NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Southern California racer Jim DePasse made a name for himself drag racing on both sand and asphalt. He wasn't the best-known racer among NHRA fans, but as NHRA National Dragster Editor Phil Burgess remembers him, he was a friend to many.

Harold Satterlee is honoring his uncle, "Famous Amos" Satterlee, by creating models of his uncle's famous cars, often melding together multiple kits to get the parts right and to to preserve his uncle's legacy. Also, some loving memories from one of Amos' grandchilden.

Legendary nitro tuner "Famous Amos" Satterlee passed away April 4 at age 88. He left behind a legacy of broken records, race wins, and drag racing championships on asphalt, water, and sand.

One came to fame as a teenager ahead of his prime and the other with a sponsor that was ahead of its time, but this week we mourn them together with the passings last weekend of NHRA pioneers Bobby Vodnik and Frank Oglesby.

Dave Chenevert was the first Gatornationals Top Fuel winner way back in 1970 and the first of 30 different drivers to win Top Fuel at Gainesville Raceway. Relive that wild weekend from the memory of one of his teenage crewmembers, Fred Mooneyham, himself a future Top Fuel driver.

The Gatornationals, the third oldest event on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule, has a deep and rich heritage that ensures its place in the history books and in the hearts and minds of racers and fans alike. Here's a look back at 50 Memorable Moments from the event’s colorful history.

Ezra Boggs and the Moby Dick Funny Car were match-race mainstays in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and occasional national event competitors. Boggs passed away Feb. 20 and was remembered by friends.

No one has driven a nitro Funny Car longer than Gary Densham, who kicked off his 49th season in Pomona. The lifelong Southern Californian is a regional treasure to those who grew up watching him race his line of Teacher’s Pet floppers at tracks up and down the West Coast.

The sport lost another friend yesterday with the passing of former Funny Car owner/driver Ray Alley, at age 86 after a lengthy illness. In this special column, drag racing hall of famer Kenny Bernstein remembers Alley, who gave him his first Funny Car ride.

The 2019 season kicks off next Friday in Pomona, launching the NHRA season as it has every year since 1961. But how did NHRA end up planting its flag in this suburban wonderland? 

Former Top Fuel and Funny Car racer Frank Rupert passed away Friday, Jan. 4, due to complications after going into cardiac arrest. In this special Insider column, Brad Littlefield shares the history of the respected nitro veteran.

The 50th annual NHRA Gatornationals is fast approaching, but before we head back east, let's take a trip back in time 50 years to Pomona and the 1969 Winternationals, which was memorable for so many reasons.

The 1980s was still a time when a guy with a self-funded Funny Car still had a decent shot at winning a national event, though as the decade progressed, that likelihood diminished significantly as quickly as Kenny Bernstein and Dale Armstrong could invent new stuff.

Let’s continue our journey through the decades with another batch of images from the Ron Lewis collection. Over the past month or so, I’ve shared photos from his five-decade collection covering the 1960s and ‘70s (Top Fuel and Funny Car) and now we’re on to 1980s Top Fuelers.

Many Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers have gone on to become crew chiefs, but there aren’t a lot of guys who not only won a championship as a driver and crew chief. Dick LaHaie, whom we lost Wednesday, won the crown as a driver then tuned not just one but two drivers to a combined four Top Fuel championships.

If you were a drag racing fan in the 1960s and 1970s, you knew the Color Me Gone name even if you couldn’t recall the name of its driver, Roger Lindamood, who tore up dragstrips around the country for more than a decade. We lost Lindamood Oct. 14, at the age of 91.

From 1966, the first year of the class, through 1979, there were more than 500 licensed Funny Car drivers competing at NHRA events. Here's a look back at some memorable Funny Car images from the 1970s, as seen through the lens of longtime lensman Ron Lewis.

NHRA National Dragster's long-running Photo Editor Teresa Long retired last week after more than 30 years shooting photos for the NHRA and its award-winning publication. ND Editor Phil Burgess takes a fond look back at the career of one of the sport's beloved and appreciated friends.

The Top Fuel class underwent a massive transition in the 1970s, from front-engined cars to rear-engine cars with all manner of aerodynamic additions. Photographer Ron Lewis shared his collection of photos that beautifully illustrate the evolution.

Drag racing photographer Ron Lewis, who’s been shooting at the drags since he was a teenager in the mid-1960s and continues to be a regular presence at Mello Yello Series events, is sharing with us some of the thousands of his vintage drag racing pics. This week: the 1960s.

Drag racing lost a pair of its early heroes over the last two weeks with the passings of legendary East Coast Top Fuel and Funny Car racer Jimmy King and versatile driver “Jet Car Bob” Smith. 

Jet cars have been part of the drag racing landscape since the early 1960s, and are still featured at NHRA national events. Here's a look back at some of the earliest and wildest of the breed.

The late great jet-dragster racer Doug Rose was not just another driver lined up next to West Coast jet jockey Doug Brown, he was a friend and mentor, as Brown explains in this illuminating and entertaining tribute.

The drag racing world lost a master entertainer and jet-car legend a few weeks ago when Doug Rose, whose Green Mamba jet had entertained fans for more than 50 years, passed away. We salute him this week in words and photos.

This weekend’s 64th running of the 2018 Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals will also mark perhaps an even more important milestone as it will be the 50th anniversary of the first presentation of the now-iconic Wally winner’s trophy.

Brainerd Int’l Raceway, built in 1968 and host last weekend to the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, is celebrating its 50th season this year. Here's a look back at the track and the racing action over the years.

Step into the Wayback Machine and set the dials to 1973, when nine of the 16 nitro winners were first-time winners, three new world champs were crowned, and policies and procedures from records to safety were overhauled.

Shirley Muldowney, Frank Hawley, and Lee Shepherd won world championships in a year packed with new rules, first-time winners, and outrageous performances. Just hop into our Wayback Machine for a trip back to 1982.

Over the past month, you’ve heard from Tom McEwen’s closest friends about what the fabled “Mongoose” meant to them. This week, we share some thoughts and memories from his fans, who were touched by him in myriad ways.

The celebration of life for Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen in Pomona last weekend featured a Who's Who of drag racing as the community came together to remember one of the great icons of the sport.