By Tom Coughlin

The 32nd annual New York State Indoor Kart Championships will take place Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6-7, at the Center of Progress Building at the New York State Fairgrounds.

Eighteen different classes will compete, with drivers age 5 and up. Saturday’s schedule begins with the building opening at 8 a.m., followed by registration at 10 a.m. and practice at 11 a.m., with racing to follow. Sunday’s schedule features an 8 a.m. opening, registration at 9 a.m., practice at 10 a.m., and racing to follow.

Royal Mountain Ski Area will host the first of three scheduled Snow Drag events for the winter on Saturday, Dec. 13. Registration runs from 4 to 6 p.m., with test passes at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m. Royal Mountain is located at 3072 Route 10 in Johnstown.

Fonda Speedway will present the Chill Factor Enduro on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. Gates to the pit area open at 10 a.m., grandstand at 11 a.m., and racing begins at 1 p.m. Grandstand admission is $10, and pit admission is $30. Competitors may register in person or online at www.thefondaspeedway.com. Saturday, Jan. 3, is the rain date.

The 2026 Andy’s Speed Shop Racing Seminar will be held Friday and Saturday, Jan. 9-10, at Varin Enterprises, 212 Stoner Trail Road in Johnstown. Payment should be submitted by Jan. 2 to 553 S. Comrie Avenue, Johnstown. For more information, call 518-762-1333.

The 40th annual Chili Bowl Nationals take place Jan. 12-17 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The indoor midget car racing event features top drivers from various disciplines, including NASCAR and Indy Car.

Lance & Jill Sharpe Motorsports will present the 3rd annual Lebanon Valley Speedway Race Car Show on Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, at the Colonie Center Mall in Albany. The event, held in memory of Jason Herrington, will feature cars from Lebanon Valley Dragway, Lebanon Valley Go-Kart track, and Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The Empire Super Sprints announced that their 360 winged sprint cars will make their first appearance at Port Royal Speedway in Pennsylvania on May 16, 2026.

Fonda Speedway will host the annual Bill Ag Memorial Modified Elimination Race on Saturday, May 2, 2026. The track also announced a “Fonda/Valley Challenge” event on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, pitting drivers from Fonda against those from Lebanon Valley Speedway.

The Short Track Super Series released portions of its 2026 schedule, including events at Port Royal Speedway (March 13-14), Bridgeport Speedway (March 21), Lebanon Valley Speedway (May 21), Fonda Speedway (July 1), and Afton Motorsports Park (Sept. 3). The annual Fonda 200 weekend is set for Sept. 17-19.

The Saratoga Automobile Museum is offering a membership special through Dec. 5. The museum also features a raffle for a 2025 Porsche 718 Cayman S or $75,000 cash. Visit www.saratogaautomuseum.org for details.

Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown will host its “Big Series 3” on one Sunday per month in 2026, leading up to Eastern States Weekend in October.

Utica-Rome Speedway announced it will be DIRTcar sanctioned for the 2026 season. Weekly divisions will include DIRTcar 358 modified, DIRTcar crate 602 sportsman, and DIRTcar pro stock. The track also signed a three-year broadcast deal with Floracing.

Mat Williamson was crowned the 2025 Super DIRTcar Series champion, his second consecutive title. Williamson finished in the top ten in 29 of 30 features, including five victories. The 2026 series kicks off at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida on Feb. 11-14.

Michael Annett, a former NASCAR driver known for winning the organization’s Xfinity Series season opening race in 2019, has died. He was 39.

Annett’s former team, JR Motorsports, announced his death on Friday via a social media post on X.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Annett family with the passing of our friend Michael Annett,” JR Motorsports posted.

The cause of Annett’s death has not been disclosed.

Annett, an Iowa native, began his race car driving career in 2007. He became a two-time winner in the ARCA Menards Series, earning his first win at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama during his racing debut year, AP News reported.

In 2008, Annett then won the series’ opening race at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.

Annett went on to drive for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series for five seasons from 2017 to 2021.

During his racing career, Annett made 321 starts in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, 158 of which came with JR Motorsports, according to NASCAR’s website.

