Despite rumors suggesting Camping World, the World’s Largest Recreational Vehicle Dealer, is leaving the NHRA tour when their title sponsorship is complete, the NHRA confirmed today they have signed a multiyear extension to keep them as a premier partner for the upcoming 2024 race season and beyond.

Kalitta Motorsports has focused on a vision far exceeding winning a championship for two seasons. And in this objective, round-wins mean the world to some who are less fortunate. 

The multicar nitro team partnered with Feeding America, the largest charity working to end hunger and food insecurity in the United States. Every time a Kalitta Motorsports driver turns on a race day win light, Kalitta Motorsports donates $1,000 to Feeding America, and both DHL and Kalitta Air match the donation. After five of the six races, the three teams turned on 21 win lights.

Now that’s an exclamation mark on the season!

Second-generation drag racer Jason Harris made sure he didn’t become complacent in his Pro Boost championship season as he ended his third PDRA series title on a victorious note at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals hosted by Virginia Motorsports Park outside of Richmond, Va.

Joining Harris atop the PDRA food chain were Jay Cox (Pro Nitrous) and John Montecalvo (Pro Stock).

Scotty Cannon was the benchmark standard for Pro Modified's first decade. In nine seasons of racing the IHRA's volatile doorslammer division, he won six world championships, finished in the top ten every season, and won 28 of 45 final rounds. A full decade [2008] after the Lyman, South Carolina driver pursued an NHRA fuel Funny Car career, Cannon remained the winningest driver with nine more victories than second-place Shannon Jenkins. He had reached 14 more finals than Jenkins, clearly his fiercest challenger.  

Cannon heard the whispered jeers of how he'd cheated his way to success. His opponents protested him dozens of times, only to lose their money and watch as Cannon was declared in compliance with the rulebook every time. 

"I was trying hard," Cannon said. "I was working harder than anybody. Carl Moyer even said that more than once when he did his interviews: 'The reason I won, I was winning so much,' he said. 

If you're going to make a championship statement, make it with a bang. That's exactly what championship contender Tommy Franklin did on Saturday as the PDRA's season draws down from a thrilling 2023.

Franklin's near-record 3.614-second, 206.42 MPH pass Saturday night at the PDRA Pro Line Racing Brian Olson Memorial World Finals presented by ProCharger put him on top of the Pro Nitrous field, where he is expected to settle a battle with Jim Halsey on Sunday.

Also landing atop their respective professional categories were Todd Moyer (Pro Boost) and Steven Boone (Pro Stock).

NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light described the summer of 1978 as a lot of fun.

Former Funny Car driver Gordie Bonin felt it was a balanced mix between fun and the absurd.

The two drag racing figures teamed up as drivers in the 1979 B movie Fast Company.

Fast Company featured lots of Funny Car footage in its storyline about an aging Top Fuel driver and a sponsor-driven team owner who walked outside of traditional ethical lines. There were plenty of fires and a number of explosions, some skin from the female actors and a great measure of ludicrousness from producers not familiar to the sport.

Drag Racing has a new sponsor coming in, and they are doing it in a city known for making a splash. 

Future Energy Solutions [FES], a company focused on enabling business owners to generate energy savings, will make its first foray into the world of extreme sports marketing and do so on the side of the Kalitta Motorsports race team, with past world champion Shawn Langdon at the upcoming Nevada NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

Future Energy Solutions is making its first trip to Las Vegas as a passenger on the Top Fuel dragster driven by 2013 NHRA Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes Oct. 27-29, 2023, at the Nevada NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In a day and age when the closing of drag strips is more common than some would accept, Wild Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) offered data on how much a drag strip can impact the local economy. In 30 days they recorded their contributions of 30 days from September to October, including five days when the strip was repurposed for road racing. 

“This was a tremendous month with a diverse offering of racing on so many levels,” said Chris Blair, WWTR’s Executive Vice President and General Manager. “To accomplish so much in such a brief period of time demonstrates what World Wide Technology Raceway and its dedicated staff is capable of. Once again, we have proven to the motorsports industry that WWTR is the place to host important events.

There's going to be a championship battle decided this weekend at the Mid-West Drag Racing Series' final, starting on Friday at Xtreme Raceway Park in Ferris, Texas. Multiple series championships are up in the air as the action kicks off Friday, October 20. 

This weekend, Pro Modified veteran Steven Whiteley and Keith Haney will duel in the season's final battle as the two head into the event, separated by only one round of competition. The battle tightened last weekend as the two faced one another in the first race of a doubleheader race weekend at Tulsa Raceway Park's Throwdown in T-Town. In the second event, Haney beat Ed Thornton. 

"We knew we had to buckle up and finish these two races in just three days," said Haney of the rain-delayed event. "With the points battles this tight, every single round counts."