The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsports sanctioning body in the world.
Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.
Anthony Wayne Stewart, nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, winning two as a driver, one as owner/driver (2011), and one as an owner (2014).
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It includes a 0.686 mi (1.104 km) oval track, a 2.500 mi (4.023 km) road course, and a 4,400-foot (1,300 m) drag strip which is among the premier drag racing venues in the world. The complex receives about 500,000 visitors annually.
John Harold Force is an American NHRA drag racer. He is a 16-time NHRA and 1 time AHRA Funny Car champion driver and a 22-time champion car owner. Force owns and drives for John Force Racing (JFR). He is one of the most dominant drag racers in the sport with 155 career victories. He graduated from Bell Gardens High School and briefly attended Cerritos Junior College to play football. He is the father of drag racers Ashley Force Hood, Brittany Force, and Courtney Force. His oldest daughter Adria Hight is the CFO of JFR.
Kenneth Dale Bernstein is an American drag racer and former NASCAR and IndyCar team owner. He is nicknamed the "Bud King" for his success in the Budweiser King funny car and dragster. He has also been nicknamed the "King of Speed," because he was the first driver to break 300 miles per hour in the standing-start quarter mile. Bernstein owned King Racing, which he drove for in the NHRA and fielded various cars in other racing series such as IndyCar and NASCAR. Bernstein retired from full-time competition in 2002 and moved his son Brandon into the Bud King Top Fuel dragster, but returned to finish the season in place of his son after Brandon suffered a severe injury. With the exception of a brief return to Funny Car in 2007, Bernstein did not return to the car and instead continued to run his team until the end of the 2011 season when he left drag racing altogether.
Gary Scelzi is an American dragster racer and midget car owner who has won the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel championship on three occasions and the Funny Car title once. In 1997 he won the title in his first full year of competition, after replacing Blaine Johnson, who had been killed at the 1996 US Nationals, while leading the top fuel championship, in the Johnson family-owned car. He has not competed in NHRA competition since the 2008 season.
Brainerd International Raceway is a road course, and dragstrip racing complex northwest of the city of Brainerd, Minnesota. The complex has a 0.25 mi (0.40 km) dragstrip, and overlapping 2.500 mi (4.023 km) and 3.100 mi (4.989 km) road courses. The complex also includes a kart track. The raceway hosts the National Hot Rod Association's Lucas Oil Nationals. It is a popular racetrack for the Trans Am Series. The spectator seating capacity of the circuit is 20,000.
The Texas Motorplex is a quarter mile drag racing facility located in Ennis, Texas, United States, 40 miles (64 km) south of downtown Dallas. Built in 1986 by former funny car driver Billy Meyer, the Motorplex was the first National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) "super track." It annually hosts the Texas NHRA FallNationals each October, when hundreds of professional and amateur drag racers compete for over $2 million in prize money. Past winners have included John Force, Kenny Bernstein, and Tony Schumacher.
Scott D. Kalitta was an American drag racer who competed in the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. He had 17 career Top Fuel wins and one career Funny Car win. At the time of his death, due to an accident during race qualifying, he was one of 14 drivers to win in both divisions. He was the son of veteran NHRA driver and crew chief Connie Kalitta.
Eric John Medlen was an NHRA Fuel Funny Car driver. Medlen drove for John Force Racing in 2004, 2005, and 2006, campaigning in the Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang Fuel Funny Car, and in 2007, campaigning in the Auto Club/Pleasant Holiday Ford Mustang Fuel Funny Car. He had a total of six career wins. His first win came during his Rookie season in 2004 at Brainerd International Raceway.
Maple Grove Raceway (MGR) is a quarter-mile dragstrip located near Mohnton, Pennsylvania, just outside Reading. It opened in 1962 as a 1/5-mile dragstrip. It was eventually lengthened to its current quarter-mile length in 1964. The track has been sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association for most of its existence. It has hosted an NHRA national event since 1985. Uni-Select Auto Plus came aboard as the Nationals sponsor in 2011. Other key events include the American Drag Racing League, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Geezers Reunion at The Grove, the Super Chevy Show, Mopar Action, Fun Ford Weekend and the NHRA Pennsylvania Dutch Classic.
Courtney Force-Rahal is a former drag racer who competed on the NHRA tour. She drove the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro SS Funny Car for John Force Racing. She is the youngest daughter of 16-time NHRA World Funny Car Champion John Force and his wife Laurie. She is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton having majored in Communications. On July 19, 2009, Force-Rahal won her first national event in the Top Alcohol Dragster category at the 22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Washington. After her sister, Ashley, announced her retirement from competitive racing in 2011, Force-Rahal became the fourth driver for John Force Racing. On July 27, 2014, Force-Rahal passed her sister for the record of most Funny Car wins by a female driver in NHRA history.
Tony Pedregon is a 2-time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car Champion from Torrance, California. He is also the youngest of the Pedregon brothers. His brother Cruz Pedregon is the 1992 and 2008 NHRA Mello Yello Series Funny Car Champion.
Cruz Pedregon is a 2-time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car Champion from Torrance, California. He is the brother of Tony Pedregon, also a two-time Funny Car Champion & Frank Pedregon Jr. who has won multiple NHRA National Events. He currently races for his own team, Cruz Pedregon Racing, Inc.
Del Worsham is an American NHRA Funny car driver who began his professional career as a driver in Pomona, California, in 1990. Worsham drives a Lucas Oil sponsored car Worsham Racing, a family team. Through the first five races of the 2011 season, he has amassed 33 career victories, eight in the Top Fuel Series and 25 in the Funny Car Series. In 1991, Worsham became the youngest driver to win a Funny Car event and went on to win the NHRA Rookie of the Year. His best finish in the Point Standings first came in 2011 when he won the NHRA Full Throttle Championship in Top Fuel. In 2015, Worsham won the NHRA Mello Yello Championship in Funny Car. He became the third driver to win championships in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, joining Kenny Bernstein and Gary Scelzi in this category.
Robert Hight is an NHRA drag racer and president of John Force Racing, and driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. He is a three-time NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion, with titles in 2009, 2017 and 2019. His 2009 title gave the JFR team its 15th championship, while his 2017 title was the team's 19th crown. Hight has finished in the top 10 in points in all but one of his 14 competitive seasons.
Alexis DeJoria is an American drag racer who competes in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car category. She previously drove a Toyota Camry for Kalitta Motorsports, sponsored by Patrón Spirits Company. She will return to competitive racing in 2020 with a new team led by crew chiefs Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante. As of 2019, she was the third richest female athlete in the World, and as of 2022 the second richest with a net worth of $100 million.
Leah Christine Pruett is an American semi-retired drag racer, who last drove an NHRA Top Fuel dragster for Tony Stewart Racing.
The 2020 NHRA Drag Racing Series was announced on May 14, 2019.