Annett also made over 100 starts in the NASCAR’s Cup Series, the organization’s top racing series.

In 2019, Annett won the Xfinity Series’ opener at Daytona International Speedway, his first and only win at that level, according to NASCAR’s website.

“Michael was a respected competitor whose determination, professionalism, and positive spirit were felt by everyone in the garage,” NASCAR said in a statement.

Annett retired after the 2021 season after dealing with a stress fracture in his right leg for a majority of the season. He missed seven races that same year.

One day after qualifying No. 1 in the quickest 32-car field in Pro Modified history, Jason Harris continued his dominant performance by winning the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks Saturday night at Bradenton Motorsports Park. The four-time PDRA world champion drove his Harts Charger-boosted “Party Time” Harold Denton tribute ’69 Camaro to a 3.561-second pass at 211.06 mph in the $50,000 final round to defeat Brazil’s Sidnei Frigo, who ran a 3.570 at 211.33. 

By winning the first of three races in the 2025/2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service, Harris is now the only driver eligible to win the inaugural Elite Motorsports Million, a $1,000,000 bonus for winning all three races: the Snowbirds, the U.S. Street Nationals in January 2026, and the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in February 2026. As the Snowbirds No. 1 qualifier, he’s also the only competitor contending for the Jerry Bickel Race Cars Clean Sweep Challenge. If he qualifies No. 1 at the next two races, he’ll win a brand-new Pro Mod rolling chassis from JBRC. 

“This is my pinnacle,” Harris said in his top-end interview with FloRacing’s Courtney Enders. “I’ve been coming down here for years. I won it years ago in a nitrous car, but this right here is the baddest racers on the planet, and I just qualified No. 1 and won the race, so I can get the million and the Jerry Bickel car, but I’m telling you, I’ve gotta thank everybody. Harold Denton, thank you, Lord. He’s been riding with me all day. It was God’s will that this car was gonna make it. I can’t thank everybody enough.”

Along with Harris, winners at the Snowbirds included Bill Lutz in Pro 10.5, Larry Larson in True 10.5 N/T, Tommy Hoskinson in Lil Gangstas, Brian Weddle in Limited Drag Radial, Joel Greathouse in Ultra Street, Hunter Patton in Super Pro, Malcolm Ricks in 6.50 Index, Peyton Shook in 7.50 Index, and Jeff Jones in 4.60 Bikes. 

PRO MOD

Jason Harris rolled into the 2025/2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service on a mission to win one of the big-money Pro Mod races after multiple late-round finishes at the World Series of Pro Mod. He entered the series with a special new look paying tribute to the late Pro Stock racer Harold Denton inspired by his “Party Time” cars, as well as a new Harts Charger combination between the frame rails in his Brandon Stroud-tuned ’69 Camaro. The Party Time Racing team worked through some challenges in pre-race testing before jumping to the top of the qualifying order in Thursday’s second qualifying session. Harris’ 3.560 at 211.20 held up as the top performance through two more sessions on Friday, giving him the $5,000 Jerry Bickel Race Cars No. 1 Qualifier Bonus. 

The No. 1 qualifier position would typically come with the benefit of facing the No. 32 qualifier in the first round of eliminations, but the Winter Series races use random chip draws to determine pairings on race day. Harris’ bad luck in the chip draws continued when he paired up with Mark Micke, who qualified No. 1 at all three Winter Series events last winter. 

Harris came prepared for Micke, running the second-quickest pass of the opening round, a 3.579 at 210.64, to get past Micke, who lifted to a 4.345 at 121.29. Harris then drew Jimmy Taylor, who set new doorslammer world records for eighth-mile and quarter-mile elapsed times before the Snowbirds. Like Micke, Taylor had to lift to a 4.365 at 149.02, while Harris rolled on with a 3.607 at 209.79. Harris set low E.T. of the next two rounds, using a 3.584 at 210.28 to defeat Randy Weatherford’s 3.598 at 210.11 and a 3.576 at 210.44 to eliminate Kevin Rivenbark and his 3.658 at 205.47 in the semifinals. 

