An uncharacteristic qualifying performance sent drag racing’s “King of the Quads,” four-time Top Fuel World Champion Steve Torrence, to an early exit Sunday in the 14th NHRA 4Wide Nationals at ZMax Dragway, a race he had won four times in his previous six starts. As the No. 10 qualifier, Torrence found himself in one of the least favored lanes for a first round in which his CAPCO Contractors Toyota failed to advance despite making its best run of the weekend at 3.729 seconds, 334.07 miles per hour. While it was a solid effort – and an improvement in both time and speed, it wasn’t quite good en ..read more

Just like in any sport, for every one million things that can go right, it can be that tiny detail that makes everything go wrong. For nitro Funny Car driver Buddy Hull, what went right at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway was making his best pass of the year during qualifying. The tiny detail that went wrong included a broken zip tie, causing him to have a slower-than usual reaction time, that cost him a round win. “The progress we made this weekend during qualifying was exactly what me and the Jim Dunn Racing team needed,” said Hull. “It proved to us that we can make solid runs, a ..read more

Racing in just his second four-wide national event and his fifth NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series race as a Pro Stock professional rookie of the year top contender Brandon Foster made a strong showing at zMAX Dragway. Two weeks ago, Foster raced to the final quad at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals but today he was unable to duplicate that feat. After two days of qualifying that saw the rookie driver experience a wide array of issues, including an onboard computer error that cost him a qualifying run, Foster rolled into the first round with confidence and a solid Aqua Prop Chevrolet Cama ..read more

Reigning Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan picked up his 50th career victory on Sunday, driving past John Force, J.R. Todd and Daniel Wilkerson at zMAX Dragway to get the win at the 14th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. Justin Ashley (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the fifth of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Hagan went 3.946-seconds at 332.34 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Tony Stewart Racing Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat in the final quad to power to his first win this season, def ..read more

Wiseco Performance Products $50,000 Saturday at the Strange Engineering Spring Fling presented by Optima Batteries at GALOT Motorsports would be the last opportunity to park in the winner’s circle for the week and wrap up the first half of the Fling Race Series season with 544 entries staging up for the first round. The six quarterfinalists remaining included Mike Rogers, Josh Luedke, Matt Weston, Samantha Pollard, Rob Moser, and Donovan Williams. Rogers turned it red to the .012 bulb of Williams, while Moser was .006 for the starting line advantage but broke out by eight thousandths to Luedke ..read more

The husband-and-wife JHG Mountain Motor Pro Stock team of Bo and Randi Lyn (RL) Butner came into the first race of the six-event series with high hopes and good intentions, and so far, they’re hitting all the high points. Thus far this weekend at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Charlotte’s zMAX Dragway, Bo claimed the No. 1 qualifying position, RL made an impressive transition from Stock Eliminator to a ferocious Mountain Motor Pro Stocker, and their twin Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Chevrolet Camaros were honored with NHRA’s Best Appearing award.   “First off, I have to thank Jason John ..read more

John Force will look to increase his own record of wins in the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway from three to four in Sunday’s finals. Force, who turns 75 one week from now on May 4, earned the No. 1 provisional qualifying position during Friday night’s second round, doing so in a career-best elapsed time of 3.820 seconds at 330.96 mph. He’s looking to extend his superiority in the Charlotte 4-Wide event, which he previously won in 2000, 2004 and 2006. The driver of the PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car held on to the No. 1 spot during Saturday’s two final rounds ..read more

Pro Stock veteran Greg Anderson bolstered his position as third on the all-time NHRA No. 1 qualifier list as he secured the 125th pole of his career at this weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro out of the esteemed KB Titan Racing stable, clocked a best time of 6.500-second at 210.90 mph to land the milestone marker, and he did so in the hometown of Rick Hendrick and HendrickCars.com.   Qualifying was a wild ride for Anderson, but the strong initial blast by the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet held through a litany of unpleas ..read more

Erica Enders and the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage / Melling Performance / SCAG Power Equipment team tallied their second Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory of the season Saturday during qualifying for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway. In a quad with teammates Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Jerry Tucker as well as rival Dallas Glenn, Enders earned her win on a holeshot with a reaction time of .021 seconds to go with her 6.516-second pass at 210.73 mph. Glenn would runner-up on a holeshot with a .023 reaction time and 6.518 pass at 210.50. Coughlin Jr. and the SCAG / Outlaw Mile Hi ..read more

Justin Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster team picked up their first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory of the season Saturday at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway. Ashley, who tallied six #2Fast2Tasty wins in 2023, picked up the win with his best run of qualifying at 3.701 seconds and 334.32 mph bettering Steve Torrence who runnered-up (3.740 at 332.43), Josh Hart who was third (3.796 at 318.17) and Antron Brown who had trouble getting down the track (5.717 at 119.51). Ashley, the Top Fuel points leader, made his way to the finals of the Challeng ..read more