The Red Line Synthetic Oil Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) announced today its seven-race 2026 schedule, coming off another successful campaign through the 2025 calendar year. The series will return to four familiar racetracks from last season along with a return to Darlington Dragway in South Carolina, which serves as the season opener for the first time.

“Coming out of the World Finals, we knew some changes were imminent,” said Tyler Crossnoe, series director. “Change is inevitable in life – whether it is in personal, business, or your hobbies – in time, change occurs. We have decided to make a few shifts in our schedule for 2026 to adapt to the ever-changing motorsports scope in hopes to see more teams be able to compete for a full season championship.

“In 2026, our goal is to put racers in a better position to chase a full season championship with the PDRA,” Crossnoe continued. “We understand the costs of the sport are not cheap and after weeks of back-and-forth discussions internally, we settled on only doing seven races this season to allow for better spacing in between events and for the hopes of an extremely competitive season.”

The 2026 Red Line Oil PDRA season will kick off at Darlington Dragway in Hartsville, South Carolina, on March 25-28 – a return to a facility that has seen numerous PDRA races throughout the years will now serve as the kickoff event on tour next season. Darana Motorsports Park – Benson, NC will serve as the second stop on schedule on April 16-18 – a popular and familiar stop for the PDRA faithful will see their first of two stops in mid-April. Virginia Motorsports Park will play host to the third race on tour on Memorial Day weekend, May 21-23. Maryland International Raceway will serve as the fourth race on tour as in years past on June 25-27. 

After taking the month of July off for a summer break of sorts, the series will return to action at Bristol Dragway on August 6-8, returning to Thunder Valley with more exciting news to come later about this event. Darana Motorsports Park – Benson, NC will see its second event of the season on August 27-29, which will set the stage for the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals. 

The PDRA will yet again start the World Finals with the Summit Racing ProStars all-star race on Thursday afternoon to highlight the top eight points earners in the free entry shootout that pays over $65,000 out to the classes in contention and starts the World Finals weekend off with a bang. September 17-20 will mark the final race on the 2026 calendar, and this race will be held at Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, Virginia, which has become a customary finishing point for the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series.

“I am excited to get going again in 2026! The racer’s support is by far the inspiration for this series to continue growing,” said Tommy Franklin, series owner. “We continue to have the best-in-class racers, and the on-track performance shows that to be true race after race. I cannot wait for the BEST racing in the world to continue to prove itself over and over!”

PDRA officials will be on hand during the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show, December 11-13, in Indianapolis, Indiana, along with the crowning of the series champions during the Red Line Oil PDRA Night of Champions on Friday, December 12 at the Indianapolis Downtown Marriott. 

2026 PDRA Schedule

• March 25-28 – Darlington Dragway – Hartsville, SC
• April 16-18 – Darana Motorsports Park (NC) – Benson, NC 
• May 21-23 – Virginia Motorsports Park – Dinwiddie, VA
• June 25-27 – Maryland International Raceway – Mechanicsville, MD
• August 6-8 – Bristol Dragway – Bristol, TN
• August 27-29 – Darana Motorsports Park (NC) – Benson, NC
• September 17-20 – Virginia Motorsports Park – Dinwiddie, VA

Lando Norris was overcome with emotion as he clinched his first Formula 1 world championship title.

Norris secured third place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which was enough to edge out race winner Max Verstappen by two points for the title. The British driver is only the 35th world champion in the sport’s history and couldn’t contain his joy and relief at capturing F1’s top honor after a period of uncertainty.

“Thank you guys… oh my god,” he exclaimed over the McLaren team radio after crossing the finish line. “You made my dreams come true, thank you so much. I love you guys, for everything. You deserve it.

“I love you mum, I love you dad. Thanks for everything. And now I’m crying!”

McLaren chief Zak Brown chimed in: “We did it, it wasn’t easy. Lando and Oscar, what a group of great drivers!”

