MESA, Ariz. — In baseball, I’d be a superstar. But batting .500 in 2023 NHRA predictions just makes me mediocre. Sigh.
But, as promised, here is an accounting of which prophecies came true and which didn’t. Of 10 items, the results were 50-50: five hits, five flops.
- A prominent nitro-class racer will step away from the cockpit at the end of the 2023 season.
CORRECT! Leah Pruett announced in early December that she has yielded the seat in her Top Fuel dragster to none other than husband and team owner Tony Stewart.
- Doug Kalitta, who uncharacteristically blanked in the win column in 2022, will pick up two or three victories but won’t break his Top Fuel championship jinx.
WRONG! Kalitta won three of the six Countdown races to secure his first Top Fuel title. He topped the 50-victory plateau along the way and shook his dubious distinction in the pro ranks of winning the most events with no championship to show for it.
- Expect, for different reasons, improved performances from Antron Brown, Tony Schumacher, Josh Hart and Mike Salinas in Top Fuel.
WRONG! Schumacher’s improvement from 12th to ninth hardly could be considered outstanding. Salinas repeated his fifth-place finish. Brown and Hart slid backward, Brown from second to sixth and Hart from seventh to 10th.
- At least one single-car team will become a two-car team. Both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes have nearly 20 one-car teams.
WRONG! But technically, it’s CORRECT if we count the fact Mike Salinas announced that daughter Jasmine will join him in the Top Fuel ranks in 2024. However, the Scrappers Racing team did not field two Top Fuel dragsters at the same race in 2023.
- Some surprises will emerge when the NHRA releases its 2024 schedule sometime around the U.S. Nationals Labor Day classic.
CORRECT! The Phoenix race is back on the schedule for at least a decade, although Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park reached into its past and rebranded as Firebird Motorsports Park. The NHRA announced in May that a new venue in Missouri would host an event in 2024. So far, construction of the race track has not been completed, and the sanctioning body has a “TBD” in the middle of its schedule.
- Tony Stewart will be back on the drag strip.
CORRECT! Stewart was back on the track and in the winner’s circle several times during 2023 and barley missed claiming the Top Alcohol Dragster championship. He will step up to the Top Fuel class in 2024.
- The NHRA will consider ditching the Countdown to the Championship format.
WRONG! Socialism continues, ironically, for the series that routinely honors America and all the values for which the Stars and Stripes stand.
- Camrie Caruso, the 2022 NHRA rookie of the year, will win at least one Pro Stock trophy in 2023.
CORRECT! She won once.
- A notable pro racer will switch to another class.
CORRECT! Angelle Sampey, the three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion and 46-time winner, traded two wheels for a Top Alcohol Dragster as part of Antron Brown Motorsports’ driver-development program.
- A “celebrity” will invest in an NHRA pro team this year.
WRONG! Maybe one day soon the sensory-overload experience will hypnotize an A-lister, but that didn’t happen in 2023.
This story appeared in the Jan 10, 2024, edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
