Competition Plus Magazine

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Top Fuel driver Shawn Reed has confirmed he will scale down his drag racing efforts for one simple reason. He wants to stop and smell the roses instead of burning them up. The decision comes one year later than Reed originally intended. He refused to let the violent crash he suffered in Seattle become the final image of his driving career, choosing instead to leave the sport on his own terms.

The financial dispute Darrell Cuttell says stems from unpaid work on Elon Musk-affiliated data center projects is now reaching into the drag racing world. CompetitionPlus reported over the weekend that Cuttell’s company, Darana Hybrid, filed mechanic’s liens alleging more than $136 million in unpaid work connected to data center construction in the Memphis area.

Those who know Brainerd International Raceway understand beer isn’t just a beverage during the NHRA national event. It’s part of the culture. That’s what makes Spencer Hyde’s Outlaw Beer Funny Car branding feel less like a sponsorship activation and more like perfect timing. Hyde will unveil a special Outlaw Beer livery at this weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, bringing the brand to one of the most recognizable stops on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule.

It was as if Mountain Motor Pro Stock had come full circle. The large-displacement Pro Stock machines returned to a revitalized IHRA last season, drawing fields of as many as 24 cars and rekindling memories of 1977, when the Bristol-based sanctioning body abandoned the traditional pounds-per-cubic-inch formula and created a new identity for factory hot rod racing. For the first time in years, the class had something it had spent more than a decade chasing: stability.

The Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series enters one of its most important weekends of the season when competitors head to Bristol Dragway for the Thunder Valley Throwdown presented by Larry Jeffers Race Cars, Aug. 6-8. The fifth stop on the seven-race schedule arrives with championship battles tightening across nearly every professional, sportsman and Jr. Dragster category, making Bristol a pivotal event before the stretch run to the season finale.

Pro Stock Motorcycle ace Gaige Herrera has made a name for himself on the national stage at a historic clip, capturing two championships and 30 wins — including a record-tying 11 in a row during his rookie season in 2023. But lest anyone think his talents on a motorcycle begin and end as a hired gun at Vance & Hines, they would be quite mistaken.

Scaling a fence at Summit Motorsports Park on Friday night might have been the second-most exciting thing to happen to Alan Drinkwater during Night Under Fire. But that’s another story for another time. Forget fences. On Saturday, Drinkwater scaled a mountain, charging from the No. 11 qualifying position and winning races with performance on both ends of the track.

Bill Bader Jr. was announcing the first round of eliminations for Top Sportsman when the prospects of a dry evening were slim at best. A 75-percent chance of rain was expected to hit Summit Motorsports Park, effectively washing out a year’s worth of preparation in one fell swoop. “We have moved the start time up to 6 PM, because we have stuff expected to hit us; we have prayed for it to hold off until we can get this finished,” Bader said while standing in the tower high above the racetrack.

It might be an event built on show more than go, but for Ron Capps, a No. 1 qualifier is still a No. 1 qualifier. The multi-time NHRA Funny Car champion made sure of that Friday, delivering a 3.895-second pass at 330.72 mph to lead the field on the opening day of the 49th annual Night Under Fire at Summit Motorsports Park. Capps came out swinging, laying down the quickest Funny Car run of the night on his first attempt.