NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

This photo, of me and Bill at Griffith Park's Travel Town, tells you all you need to know about the big kid we all loved. Me and Crites, Montreal…

Here's a fun little extended follow up to the Fun with Fotos article that revolves around the '60s TV show The Munsters. Brendan Tobin was among those who chastised me for not remembering that it wasn’t…

I could have entitled this entry "DRAGSTER Insider readers to the rescue … again" because y'all came through with flying colors following my Fun with Fotos article here a week ago. I had info on some of the pics presented and asked for the DI…

During a six-month span in 1960, there was no hotter drag racing pilot than Leonard Harris, whose career ended with his tragic death in October, just six weeks after his Nationals triumph.…

In a year, a lot of stuff moves in and out of my e-mail box: photos, stories, Web site links, and I collect it all and store it like an animal preparing for hibernation, my own little collection of nuts and berries to get me through the winter.…

By popular demand – and to begin to wade my way through the scores of requests – we're back again for another round of ghost-track hunting. As always, the vast majority of the coordinates I'll be giving you are supplied by our friends at the…

Yesterday, we shipped the 48th and final 2008 issue of National DRAGSTER to our pals at Conley Publishing in ultrachic Beaver Dam, Wis., and, as tradition requires, we hoisted a few glasses of bubbly and toasted one…

My son, Chris, busted through the front door Sunday all but out of breath. "Dad, there's a new Challenger parked at the end of our street!" The boy, 19 and strapping-big as an ox (and probably capable of actually busting the door open in a…

Today is the annual day of thanks – thanks for the people and things we have in our life and, to me as well, thanks for the people we have had in our lives. As we sit around the table today, flanked by good company and good food, let's remember the…

My most enduring memory of Larry Sutton is from a cold and misty night at Orange County Int'l Raceway, where Sutton, dapper in his trademark black cowboy hat, was on his third tour of duty as the…

"Hi, this is Phil Burgess at The DRAGSTER Insider. I'm either out of the office or on another article right now, but if you leave your name and your question, I'll get right on it. Thanks for calling." Beeeeeeeeeeep. Q…

It's Friday in Pomona as the 2008 season dwindles away to its last few days, and, hopefully, like that old coffee commercial, it's going to be good until the last drop. As noted previously, qualifying is a show unto itself for the championship…

I don't know that there's a more wonderful feeling for an NHRA fan than the anticipation during race week when the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series is coming to your hometown. Man, you get to see all the cool cars and sleep in your own bed to boot!…

Like haunted houses full of the spooky apparitions for which they are named, it seems that there's no exorcising the demand for ghost tracks at casa DRAGSTER Insider, so here we go again. If you don't already have it, download a copy of…

Apparently, OCIR Week is that special kind of week that contains more than seven days. My Inbox has been flooded the last several days with heartfelt thanks and heartwarming memories from those who had the opportunity to…

  (Above) From left, Mike Jones, Larry Vaughn, Mike McKenna, NHRA President Wally Parks, and Bill White unveiled the vision for Orange County Int'l Raceway at a November 1966 press conference. (Below) The final…

(Poster courtesy of Steve McDermott) Oct. 29, 1983. It was a day, 25 years ago today, on which many Southern California racers and race fans mourned, and mourned heavily. Twenty-five years ago,…

Welcome to OCIR Week at The DRAGSTER Insider, a triple-play week of nothing but stories of good ol' Orange County Int'l Raceway, beginning today with a look back at the fabled SoCal supertrack's final season. It…

It's been a busy week here at The Big Show, what with all of the various series working their way down to championship scenarios – the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Summit Racing Series, Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series, etc. – and putting together…

The 1983 Larry Minor-owned, Gary Beck-driven, Bernie Fedderly-tuned world championship entry was one of the baddest Top Fuelers ever, recording 16 of the season's 17 quickest runs, including  a national record…

Okay, ghost-track fans – and that seems to be just about every one of you based on the e-mails (more than 60) I've received and all of the comments last weekend in Bakersfield (about a dozen) – it's time to get…

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about missing my 30th high school reunion to be at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event in Dallas, and noted that, all things considered, I'd rather be at the drags than at…

Another week, another zillion ghost-track requests. … I'm slowly working my way through your latest batch of submissions and stories and will present them sometime next week. It takes time to track them down, research a little history, pinpoint…

Like a scary sequel to your favorite horror flick, we're back with another edition of ghost tracks. Every serious drag fan, of course, had a favorite haunt in his or her formative years, and many of them have passed away, leading to the sport that's…

Bill Pryor tried on Don Garlits' car, the first step toward Top Fuel. Friday's ghost-tracks column inspired a lot of mail and a little bit of sadness from those who had…

I spent some enjoyable time with Billy Meyer at Texas Motorplex during the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec, listening to him spin tales about his career that I was all set to share with you here today,…

Yesterday was a travel day home from Dallas, so I spent some time finishing this entry. During the weekend, I not only covered the big event but also did my darnedest to catch up on some correspondence I reckon I owe y'all (maybe I was in…

It's Friday morning at Texas Motorplex, and it's good to see the old gal again. I haven’t been here in a few years, and even then it was to attend the Division 4 NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals and not an NHRA national…

Voted most likely to become a drag racing editor? We didn't have a drag racing team, so I had to settle for volleyball. That's me, number 5.…

The man, the myth, the legend: "Wild Bill" Shrewsberry Shrewsberry, second from left, drove more than wheelstanders. He's pictured with crewmember Dee Catton,…