OCALA, FL – The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is heading back to Virginia Motorsports Park after a one-year hiatus for the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals, June 22-23, and Top Fuel NHRA championship contender Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers team are eager to get back on track. The event will feature a new schedule with three professional qualifying sessions on Saturday and final eliminations on Sunday, a dramatic departure from the traditional two qualifiers on Friday and two on Saturday or in some cases one Friday pass and two Saturday runs. The new format creates opportunities and challenges for all the professional teams.

“I like that the NHRA is trying something new,” said Hart, a two-time Top Fuel national event winner. “We ran a similar format at the PRO Superstar Shootout pre-season event with three qualifiers in one day and then the race the next day. It was well received and I am glad the NHRA is mixing it up. I am looking forward to getting back to Virginia Motorsports Park. Every team wants to get as many qualifying runs as possible. I think getting three in a row could give us a good start for race day.”

Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team have only competed at the east coast track that is known to have one of the smoothest and fastest racing surfaces in the country once before. In 2022 Hart raced to the quarterfinals as the No. 13 qualifier outrunning Clay Millican in the first round before dropping a wild pedal fest to Mike Salinas in the second round. Both 12,000-horsepower Top Fuelers lost traction and repeatedly tried to regain control with Salinas getting to the finish line just in front of Hart.

“I have only raced at Virginia Motorsports Park once before in our R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster and it was an eventful race,” said Hart. “We got around Clay in the first round with a good run and then in the second round we had our hands full with Salinas. These race cars create so much power when you smoke the tires it takes a lot of patience and finesse to get them back under control. They are some of the most challenging race cars to drive when things are going perfectly and when they don’t go perfect it is a wild ride.”

Hart and his R+L Carriers team have been working towards a consistent tune-up that will carry them through the summer months and into the 2024 Countdown playoffs. The point standings in Top Fuel will be reshuffled after the U.S. Nationals but Hart wants to improve his standings now during the back half of the regular season. He is looking for his first final round and win of the year and the conditions and qualifying schedule could play into the hands of R+L Carriers Top Fuel crew chief Ron Douglas.

“Getting three runs on Saturday could be really good for our team,” said Hart. “We can make two runs on race day-like conditions which could be a little warmer. We have a good tune up for that so we could be at the back of the pack going into the final qualifier which will have the best conditions. We could take a swing in that final session which could help us on race day. Really, we just need to take what the track gives us and be consistent.”

One thing that has been consistent with the R+L Carriers team has been Hart’s ability to get his racecar off the starting line first. Hart has been one of the top “leavers” in the Top Fuel category all season posting solid reaction times. The ability to react almost instinctively to the Christmas Tree is something Hart has dedicated himself to over the past two seasons.

“Everyone on this team has a job and role to play in getting round wins,” said Hart. “The best thing I can do is cut a good light to give our R+L Carriers team an immediate advantage. I have ten guys behind me that are doing their job to make sure the race car goes down the track as quickly as possible. If I keep doing my job and they keep giving me a good race car the win lights will take care of themselves. This weekend we will be starting another back-to-back situation, so we want to make the most of these two days on the track.”

The two-day PlayNHRA Nationals will lead into the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, which is one of the major hubs for Hart’s primary sponsor R+L Carriers. For Hart having a long weekend in Virginia would go a long way to building positive momentum heading to Norwalk.

The R+L Carriers Top Fuel team will be on track three times on Saturday June making qualifying runs at noon, 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. The quickest 16 Top Fuel dragsters will start final eliminations at noon ET on Sunday, June 23. The race will be broadcast nationally on FS1.

Josh Hart and R+L Carriers team roll to the starting line at Bristol Dragway, photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

HOUSE SPRINGS, MO — From South Dakota to South Carolina and points in between, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Summit Team Finals 2024 dates and locations were announced today.

It all starts Aug. 22-24 with the Division 6 (Midwest) Summit Team Finals at Thunder Valley Dragways in Marion, South Dakota. This promises to be a great event with recent upgrades to Thunder Valley to make it even more racer-friendly than before.
Roxboro Motorsports Park celebrates its 65th anniversary by hosting the Division 1 (Patriots) Summit Team Finals Sept. 5-7. It’s a great location with Roxboro in North Carolina, but just across the Virginia state line.

