for motorcycle and sled competitors as part of the Summit Sportsman Drag Racing Series (SSDRS) program in 2024. This expansion allows WDRA member tracks to crown a motorcycle or sled track champion, who will then represent them at the WDRA Summit World Championship presented by Suncoast Performance at Montgomery International Dragway on October 24-26, 2024.

In this five-part series, CompetitionPlus.com will explore ten races that were really great at one time, and some were famous, while others were obscure. The bottom line is they were fun and epitomized the spirit of drag racing. 

We will undoubtedly miss a few, but save your judgment until the series ends. Special thanks to Bret Kepner, Dave Wallace, Steve Earwood, and others who helped ensure this series came to fruition with their knowledge of the sport and willingness to contribute. 

Drag Racing’s history has always fascinated three-time NHRA Funny Car champion Ron Capps. Coming up in February, Capps relishes the fact he’ll have the opportunity to be a part of it. 

Capps is just one of the frontrunning Funny Car racers entered to compete in the inaugural Scag Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage, Feb. 8-10, 2024 in Bradenton, Fla. The $250,000 prize posted for the winner is more than Capps or any of his Funny Car counterparts have ever raced for. 

“This event has been snowballing since the idea came up,” Capps said. “I’m pretty pumped about it. It’s fun to hear all the ideas. But I think the format will be something that we as fans – even though we’re racers – have always thought, ‘Let’s try this’ or ‘Let’s try that.’ Now is going to be the chance we get to finally do that.”

Once upon a time, less than 30 years ago, a foreign car maker could enter an American racing series dominated by American-made cars and not be the subject of continuing controversy.

Those of you who also watch circle track racing know a lot of hands have been wrung the past couple of years over NASCAR’s decision to grant Toyota eligibility to run its Camry coupes and Tundra trucks in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series.

Besides the idea of letting a Japanese manufacturer participate in what was always the all-American sport of stock car racing, the worry was, and is, that Toyota would spare no expense to engineer winning cars and trucks, possibly driving American car makers out of the game. It’s how Toyota and Honda engines came to dominate Indy Car and Champ Car racing in the late 1990s and early 2000s, forcing Ford and General Motors out of those series, although that hasn’t happened in NASCAR – yet.

When the NHRA tour kicks off in Gainesville at the NHRA Gatornationals, it will feature a new team consisting of a Top Fuel car driven by Justin Ashley and a pair of Funny Cars driven by Tim Wilkerson and Dave Richards.

Legendary NHRA team owner Roland Leong, who was known for his Hawaiian-themed fuel-burning Funny Cars and dragsters, died on December 29, 2023. He was 79.

Leong began his career as a successful gas dragster driver in Hawaii and gained popularity locally before moving to California in the early 1960s. At the 1964 Winternationals, Leong's Dragmaster-built rail won the Top Gas competition with Danny Ongais behind the wheel.

JCM Racing, the Maynard family’s team, will undergo a new transformation for the upcoming NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season in 2024. The team will transition into a two-car Top Fuel team, with Tony Schumacher, an eight-time world champion, leading the charge as the driver for JCM’s flagship entry. Joining him will be Ida Zetterström, the 2023 European FIA Top Fuel champion, who recently announced her move to the United States to pursue her dreams of competing for an NHRA world championship as a member of the JCM Racing organization.
With crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jon Schaffer at the helm, Schumacher will aim for his ninth series title and a first for JCM Racing when the season kicks off at the NHRA Gatornationals in Florida on March 8-10. 

Before CJ Jenkins ever made a pass in his Junior Dragster, he already had clearly defined goals for both drag racing and life. The kid wanted to be a Top Fuel Dragster driver and, wise beyond his years, understood such lofty aspirations required the means to fund the dream. Many of his classmates wanted to be pro athletes, while others just wanted to be famous as entertainers; Jenkins wanted to be the one who made stuff fly better and faster. He had wanted to be an aerospace engineer from a time when many of his peers couldn't even spell it. 

Recently, Jenkins took a significant step toward his aspirations in winning the Junior Dragster division at the 2nd Annual BTE King of the Coast Christmas on the Coast Junior Dragster $10,000 Invitational 64-Car Shootout presented by DragChamp. The event took place December 14-18, 2023 at Gulfport Dragway.