Pro Modified racer Lyle Barnett was red-hot at the end of the 2021 NHRA Pro Modified season, winning the final two races. When the competition drifted over into the fan-vote realm of the Virtual Reality Hot Rod Association, Barnett merely picked up where he left off. 

Barnett scored his seventh win of the season, stopping Mike Castellana at the Le GrandNational in Montreal and, in doing so, clinched the series title.

" I don't have to press the gas or the trans-brake button to let go of it on time, to guide that seat down through there," Barnett said. "But for a week at a time, I'm pecking the hell out of the screen of my phone, promoting it on social media, making videos. Stevie gave me a good run for my money there for about four weeks, and we were back and forth on social media. And it was really fun. But I think that ... I said it after; I think it was race three when Stevie and I went for a spread of five votes, decided in a race where you had over 6,000 votes cast.

"I think it speaks volumes to what the fans of drag racing as a whole enjoy watching. I mean, I've got great friends in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, but you didn't, at least from my vantage point, didn't see the kind of support that the Pro Mod class received as a whole. And for me to win, I guess now, six out of the seven and clinch the championship with two to go; it means a lot to know that the fans out there who pay that much attention and that I have that many that think that much of me.

"I just appreciate everybody that participated, and then obviously, all of you at Competition Plus for doing it, because it gives us something to be fired up about and keep a little excitement around the class to speed up the off-season. So we're right on the brink of rolling into the Gatornationals here in about a month and a half, and we're already making preparations for that. So it was a lot of fun, and it's awesome to have clinched the championship this early."

Dominant Top Fuel fan-vote racer Krista Baldwin came up two points short of clinching the championship despite winning her sixth race of the season, stopping Doug Kalitta in the final round. Baldwin needs only qualify next Tuesday, and she clinches the crown. 

Independent Funny Car racer Dale Creasy Jr. has looked like the top-funded Funny Car team as he picked up his third fan-vote race win of the season,  stopping Alexis DeJoria in the final round. Winning these races are gratifying, Creasy said.

While Creasy has led the points twice in real life while racing IHRA, taking over the point lead from Tim Wilkerson is equally as gratifying.

"For as long as the winter is, yes," Creasy said. "There's not much going on right now, so yeah, it's just cool to know that people are voting and keeping an eye on what we're doing."

Creasy understands Wilkerson, who has won the Funny Car championship in the history of the fan vote series, and his legion of fans will not stand for second place. 

"Oh God, no, this not even close to over," Creasy said. "He's a pretty popular guy, so we'll just have to see what happens."

Defending fan-vote Pro Stock champion Bruno Massel pulled to within 84 points of leader Rodger Brogdon by stopping Kenny Delco in the final round. 

Point leader Steve Johnson fell in the first round, and second place runner Karen Stoffer missed qualifying. It took until the seventh race, but Jerry Savoie used a surprise win over championship contender Angelle Sampey to pull into the top ten Pro Stock Motorcycle points. Five riders remain in championship contention with two races to go. 

The nine-race tour heads to Freemont Drag Strip for the third annual Mickey Thompson Tires Golden Gate Nationals.