“ Pro Stock in today ’ s day and age reminds me a lot of the late ‘ 90s and early 2000s where fields are separated by just a couple hundredths of a second . When the field is that tight , it puts a lot on the driver ’ s shoulders to drive well , get a good start , and bang through the gears efficiently and not make any mistakes .” - JEG COUGHLIN JR .

NITRO RELAPSE : Car owner and tuner Terry Darby keeps the nitro fumes at bay while warming up the Aaron Morrowdriven “ Nitro Relapse ” Fuel Altered .

CHAMP CHAT : Past NHRA Pro Mod world champion Kris Thorne and multi-time winner Lyle Barnett chat in the shade of the Bristol Dragway tower while waiting out a break in the action . The two drivers have both won the most prestigious race in NHRA drag racing , the U . S . Nationals .

FUNNY CAR FAMILY : Second-generation Funny Car pilot Bobby Bode watches as his father and car owner , Bob Bode , performs some betweenround maintenance on the family ’ s Ar-Bee Plastic Bags Mustang Funny Car .

PARACHUTE PRO : Longtime Rickie Smith Racing crew member Chad Hester packs the parachutes on Smith ’ s Parkway Ford Mustang between rounds at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals .

THE INDEPENDENT : T . J . Zizzo , one of the most popular part-time , independent Top Fuel racers , waves to the thousands of fans in the stands at Norwalk ’ s Night Under Fire while towing his Rust-Oleum dragster down the track in the prerace parade .

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID HILNER , JOE MCHUGH , AND DAVID BEITLER

64 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 190