- FOSTER LOOKING TO TAKE AQUA PROP ALL THE WAY AT CHARLOTTE FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS
- MBE Tech Report
- MATT SMITH LOOKS FOR HOMETOWN WIN AT ZMAX DRAGWAY, DERIC KRAMER AIMS TO REPEAT HIS 2023 4-WIDE NATIONALS WIN
- FERNANDO CUADRA SR. TO HAVE LAST DANCE WITH PRO STOCK AT CHARLOTTE FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS
- HULL READY TO CELEBRATE PROFESSIONAL ANNIVERSARY IN CHARLOTTE
- AMKUS RESCUE SYSTEMS TO CONTINUE AS OFFICIAL RESCUE TOOLS OF NHRA
- John Force Racing Ready to Extend Successful 2024 Start In Charlotte 4-Wide Race
SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CONTINUES TITLE SPONSORSHIP OF NHRA JR. DRAG RACING LEAGUE FOR ACTION-PACKED 2024 SEASON
INDIANAPOLIS — NHRA officials announced today that Summit Racing Equipment will again be the title sponsor of the NHRA Summit 
Racing Jr. Drag Racing League, a popular racing league for kids ages 5-17, which features a host of special events during the 2024 season.
Summit Racing Equipment has been a longtime supporter of the NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League, which celebrates its 32nd year with a host of thrilling races, providing a memorable platform for young racers to perform at a high level. Back in 2024 are the exciting eight-car shootouts that take place at seven different NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series national events.
“We’re proud to continue to support the NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League, which has enjoyed terrific growth and an incredible level of competition. For so many young racers, this is the start of a long career in drag racing and we believe this is a great program to get their start,” said Jim Greenleaf, Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports & Events Manager. “Now in its third year, the Summit Racing JDRL National Shootouts have helped create more national exposure to junior drag racing and give the racers an even bigger and well-deserved platform.”
The eight-car shootouts debuted two years ago and will take place sat NHRA national events across all seven divisions, beginning with the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals on April 26-28 at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte. The final round will take place on Sunday and be included on the television broadcast during eliminations on FS1, with racers running alongside the stars in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series and Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. Continue reading
Josh Hart Looking for Continued Success at Charlotte Four-Wides
OCALA, FL – The second four-wide national event of the 2024 NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series will take place this weekend at the 
Bellagio of Drag Strips, zMAX Dragway, when the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals begins with two rounds of qualifying on Friday. Josh Hart and the TechNet/R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster team will be looking to keep their final quad streak alive and focus on grabbing one more win light. Since Hart began racing at the unique four-wide format in 2021 he had qualified in the top half of the field and raced to the final quad three years in a row.
“We have done well at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals and this year I feel good heading into the race,” said Hart, who will be flying the red, white and blue of TechNet this weekend. “We made some progress in Las Vegas and I think we can carry that over to zMAX Dragway. There are a ton of motorsports fans in the Charlotte area and I love it when new fans come to the ropes and get to see our TechNet/R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster up close.”
Hart is also looking to join a short list of Charlotte winners who have won in the fall at the Countdown national event and at the spring four-wide nationals. Only three Top Fuel drivers have accomplished this feat and Hart would like to join Antron Brown, Steve Torrence and Cory McClenathan. Hart won the Carolina Nationals fall race during his rookie season in 2021. Continue reading
LONGTIME BATTLE FOR CONSISTENCY ENTERS NEW PHASE FOR TODD, DHL TEAM
YPSILANTI, MI – It’s a familiar storyline – “we just need to be more consistent.” But what happens when consistency is within reach? That’s 
something J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team are working on entering the season’s fifth race. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes April 26-28, 2024 at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C.
Todd won the season’s opening race in Gainesville, Fla., and has three semifinal showings in the races since winning the Gatornationals when he “doubled up” with teammate Shawn Langdon who won the Top Fuel race the same day. Reaching at least the semifinals in each of the four races so far this season is consistent, but the 2018 Funny Car champ says now the goal is fine-tuning the consistency the team is achieving.
“Consistency comes with going down the track, and we are” Todd said. “You have to make clean runs to learn from them and kind of pick away at it as we work to fine tune it. We still have room to be a little more aggressive, but we’ll get it. It’s hard to fine tune the consistency and be more aggressive when you’re not going down the track. You have to have the runs to pull data. That’s how you give yourself opportunities to fine tune the tune-up. We’re doing that. It’s a matter of making small adjustments here and there, and I think we’ll be in the hunt.” Continue reading
CONFIDENT SHAWN LANGDON, AUTODESK TEAM APPLY JOHN WOODEN MANTRA TO NHRA
YPSILANTI, MI – Legendary college basketball coach John Wooden once said, “Winning breeds winning.” After winning two of the season’s 
first four races, Shawn Langdon and his Autodesk team enter the fifth race hungry and hoping the comment from the late UCLA coach, who won 885 games in his career, also applies to motorsports. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes April 26-28, 2024 at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C.
Langdon joined his teammate, DHL Funny Car driver J.R. Todd, in the winner’s circle at the season-opening race in Gainesville, Fla., last month for the team’s first-ever double victory, and then the 2013 NHRA Top Fuel champion won in Phoenix two weeks later. Flying the Autodesk colors this weekend, the team will look to make it three out of five with what would be Langdon’s third win at zMAX Dragway.
Autodesk is no stranger to Team Kalitta having adorned the sides of either Langdon’s or Doug Kalitta’s Top Fueler once in each of the last three seasons in addition to nearly a decade of partnership with the race team and Kalitta Air. Autodesk solutions help Team Kalitta design and make engine components that create 11,000 horsepower to power Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars. Continue reading
DOUG KALITTA, REVAMPED TEAM, NEW CAR EARN LAS VEGAS PAYOFF – MORE AHEAD IN CHARLOTTE?
