NHRA Trivia

What fuel do NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car engines burn?

Answer: Nitromethane

Top Fuel and Funny Car nitro engines run primarily on nitromethane, blended with a small amount of methanol.

Who became the first drag racer to break the 300 mph barrier, in 1992?

Answer: Kenny Bernstein

Kenny Bernstein ran 301.70 mph at the 1992 Gatornationals in Gainesville, the first Top Fuel pass over 300 mph.

How many NHRA Funny Car world championships did John Force win as a driver?

Answer: 16

John Force won 16 Funny Car world championships, including a record 10 in a row from 1993 to 2002.

In 2008, NHRA shortened the racing distance for nitro classes to what length?

Answer: 1,000 feet

After Scott Kalitta's fatal 2008 crash, NHRA cut Top Fuel and Funny Car races from the 1,320-ft quarter-mile to 1,000 feet.

What is drag racing legend Don Garlits' famous nickname?

Answer: Big Daddy

Don Garlits, a pioneer of Top Fuel racing, has long been known as 'Big Daddy'.

Which now-standard dragster design did Don Garlits successfully pioneer in 1971?

Answer: The rear-engine dragster

Garlits debuted the first successful rear-engine Top Fueler (Swamp Rat XIV) in 1971, and it became the class standard.

Shirley Muldowney made history as the first woman to do what in NHRA?

Answer: Get licensed to drive a Top Fuel dragster

Muldowney was the first woman licensed by the NHRA to drive a Top Fuel dragster and won three Top Fuel titles.

Antron Brown is celebrated as the first African American driver to do what in major U.S. motorsports?

Answer: Win a major auto racing championship

Brown's 2012 Top Fuel title made him the first African American to win a major professional auto racing championship.

Roughly how much horsepower does a modern Top Fuel dragster produce?

Answer: About 11,000 hp

A nitro-burning Top Fuel engine is estimated to make well over 11,000 horsepower.

Which prestigious NHRA event is held at Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend?

Answer: The U.S. Nationals

The U.S. Nationals ('The Big Go') at Indianapolis is drag racing's most prestigious event, run on Labor Day weekend.

In 1988, Eddie Hill became the first NHRA driver to record what milestone?

Answer: A four-second quarter-mile Top Fuel run

Eddie Hill made the first four-second quarter-mile Top Fuel pass in NHRA competition at Houston in 1988.

Which driver won NHRA world championships in BOTH Top Fuel and Funny Car?

Answer: Kenny Bernstein

Kenny Bernstein won four Funny Car titles (1985-88) and two Top Fuel titles (1996, 2001), the only driver champion in both nitro classes.

Which driver holds the record for the most NHRA Top Fuel championships?

Answer: Tony Schumacher

Tony Schumacher is the winningest Top Fuel driver, with eight world championships.

When Brittany Force won the 2017 Top Fuel title, she became the second woman to do so, after whom?

Answer: Shirley Muldowney

Brittany Force's 2017 Top Fuel championship made her the first woman to win the title since Shirley Muldowney in 1982.

What is the maximum percentage of nitromethane NHRA allows in nitro-class fuel?

Answer: 90%

Since 2015 NHRA rules cap the fuel blend at 90% nitromethane, with the remainder mostly methanol.

What is the NHRA 'Countdown to the Championship'?

Answer: A six-race season-ending playoff

Introduced in 2007, the Countdown is NHRA's six-race playoff that decides the season champions.

Who was the first drag racer to top 200 mph in the quarter-mile, in 1964?

Answer: Don Garlits

Don Garlits topped 200 mph in his Swamp Rat dragster on August 1, 1964.

How do Top Fuel dragsters primarily slow down after crossing the finish line?

Answer: Parachutes

Nitro cars deploy parachutes (plus brakes) to slow from over 330 mph at the top end.

Who holds the record for the most NHRA Pro Stock world championships?

Answer: Bob Glidden

Bob Glidden won 10 Pro Stock world championships, the most in the class's history.

In which NHRA class do riders lie prone (stretched flat) on the machine?

Answer: Pro Stock Motorcycle

Pro Stock Motorcycle riders lie flat to reduce drag as the bikes near 200 mph.