Harris met up with Brazilian drag racing veteran Sidnei Frigo in the $50,000 final round. The North Carolina native left the line first and led the whole way, winning with a 3.561 at 211.06 to Frigo’s 3.570 at 211.33. 

“Truthfully, it was tighter than I thought it was,” Harris said. “I knew he was there and I wasn’t sure if I took the win or not because the car wheelstood a little bit and I was trying to pay attention, but I got on the radio and nobody said anything to me. When I turned the corner, I saw Courtney [Enders] walking to me, so I guess I knew I won. It was just a relief. 

“We’ve worked really hard this weekend,” Harris continued. “We had a bad test session the first couple of days, but it just fell together and my team is so great. We’ve been doing this a long time. We know how to win. The people that stand behind me – Harts, Pro Line, TKM, Carbon Watch Company, Southern Diamond Company, LAT Oils, Hoosier Race Tires – they know if I get my act together and my team’s here, we can win every race we go to.”

The Snowbirds victory is the latest headline-grabbing accomplishment for Harris, whose drag racing career began at North Carolina’s small-town dragstrips. He had a dominant season to win the first-ever PDRA Pro Nitrous world championship in 2014. He won another Pro Nitrous title in 2018 before moving to Pro Boost, where he won back-to-back world championships in 2023 and 2024. His next target is winning the Winter Series championship. 

“To me it’s like winning the World Series if you were a baseball player or winning the Super Bowl in football,” Harris said. “This is the biggest stage we’ve got for our sport, and this felt like the World Series of Pro Mod. To qualify No. 1 amongst this group of guys is just phenomenal, but to win against this group of guys, it’s unbelievable. I didn’t have easy pickings. I had Micke, Jimmy Taylor, Randy, Rivenbark, and Frigo in the finals. These guys work really hard and they’ve got the best equipment there is. It’s just absolutely amazing that somebody like me can do this.”

It was a meaningful win for Harris in more ways than one, as he got to pay tribute to a family friend, mentor, and drag racing pioneer. 

“I’m just so happy and thankful that we got the win and I could do it for Harold Denton in tribute and put the ‘Party Time’ car back in the winner’s circle,” Harris said.

Frigo, driver of the screw-blown Artivinco Racing ’23 Camaro, qualified No. 23 with a 3.607 at 210.08. With tuning by the Killin’ Time Racing brain trust led by Jeff Pierce and Stevie “Fast” Jackson, Frigo then started a consistent charge through eliminations. He ran a 3.620 at 209.46 to get past Isaias Rojas’ 3.630 at 208.20 in the opening round before facing three of the heaviest hitters in the Winter Series. His 3.627 at 209.20 beat 2025 World Series of Pro Mod champion Steve King’s 5.106 at 95.77, then he stepped up to a 3.607 at 210.08 to knock down defending event champion Kye Kelley and his 3.608 at 208.14 in a side-by-side quarterfinal match. To complete the trifecta and earn a spot in the final, Frigo threw down a 3.594 at 210.54 in the semis to beat the 3.601 at 207.69 of Ken Quartuccio, who won the 2025 U.S. Street Nationals and the 2024/2025 Winter Series championship. 

PRO 10.5 

After competing at the World Series of Pro Mod for the past two seasons, Pro 10.5 joined the full three-race Winter Series lineup. Ohio-based doorslammer veteran Bill Lutz entered the series with something to prove, and he did just that with a decisive win over Super Bowl champion Fletcher Cox in the $10,000 final round. 

“We’ve had a car to win here multiple years and either the driver messes up or something happened to the car,” said Lutz, who thanked his team led by son Kenny and tuner Patrick Miller. “The car was just phenomenal from the day we unloaded it, and I told them after the first run, I was like, ‘This is our weekend. We’re going to win this damn thing,’ and here we are.”

After qualifying No. 3 in his screw-blown “Big Boost” ’67 Camaro, Lutz set low E.T. of the opening round with a 3.935 at 192.66 to defeat Jerry Morgano and his 3.966 at 195.79. He coasted to the finish line on a quarterfinal bye run, then posted a 3.969 at 183.24 over Nick Agostino’s 4.077 at 176.42 in the semis. In the final round, Cox left the starting line first in his nitrous-assisted “Training Day” ’69 Camaro, but Lutz powered to a 3.886 at 193.88 to get around Cox’s 3.951 at 182.11. 

