As every season is, 2022 season was rife with news headlines and viral stories, from the triumphant to the tragic. As the days wind down and a new season dawns, we take a look back at just a few of the top stories that headlined the year that was, in no particular order.

A Final Farewell For The Atlanta Dragway

The Atlanta Dragway hosted its final racing events — including the 40th and last NHRA Southern Nationals — in 2021, and this year, the developers began the dismantling and demolition process of the 44-year-old facility, beginning with the grandstands and other structures, and moving to the three-story timing tower itself by year’s end.

NHRA Champ Antron Brown Warns Congress That Motorsports Is At Risk

Just days after winning the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Antron Brown made his way to Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to pass the SEMA-supported Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act. On Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, the three-time Top Fuel world champion, who began his racing career nearly 40 years ago, appeared before Congress to share personal stories about the need for federal law to protect grassroots racing and tens of thousands of jobs in the motorsports parts industry.

Daddy Dave Reveals New “No Prep Kings” Audi S5

Following weeks of public build-up and anticipation from his followers, “Street Outlaws” star Daddy Dave Comstock, in concert with the team at FuelTech, revealed his new Audi S5 at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Purpose-built for “No Prep Kings” competition by Tynan Race Cars, the new machine is powered by a ProCharger-boosted XRE Hemi built upon a 565 cubic-inch Noonan engine platform. The car sports a full compliment of FuelTech components, including an FT600 EFI system, 720 lb/h FT Injectors, FTSPARK, EGT’s, and CDI coils. The car rolls on polished RC Components wheels.

“Street Outlaws” Racer Wayne Smozanek Passes

Photo by Courtney Paulshock

Veteran Pro Modified and no-prep drag racing competitor Wayne Smozanek, 60, succumbed to a lengthy battle with Covid-19 in February. During his racing career, the Florida native drove monster trucks competitively and was a regular at heads-up drag racing events in and around the south in a series of supercharged doorslammers. In recent seasons, he had competed with the “Street Outlaws” franchise in its No Prep Kings, Mega Cash Days, America’s List, and other spinoff programs behind the wheel of his supercharged Ford Probe.

Wayne’s wife, Wendy, and their son, Will Race, carried on his memory in 2022, campaigning his car on the “Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings” circuit with Stan Allen at the controls.

Pro 275 Racer Tommy Youmans Takes Flight Out Of Bama International

Pro 275 competitor Tommy Youmans, whose gorgeous 1970 Pontiac GTO is a former Dragzine feature car, rode out what may have been the single most incredible and death-defying flight by a radial-tire car in the sport’s history at the Alabama International Dragway in April. The car, in a scene that will leave you in utter disbelief, sailed over the left lane guardrail and slammed back down on all fours in the grass, sliding to a stop just fore of a forested area beyond the finish line.

Arizona’s Wild Horse Pass To Close In 2023, Become Highway Overpass

In March, Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park officials shared rather unceremoniously via its social media channels that a new overpass/roadway for the I-10 extension will use the space now occupied by the track, with construction presumably set to begin sometime in 2023. Mind you, this highway overpass was not part of the The Wild Horse Pass Development Authority plans shown to the public last January, so this is clearly a recent development, and one that vastly shortened the time that Arizona locals thought they had left to enjoy the facility.

Pro Mod Racer Ronnie Hobbs Tragically Killed In Racing Accident

Veteran Texas doorslammer competitor Ronnie Hobbs lost his life in a racing accident at the Mid-West Drag Racing Series’ Great Bend Nationals at the SRCA Dragstrip in Great Bend, Kansas in June. Ronnie had returned to the sport in recent years with fresh vigor and his family by his side. He competed at no-prep and Pro Modified events, first in a Chevrolet S-10 known as the “Texas Rattlesnake,” and later a 2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350. After some early success with the car in Radial vs The World, Hobbs found himself a home in the Mid-West Drag Racing Series.

10 Years In The Making, W.V. Dragstrip Opens To Great Fanfare

A decade in the making and for years — even after its construction — shrouded in uncertainty, the Almost Heaven Motorsports Park (previously known as Twin Branch Motorsports Complex) in West Virginia finally swung its gates open for the first time in late October. A “soft launch,” according to its majority leaseholder, Tom Wilson, the test-and-tune–only event played host to over 300 racers and some 3,000 spectators, who lined their way up the twisting coal mine road and out onto highway 119 to get a first glimpse at the ‘strip that had been talked about for years.

Global Shipping Crisis Strikes Drag Racing Traction Compounds

While there was little in the way of visible disruption — a couple of canceled races that we are aware of — behind the scenes there was been turmoil among the key manufacturers of drag racing traction compounds during much of the 2022 season. The issue centered around a brand of chemical used in the production of popular VP Racing Fuels and PJH Brands (formerly VHT and PJ1) compounds known as Lutanol, which is manufactured by BASF in Germany and has been unavailable since around the first of the year. VP’s Jason Rueckert and PJH’s Brandy Harvey sat down with DRAGZINE to discuss the issue that led to much anxiety around the sport.

Sick Week Racer Crashes 3,000 HP Car, Refuses To Quit

U.K. racer Stefan Rossi was one of the most anticipated entrants at Sick Week, a five-day-long tour of Florida and Georgia back in the early spring. Rossi put the finishing touches on his sleek 3,00 horsepower ’66 Nova in the days preceding the event, but his grand debut was quickly spoiled on the opening day of the road show when the lower radiator hose exited the stage approaching 170 to 180 miles per hour, sending Rossi sliding through the shutdown area and ultimately into the wall. His group surveyed the car, found that everything was superficial, patched up the damage to the front and rear corners, made their mechanical fixes, and soldiered on to Orlando and then to Gainesville, where they overcame even more obstacles along the way.