The NHRA Camping World and FuelTech Pro Mod Drag Racing Series are set to open the 2023 campaign this weekend in rather untraditional fashion, with the famed Gatornationals at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway — not the Winternationals — serving as stop number one on the 21-race national event calendar for the second time in the last three years.

With a new season comes fresh hope, as every team in every category starts on equal footing. It also means a new set of predictions for the year to come, and while there are no doubt favorites, every season of NHRA drag racing presents a certain degree of uncertainty, of trial and tribulation, hot streaks and upsets, and no in-depth analysis or educated guess is ever a sure one. The only sure thing that is 249 days from now — if not sooner — champions will be crowned under the Pomona, California sunset. But more importantly, the DRAGZINE team will know just how well it knows its stuff. That, unfortunately, doesn’t pay $500,000, but we’ll still sleep well at night if we can hit a few on the money. But anyway, here we go…let’s go racing…

Top Fuel

The competition in Top Fuel has become so tight and so fierce in recent years, that a fast racecar — simply outmuscling the field round after round — no longer guarantees victory. 

There are really two undeniable facts in top Fuel: if you’re a great leaver, you’re going to pick up a few round wins over the course of the season regardless of how strong your car is; if you have what is consistently the quickest racecar, you’re going to win even more rounds and races, even if you’re not a top performer on the tree. But if consistently rank in the top three or four at both ends of the racetrack, you’re going to be really, really hard to beat over the long run of a full season. And that’s why Steve Torrence has been so dominant, rifling through the field season after season on his way to 53 race wins and four series titles.

Despite winning just a single race during the regular season in 2022— practically unheard of for the long-dominant Capco boys — Torrence remained in the top four all throughout the regular season and finished it in third, thanks to a combination of his driving and a top 3-4 performing racecar. In the end, a win in St. Louis in the fall wasn’t enough to overcome two first round losses and three second-round exits during the Countdown, and Steve found himself mired in sixth, in what was statistically his worst season since 2015.

The last time the Capco gang lost a championship — also to Brittany Force, in 2017 — they came out the following season seeking vengeance, and that they did, winning 11 races, going undefeated in final rounds, and sweeping the entire Countdown, never giving anyone else a chance in one of the most crushing seasons in the sport’s history. Torrence will return to form in 2023 and earn his fifth title, and he won’t even need the quickest and fastest car to do it.

The Final Five

1. Steve Torrence
2. Antron Brown
3. Brittany Force
4. Justin Ashley
5. Austin Prock

Funny Car

The Funny Car championship has been notoriously difficult to predict, not only in recent seasons, but over the life of the Countdown to the Championship format. Patterns that are often displayed throughout the regular season fade away as the points reset, and it all boils down to whomever rises to the occasion over the final six races. As a case in point, Ron Capps won three races during the regular season, while Robert Hight collected six wins and amassed a points lead that he may likely have never relinquished under the old format. But during the Countdown, Capps won twice and went to the final round four times, and Hight’s dominant regular season was but a distant memory.

The driver who had the second-best regular season showing — and who’s season was really only diminished by head-to-head races with Hight himself — was Matt Hagan. Hagan finished the season third, but proved start to finish he had a championship racecar. With another year to gel, the Tony Stewart Racing Funny Car camp is our pick for the championship; and like Capps last season, Hagan won’t be the dominant regular-season car, but will be there when it counts in the fall.

The Final Five

1. Matt Hagan
2. Robert Hight
3. Ron Capps
4. Bob Tasca
5. J.R. Todd

Pro Stock

Erica Enders demolished the Pro Stock field in 2022, winning 10 times, going to the final round 13 times, and the semifinals 16 times. She was such a sure thing that losing in the first round twice might be her most impressive statistic. It was seemingly harder to lose than win. History tells us Erica is rarely going to get left on, and with arguably top-two horsepower right now, the #1 is not a number we foresee the Elite Motorsports Camaro giving up the season. That said, we predict fewer wins and a more difficult road to the title for Erica, as the newly-formed KB Titan Racing group will be looking for revenge, and the likes of Aaron Stanfield, Troy Coughlin, Jr. the Cuadra family, the McGaha’s, and others apply more pressure.

The Final Five

1. Erica Enders
2. Aaron Stanfield
3. Dallas Glenn
4. Greg Anderson
5. Troy Coughlin, Jr.

Pro Stock Motorcycle

Like Enders, Matt Smith simply does not gets rattled. He also has a really fast bike these days, and that’s a very difficult combination to beat. Anytime Smith has had a strong bike, the only thing that has been able to derail him has been mechanical breakage. His competition will have to come out and outrun him with regularity for us to become even slightly concerned with our pick, but our money is on championship number seven.

The Final Five

1. Matt Smith
2. Joey Gladstone
3. Eddie Krawiec
4. Steve Johnson
5. Angie Smith

Pro Modified

With superstar crew chief Steve Petty in his corner, if 2021 series champion Jose Gonzalez attends the majority of the races this season, he has to be considered the favorite for the crown…particularly with perennial contenders Steve Jackson and Rickie Smith both question marks. Gonzalez finished seventh a year ago, despite only attending seven of the 10 races. The Dominican racer traditionally misses a couple of select events due to business commitments, and the new playoff-style format may work into his favor, as he will only need to secure enough points to make the top 10, and then commit to the final four races to contend for the title.

The distinct possibility of in-season parity adjustments can and often does have an effect on the contenders in any given Pro Mod season, and the four-race playoff format could expose that in a way it never has before, so this is arguably the toughest choice of our five.

The Final Five

1. Jose Gonzalez
2. Kris Thorne
3. Justin Bond
4. JR Gray
5. Doug Winters