By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio ENNIS – A Texas-size showdown of speed and horsepower is expected at the Texas Motorplex when the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series rolls into town for the Stampede of Speed. The 10-day extravaganza will feature the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs as the track celebrates the 40th annual Texas NHRA Fall Nationals on October 3-12. The Texas NHRA Fall Nationals marks the 18th of 20 events and the fourth of six playoff races in 2025. Drivers in the NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and…
Author: Mike Haag
Mike Haag
Mike Haag has covered motorsports in San Antonio and South Texas for more than 39 years. In addition to covering motorsports for the San Antonio Express-News for nearly 28 years, Mike also has co-hosted TrackSmack with Dawn Murphy for 19 race seasons. In addition to being a writer, Mike taught high school English and Journalism for 30 years before retiring in May, 2020.
By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio ENNIS, Texas – NHRA drag racing fans will have an opportunity to meet their favorite racer and get their autograph on Thursday, October 9, at the Stampede of Speed and Texas Fall Nationals Prestage Fan Fest. More than 50 of the biggest names in NHRA drag racing from the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes will attend the event, which will be held at Railyard Park just south of the historic town square in Waxahachie, Texas. The autograph session is scheduled from…
By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio The six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship kicks off this weekend at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. with the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle titles on the line. For the first time since the playoffs began in 2007, the NHRA has crowned regular-season champions in all four pro categories — Top Fuel (Tony Stewart), Funny Car (Austin Prock), Pro Stock (Dallas Glenn), and Pro Stock Motorcycle (Gaige Herrera) — following the U.S. Nationals. These drivers now face a critical question: can they convert that momentum into world…
By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio NASCAR and NHRA race fans will soon have a rare opportunity to go bowling with NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart. Stewart, a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, along with PBA Hall of Famer Sean Rash, will host a bowling tournament at Bowlero in Euless on Wednesday, October 8. The event will benefit Texas Motor Speedway’s Speedway Children’s Charities, which since 1997 has distributed more than $12.4 million to North Texas non-profit organizations supporting children in need in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties. The event will consist of four-person teams. The $3,000 package…
By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Ryan Blaney claimed his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season Saturday afternoon at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International – his second of the season, 15th of his career and second ever on a road course. For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series championship career, he’ll lead the field to green in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It was a dramatic effort for the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang knocking the reigning road course…
By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service PLAYOFF-BOUND SVG SIGNS EXTENSION WITH TRACKHOUSE RACING WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. –Shane Van Gisbergen and Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks met with the media Saturday morning to address the team’s contract extension with the former Australian Supercars champion and current NASCAR Cup Series Playoff-bound driver. Van Gisbergen, who has three road course wins this season, is an easy “favorite” for both the weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Mission 200 at The Glen and Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series’ Go Bowling at The Glen. The New Zealander is one win away from tying Australian Marcos Ambrose’s mark…
By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Layne Riggs capped one of the best race weekends of his young career, claiming his first ever pole position then leading the final 20 laps of Friday’s MillerTech Battery 200 to take his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory of the season in the opening race of a NASCAR tripleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway. Riggs’ No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford beat TRICON Garage driver Tanner Gray to the checkered flag by a healthy 3.64-seconds delivering the young star his third career series win. Riggs had been fast all day and was running…
Courtesy of the NHRA EPPING, N.H. – Reigning Funny Car world champion Austin Prock led the way on Friday at New England Dragway, taking the provisional No. 1 spot for John Force Racing at the 12th annual NHRA New England Nationals. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Cody Coughlin (Pro Stock) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the seventh of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Friday’s second session also included the “No. 1 Clawifier Award presented by NAPA.” A special chair made of lobster pots awaited drivers on the top end, with…
Photos from Sunday’s 109th Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway All photos provided courtesy of Michael C. Johnson. Click on the photo below and then click the arrows to see all of the pictures.
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C.—Chase Briscoe proved that practice does make perfect—or close enough to perfect, in his estimation. Benefiting from experience gained during a Goodyear tire test on March 18-19 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Briscoe put his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Briscoe toured the challenging 1.5-mile intermediate track in 29.532 seconds (182.852 mph) during Saturday’s time trials to edge Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson (182.729 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.02 seconds. Larson,…