For decades, the Chevrolet brand has been synonymous with success on the drag strip. When the 2023 NHRA season kicks off with the Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway on the second weekend in March, Bowtie racers in a wide range of categories will seek to continue that rich tradition.

John Force Racing

In the nitro-powered Pro ranks, John Force Racing (JFR) is well poised to add to its record 22 championships across the ultra-competitive Top Fuel and Funny Car landscape. 

Last season, Brittany Force drove her 11,000-horsepower Chevrolet dragster to her second Top Fuel title on the strength of five wins and 10 No. 1 qualifying positions.

Her team remains mostly intact for 2023 with crew chief David Grubnic again leading the operation — aggressive tuneups and all. He will be joined by car chief Brandon Hazelton, who moves over from John Force's Funny Car at JFR. Expect not only more race wins and dazzling qualifying efforts from the Brittany Force team, but also eye-popping record runs.

Meanwhile, Force's Top Fuel teammate, Austin Prock, will contest back-back full NHRA Camping World Drag Racing seasons for the first time in his young career. With the retirement of legendary co-crew chief Rahn Tobler, Prock's car is now in the hands of lead crew chief Chris Cunningham, who vacates his spot on Robert Hight's Funny Car within JFR. Joe Barlam is set to return for co-crew chief duties.

Prock started slowly last season but was perhaps the strongest driver on tour as the year wound down, scoring two wins in the six-race Countdown to the Championship to leap to third in the final standings.

On the Funny Car side of JFR, team president Hight came up just three markers shy of his fourth Funny Car title last season after claiming a career-high eight wins in his Camaro SS. In 2023, he and his Jimmy Prock-led team enter the season among the favorites once again. Prock will be joined by two co-assistant crew chiefs: his son Thomas Prock (and brother to Top Fuel driver Austin), and Nathan Hildahl, who was promoted from car chief.

Rounding out the JFR camp is team founder and CEO, 16-time champion John Force, who is looking to add to his staggering 155 Funny Car wins. Force picked up one victory last season en route to a fifth-place result in category points. Although he may not be as dominant as in his nearly unbeatable heyday, the 73-year-old driver is still a threat for wins and the series championship. Force's son-in-law Danny Hood and Tim Fabrisi will continue to lead the team, while Mac Savage has moved from Brittany Force's Top Fuel team to assist. 

"The 2022 season was good to us. We all got wins, did the work for our sponsors," John Force said. "Brittany with the championship and Robert battled all the way to the end. Austin kind of surprised us all with the late surge and I held my own too. We'll build on that success this year. We've promoted from within, made some changes and it makes me, all of us, excited for this season."

Pro Stock

In the factory hot rod arena, Team Chevy is positioned to continue its recent run of dominance. The Pro Stock class is populated primarily by the Camaro SS, and Chevrolet won every national event last season. 

Erica Enders grew her legend last year as she scored her fifth championship and took home a career-high 10 of a possible 19 Wally trophies, all the while turning in seemingly superhuman reaction times. She and her red Elite Motorsports Camaro SS will be tough to beat again in 2023, but the Pro Stock field is simply stacked.

Among the fiercest competitors is five-time champion Greg Anderson, who last year took his 100th event win, fittingly in the prestigious U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. He then won again in the final event of the season at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Anderson is part of the newly renamed KB Titan Racing after the retirement of longtime KB racing team owner and namesake, Ken Black. The KB outfit and Titan Racing Engines leaders Eric Latino and Jim Whiteley have now teamed up to create one of the most stout operations in the Pro Stock pits. In addition to Anderson, Dallas Glenn, Kyle Korertsky, Matt Hartford, Deric Kramer and newly added 2022 rookie of the year Camrie Caruso are set to compete under the Chevrolet-powered KB Titan banner. 

"It's no secret that it was very sad for us to see Ken Black retire – he's meant so much to us through the years, and he will always be part of this team. He's the heart of the team, to be honest, and that will never change," Anderson said. "Father Time had his say in this one. Ken and Judy made the right decision for themselves and their family – and you can't help but be happy for the people you care about. But we had to find the next Ken Black, and that wasn't an easy thing to do. When it's all said and done, I think we came pretty close, and I'm really excited about the future of this team."

But while KB Titan Racing has made changes to its program, its rival Elite Motorsports remains one of the benchmark operations in Pro Stock. In addition to Enders, Troy Coughlin Jr., Aaron Stanfield and Bo Butner will be looking to put the Elite team in the Winner's Circle.

Elsewhere in Pro Stock, the father-son duo Chris and Mason McGaha, Australian Shane Tucker and veteran drivers like Kenny Delco and Roger Brogdon will campaign the Camaro SS during the 2023 season.

The COPO Camaro and Sportsman Racing

The newly renamed FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown will return for its largest schedule ever this year. Ten races are on the docket for the heads-up category pitting supercharged factory muscle from the Big Three against one another. The COPO Camaro will once again be the most popular vehicle in the Factory Stock Showdown pits. Last year, the purpose-built race car from Chevrolet Performance took victory on five occasions. Longtime COPO stalwart David Barton scored three wins on the way to his second championship in the class.

The famed COPO is also set to take part in the new Factory X presented by Holley class, a program designed to bridge the gap between Factory Stock Showdown and Pro Stock. The category is open to 2019 or newer manufactured automobiles. Each one must meet a minimum weight of 2,650 pounds and have a five-speed manual transmission. 

Two exhibition races at Charlotte's zMAX Dragway and Bristol Dragway will kick off the season, before a six-race slate leads to the crowning of the inaugural category champion at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in late October.

COPO Camaro drivers will also take part in national, regional and divisional Stock Eliminator and Super Stock events throughout the country as they look to win Wally trophies and score valuable points toward year-end titles in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for Sportsman racers.  As always, a variety of popular modern and classic Chevrolet vehicles will also tear down drag strips across multiple categories each week.

Last season, both Pro and Sportsman competitors helped Chevrolet to its sixth consecutive Manufacturers Cup and record-extending 27th overall. 

The award goes to the manufacturer whose current-year models score the most points for qualifying and category victories in Funny Car, Pro Stock, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator and the Factory Stock Showdown across both the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. The COPO Camaro and Camaro SS are the current eligible Chevrolet vehicles. And although Top Fuel doesn't count toward manufacturer points, Chevorlet's success in the category is also well-documented.

If the recent past is any indication of future accomplishments, competitors will be chasing the Bowtie again in 2023.

Be sure to keep watching The BLOCK for much more on Chevrolet Performance and all motorsports disciplines.