Rich Bruder on the burnout before the 4.65 ET record at Lights Out III earlier this year.

Rich Bruder has always been a top contender through the years and now that Bruder Brothers Racing is running X275 things are no different. This past February Rich set the X275 ET record with a 4.65 @ 151 MPH at the Lights Out III event at South  Georgia Motorsports Park. In the ultra competitive world of small tire racing records are set and reset more often that many fans can keep track of and with the various competitive combos it seems every one has a record of its own.

After setting the ET record in the rain shortened event the Bruders and teammate Mustang Mike Modeste tore the engine down for some upgrades including the new billet SBF heads from Ultra Pro Machine and a Marcella Manifolds fabricated intake.

The engine is now a Fontana 400 ci. block freshened up by Weston Machine while the assembly was done in house as always, featuring new Diamond pistons to match the chambers in the heads, new BME rods and Sonny Bryant crankshaft. It’s fed by the new Procharger F1-X with Big Stuff 3 engine management driving Billet Atomizer Injectors. This recent photo provided by Nick Bruder shows the new heads and intake all buttoned up in the car.

With a short time schedule to get it back going there were many folks involved in the project with Crazy Don’s Chassis Shop getting some big props for coming out on Easter Sunday (yes you read that right) to make the new headers and some cage modifications. If that’s not going beyond the call nothing is. Also during the rebuild Rich Bruder and his wife brought a new child into the family.

With the car just finished up in time for Atco’s X275 but no testing yet due to rain the Wednesday before the race they went in blind, tore up a transmission Friday morning then started out soft Saturday, edging their way up to a 4.82 @ 158.9 MPH at the first event with the new combo, sending shock waves through the racing community, again.

The Bruder Brothers Racing crew after their win at the 2011 Yellow Bullet Nationals, held at Cecil County Dragway. “None of this would be possible without the support of our wives and family, to support us and deal with us gone so often. Also a huge thank you to John Sears for making X275 what it is today....there would be no X275 without him. The media for giving racers the exposure to the fans across the world and Yellowbullet.com for hosting the meeting place for racers and fans to share it all with.” – Nicholas Bruder

The 2011 season saw the Bruder Twins winning four Championships; Atco, Cecil County, Yellow Bullet Nationals and the Shakedown at E Town (photo). With the stellar performance so far this year the team looks on its way to another great season of racing. Photo courtesy Nicholas Bruder.

The following companies were instrumental in getting the new combo completed in a timely manner says Nicholas Bruder. Mustang Mike & Ralph and Johns Automotive, Crazy Don's Chassis Shop, ProCharger / Dave W, Weston Machine, Ultra Pro Machine, DiSomma Racing Engines, Marcella Intakes, Mickey Thompson, Billet Atomizer Injectors, Jesel, BME rods, Diamond Pistons, and FireCore 50. Most of these companies have been integral in their support of Team Bruder through the years; Bigstuff3, Injection Connection, Chiseled Performance, Racecraft, Santhuff Shocks, VP Racing/Jason Rueckert, The Supercharger Store, OAB, ATI Transmissions, Peterson Fluid Systems, and Skinnyman Chassis. Photo courtesy Nicholas Bruder.

Jake Long, Jon Lund, and Ken Bjonnes.

For those of us that can recall. In 1979, freshman, Eric Dickerson and Craig James rushed for 1,239 yards for the SMU Mustangs. This brought forth the creation of “The Pony Express”.  Later Dickerson and James took the Mustangs to the Holiday Bowl in 1980, and their first national ranking in over 10 years. The duo put SMU on the football map. Thirty years later we could possibly be witnessing the second rendition of the Pony Express.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlUe5BwkQmg

In 2004, Jon Lund purchased tuning software from Ken Bjonnes. The two hit it off and have been friends ever since. The tuning duo of Jon Lund and Ken Bjonnes have left the Mustang performance world with their jaws dropped.  There is no question, the new 5.0 Mustangs is no slouch. We don’t believe anyone expected the kind of performance that these guys have gotten out of them. Four different 5.0′s, four different power adders, all with the same results – ridiculously fast times for cars that you can take grandmother to church in on Sunday. Flying the Lund Racing banner, Ken and Jon have already tuned one 8 second 5.0 Mustang and have three more that are well within reach of turning in just as stellar times.