Damon Hill, the 1996 F1 world champion, said on BBC Radio 5 Live as Norris first got out of his car: “Lando Norris has still got his helmet up, he’s got his hands in his visor, he’s probably wiping tears from his eyes. The tension is over, he can relax, and he can enjoy it.”

Norris entered Abu Dhabi with a 12-point lead over Verstappen, having missed the chance to secure the world championship one race early in Qatar.

A misstep in McLaren’s strategy allowed Verstappen to take the checkered flag and keep the pressure on his competitor. The Dutchman won the season’s final three races but fell short of a fifth title.

Norris’ victory in Abu Dhabi wasn’t without its challenges, as he faced a stewards’ investigation for driving off the track while overtaking Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Norris avoided any penalties, and even though Max Verstappen won the race from pole position – finishing the season with more victories than any other driver – it wasn’t enough to halt his McLaren competitor’s championship run.

Verstappen finished the race 12.5 seconds ahead of second-place Oscar Piastri – the Dutch driver resisted the temptation to slow down the pack in hopes that Norris’ third place would be jeopardized – with Norris trailing 3.9 seconds behind his McLaren teammate and maintaining a 6.7-second lead over fourth-place Charles Leclerc.

(GMM) Helmut Marko has explained why 18-year-old Arvid Lindblad (pictured) has been fast-tracked into a 2026 F1 seat despite a patchy mid-season in Formula 2.

The teenager ended the year with a sprint year in Abu Dhabi so far – and even drove Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull on Friday, finishing FP1 in P15 with 26 laps.

Lindblad, though, was blunt about his own performance.

“Speaking about the session itself, I wasn’t very happy with how it went for me,” he said. “I feel like I could have done a better job and it identified some issues that I need to work on for next year.

“Driving in both F1 and F2 this weekend was a new experience for me and required some balancing acts.”

Nevertheless, Marko is understood to have pushed strongly for Lindblad to debut at Racing Bulls – ahead of the more experienced Tsunoda, who now shifts into a Red Bull reserve role.

“Red Bull is a team known for giving young drivers opportunities and developing them,” Marko told reporters. “At 18, he’s perfectly prepared for this.

“He’s placed high in every junior championship since his debut. Arvid is very mature. I’d say he’s a 25-year-old in an 18-year-old’s body.”

Toyota City, Japan, Dec 5, 2025 – (JCN Newswire) – TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) today world premiered two new models the GR GT and GR GT3by publicly displaying under-development prototypes for the first time.

– Two new, unveiled models strive to provide an ultimate driving experience by way of enhanced capabilities centered on three key elements: a low center of gravity, low weight with high rigidity, and the pursuit of aerodynamic performance.

– The GR GT is TGR’s new flagship sports car developed as a road-legal race car that further advances TGR’s philosophy of making ever-better motorsport-bred cars.

– The GR GT3 is a new, GR GT-based, FIA GT3-spec race car engineered for all customers who want to win races.

– Both unveiled models feature the active adoption of new technologies and manufacturing methods, including Toyota’s first all-aluminum body frame and a 4-liter, V8 twin-turbo engine.

The GR GT and GR GT3 are flagship models that embody TGR’s philosophy of building ever-better motorsports-bred cars. Their development-starting with the vehicle concept formulation stage-was advanced under a one-team approach centered on TMC Chairman Akio Toyoda, aka Master Driver Morizo, in which professional drivers Tatsuya Kataoka, Hiroaki Ishiura, and Naoya Gamou, gentleman driver Daisuke Toyoda, and in-house evaluation drivers worked in unison with engineers. The GR GT is defined by a driver-first approach to development that involves listening to, understanding, and fulfilling the needs of the person behind the wheel. The GR GT3a race car based on the GR GT-was also developed in line with this methodology.

