NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

READ THE ISSUE

The February 2024 issue of NHRA National Dragster is now online in digital format and in the mail in its traditional print format to NHRA Members around the world.

The issue is jam-packed with preseason features as we continue to prepare for the 2024 season opener in Gainesville with the latest breaking news and sponsorships.

Cover subject Angie Smith, who suffered a harrowing top-end crash late last season in St. Louis, walks us through the accident and everything she’s done to get ready to challenge the Pro Stock Motorcycle class again this season.

While Smith is getting back in the saddle, third-generation Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Maddi Gordon is just beginning her journey, taking over the wheel of the family’s three-time championship-winning Beta Motorcycles Camaro from her father, Doug, and both share their hopes, dreams, and emotions about the season ahead.

Sportsman superstar Jeff Strickland doesn’t like to brag about his accomplishments, but the two-time world champ opened up to us about his many thrills on the racetrack and dogged and humble determination. Strickland is also one of the short list of racers who have doubled in national event competition, and we take a look at that star-studded list.

We’ve also got an interview with Austin Prock, who talks about taking over the controls of the John Force Racing Funny Car from sidelined teammate Robert Hight, plus Brenda Grubbs shares a profile on another well-traveled Sportsman racer, Conner Statler.

World championship-winning columnist Luke Bogacki writes about the differences between national event racing and big-dollar bracket racing and how it sometimes attracts two different kinds of racers, while NHRA announcer Joe Castello talks about getting behind the wheel and into competition himself and ND Editor Phil Burgess muses about the small-town city names that were put on the map by big NHRA events. 

Senior Editor Kevin McKenna, meanwhile, compiled a wish list of things we hope to see this year — another to-the-wire championship? Another first-time Pro champ? — that is sure to get the imagination soaring.

We’ve also got a season preview for the 2024 NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League season and a feature on the three-sibling Sweetman Racing Jr team.

From the technical side, Evan Smith takes a deep dive into the between-seasons maintenance that racers tackle to keep their rides in race-winning form, and we wrap up the issue with more divisional banquet coverage, this issue from Divisions 3, 5, 6, and 7.

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