With all the momentum on his side, Matt Hagan plans to go with an old look to keep things rolling this weekend.

Hagan, who pilots a Tony Stewart Racing Dodge SRT Hellcat nitro Funny Car, has won two races in a row in Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago and he told CompetitionPlus.com he will be sporting his good luck mustache this Friday through Sunday at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

“I better start drawing my handlebar mustache because every time I have run a handlebar mustache up there, I have won the race,” Hagan said. “It is kind of a funny thing I was joking (NHRA’s) Joe Castello in the winner’s circle (in Chicago), and he was asking me ‘What about the handlebar?’ I was like dude I’m going to have to send you daily pictures of how it is drawn.”

As Lake Speed Jr. sees it, if a racer or team owner can qualify for a Hall of Fame, so should those who make them go fast. Speed pounds the drum these days for the newly formed Engine Builder Hall of Fame. Right now, it is a virtual existence, but soon, there will be a physical presence in Lincoln, Neb., at the American Museum of Speed. 

"The idea for this came a couple of years ago," Speed said. "I do a lot of testing out at Ron Shaver's, Shaver Specialty Racing Engines, and we were sitting in his office at the end of the day, he was saying, 'This engine builder away recently." 

Speed listened to Shaver reel off a list of accomplishments, and standing in awe of the stats.

The relationship between Hot Rod magazine and the NHRA goes back some time. In 1948, NHRA founder Wally Parks helped co-publishers Bob Petersen and Bob Lindsay introduce the most iconic publication to ever feature high-performance automobiles. Two years later, Hot Rod was used as the springboard for the formation of the National Hot Rod Association.

Just like Hot Rod has survived a sometimes tumultuous publishing landscape, the NHRA has survived the trials and tribulations of being drag racing’s premier race series. 

This weekend, they will come together as Hot Rod Drag Week competitors make their way to the big stage of drag racing. They will participate in a special drag and drive exhibition during the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway. This special feature marks the first time Drag Week competitors have attended the historic facility in Epping.

Clean-sweeping has become the trend for Jim Halsey’s through much of his PDRA career. The veteran Pro Nitrous racer and four-time champion for the second race in a row won an event from the No. 1 qualifying position at the American Doorslammer Challenge, the third race of the PDRA's Red Line Oil Drag Racing Series.

Also getting in on the clean sweep was Todd Tutterow, who claimed the Pro Boost title, while Darryl Stewart won his first Extreme Pro Stock crown.

Halsey continued his strong performances in his new Gene Fulton-powered 1968 Camaro, stopping fellow Maryland-based nitrous racer Fredy Scriba in the final round. Scriba’s 3.673 at 203.03 was his best performance of the weekend, but it wasn’t quick enough to get around Halsey and his 3.665 at 207.53 

There were no cell phones, and some count their blessings.

There was no social media to add to the shame as if any of the willing participants had any.

And for some, this proved to be a blessing.

Many have labeled Brainerd International Raceway's Zoo as the wildest experience in drag racing. However, back in the 1970s, a pair of national event campground venues would have made the Zoo look like a Yacht Club gathering.

If you attended a race at Rockingham Dragway or its cousin drag strip, Thunder Valley Dragway, which is now Bristol Dragway, back in the IHRA days, then you know what we are saying.

It's only fitting that an iconic doorslammer drag racer rebounds at an iconic track known for its doorslammer history.

Friday, at the legendary drag strip in Norwalk, Ohio, two-time Pro Boost champion Todd Tutterow found his groove again, laying down the quickest run of any car on the property, a 3.627-second pass at 208.04 MPH in the third and final qualifying session during the third stop on the 2024 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour. 

I’m always amused when I hear drag racing fans, racers or officials talking about how, in the history of the entire high speed universe, there never has been a strike or a boycott of an NHRA national event.  If you believe the conventional wisdom, pro racers simply don’t have the fortitude to effectively rage against the establishment.

It’s an interesting theory and there’s a lot of data to support it.  I mean, it is really hard to get pro racers to agree on anything.  Sit in a meeting with four or more pro racers and they can’t even agree on refreshments and drinks.

However, the declaration that there’s NEVER been a boycott of an event run by the guys my partner always has called the High Sheriffs, simply isn’t true.  I know, because I was there.  So was my press relations partner, Dave Densmore.  The year was 1981 and the site was State Capitol Raceway outside Baton Rouge, La. 

Last September, Comp Eliminator racer Don Thomas was on top of the world as he took home over $30,000 by winning the inaugural Rooftec NHRA Comp Cash Clash, a race-within-a-race for the top 16 racers in the highly complex division. 

On Sunday, at the NHRA Texas Motorplex, he climbed to the peak of another mountain.

Thomas scored the Competition Eliminator victory at the second race of the NHRA Division 4 double-header at the Texas Motorplex, located outside of Dallas.