NHRA's Lonnie Grim could hardly contain his excitement as he spoke about the latest news regarding the new NHRA Factory X division scheduled to debut in 2023.

"We have 17 100% confirmed deposits with the major builders," Grim confirmed. "We have three other builders involved without the four major builders. The parts have been a little slow, coming from the composite component stuff. Everybody else has been rolling along with this build being steel roof, steel quarter."

Adding to Grim's elation, the first of the highly-anticipated Factory X cars will be displayed at the Performance Racing Industry trade show, December 8-10, 2022. Factory Stock Showdown racer Geoff Turk will have his new Dodge Challenger on display.

Turk's display is a significant step forward in a process marred by a shortage of composite body parts that have delayed the initial builds.

Many believe the standard procedure for building chassis over the years caused the gears of production to grind to a halt. Without the necessary body parts, the mocking-up process couldn't move forward.

"I need the parts before I build the chassis," Grim said was the most common statement he heard regarding getting chassis production moving forward. "Probably for the first few, that is a true statement. This is very common to what they used to do, but since the composite bodies have come into the world, they only needed the first composite body to get the jig fixture right.

"This is the same thing that will happen with the steel roof and quarters. As soon as they get the first one or two cars done, then they'll be able to produce them while they're waiting on those components."

Five Star, one of the leading manufacturers of composite bodies, has moved forward on shipping specific front-end components.

"Five Star has started shipping a couple of front-end components," Grim explained. "The 650 [S650 Mustang] got announced very, very recently. Those parts are in progress right now, also. We backed up the year model to allow some 2015 front ends and stuff like that. Those parts are coming along, and I know that several composite shops are building the rocker panels and the deck lids and that stuff. For the big parts, the rear fascia bumpers, the front ends doors, they all have to be approved by us."

Grim said he's encouraged by the builds in all chassis shops, both big and small. Seeing top chassis builders such as Jerry Haas, Jerry Bickel, and Rick Jones begin allocating resources to the class signifies a strong future for Factory X.

"But the thing is that class is alive and well, and there's a lot of activity going on. There are a lot of builders that are working really hard.

"We think that at Gainesville, some guys are stepping off the clutch and letting go," Grim said. "I know the content for 2023 is soon to come out of when these cars are going to race, and we look forward to producing that and getting it out there to everybody. I think everybody will be still in pretty good shape if they're right in the middle of building one and they get done early in, we'll call it springtime, they're still hunting for a championship."

While the Big Three are well represented, is a Toyota in the mix?

"Not yet," Grim responded. "I'll just say not yet."

Grim confirmed the predominant make at this time appears to be the COPO Camaros.

"There are more COPOs on order than there is anything, but there are two Fords and four Challengers ordered," Grim said. "A Challenger, COPO, and a Ford will be the first three I know that are hitting the ground. So I look forward to that early in the year. We're going to see all makes, all models in there. We're anxious to see what FX looks like in 2023. And for the guys that are welding pipe together and started putting bolts and nuts and things [together], they're getting pretty excited."

Grim told CompetitionPlus.com he's expecting the first Factory X cars to begin testing over the winter.

"As far as the exhibition goes, those guys are going to test over the winter between now and Gainesville," Grim explained. "As we get back to some East coast events again, I think that we'll have a good handful of cars that'll be tested. We'll have eight or more cars before mid-season next year."