NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

As a kid gawking at the pit ropes at Southern California dragstrips, all we ever wanted was to be acknowledged by our quarter-mile heroes. A “Hey kid, how ya doing?” or even a “Stop staring at me, will ya?” would have been…

One great thing about great stories is that they beget others. The story of the fabled Freight Train, as told here last Friday, inspired, as I suspected it might with a topic that memorable, a flood of love for the Train and…

I hadn’t really planned on writing a column today since the NHRA offices are closed, but somehow I just couldn’t resist. The drag racing message boards are all a twitter – and my e-mail box overflowing – with word that one of Connie Kalitta’s…

In American, history, few images are more evocative, romantic, or nostalgic than that of a train rumbling down steel tracks, smoke billowing from its stack. The legendary Iron Horse, as much as the six-shooter, helped tame…

Looks like we're going to be in for a long day here, and I'm getting bored. So, here's the play-by-play on the day. 9:30 a.m.: Rain fell until about 9:30 this morning, but finally relented, and the Safety Safari and Bristol crews get to work…

Bristol, yesterday and today Tomorrow, I’ll be winging my way east to Bristol for the annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Q, and I’m pretty excited…

It’s been a busy week here at NHRA Publications Central, what with back-to-back national events, the production of the souvenir program for the National Hot Rod Reunion, and intense work on a super-secret Publications…

I was never all that good at math in school, but you don’t have to be a quantum physicist to calculate that John Force had to average about two round-wins in each of his 501 starts to reach the 1,000-win plateau he crested…

Heading into what promises to be a busy weekend of perhaps record-breaking performances at Gateway Int’l Raceway, I think it’s a good time to take it easy. I’m gonna back the feedback machine out of the trailer and fire ‘er up to share some of the…

Shirley Shahan then, in the winner's circle, Pomona, 1966 ... ... and now, at the 2007 NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion  Shahan's…

How's this for a cool find in our photo files? Beck, right, Markley, center, and Bob Painton with the Markley-Beck-Rhoades BB/GD in 1968. (John Dutton photo) R. Gaines Markley --…

Imagine if a photo of a cataclysmic event taken 36 years ago instantly brought your name to people’s lips. Imagine if, despite your other accomplishments in life and racing, this one moment frozen in time on film became your…

If you listened really well this weekend, you could hear it from coast to coast and to the far reaches of the planet. It was the sound of a million drag racing fans going “Huh?!” So, Danica Patrick is the first woman to win a major auto racing…

Mike Dunn’s Final Take column that accompanies National DRAGSTER’s Pro coverage from the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series national events is one of the most popular weekly features in the magazine, and it’s always…

Explaining the basics of drag racing to your buddies down at the bar is pretty straightforward (pardon the pun), right? Two cars run in a straight line for 1,320 feet, right? Well, it wasn’t always two cars, as you’re about to read. A lot of back…

Back in December, I published in this column some of my old personal photos from Irwindale, including the one at right, showing my favorite fueler of the time, the James Warren-driven, Roger Coburn-tuned Warren & Coburn (before and later Warren…

Journalist H.L. Mencken, one of the most influential American writers of the first half of the 20th century, once said of his time at The Baltimore Sun newspaper, “As I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had…

If kids today want to buckle into John Force’s Castrol GTX Mustang and take on Gary Scelzi, all they have to do is fire up the PlayStation 2 and drop in a copy of ValuSoft’s Countdown to the…

Here we are, at just the 330-foot mark of the year, and already it’s been a sad, sad one. Pat Foster, Al Hofmann, John Shoemaker, Lew Arrington, Dick McClung, Jon and James Herbert, John Buttera, Boyd Coddington, and then in the last week, in quick…

Steve Reyes needs little introduction to most longtime drag fans. His is probably one of the best-known names in the business, and there isn’t a single photographer past or present who doesn’t admire and respect his body of…

Some ado was made about European FIA champ Urs Erbacher’s first-round Top Fuel victory in Houston, which, as best as anyone’s records can tell, was the first round-win by a European Top Fuel racer in more than 30 years. A lot of European racers have…

The NHRA is in the great state of Texas for the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, making this an appropriate column to share some tall Texas tales, which I will shortly. But first off, of course, is the sad news about Patty Foster taking his last…

Al Hofmann’s unexpected passing last week took a lot of people by surprise because the last we heard of him, as reported by National DRAGSTER’s John Jodauga in one of his popular Where Are They Now? columns, he had retired…

One of the (many) great things about writing a regular column such as this is that it sometimes becomes self-sustaining. Things you write are responded to by our always enthusiastic and knowledgeable community and become items unto themselves. I’ve…

The Internet constantly evolves. I remember when I thought that upgrading from a 14.4K modem to 28K was like going from riding a wagon to flying in a spaceship. Back when everyone connected to the Internet through AOL or Prodigy or CompuServe, back…

Flying home Monday, the battery in ol’ Lappy went dead in mid-sentence of the sixth paragraph of the event-overall story I was writing for this week’s coverage. No warning, no flashing lights, no dropped cylinder or…

It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been to Gainesville Raceway, and the old gal has changed quite a bit. Actually, as these photos at right, from 1971 and 2007, attest, it’s barely recognizable from its…

Theirs is not a household name to the casual drag racing fan, yet they twice finished in the top four in the Top Fuel world championship race, including a third-place finish in 1977…

(Above) The Barry Setzer Vega was unchallenged on the match race circuit in the early 1970s and went to three straight national event finals in 1973. (Below) Pat Foster, left, son Cole, and team owner…

"The Snake" and "the Mongoose" and "the Zookeeper." "Big Daddy" and "the King" and "the Ace." "Superman" and "Dandy Dick" and "the Smilin' Okie." Where have all the nicknames gone? Back in the day, a great nickname…