You'd think that by age 63, being fidgety would be a mannerism one wouldn't have to concern themselves with. But standing there in the pits at No Problem Raceway last Saturday, waiting for his team to get a run in the BB/Altered Dodge Status, was sportsman drag racing icon Jeff Taylor steadily working a fidget spinner between his forefinger and thumb. 

"My grandson got me hooked on these," Taylor admitted. 'I went to visit, and we were just sitting around, and he had one. So I started playing with it. So he said, 'Well, you can just have it." 

Taylor declined the generous offer and purchased ten of the units when he got back home.

Missing the first five races of a season would likely affect almost any drag racing team, but for Chicago native T.J. Zizzo, the deliberate delay in starting the season works perfectly into his master plan. He and his team are, what some in the media and drag racing community have coined, a super part-time team.

Zizzo, who reached the semi-finals last season in his NHRA Route 66 Nationals debut, has visions of lightning striking twice with his Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster.

PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant is the presenting sponsor for the NHRA Route 66 Nationals but over the weekend of May 17-19, they plan to present event more. After a decade of exclusively sponsoring 17-time Funny Car champion John Force, the PEAK and BlueDEF brands will expand to include another nitro-burning race machine. 

The expansion will remain in the family as Brittany Force will run a PEAK-themed dragster at the proclaimed home race for parent company Old World Industries. 

"I'm very proud to carry the PEAK colors next weekend in Chicago," said Brittany Force, whose PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant dragster will match her father's Funny Car. "When I see PEAK, I see my dad, John Force, 16-time champion. And now to be connected with him through PEAK is something very unique, something very special. I actually ran a PEAK car back in 2018, so I'm excited to bring it back on board again in 2024."

Kalitta Motorsports continues to attract new-to-drag racing partners, and in Bristol will unveil their latest. 

Mark III Employee Benefits will debut as primary sponsor on reigning NHRA Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta’s Top Fuel dragster at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., June 7-9, 2024 – it is the company’s first NHRA sponsorship. 

Pingel Enterprise, Inc., a manufacturer of high-quality motorcycle performance parts, has ensured the Top Fuel Motorcycle division will appear in at least four 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Pingel has signed on as the title sponsor for the series which will appear at NHRA national events starting with next weekend's event at Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago, Virginia Motorsports Park in Richmond (June 22-23), Brainerd International Raceway (Aug. 16-18) and the finale at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte on Sept. 20-22. The category will receive final-round coverage on FS1 at each of the four stops

NHRA will now offer four qualifying sessions at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK Performance on May 17-19, thus decreasing the number of the three-session events on the schedule to six. The NHRA reduced the number of qualifying sessions to three at select events following the pandemic-raged 2020 season. 

The four qualifying sessions adds an extra run on Friday, where race fans will also witness the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout and the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday. Friday’s qualifying sessions are scheduled for 2:30 and 5 p.m. CT with the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, at 11:40 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. CT. Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, May 19.

Drag racing has lost a friend.

The Famoso Dragstrip social media confirmed today the passing of John Bowser. Bowser had been fighting an illness. He was 81. 

"It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of John Bowser’s passing. John, the beloved president of Famoso Dragstrip, was a pillar of the racing community and loved by many," the post read.

There's a lot to be said for being content in life, and there's even more to be said for being content in drag racing. 

Make no mistake about it: Tayler Chomiski is precisely where he wants to be in drag racing. Comp Eliminator is definitely his playground. 

"I had big dreams and tried to put some proposals together a few years ago to step up, but the way Pro Stock has changed, my dad and I couldn't build the engines or have the resources to be able to do it," Tayler said. "It's just a really hard game. So what we're doing now, we're competitive, we're having fun. This is the best racing, probably you can rival any era of Comp. 

PEAK Antifreeze knows a good thing when they see it. And as thousands of race fans will attest, Drag Race Bracket Bonanza (DRBB), the first dynamic bracket competition for drag racing fans, is definitely a good thing. 

This being said, PEAK Antifreeze, one of the country’s most prominent motorsports sponsors and a leader in the antifreeze and coolant industry, has been named the presenting sponsor for DRBB during the Route 66 Nationals. 

PEAK will be prominently branded across all Drag Race Bracket Bonanza social media platforms as well as their website leading up to and during the Route 66 Nationals, which takes place May 19-21 at Chicago’s Route 66 Raceway, 

Even the most seasoned of teams can get a sweet tooth.

At the upcoming Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals, May 17-19 at Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago, that penchant for candy will be on full display as Jim Dunn Racing and rookie Funny Car driver Buddy Hull will debut the new-look Sweet Classics nitro Funny Car. In addition to on-track activation, Hull will make a pre-race appearance at a local Menards on Thursday night.