NHRA Drag Racing Trivia
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43 free NHRA Drag Racing trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
The NHRA calls itself the largest motorsport sanctioning body in the world, and its Top Fuel dragsters are the quickest-accelerating cars on Earth. These NHRA trivia questions cover the four pro classes, the founding by Wally Parks, the legends from Big Daddy Garlits and Shirley Muldowney to John Force and Antron Brown, the Christmas tree, the U.S. Nationals and the physics of 11,000 horsepower. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 43 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the nickname of the trophy given to NHRA national event winners?
The Wally
The Wally is named in honour of NHRA founder Wally Parks, and national event winners have been handed one since the 1969 season.
Q 02Where was the first NHRA Nationals held in 1955?
Great Bend, Kansas
Great Bend, Kansas hosted it at an airport, and the Nationals then toured other cities before finding a permanent home in 1961.
Q 03Which NASCAR champion raced Top Fuel against his wife in 2026?
Tony Stewart
Tony Stewart brought his own team into the NHRA in 2022 with Leah Pruett, his wife since late 2021, as its Top Fuel driver.
Q 04Which TV network took over NHRA race coverage in 2016, ending the series' long run on ESPN?
Fox
Fox promised far more live racing: ESPN often aired NHRA races on tape delay, bumped by college football, while Fox committed to at least 16 live Sunday shows.
Q 05Which track has hosted the NHRA U.S. Nationals every year since 1961?
Lucas Oil Raceway, Brownsburg
Lucas Oil Raceway, Brownsburg got the race in 1961 after a handshake deal, the story goes, between the NHRA's founder and the track's owners.
Q 06What is the U.S. Nationals' nickname?
The Big Go
It is traditionally run over Labor Day weekend with eliminations on the Monday.
Q 07What fuel powers Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars?
Nitromethane
Nitromethane carries its own oxygen, so the more of it crews feed the engine, the more power it makes; the NHRA caps the mix at 90 percent nitro.
Q 08What do Top Fuel teams call the Kevlar blanket wrapped around the engine's oil pan?
Diaper
The diaper, required in Top Fuel and Funny Car, catches oil and parts when an engine explodes, keeping the oil off the racing surface.
Q 09Which part of a Top Fuel engine takes hundreds of horsepower just to drive?
The supercharger
The supercharger soaks up about 900 to 1,000 horsepower, and because fuel and air pass through it, a flame that gets back inside can make it explode.
Q 10Which Chrysler engine design is the basis for Top Fuel engines?
The Hemi
The Hemi supplies only the layout: a Top Fuel block and heads are machined from solid aluminium billets, and every part is purpose-built.
Q 11Which woman first won an NHRA Funny Car event?
Ashley Force
Ashley Force did it at Atlanta Dragway in April 2008, and the driver she beat in the final was her own father, John Force.
Q 12Which 1983 film told Shirley Muldowney's story, with Bonnie Bedelia in the lead?
Heart Like a Wheel
Heart Like a Wheel did not capture her life very well, Muldowney said, but she thought it was very, very good for the sport.
Q 13What is Don Garlits's famous nickname?
Big Daddy
Big Daddy helped make the smoky pre-run burnout a ritual after seeing a rival's burnout at Riverside's 1969 Hot Rod Championships.
Q 21Who was Don Prudhomme's match-race rival, known as the Mongoose?
Tom McEwen
Tom McEwen beat Prudhomme in the 1978 U.S. Nationals Funny Car final, a win that came just after the death of his teenage son.
Q 22Which toy company sponsored Don Prudhomme and his match-race rival, 'the Mongoose'?
Mattel
Mattel sold toy versions of their cars, and kids who had never heard of drag racing became fans as they raced the tiny replicas at home.
Q 23Which sponsor gave Tony Schumacher the nickname "the Sarge"?
The U.S. Army
The nickname first applied to the dragster, then stuck to the buzz-cut driver himself.
Q 14What name did Garlits give each generation of his dragsters?
Swamp Rat
He had been dismissed as "the Floridian" by California racers before adopting the name.
Q 15What injury prompted Garlits to perfect the rear-engine dragster?
Losing part of his foot
Losing part of his foot in a 1970 transmission explosion led Garlits to put the engine behind the driver, and that car won the 1971 Winternationals.
Q 16At 82, drag racing pioneer Don Garlits set a 184 mph record in what kind of dragster?
Battery electric
Battery electric: four lithium-polymer packs fed six motors, and Garlits said he wanted to be the first to hit 200 mph on a drag strip in an electric car.
Q 17What part of a Top Fuel dragster pushes down about 12,000 pounds?
Rear wing
The rear wing's downforce keeps the rear wheels pressed to the track, so the car stays stable and keeps its grip as speeds climb past 300 mph.
Q 18Which Force daughter set a 343 mph Top Fuel record?
Brittany Force
Brittany Force, a two-time Top Fuel champion, stepped away from full-time racing after 2025 to focus on starting a family.
Q 19Which oil brand sponsored John Force from 1985 to 2014?
Castrol
Castrol and Ford both left Force's team after the 2014 season, so he switched to Chevrolet and raced on with new backing from Peak.
Q 20What is Don Prudhomme's nickname?
The Snake
The Snake's match-race rivalry with 'the Mongoose' later became the 2013 film Snake & Mongoose.
Q 24Who became the first African American champion in NHRA history, in 2012?
Antron Brown
Antron Brown was a college sprinter when NFL star Troy Vincent, who was starting a racing team, gave him a ride and became his first team owner.
Q 25Who became the first woman to win an NHRA Pro Stock race, in 2012?
Erica Enders
Erica Enders's junior dragster days with her sister became the 2003 Disney Channel movie Right on Track.
Q 26Angelle Sampey won three straight championships from 2000 to 2002 in which class?
Pro Stock Motorcycle
Pro Stock Motorcycle titles made Angelle Sampey a champion on two wheels, and in 2023 she earned a Top Alcohol Dragster license to race on four.
Q 27Which Ford loyalist won ten Pro Stock championships, including five in a row from 1985?
Bob Glidden
Bob Glidden was a line mechanic at an Indiana Ford dealership, Ed Martin Ford, before quitting the job to race full time.
Q 28Who won four straight Top Fuel championships from 2018 to 2021?
Steve Torrence
Steve Torrence overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma as a teenager, then climbed from Top Alcohol Dragster into the Top Fuel seat of his family's team.
Q 29Why is Pro Stock described as "all motor"?
No forced induction or nitrous
No forced induction or nitrous is allowed, so Pro Stock teams chase power through ported cylinder heads, the most sophisticated in drag racing.
Q 30What replaced Pro Stock's hood scoops and twin four-barrel carburettors in 2016?
Electronic fuel injection
Electronic fuel injection was meant to make Pro Stock relevant to showroom technology, and the NHRA paired it with a 10,500 rpm limiter to cut costs.