Holly Springs Motorsports Park, site of the previous two IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals, will host the Division 2 (Heat Wave) Summit Team Finals for a third straight year Sept. 12-14. Holly Springs has a proven track record as a great host for these events.

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LAS VEGAS – Josh Hart and the TechNet Brakes for Breasts Top Fuel team made a strong statement that they are planning on finishing the 2023 season as strong as they started. Racing from the No. 12 spot Hart defeated two championship contending teams in the opening rounds before losing a close race to fellow Countdown competitor Mike Salinas in the semifinals. Today’s effort was Hart’s best finish since her raced to the semifinals at the Sonoma Nationals.

Josh Hart launches the TechNet Brakes for Breasts Top Fuel dragster, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery
“We were looking for a turnaround race to finish the season on a high note and today was a big step forward,” said Hart, who opened the season winning the Pep Boys Top Fuel Allstar Callout. “We went back to a few things that we have had success with previously and that was the right move for sure.”

In the first round, facing Top Fuel point leader Leah Pruett Hart grabbed a solid starting line advantage and that reaction time advantage held up to give Hart and his team the win. When the tree flashed Hart’s reaction time of .044 seconds got him out in front of Pruett’s .087 second time. As both dragsters were side by side Hart’s dragster nose was in front for the win with a 3.740 second, 326.40 mph pass ahead of Pruett’s quicker 3.699 second, 332.26 mph run.

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Madison, IL – Eight-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher’s Countdown to the Championship resurgence continued Sunday afternoon when he raced to the semifinals at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis. It was Schumacher’s second semifinal finish in three Countdown races, helping the driver of the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster move up a spot in the points standings with three races left in the season.

Guided by crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jon Schaffer, Schumacher ended Friday as the provisional No. 5 qualifier on the strength of a 3.734-second pass. He struggled to get down the track in the second session on Saturday, but he bounced back in the final session with a 3.754 E.T., the fifth-quickest run of the round. Schumacher settled into the No. 6 spot going into Sunday, marking the second consecutive top-half qualifying effort for the JCM Racing team.

In NHRA’s marquee matchup, reigning world champion Brittany Force left the starting line first, but Schumacher pulled ahead by the half-track mark and posted a 3.730 E.T. at 332.84 MPH to finish ahead of Force’s 3.803 E.T. Schumacher met another fellow multi-time world champion, Antron Brown, in the second round. There, he was quicker at the starting line and quicker at the finish line, winning with a 3.808-second pass. Schumacher and semifinal opponent Clay Millican had nearly identical reaction times, but Millican started to pull away by the 330-foot mark and finished ahead of Schumacher and his 3.869 E.T.

“The first couple of rounds were outstanding,” said Schumacher, a two-time winner and three-time runner-up at St. Louis. “The last one we went into a mad thrash – we had to change engines twice. I was strapped in before we even pulled out of the pit. Unfortunately, we put a cylinder out and got beat. I had a lot of confidence in that car today and would have been nice to go to the finals. Really would have moved us up seriously in the points. We did some damage. We got some big boys and girls. We got the champ, we got Antron, and made a couple of good runs. Looking forward to getting to Dallas and doing it again.”

Schumacher started the Countdown in the No. 12 spot after a regular season plagued by gremlins and tough losses. By reaching the semifinals at two of the three Countdown races, he’s moved up to No. 9 going into the Texas NHRA FallNationals, Oct. 12-15, at the Texas Motorplex outside Dallas.

Qualified: No. 6 (3.734 E.T. at 329.83 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.730 E.T. at 332.84 MPH defeated Brittany Force 3.803 E.T. at 292.71 MPH
E2: 3.808 E.T. at 327.43 MPH defeated Antron Brown 3.896 E.T. at 290.69 MPH
E3: 3.869 E.T. at 305.22 MPH defeated by Clay Millican 3.823 E.T. at 308.35 MPH