In which professional category did John Force build his championship career?

Answer: Funny Car

John Force is the most decorated Funny Car driver in NHRA history.

About how quickly can a Top Fuel dragster cover the 1,000-foot course?

Answer: Under 4 seconds

Modern Top Fuel dragsters run the 1,000-foot distance in the 3.6-3.7 second range, under four seconds.

What top speed do modern Top Fuel dragsters reach at the finish line?

Answer: Over 330 mph

Top Fuel dragsters routinely exceed 330 mph, with records now over 338 mph.

At which event did Kenny Bernstein make his historic first 300 mph pass?

Answer: The Gatornationals

Bernstein's 301.70 mph run came during qualifying at the 1992 Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.

Who won the 2024 NHRA Top Fuel world championship?

Answer: Antron Brown

Antron Brown claimed the 2024 Top Fuel title, his fourth career championship in the class.

Who captured his first NHRA Funny Car world championship in 2024?

Answer: Austin Prock

Austin Prock dominated the 2024 season to win his first Funny Car world championship for John Force Racing.

Who won the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championships in both 2023 and 2024?

Answer: Gaige Herrera

Gaige Herrera won back-to-back Pro Stock Motorcycle titles in 2023 and 2024.

Pro Stock cars in NHRA are best described as which type of machine?

Answer: Naturally aspirated, gasoline-powered

Pro Stock cars are naturally aspirated 'factory hot rods' running high-octane racing gasoline, no nitro or forced induction.

What event pushed Don Garlits to develop the rear-engine dragster?

Answer: A transmission explosion that injured his foot

A 1970 front-engine transmission failure severed part of Garlits' foot, motivating his safer 1971 rear-engine design.

Why do drag racers perform a 'burnout' before staging?

Answer: To heat and clean the rear tires for grip

A burnout spins and heats the rear slicks, cleaning and softening them for maximum launch traction.

Top Fuel star Brittany Force is the daughter of which drag racing legend?

Answer: John Force

Brittany Force is the daughter of 16-time Funny Car champion John Force.

How many NHRA Top Fuel championships did Shirley Muldowney win?

Answer: Three

Muldowney won Top Fuel world championships in 1977, 1980, and 1982.

What was the traditional drag racing distance before nitro classes moved to 1,000 feet?

Answer: The quarter-mile (1,320 feet)

Drag racing was historically run over a quarter-mile, or 1,320 feet, before the 2008 change for nitro classes.

The Countdown to the Championship playoff kicks off immediately after which race?

Answer: The U.S. Nationals

The Countdown playoff begins right after the Labor Day U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.

What does 'NHRA' stand for?

Answer: National Hot Rod Association

NHRA is the National Hot Rod Association, the primary sanctioning body for U.S. drag racing, founded in 1951.

Who founded the National Hot Rod Association in 1951?

Answer: Wally Parks

Hot Rod Magazine editor Wally Parks founded the NHRA in 1951 to bring organized, safe drag racing off the streets and onto sanctioned strips.

What is the nickname of the trophy awarded to NHRA national event winners?

Answer: The Wally

The trophy is called the 'Wally' in honor of NHRA founder Wally Parks, and it has been awarded to national event winners since 1969.

What is Funny Car legend Don Prudhomme's famous nickname?

Answer: The Snake

Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme won four straight Funny Car championships from 1975 to 1978, while his great rival Tom McEwen raced as 'The Mongoose.'

Top Fuel great Tony Schumacher earned the nickname 'The Sarge' thanks to his long sponsorship by which organization?

Answer: The U.S. Army

Schumacher drove the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster from 2000 through 2018, winning seven of his record eight Top Fuel titles under that banner.

What is the nickname of the electronic starting-light system used to start every NHRA drag race?

Answer: The Christmas Tree

The 'Christmas Tree' counts down with amber lights to green, and leaving before the green triggers a red-light foul.

In 1970, rivals Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen landed a groundbreaking sponsorship with which company?

Answer: Mattel (Hot Wheels)

The Hot Wheels deal with toy maker Mattel was one of the first major corporate sponsorships in drag racing and turned the Snake-versus-Mongoose rivalry into a national marketing phenomenon.

