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Once again, legendary drag racing innovator and team owner Buddy Martin will be the Honorary Starter for the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge. \u201cI\u2019m excited to once again be part of this great event and to have it sponsored by Sox & Martin is a great honor for me. Indy holds a special place in my heart. It was here that Ronnie (Sox) won back in 1969 driving our Super Stock HEMI Barracuda and Herb (McCandless) in 1970 racing our Pro Stock HEMI Duster. To come back and see the level of performance these HEMI Barracudas and Darts are running is just phenomenal and proves what a great Super Stock package Chrysler built back in 1968,\u201d said Buddy Martin.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Another drag racing legend attending the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge will be Herb McCandless. Herb has been a fixture of this event for decades and provides great historical context during the NHRA TV broadcast. \u201cThis is the 25th anniversary of the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge and I\u2019ve never missed one,\u201d said Herb. \u201cThis race always brings back great memories and I enjoy talking to fans. These Super Stock HEMI Barracudas and Darts put on a great show with amazing ETs and speed. Last year, the field was as tight as I\u2019ve seen with impressive side-by-side racing.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Stephen Comella, who has won this event four consecutive times, has been hard at work dialing in his SS\/AH 1968 HEMI Barracuda. The New York resident and his father, Chuck, exchange ideas and collaborate on improvements to their Barracuda. \u201cMechanically and car-wise, my dad and I are doing what we\u2019ve done in previous years, preventative maintenance, and making minor adjustments to the car. We just pay attention to details and make sure everything is right. We\u2019ll be testing before Indy but for the most part, I\u2019ll be driving my dad\u2019s original 1968 Super Stock HEMI at many Lucas Oil divisional races and a few NHRA National events before the NHRA U.S. Nationals. We also know there\u2019s probably a big target on our back, but we don\u2019t get caught up in all the drama, we just do our deal.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Former winner and last year\u2019s runner-up Bucky Hess has also been busy preparing his stunning 1968 Super Stock Barracuda for this year\u2019s Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on different gear ratios and torque convertors and testing has shown it picked the car up a bunch,\u201d said Bucky Hess. \u201cWe\u2019ve also made some tire changes and with Jason Line finding more power, I think we\u2019ll be really fast at Indy!\u201d<\/p>\n The Sox & Martin NHRA HEMI\u00a0Challenge\u00a0presented by the McCandless\u00a0Collection\u00a0is scheduled for Friday, August 29, 2025, at Indianapolis Raceway Park\u00a0during the running of\u00a0the 71st annual NHRA US Nationals. The Sox & Martin HEMI\u00a0Challenge\u00a0presented by the McCandless\u00a0collection\u00a0is open to all NHRA SS\/AH competitors\u00a0and will\u00a0require at least one SS\/AH Grade Point from a Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event or National Open before entering the NHRA U.S. Nationals to race in the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge. All SS\/AH racers\u00a0are encouraged to\u00a0submit their event entry before Friday, August 22, 2025.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published on April 28, 2025. The post Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge Set to Return to 2025 NHRA U.S. Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Sox & Martin\u00ae HEMI\u00ae Challenge will once again be a part of the legendary 2025 Cornwall Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals as the fastest SS\/AH machines in the country will descend on the historic Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge, the longest-running continuous specialty race in NHRA history, features […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/stephen-comella.jpg\")
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