“To race somebody of his caliber, obviously an elite athlete, and I don’t care what anybody says, that all transfers over into this type of deal,” Lutz said. “He’s felt pressure, he knows pressure, and I have too. I’ve raced in every type of racing you can do and I feel we can excel at anything, so I never let pressure get to me, but to beat a guy that is quite possibly one of the best NFL linemen ever, it means more than just outrunning a typical guy.”

TRUE 10.5 N/T

Chassis builder Larry Larson has made his mark in multiple corners of the sport, from drag-and-drive to No Prep Kings. His latest venture into 28×10.5 slick-tire no-time racing, which included a $75,000 win at the King of the South race at Shadyside Dragway in May, continued Saturday night with the $40,000 True 10.5 N/T win at the Snowbirds. He raced past Ryan Martin, Ryan Hendrickson, and Memphis Raines before getting a semifinal bye run when Cole Pesz couldn’t make the call. Larson then defeated Russell Stone in the final round. 

“It was just a good day,” Larson said. “There’s some fast, fast cars out here. People would be astonished how fast you can go on that little bitty tire, but it’s a cool class. I think it’s going to be the up-and-coming thing. It’s cool. I think we proved that the King of the South wasn’t a fluke.”

LIL GANGSTAS

A pair of young guns with strong backgrounds in their own respective niches within the sport met up in the $20,000 Lil Gangstas final round. In Lil Gangstas, no times are shown, but drivers can’t run quicker than 5.30 seconds in the eighth mile. The drivers who handled that challenge the best on Saturday night were Ohio’s Tommy Hoskinson and Florida’s Gage Burch. Hoskinson in his Gen 2 Garage Ford Falcon and Burch in the Motion Raceworks “El Toro” Mustang raced down the track side-by-side until the win light popped up in Hoskinson’s lane. 

“You don’t want to go out first round, but we made an awesome pass first round, took out a really tough competitor, and then it was just a domino effect,” Hoskinson said. “I didn’t lose on the tree a single time this weekend. The car did exactly what I told it to do all weekend. We were jiving. I expected my win light to come on every pass. I didn’t think anybody could beat me, and the confidence was just through the roof. We felt like underdogs a little bit, but we’ve won some races locally at home, some 5.30 races, all year. We went a lot of rounds and I felt like this was a big stage, I felt like I deserved to be here, and I felt like we did a really good job of proving it.”

LIMITED DRAG RADIAL

After setting a class E.T. record and winning in PDRA Pro Street on 33×10.5 slicks, Brian Weddle made the switch to Limited Drag Radial this season and quickly found the winner’s circle at the Snowbirds. Weddle’s screw-blown “La Flama” ’67 Camaro was locked into the 3.90s throughout race day, sending him into the final round with lane choice. There, he left first against past LDR season champion Shane Stack and fired off a 3.932 at 186.87 to get a decisive $7,500 win over Stack, who lifted to a 4.960 at 101.28 in his turbocharged “Thrillbilly” ’86 Monte Carlo. 

ULTRA STREET

Ultra Street finalists Joel Greathouse and Brian Keep seemed evenly paired after their semifinal victories, but Greathouse pulled ahead in the $7,500 final round. Driving Davey Hull’s turbocharged ’90 Mustang, Greathouse left the line just ahead of Keep before running a 4.460 at 153.72 to defeat Keep’s 4.565 at 154.65 in his ProCharged ’98 Camaro. 

The 2025/2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service will continue Jan. 22-25, 2026, with the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission at Bradenton Motorsports Park. 

This story was originally published on December 7, 2025.

Michael Annett, a veteran NASCAR driver who won the series’s season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, has died at age 39. JR Motorsports announced his passing on Friday.

Annett, originally from Des Moines, Iowa, spent his professional racing career climbing the competitive ranks of stock car racing. According to NASCAR, he accumulated 436 combined starts across the sport’s three national touring series.

