NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

It’s been 28 years since the NHRA big show rumbled through Rockingham with the10th and final Winston Invitational event, a non-points-earning showcase that began in 1989 and ran through 1998.

The Kalitta team had good success in those years, with patriarch Connie winning the inaugural event and his late son, two-time world champ Scott, winning in 1993 and ’95. Obviously, the team’s points-leading drivers, Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta, would love to continue that trend. Toss in the fact that Doug Kalitta’s tuner, Alan Johnson, wrenched his late brother Blaine to the 1996 Top Fuel crown at Rockingham and you’ve got some real history.

John Force had four Funny Car wins (1990, then three in a row, 1995-97), and Don “the Snake” Prudhomme also rolled at the Rock with a win at the 1989 event in Funny Car, and then two more in Top Fuel, in 1992 and ’94.

Warren Johnson was a four-time winner in Pro Stock (1991, ’93, ’96, and ’97) while no other factory hot rod driver won more than twice.

The only driver competing this weekend with a chance to revisit the winner’s circle is Cruz Pedregon, who won Funny Car at the final event in 1998.