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The NHRA Factory X presented by Holley is set to debut during the 2023 season, and going beyond the initially intended exhibition outings, competitors will also be racing for an NHRA championship over the course of six races.
Factory X is an all-new category reserved for 2019 and newer manufactured automobiles that bridges the gap between Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown and Pro Stock. Entries that will be involved include the Chevrolet COPO Camaro, Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, and Ford Mustang Cobra Jet. The NHRA has left open the potential for other carmakers to get involved, and each can submit their engine platform for approval and join the competition.
Following a pair of exhibition events in Charlotte and Bristol, will compete in six points races this year and crown a champion at the NHRA Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 26-29.
“We are extremely excited about this new class being introduced and to be involved in NHRA Factory X,” Holley Director of Motorsports Robin Lawrence said. “As a racer, it’s such a thrill to see these cars. They still bear resemblance to a stock-type car body, and it’s like a Super Stocker on steroids. It’s really representative of what a factory car like a Mustang, Camaro, or Challenger is. With two exhibition races and then six events for a championship in 2023, that’s really exciting, and a lot of people are going to be motivated to win a championship the first year out. It’s going to be a battle.”
Cars in NHRA Factory X presented by Holley will have a minimum weight limit of 2,650 pounds, which is nearly 1,000 pounds lighter than a Factory Stock Showdown car, and a manual transmission is mandatory.
The exhibition debut will take place during the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte on April 28-30, and the class will again be on display at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway on June 9-11.
The Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals on June 22-25 at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk is the first points race for the category, followed by back-to-back stops in August at the Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park on Aug. 11-13 in Topeka and the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on Aug. 17-20 at Brainerd Int’l Raceway. Another back-to-back occurs at the NHRA Carolina Nationals on Sept. 22-24 and the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis on Sept. 29-Oct. 1, before the championship finale in Las Vegas.
As a racer, it’s such a thrill to see these cars. They still bear resemblance to a stock-type car body, and it’s like a Super Stocker on steroids. It’s really representative of what a factory car like a Mustang, Camaro, or Challenger is. With two exhibition races and then six events for a championship in 2023, that’s really exciting. – Robin Lawrence, Holley
“NHRA Factory X presented by Holley has so much potential from a performance standpoint, and we can’t wait to introduce it to fans at eight different races in 2023,” NHRA National Tech Director Lonnie Grim said. “We’re thrilled to partner with Holley on this outstanding class, and when you factor in that these cars are manually shifted, the strong performance capability and the sounds of 10,000 RPM, it’s going to be a huge draw for both fans and racers.”
The COPO Camaros will race with a 630-hp Magnuson 2.65-L supercharger, and the DragPak Challengers will utilize a 630-hp, 3.0-L Whipple. The Cobra Jet 327 Mustang’s engine combination will be a 610-hp, 3.0-L Whipple unit. Each body must be OEM dimensional, meaning there can be no alterations to the bodies, and each must feature steel-roof and quarter-body panels, and the chassis on the cars must meet 25.1, 25.2, 25.3 specifications. Cars in NHRA Factory X presented by Holley must race on tires that are 33 inches tall and 10.5 inches wide as well, which are wider than FSS cars.
“We’ve heard a lot of interest from drivers in this class, and there are a lot of cars being built,” Lawrence said. “With the power these cars have, it’s going to be exciting for fans, but it’s also going to resemble a car they drove to the track. It will give them something to root for, and that’s going to be a cool part of this. They’re going to bond with these cars and these teams because they look so similar to their own cars.”
