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Donald Glenn Garlits is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Considered the father of drag racing, he is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field of drag racing, he perfected the rear-engine Top Fuel dragster, an innovation motivated by the loss of part of his foot in a dragster accident. This design was notably safer since it put most of the fuel processing and rotating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver was placed in front of nearly all the mechanical components, thus protecting him and allowing him to activate a variety of safety equipment in the event of catastrophic mechanical failure or a fire. Garlits was an early promoter of the full-body, fire-resistant Nomex driving suit, complete with socks, gloves, and balaclava.
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.
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.
Ashley Force Hood is a former NHRA Funny Car drag racer for John Force Racing. She is the daughter of 16-time NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car national champion John Force and Laurie Force. She is married to Daniel Hood, who works for John Force Racing. She was on hiatus from racing in 2011 as the couple expected their first child. Since their child's birth, Force Hood has announced her retirement from competitive racing.
Gateway Motorsports Park is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a 1.250 mi (2.012 km) oval that hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the NTT IndyCar Series, a 2.000 mi (3.219 km) infield road course used by SpeedTour TransAm, SCCA, and Porsche Club of America, a quarter-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag strip that hosts the annual NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals event, and the Kartplex, a state-of-the-art karting facility.
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.
Erica Lee Enders is an American drag racing driver. Enders has won six championships in the Pro Stock class of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and she continues to drive full-time in that class. For the 2024 season, Enders will defend her 6 NHRA Pro Stock World Championships.
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.
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.
John Force Racing is an NHRA drag racing team. In over 30 years of competition, John Force Racing has won two Top Fuel and 20 Funny Car championships. The current line-up of drivers includes Top Fuel drivers Brittany Force, Austin Prock and Funny car drivers John Force, Robert Hight. The team's leadership includes CEO John Force, President Robert Hight, Vice President Ashley Force Hood, and CFO Adria Hight. Past drivers include Gary Densham, Ashley Force Hood, team crew chief Mike Neff, Eric Medlen, who lost his life while racing for the team and whose number 4 appears on all their cars, Tony Pedregon, who was the first driver other than Force to win a series championship driving for the team, and Courtney Force. In 2017, Brittany Force became the first team driver to win a championship in a classification that is not Funny Car, taking the Top Fuel title.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is a drag racing series organized by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). It is the top competition series of the NHRA, comprising competition in four classes, including Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
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.
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.
The 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series was announced by the NHRA on August 12, 2012.
Antron Brown is an American drag racing driver, currently driving the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster for AB Motorsports in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. Brown is the first African American champion in drag racing history, winning the Top Fuel dragster championship in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
Roland Leong was an American drag racer from Honolulu, whose "Hawaiian" brand cars achieved many victories. He later went on to act as crew chief in Funny Car races.
Brittany Leighton Force is an American NHRA drag racer and 2-time NHRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel dragster champion. She is the daughter of drag racer John Force and the sister of fellow racers Courtney Force and Ashley Force Hood.
Leah Christine Pruett is an American semi-retired drag racer, who last drove an NHRA Top Fuel dragster for Tony Stewart Racing.
References
- 1 2 Olson, Jeff (12 September 2013). "NHRA driver John Force rebooting reality TV series". usatoday.com. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
- ↑ "He's making up for lost time". South Florida Sun Sentinel . The Associated Press. July 31, 2006. Retrieved April 27, 2022.