Ohio native Dwayne Rice spent a number of years competing with the NHRA in Competition Eliminator, and the move would, in a sense, bring his career full circle. Following his NHRA tenure, Rice competed in the IHRA Pro Stock category during the 2000s and returned in 2014 to race with the ADRL and later the PDRA. Rice, quick to credit the PDRA for the professional program they’ve provided the class with, concedes that competing in the NHRA’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series remains the grandest and most coveted stage for drag racers, and one he he’s very much excited about the possibility of competing in. While a host of t’s remain to be crossed and i’s to be dotted, this morning’s meeting left Rice highly optimistic.“They’re [NHRA] going to try gathering a bunch of data and run us with with the 500-inch cars next year,” he says matter-of-factly of his takeaway from today’s discussions. “They said they’re looking at 2019, they’re not looking at 2020. They haven’t said that it’s a done deal, but they presented a lot of information. They said the 500-inch teams, that it was their idea, and that they’re very welcoming of us.”Rice says they have been provided with Sunoco race fuel — the spec racing fuel brand in Pro Stock — to dyno their engines with to help the NHRA in its ongoing data-gathering efforts.

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