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It might not have been exactly what the event planners had in mind, but when sportsman eliminations for the 50th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals were moved to Saturday evening, it made for an electric atmosphere, especially for those who…

Regular readers of The Sports Report will no doubt remember a year ago when the Hancock & Lane team was nearly put out of business before their season had started. Heading from their home in Seattle to Pomona for the traditional season-…

A year after watching his father, Brian, claim the national championship in Stock, Ryan McClanahan joined the fun by winning his eighth-career national event title in Pomona. McClanahan drove his eight-second Cobalt to the win…

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, longtime NHRA Super Stock racer Forrest Pierdolla lost his long battle with cancer. The NHRA class racing community is a close-knit group, especially in the South Central Division where the Texas-based Pierdolla was one of…

For all the drama and excitement generated during the season-ending Auto Club 91���� Finals in Pomona there was one achievement that stands out above the rest because there is a good chance that it may not be duplicated for quite some time. Comp…

 “No journey is too long when one finds what he seeks.” – Old Chinese proverb. After winning his first national event at the NHRA Toyota Nationals, Division 3 Stock racer Chris Stephenson can relate to that bit of ancient Chinese wisdom.…

For NHRA’s Lucas Oil Series sportsman drivers, this is crunch time. There are just four races left in the 2018 season including a pair of divisional events in Nobile, Okla., and Las Vegas and the two Mello Yello series national events in Las Vegas…

A year ago, Ronnie Proctor was one of those guys who raced hard and hoped that his drive and determination would one-day allow him to hoist an NHRA Wally trophy. Proctor checked that item off his to-do list earlier this year with a win in…

Needing nothing less than a victory to wrest the point lead from reigning Stock Eliminator national champ Justin Lamb, Brian McClanahan delivered the goods with a well-timed victory in the Lone Star State. Lamb, who is seeking an unprecedented feat…

For most, the recipe for success in the Super Gas class is fairly straightforward. Take a tube-chassis race car, preferably a roadster, a big block engine with enough horsepower to run over 165-mph, and add a throttle stop, trans-brake, timer, delay…

It remains to be seen whether Anthony Bertozzi can hang on to win the NHRA Super Stock national championship but even if his bid for a second title falls short, he’s going to remember the 2018 season as one of his best. Bertozzi defeated Epping…

On Sunday, Sept. 2, Devin Isenhower posted the following on his Facebook page: “It’s getting brutal out here. Made it through with the roadster to be into the semis! Bowed out by .004 in the dragster after a great race. Racing on a Monday at the…

Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes and when it comes to events at Brainerd Int’l Raceway, there also seems to be a similar number of racers from the Line family. Most NHRA fans are very familiar with Pro Stock champion Jason Line, but…

It took a little longer than he had hoped, but Ryan Warter finally joined the ranks of NHRA event champions when he defeated Randi Lyn Shipp in the final round of the CatSpot NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle. Warter won the all-Pontiac final…

The Top Sportsman presented by Racing RVs.com class is not for the faint of heart. Featuring a bracket racing format among the quickest 32 full-bodied cars in the field, the class has become a home for professionally-built race cars that more…

In a sport were wins and losses are often determined by thousandths of a second, seven seconds is an eternity. Yet, that’s how long Drew Skillman had to sit on the starting line behind the wheel of his Cobra Jet Mustang in the Stock final before he…

As the founder and CEO of Micro Strategies, New Jersey-based businessman Anthony Bongiovanni has made a nice living out of identifying and solving complex problems. A decade ago, Bongiovanni decided to go drag racing and applied some of the same…

It’s often been said that it’s impossible to make a living as a sportsman drag racer but apparently, no one ever told Dan Fletcher and David Rampy. Risk-takers who elected to tackle the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing…

Ed Longhany Jr. earned his first-ever NHRA national event victory when he stopped perennial championship contender Joe Santangelo in the Stock final at the Fitzgerald USA NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol. As excited as Longhany was to…

Reigning Mello Yello world champ Bo Butner isn’t the only NHRA pro that maintains close ties to his sportsman racing roots. Five-time Pro Stock champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. also has an impressive sportsman racing resumé that includes the 1992 Super…

To suggest that the last three weeks have been some of the most stressful, and worrisome, but ultimately rewarding times of young Koy Collier’s life would be a huge understatement. Collier is a member of one of drag racing’s most successful families…

A lot has happened in Michael Mans’ life since 2011 and most of it has been good. Mans has gotten married and started a family, but until this weekend’s Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties, the one thing that hadn’t happened was an…

A lot has changed for Kevin Helms since he won his fourth NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Stock championship in 2015. After spending more than a decade working with the Teuton family on their Houma, La.-based Southland Dodge team, Helms moved from…

Three years ago, Don O’Neal bounced his then-new Chevy Monte Carlo Top Sportsman car off the retaining wall at Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis. The car was damaged but repairable and O’Neal emerged unhurt. A lesser racer might have second-guessed his…

So far, there have been 24 drivers to double-up at an NHRA national event but surprisingly, none of them have been females. Mia Tedecso, Michelle Furr, Lauren Freer, and Brina Splingaire have come close, but that is one of the few barriers in NHRA…

  Jeff and Cody Lane’s 2018 season was almost over before it began. En route from their home in Washington to Pomona for the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, the Hancock & Lane team encountered every racer’s worst nightmare; a trailer…

Five years ago, Joe Mozeris got to celebrate in the winner’s circle at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after his daughter, Kayla, claimed the Stock Eliminator title at the spring NHRA  event. As rewarding as that experience was, Mozeris…

Most NHRA fans know Super Stock racer Bucky Hess for his success in Mopar Hemi Challenge events and for his string of show quality SS/AH ’68 Plymouth Barracuda factory race cars. Hess has always been a fan of the Mopar brand, dating back to the late…

Stephen Bell knew early on that it was going to take a herculean effort to achieve success in the School of Automotive Machinists and Technology 91���� Factory Stock Showdown which is precisely why he hired four-time Super Stock national champ and…

Jeff Taylor was still a teenager when he drove Jimmy Morton’s Camaro convertible to his first national event title at the 1981 Cajun Nationals. Later, that year, he was crowned a national champion alongside his older brother, Charlie, who earned the…