91°µÍø

So you’ve never heard of Gage Burch? Stick around a while, you almost certainly will. As a quick introduction, Burch is a 16-year-old drag racing prodigy from Palmetto, Fla., who is in the process of making the jump from the NHRA Summit…

  There shouldn’t be a whole lot of debate about this, so I’ll just come right out and say it: Peter Biondo is the greatest Sportsman racer in the 60-plus-year history of the National Hot Rod Association. OK, I’m sure some…

On Friday, Sept. 23, Koy Collier celebrated his 18th birthday by climbing behind the wheel of his father Steve’s ’68 Camaro Super Gas car and making time-trial runs in his NHRA national event debut. Two days later, Collier gave himself…

This was likely a foregone conclusion in April, but now it’s all but a certainty: Doug Doll Jr. will be the 2016 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Comp eliminator national champion after driving Charlie Greco’s dragster to a win at…

A lot of things make the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals the must-see event that it is, and two of Indy’s most notable features are events that put NHRA Sportsman racers front and center. Each year, the Mopar Hemi Challenge and, more…

“The best teams always seem to find a way to rise to the occasion, especially when the spotlight is the brightest.”  Those words come from Top Fuel racer Tony Schumacher, who won the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals for the…

Many things make the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals the world’s most prestigious drag race, including the School of Automotive Machinists & Technology 91°µÍø Factory Stock Showdown and the Mopar Hemi Challenge, two premier events for…

Prior to the 2016 season, NHRA had just one all-female final round, the memorable 1982 Columbus Top Fuel final between Shirley Muldowney and Lucille Lee. This year, there have been three such races: the Phoenix Top Fuel final featuring Leah…

When Don O’Neal won the Top Sportsman class at the recent Division 3 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series race in St. Louis, it was far more than just another win: Instead it was the fulfillment of a dream and a promise that was nearly a…

Those who have witnessed either of Brad Burton’s national championship speeches probably already realize that the 2010 and 2012 Stock champion doesn’t mind being the center of attention. With that in mind, it was almost poetic that…

The big No. 1 that adorns the sides of Justin Lamb’s Chevy Cobalt Super Stock car wasn’t put there by accident. The single digit identifies Lamb as the reigning national champion in the class, and after a memorable 2015 season, Lamb…

Queen of 'the Mountain': Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson has rightfully earned his place as the king of Denver’s Bandimere Speedway, but Super Stock racer Jackie Alley isn’t far behind. Alley, the 2011 national champion…

Sometime soon, quite possibly before the end of the Western Swing, Dan Fletcher is going to get his 100th NHRA national event win. He’s sitting on 98 wins, and he’s headed for Denver this weekend for the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals…

In the 32-year history of the JEGS Allstars event, no driver had ever won two classes, but the laws of probability didn’t prevent Division 5 ace Trevor Larson from scoring the event’s first double with victories in Super Comp and Super…

Winning is defined in many ways, and oftentimes, the biggest winners at any given event are not necessarily the drivers who hoist the coveted Wallys at the end of the day. Officially, William Kennedy won the Super Stock title at the recent NHRA…

As recently as two weeks ago, Joe Santangelo’s frustration level had reached the point where he was seriously considering taking an extended break from drag racing. Santangelo won the Super Stock title at his home event in Epping for the…

Quick, who is the hottest driver in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series so far in 2016? If you answered with anyone other than Division 2 racer Steven Furr, you’d be wrong. Between Top Dragster and Super Gas, Furr has already appeared in…

Dan Northrop won the Super Gas national championship in 2000, and his most recent national event victory had come just a year ago in Englishtown, so it wasn’t the least bit surprising to see him headed into Sunday’s final eliminations…

Division 1 Sportsman racers Doug Doll and Allison Smyth have been dating for about a year, and based on their recent results, the relationship has done wonders for their racing careers. At the recent Northeast Division NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing…

On a weekend when a reported 350,000 people attended the 100th running of the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s finest battled it out for 600 miles at the Coca-Cola 600, a huge field of NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competitors celebrated the long-…

Much has been made about the recent surge in wins by women in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, including Brittany Force’s first Top Fuel wins in Gainesville and Charlotte as well as Funny Car victories by her sister Courtney and…

There isn’t much of a downside to making it to two final rounds at the same event except for the empty feeling that almost certainly goes hand in hand with losing both final rounds. After racing to the Super Stock and Stock finals at last…

Let’s face it: Almost everyone who visits Las Vegas dreams of hitting that huge jackpot that will lead to easy street, but the harsh reality is that only a tiny fraction of the gamblers, dreamers, and risk-takers who tempt fate in Sin City…

Some stories practically write themselves, and when reigning Stock national champion Kevin Helms arrived in Houston for the NHRA SpringNationals, it was almost a given that he was going to leave Royal Purple Raceway with a Wally. Nobody wins four…

Bryan Worner loves it when a plan comes together. With the initial field of 65 Super Stock racers whittled to just three late Sunday afternoon in Charlotte, Worner pulled into the zMAX Dragway staging lanes and was greeted by two familiar faces.…

It’s only April and four of NHRA’s six divisions have yet to host their first NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event of the season, but in Division 2, Jonathan Anderson is already well on his way to a probable division championship.…

There are certain days in one’s life that aren’t easily forgotten, and for many drag racers, the day they first encountered Ronnie “the King” Davis counts as one of them. Davis, who passed away last weekend at the age of 66…

In the February 3, 2016, edition of The Sports Report, Dan Fletcher was asked specifically about the prospect of winning a race in Super Comp, one of the few things that had eluded him during his Hall of Fame career. Fletcher was not only…

Rene Garza knows that he is lucky to be alive, so even though his driving days are most likely over, the fact that he has a chance to go racing this season with his youngest son, Joey, is nothing short of a miracle. Garza, 64, has been a loyal…

Three years ago, Jeff Strickland went to the final round of Stock and Top Dragster at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta. He used a perfect reaction time to beat Jeff Adkinson for the Stock title and then returned a few…