idea that didn’ t just create another event, but an entire subset of the sport. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
DI
Corey Michalek
Across multiple sanctioning bodies, Corey Michalek and his React104 brand have helped reshape what production value means in the sport of drag racing. From feature-length event recaps and season summaries to 30-second Reels that draw in viewers in the attention-starved world of social media, Michalek portrays drag racing in a cinematic light using masterfully shot footage, dramatic voiceovers, and hours of painstaking editing.
One of Michalek’ s strengths is his passion for the sport fostered over two decades as a participant. He worked as a crew member alongside his older brother, Kyle, on Mark Thomas’ IHRA Alcohol Funny Car team and Pat Dakin’ s Top Fuel team. He used his video skills to win a $ 50,000 sponsorship from Champion Spark Plugs, which he used to become a Top Alcohol Dragster driver. He won in his debut at the 2014 NHRA Four-Wide Nationals with reaction times far quicker than the class standard. Michalek later earned his Top Fuel license with Dakin.
Michalek Brothers Racing now fields a pair of A / Fuel dragsters, one driven by Corey and the other driven by three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Angelle Sampey as a part of Antron Brown’ s Accelerate driver development program.
Alongside building his career as a driver, Michalek has continued to develop his abilities as a visual storyteller to influence the sport across numerous categories. React104 clients have included NHRA, PDRA, championship nitro teams like Kalitta Motorsports and Torrence Racing, Summit Motorsports Park, and more. Most recently, Michalek was tasked with creating openers for NHRA on FOX broadcasts reaching millions of viewers.
“ Our goal is to elevate the people
DI
Courtney Enders-Hyde
Courtney Enders-Hyde’ s broadcasting career began as a favor. When another reporter had a scheduling conflict during COVID, Enders- Hyde filled in as a pit reporter at a Duck X Productions race.“ I had never picked up a microphone before and was so nervous,” she says. Six years later, she leads the FloDragRacing brand for FloSports, works as one of FloRacing’ s lead announcers, and appears on NHRA. tv broadcasts at national events.
Enders-Hyde’ s background runs three decades deep. She entered the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League at age 8, racing alongside her sister Erica, and the sisters’ story became the Disney Channel movie Right On Track, which premiered in 2003, with Brie Larson playing Courtney and Beverley Mitchell playing Erica. Even then the division of labor was set: Erica drove, Courtney handled the publicity.“ We were thrown into the world of PR before I even really knew what PR was,” she says.
That arrangement followed them into the professional ranks at Elite Motorsports, where Enders-Hyde has been her sister’ s public-relations arm, media liaison, and near-constant starting-line presence across six Pro Stock world championships.
Enders-Hyde joined FloRacing as its drag racing content creator, hired to build podcasts, shows, and documentaries around the livestreams. The job has since outgrown content.“ I now touch all sides of the partnerships and execution of our events at Flo,” she says.
Added to the NHRA. tv announcing team in 2025, she contributes to coverage of both the Mission Foods and Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, and she co-hosts“ The Shake and Bake Show“ with Pro Mod drivers Stevie“ Fast” Jackson and Lyle Barnett. – ROB KING and capture the aura of the person drag racing experience and share it with the world,” Michalek says. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
DI
Elon Werner
For more than three decades, Elon Werner has worked behind the scenes shaping how drag racing’ s biggest personalities and stories reach the world. Now, he’ s building a legacy of his own. Werner entered motorsports at Texas Motorplex in 1993, eventually serving as publicist and general manager before moving into agency work and ultimately joining John Force Racing. There, Werner became a trusted communications leader through championship seasons, major national media opportunities and some of the organization’ s most challenging moments. His work earned him the 2014 Jim Chapman Award, widely regarded as the highest honor in motorsports public relations.
After departing John Force Racing, Werner launched Werner Communications, representing drivers, teams, and organizations across the sport while helping develop the next generation of racing personalities. NHRA has recognized him as one of the sport’ s“ Movers, Shakers and Deal Makers.”
Today, Werner’ s influence is expanding beyond traditional PR. He created Drag Race Bracket Bonanza, an interactive fantasy-style platform that continues growing its fan-engagement programs in 2026, including a new initiative celebrating NHRA’ s 75-year history. In 2025, Werner also launched the 1,000 Round Win Club, which currently counts only Force and Pro Stock’ s Greg Anderson as members. Werner’ s latest project is Racing John Force, a book featuring firsthand accounts of Force’ s career from the drivers who lined up in the other lane against him. Werner targets a 2027 release date.
Werner has spent his career telling other people’ s stories, and more than 30 years later, he’ s using that experience to help shape the future of drag racing. – MADELYN ZARON DI
September / October 2026 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 125