Positioned as flagships in the footsteps of the Toyota 2000GT of yesteryear and the Lexus LFA, one of the aims of the development of the GR GT and GR GT3 was to preserve and pass on “the secret sauce of car-making” to the next generation as “Toyota’s Shikinen Sengu*”. The two models are the result of veterans of development of the Lexus LFA transferring skills and techniques to younger members, the active adoption of new, Toyota-first technologies for enhanced vehicle performance, and the taking on of numerous unprecedented challenges.

Main features

3 key elements

The GR GT was conceptualized and developed as a road-legal race car. As a manifestation of insistence on pursuing a driver-first approach, development strived to not only endow the GR GT with a high level of dynamic performance but also to achieve a sense of car-driver unity, enabling the driver to interact with the vehicle at all times. The GR GT is equipped with a hybrid system that pairs a newly developed 4.0-liter, V8 twin-turbo engine and a single electric motor. In addition to maximum system output of 650 PS or greater and maximum system torque of 850 Nm or greater (development target values) for overwhelming performance, unrelenting focus was given to the three key elements of: a low center of gravity, low weight with high rigidity, and the pursuit of aerodynamic performance.

Vehicle packaging for an ultimate low center of gravity

Development of the GR GT, which is continuing, started with an aim to achieve a thoroughly low center of gravity by considering how to lower both overall vehicle height and the driver’s position as much as possible. Attention was then paid to adopting a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive powertrain layout for ease of handling when driving the vehicle to its limit. The center of gravity of heavy components, such as the 4-liter, V8 twin-turbo engine with dry-sump lubrication, rear-mounted transaxle, and other major mechanisms, has been significantly lowered through optimized positioning. Both the driver’s and car’s centers of gravity have been made roughly identical by pursuing an ideal driving position aimed at enhancing the sense of car-driver unity and handling ease.

Adoption of Toyota’s first all-aluminum body frame

As for low weight with high rigidity, which constitutes the second key element, the GR GT features Toyota’s first all-aluminum body frame. Additionally, the appropriate use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), plastic, and other materials in the body panels has resulted in a strong yet light body.

Use of a reverse approach to create styling that pursues aerodynamic performance

Exterior styling, in pursuit of aerodynamic performance, was also born from a process distinct from that of hitherto Toyota car-making. Although attention has conventionally been turned toward aerodynamics only after finalization of exterior styling, in the case of the GR GT, the ideal aerodynamic performance was established first, followed by consideration of exterior styling. Aerodynamics engineers and exterior designers worked together to achieve styling that pursues aerodynamic and cooling performance.

Interior styling, as well, was meticulously crafted without compromise, based on ergonomics aimed at achieving the optimal driving position from a professional driver’s perspective and visibility needed for at-the-limit driving. Naturally, in addition to circuit driving, care has been taken to ensure suitability for everyday use.

Aimed at being an FIA GT3-spec race car chosen by people who want to win

The GR GT3 features the same three elements of a low center of gravity, low weight with high rigidity, and the pursuit of aerodynamic performance found in the GR GT, on which it is based. It meets the specifications of the Federation Internationale d’Automobile (FIA) GT3, which is the top category of production vehicle-based customer motorsports, and aims to be a car that is chosen by people who want to win yet be easy to drive for anyone.

TGR believes that its driver-first principle, just as it is important in the GR GT, is equally important in the GT3 race car category, which can find both professional drivers and gentleman drivers behind the wheel. At the same time, in addition to heightening the competitiveness of the GR GT3 as a car, TGR is also preparing to establish an optimal support system for customers who race to help them fully enjoy motorsports.

For making ever-better cars

The TGR flagship models GR GT and GR GT3 are defined not only by their adoption of new technologies but also by their having been created through the taking up of the challenge of using new development and manufacturing methods. In developing the GR GT and GR GT3, TGR employed multiple methodologies that leverage insights gained from competing in motorsports. The use of driving simulator-assisted vehicle research and development, which is now common in race car development, is an example of such. Introducing driving simulator use early in the development process enabled efficient refinement of fundamental vehicle characteristics from the outset. In addition to using simulators in the creation of each component, extensive real-world testing was done not only on test courses, such as the one at Toyota Technical Center Shimoyama, but also at circuits around the world, including Fuji Speedway and the Nurburgring, enabling verification of at-the-limit driving performance and durability. GT GR testing also took place on public roads to give the model the ability to provide exhilaration, ease of handling, and peace of mind in everyday use.