The pinnacle of Annett’s racing career came in 2019 when he captured the Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona, driving the No. 1 car for JR Motorsports. This victory was his only win at the national level.

His professional racing journey began when he entered the Xfinity Series in 2008. He went full-time the following year with Germain Racing before moving to Rusty Wallace Racing and later Richard Petty Motorsports. His career also included three seasons in NASCAR’s elite Cup Series, where he competed for Turner Scott Motorsports from 2014 through 2016, making 106 starts.

In 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team signed Annett to drive for JR Motorsports.

Annett’s time with JR Motorsports ended following the 2021 season, after a stress fracture in his leg sidelined him for portions of that final year before he stepped away from full-time competition.

Before committing to stock-car racing, Annett had pursued competitive ice hockey. He played as a defenseman for the Waterloo Black Hawks in the United States Hockey League. His 2004 season earned him a “Most Improved Player” award as the team won the Clark Cup. His team that year included future National Hockey League star Joe Pavelski.

“The entire Black Hawks organization joins with Michael’s family, friends, teammates, and fans in mourning his loss,” Waterloo Black Hawks said in a statement published online on Saturday.

Success ran in Annett’s family. According to NASCAR, his late father, Harrold, served as CEO of TMC Transportation and co-owned a sprint-car team. That team fielded cars for renowned dirt-track racer Sammy Swindell and accumulated 35 wins during their four years together.

Throughout his career, Annett earned recognition in multiple racing series. He was a two-time winner in the ARCA Menards Series, scoring victories at Talladega Superspeedway in 2007 and at the Daytona series opener in 2008.

The NASCAR community mourned his death on social media.

NASCAR said in its statement: “Michael was a respected competitor whose determination, professionalism, and positive spirit were felt by everyone in the garage,” the organization said. “Throughout his career, he represented our sport with integrity and the passion of a true racer. NASCAR extends its condolences to Michael’s family and many friends.”

Annett’s cause of death has not yet been made public.

Norris finished third behind Max Verstappen in final race to deliver McLaren its first world drivers’ crown since 2008.

A tearful Lando Norris claimed his maiden Formula One world drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, ending Max Verstappen’s four-year reign.

The Briton finished third in the season closer behind race winner Verstappen and the other title challenger, McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, to claim the crown by two points.

After he crossed the line, his team engineer told him: “That’s it, mate, you are world champion, world champion!”

“Thank you guys, you made a kid’s dream come true,” he replied.

“I haven’t cried in a while. I didn’t think I would cry, but I did,” Norris said on the podium in the desert night at the floodlit Yas Marina Circuit.

“I want to thank my mum, my dad; they’ve supported me since the beginning.

“It feels amazing, I know now what Max feels like a little bit. I want to congratulate both Max and Oscar, I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a long year!” he added.

A great year for McLaren

McLaren, headed by team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown, secured back-to-back constructors’ titles in Singapore last month.

“That was exciting, a little too exciting, awesome,” said Brown.

“What an effort, Lando and Oscar, what a fantastic season!” added the American.

Norris becomes Britain’s first world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020 with this 13th drivers’ crown for McLaren.

The 26-year-old’s success comes over half a century after Emerson Fittipaldi claimed the British marque’s first drivers’ title in 1974.

A galaxy of F1 greats followed – James Hunt (1976), Niki Lauda (1984), Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1999) and Hamilton in 2008.

Assessing his path to glory, Norris added: “As we’ve seen many times, anything can happen. So I just kept pushing. I wanted to fight to the end. [Verstappen and Piastri] certainly did not make my life easy this year. But I am happy!

“It has been a long journey with McLaren; I’ve been with them for nine years.

“For me to bring something back to them, I feel like I did my part for the team this year, so I’m proud of myself.”

Piastri, who had led the championship for much of the season before being overtaken by Norris in Mexico, finished third in the standings.

Sunday’s season closer was the first time the title was decided by a contest involving more than two drivers since a four-way scrap at the final race in Abu Dhabi in 2010.