Who became the first woman to win the NHRA Pro Stock world championship, in 2014?

Answer: Erica Enders

Erica Enders won her first Pro Stock title in 2014 and had collected six championships by the end of the 2023 season.

Six-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Andrew Hines won all of his titles racing for which motorcycle brand?

Answer: Harley-Davidson

Hines won his six championships (2004-06, 2014-15, 2019) aboard Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidsons fielded by the Vance & Hines team.

Which Top Fuel driver won four consecutive world championships from 2018 through 2021?

Answer: Steve Torrence

Texan Steve Torrence dominated Top Fuel in his Capco Contractors dragster, including a 2018 Countdown in which he swept all six playoff races.

In 2023, which longtime Kalitta Motorsports driver finally won his first Top Fuel world championship after 26 seasons and six runner-up finishes?

Answer: Doug Kalitta

Doug Kalitta clinched his first title by beating Leah Pruett in a winner-take-all final round at Pomona in 2023, then added a second championship in 2025.

NHRA Pro Stock engines are limited to a maximum displacement of how many cubic inches?

Answer: 500

Pro Stock's naturally aspirated V8s are capped at 500 cubic inches and also carry a 10,500-rpm limit, yet still make well over 1,300 horsepower.

The NHRA Gatornationals are held each spring in which Florida city?

Answer: Gainesville

Gainesville Raceway has hosted the Gatornationals since 1970, and the event has been the site of many milestones, including the first 4-second and 300-mph runs.

Which driver won back-to-back Funny Car championships in 2021 and 2022, taking the second title in his first season as an owner-driver?

Answer: Ron Capps

Ron Capps launched Ron Capps Motorsports for the 2022 season and successfully defended the championship he had won with Don Schumacher Racing in 2021.

The supercharged 500-cubic-inch engines in Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars are based on which classic V8 design?

Answer: Chrysler 426 Hemi

Modern nitro engines are purpose-built aluminum descendants of the 1964 Chrysler 426 Hemi, whose hemispherical combustion chambers give the engine its name.

Which facility hosted the NHRA's first-ever four-wide national event in 2010?

Answer: zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina

zMAX Dragway, the first purpose-built four-lane dragstrip, staged the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in spring 2010, with Cory McClenathan winning Top Fuel.

Which former Funny Car racer built the Texas Motorplex in 1986, the sport's first all-concrete 'super track'?

Answer: Billy Meyer

Billy Meyer's stadium-style Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, opened in 1986 with a post-tensioned all-concrete quarter-mile that set a new standard for drag racing facilities.

What did the NHRA ban from 1957 until 1963, ushering in the so-called 'gas era' of drag racing?

Answer: Nitromethane fuel

NHRA banned nitromethane in 1957, and fuel cars did not return to NHRA competition until the 1963 Winternationals.

In 2025, who became the first Top Fuel driver to officially exceed 340 mph, with a run of 341.59 mph?

Answer: Brittany Force

Brittany Force's 341.59-mph blast in 2025 broke her own national speed record of 338.94 mph set at Pomona in 2022.

Which rider won three consecutive Pro Stock Motorcycle world championships from 2000 to 2002?

Answer: Angelle Sampey

Angelle Sampey's three straight titles helped make her the winningest female racer in NHRA history at the time, with more than 40 career national event wins.

Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing, home to his famous Swamp Rat dragsters, is located in which city?

Answer: Ocala, Florida

'Big Daddy' opened his Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida, in 1984, and it houses dozens of historic dragsters including most of his Swamp Rat series.

In which season did NHRA Pro Stock switch from carburetors to electronic fuel injection?

Answer: 2016

Starting in 2016, NHRA mandated throttle-body EFI in Pro Stock, ending decades of carbureted competition and eliminating the class's trademark hood scoops.

After John Force was injured in a crash at Richmond in June 2024, which retired Funny Car champion came back to drive his PEAK Chevrolet for the rest of the season?

Answer: Jack Beckman

2012 Funny Car champion 'Fast' Jack Beckman returned from retirement in 2024 and won two races in Force's car, including the season finale at Pomona.