Like other GR models, the GR GT and GR GT3 have been repeatedly honed, driven to failure, and repaired to make them into models that will live up to all drivers’ expectations. As it accelerates its efforts to make ever-better cars, TGR is continuing development of the GR GT and GR GT3 toward launching them around 2027. Further details are to be released as they become available.

For more details, please visit: https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/toyota/43622107.html

Source: Toyota Motor Corporation

Copyright 2025 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.

MILTON — John Buffum, Tom Curley, Bobby Dragon, Harmon “Beaver” Dragon, C.V. “Chuck Elms Shirley Muldowney, Charles “C.J.” Richards, Ken Squier and Gardner Stone were the luminaries comprising the charter class of the Vermont Motorsports Hall of Fame.

They were the human luminaries, but they had to share the Saturday night ceremony with the venue itself — the town of Milton and Vermont SportsCar, the Taj Mahal of race shops that was opened by Colchester’s Lance Smith in 2028.

Vermont SportsCar is located in Milton very close to the iconic Catamount Stadium, a stock car track that drew fans from all corners of the state and beyond.

“We are just about right on top of it,” Ken Squier’s daughter Ashley said while waiting to give the speech inducting her late father.

Yes, Vermont SportsCar was one of five buildings separating the large crowd from Milton’s old Catamount Stadium.

There you had it: A town and its historic racing facility that so many of the inductees had some connection to, a race shop that took everyone’s breath away and two of the inductees themselves — brothers Beaver and Bobby Dragon — hailing from Milton.

Just a sampling of how some of the members of this charter class had a connection to Catamount Stadium:

__ The late Tom Curley first gave racing a whirl at Catamount Stadium. His sojourn began in the Flying Tigers division and moved up to NASCAR modified .

Ken Squier later hired Curley to manage Catamount and that was just one line on a resume of racing promotion that helped to land him in the Vermont Motorsports HOF’s first class.

__ Beaver Dragon was a consistent winner on his hometown track of Catamount. He won at all kinds of tracks including Devil’s Bowl, Thunder Road and Airborne, but the track in his town will always be special to him.

Bill Ladabouche, a noted race historian who taught in the Milton schools before retiring, wrote a book on Dragon titled “To Beat the Beaver.”

__ Bobby Dragon raced at Milton Dragway and then when Catamount was built made himself at home there. He won 145 documented races at 28 different tracks during his starry career but many will always align him with the track just about a stretch run from where all those race fans were sitting on Saturday night.

__ Shirley Muldowney, the lone female inductee, became world famous for her drag racing career, but she grew up on a farm in South Hero and began a winning drag racing career at tracks all over the Northeast including Milton Dragway.

__ C.J. Richards will always be associated with Devil’s Bowl, a a track he built with his own hands and cultivated into a successful facility that Mike and Alaybe Bruno have so successfully operated today.

But the Richards’ family team also managed the food concessions at Thunder Road and, you guessed it, Catamount Stadium.

__ The late Ken Squier built his own track Thunder Road in Barre when he was only 25 years old but he replicated the building process with Catamount Stadium.

He was national figure in racing and in 1979 had one of the pivotal moments in NASCAR history when he convinced CBS television to show the Daytona 500 live from start to finish for the first time. He was also the one that gave the Daytona 500 its nickname of “The Great American Race.”

Saturday was his seventh Hall of Fame induction.

Despite his huge splash on the national scene., Ashley’s speech was about how her father loved Vermont and considered it home.

“There was only one place that would be home and it was here, Vermont. He loved NASCAR but Vermont’s his home,” Ashley said.

