The open-wheel cars which compete in the two major road racing and oval series in the United States, CART and the IRL, are enormously powerful machines brandishing both turbocharged and naturally aspirated engines producing more than 1000 horsepower.

The Winston Cup racecars of NASCAR use 358 cubic inch engines to churn out somewhere around 750 horsepower, while Formula 1 powerplants deliver more than 1000 horsepower to the throttle pedal of such drivers as Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Juan Montoya.

Compared to the nitromethane engines in the NHRA's Top Fuel and Funny Car categories, all of the above are mere pussycats.

For instance, one cylinder of an 8000 horsepower fuel motor in drag racing produces the same amount of horsepower as an entire NASCAR engine. Not bad, considering that the overall technology of today's nitro engines has changed very little in the last 40 years. Big displacement engines, superchargers, and a mixture of nitromethane and methanol have been the basic ingredients of the quickest and fastest classes in all of motorsports since the 1960's.

"The key to making all that horsepower is how much fuel you can push through the engine," says Dick Lahaie, tuner of the reigning NHRA POWERade Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon. "Then, you have to make sure you can get the engine to burn all the fuel you're putting into it. The current generation of fuel pumps and intake systems we have are incredible. The twin magnetos we run on the ignition systems are much more reliable and powerful than the ones we had years ago which makes all that horsepower possible."

How can you compare what 8000 horsepower can do with what the 200 or so horsepower in your family car can do? Simply stated, they are light years apart. Corvette owners boast that their sleek machines can go from 0-60 mph in 5 seconds and run the quarter-mile in about 13 seconds. A Top Fuel dragster accelerates from 0-100 in about 8/10's of a second and covers the quarter-mile in 4 seconds. In fact, a Top Fuel car can cover the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate on a baseball diamond, 60 feet 6 inches, at a higher speed than Roger Clemens' best fastball. Clemens' pitch: 93 MPH. The dragster: 100 MPH.

In Pro Stock, the better teams are getting 1250 horsepower from their 500 cubic inch engines with two 4-barrel carburetors burning high-octane racing gasoline. The key to that much horsepower is the advances in cylinder head and camshaft technology in the past 20 years.

"The secret to winning in Pro Stock is what you learn in the dyno room," says Greg Anderson, the current Pro Stock points leader. "We'll spend hours and hours running our engines on the dynamometer (a device which allows engine builders to run their motors outside of the racecar and measure their performance) hoping to find two or three more horses. Everyone has their own philosophy on intake design, cam profiles and combustion chamber configuration. If the dyno tells you you're on the right track, your time has been well spent."

Horsepower wins races in all forms of motorsports, but in the NHRA, there's more horsepower to be found than in any other racing series allowing phenomenal elapsed times and top speeds far surpassing anything the forefathers of drag racing ever imagined half a century ago.

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN and ESPN.com.

ESPN and ESPN2 will feature the special informational program during the networks' regular coverage of the NHRA event at Denver: on ESPN Saturday, July 19 from 7-9 p.m. ET; and Sunday from 2:30-3:30 p.m. live on ESPN and 6-9 p.m. on ESPN2. NHRA2Day, ESPN2's weekly news show, will also continue the Information Dragway theme Sunday at 11 a.m. ESPN Radio's RPM Now with host John Kernan, Friday from 8-10 p.m. (check local listings), will feature live driver interviews.