The Sterling Grey 5.0 has been the work horse for Jon and Ken. This car has been used in development for the twin turbo kit that has so far run a best of 9.42 at 150mph. This car was also taken to the Texas mile where it posted a best of 206mph in the standing mile, an extremely versatile car. The master minds of this car are Ken Bjonnes, Jon Lund and Jake Long – who ahve became partners in a new company that will be releasing this kit at a later date. The three worked in collaboration to soon deliver a twin turbo kit that has been very well thought out. You can be assured the kit has been put through its paces and researched to a extraneous level. More information and kit specifics can be found at TT50.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yxekmav2eQ

The lone 8 second car at this time is owned by 5.0 King of the Street winner Chris Cruz posting a 8.99 at 153mph. The white 5.0 is powered by a L&M short block, stock heads and cams and a Whipple 4.0 liter supercharger. Next up, the blue Stainless Works 5.0 owned by Terry Reeves. Powered by a BES short block,  JPC heads and cams. A Vortech JT-Trim supercharger is providing the extra boost needed to lay down 9.30′s at 149mph. The black 5.0 is owned by Joe Coffeman. A Ford Racing Aluminator short block, with stock heads and cams take on all incoming boost the Procharger F1-A can throw at it. Joe has put up a best time of  9.49 at 143mph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA7Xrh-mrIE

All four of the Mustangs use the factory auto transmission, which is rated at approximately 800 foot pounds of torque. The white and blue cars have a modification to add a few more clutches. The grey and black 5.0′s have stock autos as delivered by Ford. The common component between the four, the Circle-D converters. To add more difficulty to these cars, they are all dialed in on E85. They are all more than capable of being street driven, and all of them tip the scales at over 3800 pounds. They can all potentially blow the doors off of anything Europe or Japan can line up next to them in…at a fraction of the cost as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkTk0u-eH78

Being in the second generation of the muscle car era, we think a serious question can be asked. How do you decide who will handle the building and tuning of your complex muscle car? How about the guys who are setting the bench mark? History does repeat itself. Just like the old Pony Express, these guys are hunting victories and records. The second coming of the Pony Express has arrived and it is right in front of us.

Our shop dawgs Sean G. and Dean J. are in the middle of a flat-out thrash to get our 2002 F-Body aka “BlownZ” ready to hit the track early this race season, and every day brings us a little bit closer to completion. We’ll be racing in the NMCA West 275 class, but will also venture into Outlaw 8.5 and possibly some LSX Shootout races. We’re documenting everything in detail for full tech articles on each aspect of this build, but we want to keep you up to date on some of the important milestones we’re passing every week. Bookmark this page – we’ll be updating as we go along, and putting in links to all the detailed stories.

Build Diary:

Where do we begin? When our “new” Z28 rolled into the shop, it was a running, albeit not completely sorted, race car. But since our motto here is “never leave anything untouched,” we dove right in and began reworking the car into our own vision of what we wanted.

With the cross brace and cowl box both finally finished up, it was finally time to get the engine installed for what we hoped would be the final time.

BlownZ will be using a dry sump oiling system from Peterson Fluid Systems. Look for a full tech article on the oil system in the near future.

One nice thing about all the cowl work we did is that we could drop the 388 LSX and TCI Pro-X Powerglide into the engine bay from the top rather than up from the bottom like in a stock 4th Gen.

But even with all the extra room we made in the cowl area, it still too a bit of finesse to keep from slamming the engine into our new cowl box. Luckly by now we were getting pretty good at getting the engine in and out of the car.

The 388 LSX in its rightful place...

When we got the engine where we wanted it and the engine plate secured to the mounts, we could start putting the Afco radiator and Aeromotive fuel system back in the car. We were using a custom made Afco radiator with integrated Meziere water pump; Fragola hoses and fittings, an an Aeromotive EFI Pro Series pump.

It might be hard to believe, but that one simple Afco electric fan provides all the cooling BlownZ needs in the staging lanes and after a run. Hey, it's not like we'll be sitting in rush hour traffic in a dedicated drag car.

The Holley Hi-Ram Intake manifold is just the icing on the cake. We're using their new cathedral port version for early style LS heads, and aimed it right at the cowl box.

Now that we've got BlownZ's heart in place, it's time to get some blood and other vital fluids pumping through the veins. We once again went with Fragola FPS 3000 hose and fittings for the plumbing we had left to do.

Good thing these Fragola hose ends are easy to work with...