__ Stone was yet another who got his start his racing start in Milton. He began racing at the Milton Dragway in 1964 and collected victories almost weekly there until the facility closed in 1970.

His induction was for tractor pulling and drag racing.

GREAT START

Only nine people will be members of a Hall of Fame’s charter class and that is distinction this group will be able to claim forever.

But the venue itself came in for praise all night long.

“I wish we had a race car shop like this when I was racing,” Beaver Dragon said.

Buffum began his speech by thanking Smith for hosting the event in his facility and for all he had done for racing.

“I can’t believe the quality of this place,” Buffum said.

Justin St. Louis, the emcee and moving force behind starting the Vermont Motorsports Hall of Fame, said, “We finally have a place to honor our heroes and this is a hell of a place to start.”

LOVING RACING

There was a common denominator among all nine inductees and that was how much they loved their sport.

During C.J. Richards’ funeral service in February of 2012 in Fair Haven, the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra was played.

It could not have been more appropriate. Richards did it his way every step of the way including building his own speedway Devil’s Bowl in a bucolic setting in West Haven.

He loved it all. He often said that his favorite time was on Monday after the weekend of racing when he got up on the tractor to reshape the track’s surface.

Ashley Jane Squier said that her father took the thing that he loved the most and made a career of it.

Saturday itself was a lovefest — a love for people’s heroes and for the sport of racing and all motorsports.

And it could not have been held in a better place: one lush history book of Vermont racing called Milton.

Lando Norris secured his place as the 11th British driver to win the Drivers’ Championship title after finishing third at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – finishing just two points clear at the top of the standings.

The 26-year-old entered the weekend as the world championship leader, holding a 12-point lead over 2024 champion Max Verstappen, while teammate Oscar Piastri was still in contention, trailing the Dutchman by four points.

Norris had a chance to clinch the trophy in Qatar the previous weekend, but a misguided McLaren strategy allowed Verstappen to score maximum points and stay in the competition. As a result, Norris faced immense pressure heading into Abu Dhabi.

The conditions were straightforward: finish on the podium, and Norris would be crowned world champion. In qualifying, he laid the groundwork by edging out teammate Piastri for second on the grid, behind pole-sitter Verstappen.

When the race started on Sunday, Norris got off to a good start but was quickly blocked by Verstappen, who maintained the lead at Turn One. He then lost a spot to teammate Piastri, who started on the hard compound Pirelli tires and executed a well-timed, sweeping move around the outside of Turn Nine.

From that point, Norris found himself under pressure from Charles Leclerc. Ferrari had little to celebrate in Saturday’s qualifying but demonstrated strong race pace on Sunday, with the Monegasque racer staying within DRS range during the initial laps, keeping Norris on his toes.

Early pit stops from the trailing cars forced Norris to pit on lap 16 to prevent an undercut. After a swift service from the McLaren team, he found himself behind a multi-car DRS train but, crucially, ahead of Leclerc.

Following a series of decisive maneuvers, he closed in on Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, defended fiercely and, according to the stewards, crossed the line. Tsunoda was slapped with a five-second time penalty for weaving on the straight as Norris made a sharp move approaching Turn Six.

After navigating through the traffic, Norris’ task became easier. He extended his lead over Leclerc to more than six seconds while Piastri stayed out longer on his hard tires at the front. With 18 laps left, Leclerc made his final pit stop, prompting a cautious response from McLaren.

2.4 seconds later, the papaya-colored car exited the pit without any issues. On the same lap, Verstappen overtook Piastri on the track, and the Australian made his first and only pit stop.

With 14 laps remaining, Leclerc began to apply pressure, reducing Norris’ lead. However, the Brit had tire life to spare and responded, maintaining a four-second gap to the Ferrari driver.

From there, it was simply a matter of completing the race to the finish line. A seven-year F1 journey reached its peak, and British motorsport reclaimed its place at the top of the world.