YPSILANTI, MI – What started with Doug Kalitta’s 2023 NHRA Top Fuel title continued in the season’s first four races with the latest 
chapter of the Kalitta Motorsports resurgence coming two weeks ago in Las Vegas. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes April 26-28, 2024 at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C.
After some challenging years, Kalitta Motorsports is in quite an impressive stretch. Kalitta won three of the six Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoff races at the end of last season. After Kalitta won a special event in February, his teammates, Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd earned the first double victory in team history at the season’s opening race in Gainesville, Fla. Those Top Fuel and Funny Car wins came on the day Kalitta received his 2023 championship ring on the weekend the late Scott Kalitta was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
Two weeks later, Langdon took the Top Fuel title in Phoenix, and then Kalitta earned his first four-wide victory in Las Vegas the following weekend. Entering the fifth race of the season, the Kalitta teams are second, second and fourth in points. Not terrible. When asked how this Team Kalitta resurgence came to life, Kalitta credited not only his uncle and team owner but also the entire three-car operation. Continue reading
TOP FUEL REIGNING CHAMP DOUG KALITTA AFTER FOUR-WIDE SWEEP AT NHRA 4-WIDE NATIONALS
CONCORD, NC – Doug Kalitta had always enjoyed four-wide racing, even if the results didn’t show ultimate success. But the reigning Top 
Fuel world champion checked off another milestone victory earlier this month, winning his first career four-wide race.
The standout veteran now has a chance to sweep the pair of unique races for the first time in his stellar career at this weekend’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte. It’s the “Bellagio of Dragstrips” and the originator of four-wide racing, which has long been considered one of the wildest spectacles in motorsports.
Kalitta has enjoyed the special spotlight the distinctive four-wide racing has created but had never won a four-wide event until doing so less than two weeks ago at Las Vegas in his 11,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster. Riding high off that victory, where Kalitta ran low E.T. of each of the three eliminations rounds, the defending world champion is eager to quickly try and get a second victory in as many races in the four-wide format. Continue reading
Feather-Lite Batteries Introduces No. 1 Qualifier Bonus Program for NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock
TROUTMAN, NC – Feather-Lite Batteries, a leading supplier of high-performance racing batteries, has stepped up to support the Johnson’s 
Horsepowered Garage NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock category by offering a No. 1 qualifier bonus for all six races on the 2024 schedule. Feather-Lite customers will also have the opportunity to win a double-up bonus for winning the race. The Feather-Lite bonuses will be available starting at the season-opening race for the series, the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 26-28, at zMAX Dragway.
“We wanted to do something different to support the class when we found out NHRA was stepping up the Mountain Motor Pro Stock program,” said Jonathan Pickett, President/CEO, Feather-Lite Batteries. “We have a lot of customers in the class, and I’ve been a fan of Mountain Motor Pro Stock for years. We reached out to Richard Freeman, who’s been working hard behind the scenes on the NHRA Mountain Motor program, to see how we could get involved. I felt like the No. 1 qualifier bonus and the couple other things we have going would be a good way to support the class and our customers.” Continue reading
Joe Maynard, JCM Racing Announce Partnership with Michael Waltrip Brewing Co.
BROWNSBURG, IN – JCM Racing team owner and serial entrepreneur Joe Maynard recently became an equity owner in Michael Waltrip 
Brewing Co., the premium brewing company founded by NASCAR legend Michael Waltrip. As part of this newly formed alliance, Michael Waltrip Brewing Co. will have a more prominent place aboard the JCM Racing Top Fuel machines piloted by NHRA icon Tony Schumacher and European champion Ida Zetterström, who is slated to make her NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series start later this summer.
Fans of eight-time Top Fuel world champion Schumacher may have already glimpsed the Michael Waltrip Brewing Co. logo on his Leatherwood Distillery Top Fuel dragster this season, a small indicator of what’s to come for the two brands.
“I thrive on forging strategic alliances that elevate brands in ways that will create something greater than any one brand can achieve on its own. This is an opportunity for us to bring the race team, the brewery, and Leatherwood Distillery all together,” remarked Maynard. “We want to utilize the JCM Racing team as a marketing vehicle to drive interest in both brands.” Continue reading
JONATHAN JOHNSON JOINS NHRA AS SOUTH CENTRAL DIVISION DIRECTOR
INDIANAPOLIS – NHRA officials announced today that Jonathan Johnson has been named the Division Director of the South Central 
Division (Division 4), where he will oversee NHRA member tracks in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.
Prior to being named NHRA Division Director, Johnson was the president at JKJ Auto Parts and was most recently the south region parts and service manager with National Trailer Source, bringing significant experience to the Division Director position.
He also earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, and received his Masters of Business Administration degree from Baylor University in 2024. Continue reading
TSR Heads to Charlotte 4 Wide
Charlotte, NC – The NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte, North Carolina, is the fifth event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing 
Series’ 20-race calendar in 2024. Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) brings its two full-time entries – one in Top Fuel for Top Fuel rookie Tony Stewart and one in Funny Car for 49-time Funny Car winner and four-time champion Matt Hagan. Hagan and Stewart each advanced to the Finals in their respective nitro categories at the previous event, the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas.
Coming into Charlotte, Stewart is sixth in the Top Fuel standings, 145 points behind leader Justin Ashley. Hagan is currently fourth in the Funny Car standings, 106 points behind leader Austin Prock.
Hagan needs just one win to become the 17th pro driver with 50 tour victories. John Force, Robert Hight and Ron Capps currently are the only Funny Car drivers to have reached that plateau. Hagan has won at least three tour events for 11 consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Continue reading
