Seven rookie drivers representing the four NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series categories — Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle — have been announced by officials from NHRA and Automobile Club of Southern California as the eligible candidates for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award.
Robert Hight powered to the Funny Car win on Sunday during the 32nd annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex.
Primed to make a move in the hunt for his first career world championship, Hector Arana Jr. did not have the result he had hoped for during the most recent race of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.
Racing at Texas Motorplex means a great deal to Pro Stock’s Chris McGaha.
Matt Hagan has been on enough hot streaks in his standout career – including one to open the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season – to know how quickly they can change the complexion of the season.
Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car pilot Alexis DeJoria will retire from NHRA competition following the conclusion of the 2017 season.
On Friday night during the most recent NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event, Top Fuel’s Clay Millican put together the quickest run in NHRA history, going an incredible 3.631 at 330.39 mph in St. Louis.
NHRA announced Wednesday evening that the Pro Stock Car category, which will compete at all 24 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events next year, will feature eight-car fields at nine selected events during the season.
Top Fuel point leader Steve Torrence piloted to victory for the eighth time this season Sunday afternoon at the sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park.
Gateway Motorsports Park, the site of this weekend’s AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, will always have a special place in the heart of two-time world champion Erica Enders.
Racing against a talented Top Fuel field in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship, veteran Doug Kalitta knows he has his work cut out for him if he hopes to win his first NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world championship.
On a day when the mantra became “expect the unexpected,” the top four in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings were all eliminated by the end of the second round in a crazy Sunday at zMAX Dragway.
The genesis of Race Chaser Online actually took place in 2001 when Senior Editor Tom Baker formed a partnership with a news group in Central New York State to put together a motorsports news site called Inside Groove, aligning it with Baker’s motorsports talk show based in the Syracuse area.
Though it was only online for two seasons, Inside Groove quickly became a focal point for race coverage across the Empire State. The same passion, drive and determination to provide interesting, energetic and unique content that went into that site was recalled when creating Race Chaser Online.
Throughout the past 28 years, Baker has successfully served the motorsports community in several capacities, including track promoter, writer, broadcaster, marketing and public relations specialist, driver coach and spotter, and returned to his journalistic roots in May of 2013 (he started writing for his local paper in 1988) as the CEO and Senior Editor for Race Chaser Online.
“I am blessed to be able to have a second chance at a motorsports news site,” Baker said. “I love giving people a chance to share their stories and recognizing them for their hard work and achievements. We were quite successful with Inside Groove back several years ago, but I didn’t really understand where the Internet was going as a news source so I didn’t stay with it. With my experience over the years and the encouragement of a number of highly regarded people in our sport, I believe we are creating something that every race fan will enjoy.”
“Our goal is always to gather together all the latest technologies so we can bring our audience a high-octane multimedia buffet and provide unique coverage of drivers, teams, tracks and series you will not find elsewhere.”
“We can also provide those same teams, tracks and series with all the marketing and promotional materials and consultation they need to be successful, and we customize each program to the needs of the client. We can do everything from graphic design to marketing presentations, websites, videos, copy writing, press releases and even live radio broadcasts for races, tracks or series that want to elevate their online presence to a more exciting form of coverage. We can also set up a support program to work with them on refining their marketing efforts and increase their chances at success in that area.”
“I enjoy helping others to develop better strategies and approaches to their marketing in the sport,” Baker continued. “You cannot shortcut the process. It takes a lot of time to cultivate and maintain sponsors and you have to invest in the right materials and spend the time it takes to help them reach your audience. For those willing to make the investment of time and money to get it right, the investment is much more likely to pay off than for those who just think it’s about putting a decal on the car and having a Facebook page. As soon as you introduce sponsors into your race team, it’s not a hobby anymore. It’s a business. We can work with you to polish and promote your racing business.”
As a way of “giving back” and also of focusing on the future of motorsports, Race Chaser Online and its wireless mobile radio station — the Performance Motorsports Network — specialize in telling the stories of those who are climbing the racing ladder and highlight both the national levels of NASCAR and IndyCar as well as the niche divisions of the sport, including Australia’s Supercars Championship, the mighty supermodifieds, Legends cars, go-karts and even online sim-racing, including iRacing’s NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series!
Making this story even more unique, Baker has assembled — for the second time in his media career — a staff of inexperienced but surprisingly knowledgeable young racing journalists with a desire to learn the business and work in the sport, and he is providing the coaching and mentoring to help them take advantage of the opportunity to display their talents and skills to a worldwide audience.