NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Talented 26-year-old phenom Julie Nataas blazed a trail to her first world championship in Top Alcohol Dragster on the strength of national and regional wins in her Oslo Tapet & Gulvelegg-backed dragster. 

Not many athletes get to end their careers at the top of their game, winning a championship before removing their gear for the last time, and it routinely doesn’t happen in drag racing. Then there’s Doug Gordon. 

A crash during an early-season test session turned a season that started with an optimistic semifinal finish in Gainesville suddenly seemed like a lost cause, but somehow, Mike Castellana and his crew dug deep and found a way to rally to win the championship. 

In 2023, Matt Hagan became just the fourth driver in NHRA history to win four Funny Car world championships. Here's a look back at five big moments from his title-winning season.

NHRA has been crowning world champions in Comp eliminator since 1964, and of the 46 drivers whose names have been etched in the history books as class world champions, Bruno Massel Jr. now stands above the rest as the eliminator’s only four-time world champion. 

Aaron Stanfield has already won races in Top Dragster, Super Stock, and Pro Stock, but he does some of his best work in the Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown class, where he’s now won three championships in the last four years.  

As MLB Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once famously noted, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” and for newly crowned NHRA Super Stock world champion Wyatt Wagner, it wasn’t over until the final race of the 2023 NHRA season at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

2023 Stock world champ Kyle Rizzoli knew ahead of the 2023 season that he was going to need a plan to find a balance between being present for his family and somehow still racing for trophies and championships.

Trevor Larson blasted onto the scene in a friend’s new Super Gas roadster in July and made quick and impressive progress to earn his first NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Gas world title. 

Typically, Vince Musolino chooses to race close to his New York home and doesn’t race in many national events. That changed dramatically this year when he woke up at midseason and suddenly realized that he was a legit contender for the world title.

Gaige Herrera did it all in winning the 2023 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship. From a stunning win-loss score to national records and a Western Swing sweep, it was truly amazing. Here's a look back at the top five moments of his season.

Brandon Miller admits that he tried to make his dad cry in his championship speech. He may or may not have been successful at that, but it is reasonable to expect that a few tears may have been shed as he stood on stage after securing the 2023 Right Trailers Top Sportsman world title.  

Doug Kalitta's long wait for a Top Fuel championship came to an end in 2023 with a dramatic season of competition. Here's a look at five pivotal moments from his championship-winning season.

NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Gaige Herrera simply dominated the field in the 2023 NHRA season. After winning a record-breaking 11 races, Herrera claimed his first world championship, finishing off one of the most incredible seasons in NHRA history.

Throughout her six world championships in Pro Stock, Erica Enders has known that each of them has a decidedly different feel. Her 2023 NHRA season was a far cry from last year’s title run and was steeped in adversity and plenty of perseverance.

In 2023, Matt Hagan joined an exclusive club when he won his fourth Camping World NHRA Funny Car championship in dramatic fashion at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.

Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools/Toyota/Kalitta Motorsports team battled through adversity and got hot at the ideal time, winning three races in the Countdown to the Championship to secure his first world championship.