Drag racing fans rejoice! E3 Spark Plugs returns as the title sponsor for the NHRA's 2019 Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service. The twelve-event schedule will kick-off at the historic Gainesville Raceway for the 50th annual Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals beginning March 14 through March 17. As one of the NHRA's longest standing events, NHRA Gatornationals is always a colossal blowout and nothing honors the history of the American muscle car better than the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod division. Featuring both supercharged and nitrous powered engines, teams can choose to use any fashionable year, make or model bodywork to house their 3,000 horsepower power plant. Winning, on the other hand, it won't be that easy, as 30-plus entries are expected to follow the circuit in...

Only three former NASCAR Cup Champions and 28-year old Joey Logano had survived the past couple of months of eliminations to duke it out in south Florida for final event in the Chase for the Championship. As the green flew over Homstead-Miami Speedway for the Ford EcoBoost 400, all four drivers drew a bead on each other as the race for the 2018 Championship was on. When the tire smoke settled on Sunday, Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Team Penske-Pennzoil Ford, had claimed his first NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series championship. When the championship round got under way, the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch, the 2015 NASCAR Champion and winner of 51 Monster Energy Cup races; the #4 Stewart-Hass Racing Ford of Kevin Harvick, the 2014 NASCAR Champion and winner of 45...

For the first time in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) history, all four event race winners at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona CA also won a 2018 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world championship in their respective class. Here's how it went for the NHRA's top teams at the Automobile Club of Southern California Finals over the weekend. 1 - PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE - Matt Smith saved his best runs for the Countdown to the Championship scoring three of his four season victories in final stages of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. This was Smith's third NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle World Championship. He powered his Elite Motorsports DENSO Auto Parts EBR to a national speed record pass at 201.22 mph in defeating defending champion Eddie Krawiec. 2 - PRO STOCK - Tanner Gray claimed the...

Many grassroots drivers in the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod division deserved the 2018 drag racing title for NHRA's premier doorslammer series that features both supercharged and nitrous powered 3,000 horsepower engines in any fashionable year, make or model. Nonetheless, this year's crown went to one of the hand-me-down generation drivers that grew up in drag racing and experienced the sport's highest highs and lowest lows. Having grown up in a family racing business, his dad founded JAN-CEN Racing Engines back in 1958. A native of Elma, New York, Janis first started racing forty years ago.  Janis joined the Pro Mod division back in the 90s during the inception of the class. Since the apple never falls too far from the tree, Mike Janis Super Chargers was born to produce the...

For the better part of a year, Texan Steve Torrence has been focused on one goal and one goal only; winning the 2018 NHRA Championship in Top Fuel. Having seen his hopes slip away on the final day of last season's Countdown to the Championship, Torrence has shown no mercy on this year's field of contenders. The Capco Contractors driver extended his elimination win streak to 20 rounds, sweeping five of the first six playoff races to lay claim to the half million dollar prize with a race to go. Car builder Richie Crampton at Morgan Lucas Racing is responsible for the very competitive and very reliable top fuel dragster that cemented Torrence's place as the 30th champion in Top Fuel history. Billy Torrence, Steve's father, set low ET of the first round but was eliminated by his son in...

Drag racing fans packed the pits at The Strip all weekend to see qualifying and eliminations runs for classes like the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. When the smoked cleared at the end of the day on Sunday, Sidnei Frigo, a native of São  Paulo, Brazil, had collected his second NHRA Pro Mod Wally by defeating Number One qualifier Mike Castellana with a 5.75 ET to Castellana's 5.86. Frigo previous won the Pro Mod division at the 2017 Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Having started racing 4-cylinder front wheel drive cars in Brazil at the age of 19, Frigo's trophy case is filled with accolades from his many Brazilian Drag Racing Championships before coming to America. Frigo started racing in the states in 2011...

Coming into Round 12 of the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series, two of the sports legendary drivers and crew chiefs were set to do battle for the 2018 Pro Mod Championship at The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each represent decades of participation in the sport and both with a clear understanding of what it takes (and what it means) to finish atop a championship season in NHRA.  Less than a week before the series started at the Gatornationals, North Carolina native Rickie Smith received a sponsorship call from the Bahrain 1 Racing Pro Mod contingent to join the team. Mike Janis on the other hand was already set to crawl behind the wheel of the Mike Janis Superchargers/AAP 1969 Camaro. At the time, neither knew that it would come down to the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The...

Ponte Vedra, FL (October 25, 2018)…In Short Track, Dalton Zehr is now the person to beat. After battling car issues from a wreck that tore up the right side of his car, and coming into the final race of the season a mere two points ahead of Austin Nason, E3 sponsored racer Zehr pulled off his first ARCA Midwest Tour Championship.  Zehr won the championship over Nason by five points in a hard fought and contentious race. Zehr now has 100 plus feature wins, three touring championships and four track championships.   E3 sponsored racer, Leah Pritchett known for wins in Nostalgia Funny Car, Pro Mod and Top Fuel can now boast a championship in NHRA Factory Stock. Competing in her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak for both Factory Stock and Top Fuel, she clinched the win at...

Rick Hord got the weekend off to a good start at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Carolina Nationals earning the Number One spot in Saturday's qualifying rounds. He piloted his 2016 turbocharged Corvette to a 5.681 ET at 258.67 mph to lay claim to the second-fastest pass in Pro Mod history. Dallas Pro Mod winner Jeremy Ray qualified second overall on his Friday run in the "Carolina Kingpin" 63' Corvette at 5.683 ET at 251.91 mph, making it the third-quickest run in the history of the class. Series points leader Mike Janis qualified seventh at 249.03 mph to earn a first-round match up against Stevie "Fast" Jackson. This year's portion of the NHRA Carolina Nationals was presented by Mr. Race Oil and was the eleventh of 12 races for the 2018 E3 Spark...

The Carolina Kingpin claimed his first Wally in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing series presented by J&A Services over the weekend. Jeremy Ray piloted his "Carolina Kingpin" 63' Corvette to a holeshot win with a 5.785 ET at 248.07 mph to Justin Bond's faster 255.53 mph run his Pontiac Firebird during Sunday's finals. Ray was runner up at Norwalk earlier in the season but it was Bond's first appearance in a Pro Mod final. An exuberant Ray thanked his crew for staying ahead of everything all week to deliver the win in his inaugural season of the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod series. Brazilian driver Sidnei Frigo, who finished fifth overall in 2017 Pro Mod division, earned top honors in qualifying. In Round One, Frigo eliminated Danny Rowe with 251.25 mph pass. The driver of the...