...because we have a LOT of plumbing to get done. Here you can see that we've got our feed and return lines ran to the fuel rails, as well as the coolant and oil lines to the block. At this point we really started looking forward to the first time we would get to hear this beast roar to life.

In order to contain all of the fuel system lines in an NHRA legal fashion, Sean G. is building a front cross brace and frame for the fuel pump, filters and lines. This will protect the front end components in case of accident.

Moroso's breathers got the call for BlownZ. These are really nice sheet metal oil breathers - and we hid them behind the front head lights. They also have a nice petcock in case we need to drain them.

You can see how we had to arrange and carefully design the Aeromotive Pro Series pump with a vertical orientation - using a careful selection of Fragola 90-degree and 45-degree -12 fittings.

This is the fuel system layout we're running on our front fuel-cell equipped F-body. -12 from the cell, Fragola -12 stainless line, Aeromotive Pro Series fuel pump and filters. We'll need to build a frame around the fuel lines and filter of 1-1/8-inch moly tubing to comply with NHRA rules.

We removed the tape and body protective wrap for a video shoot today. BlownZ looks good.

Moser's M9 for F_body ready to go back into the car. We filmed a video for Moser on their new drag brake setup we're running - that's why it's back out.

A little elbow grease on the VA Speed 388ci.

We cleaned up the VA Speed built 388ci bullet. Trick Flow 265cc cathedral port heads, Jesel Belt Drive, and an LSX block get the magic done.

This is BlownZ on March 20th. The engine is coming in and out of this car more than you can believe. We've got the cowl box finished and waiting for the Five Star Bodies poly windows. You can see our Afco radiator and 2 gallon fuel cell.

Fragola "FPS Series" 3000 Race Hose is what we chose for the plumbing. Manufactured to the highest aerospace-quality standards for years of trouble-free service even in the most demanding circumstances, we were pretty comfortable with it.

Fragola "FPS" 3000 "billet" swivel hose ends got the call for our series race application. With tire shake being common for fast drag radial cars, we wanted some serious hose ends.

Afco's micro-custom radiator mounted at a 50-degree angle so that we can fit a large 8-10" inlet tube to the front of the ProCharger F1 series blower. Check out our integrated Meziere water pump.

Completed cowl box.

Removable driveshaft loop.

In order to get our torque arm to clear the floor under suspension compression, we had to slightly clearance the floor.

Today was welding - specifically the Vibrant intercooler tubing. Shop Dawg Sean Goude got down and dirty welding our Vibrant aluminum tubing with our kick ass Lincoln Electric 275 Precision TIG welder. And let me tell you - one look at this welder and you'll know - that's a serious piece of hardware. Offensive lineman weigh less than this bad boy. We can't wait to show off the welds we laid, but you'll need to wait a few more days.

One of the first things we wanted to address was traction, and in order to make the most of our small-tire car, we turned to Moser Engineering for their M9 Ford 9-inch rearend, harnessed to their torque arm suspension. The Moser M9 is a fabricated 9-inch, and it's combined with 3.89 gears and Moser's 40-spline axles. We also went big with the new Moser Drag brake kit.

Here's a closer look at that rear swaybar - it's a double-tube unit from Wolfe Race Craft that can handle the massive torque loads our blown 388 will be delivering, while still offering a progressive response and far more adjustablity than a single bar. Wolfe recommends the double bar for cars quicker than 8.50.

Under the hatch, a pair of battery trays from Chris Alston's Chassisworks are test-fit. The location will put the weight of our dual batteries where it's most advantageous.

Up front, we're using a Spohn Performance drag K-member, Spohn chrome-moly control arms, Spohn's Pinto-style manual rack, Spohn bump steer kit, Afco double adjustable shocks, Strange front brakes, and a PA racing 2-inch drop spindle. Since we're using motor plates, we elected for the no motor mount option.

We turned to Fragola Performance Systems for our cooling, trans, and fuel system plumbing - Making sure the fire stays fed is critical to the success of our project, so no corners are being cut here... We'll go into a lot more detail on the Fragola hardware in an upcoming story.

BlownZ's air-to-water intercooler comes courtesy of Chiseled Performance is a 2,000 HP air-to-water design with 4-inch V-band clamps and Chiseled's special high-boost 1-piece end tank design.

Our intake tubing comes to us courtesy of Vibrant Performance, as well as mandrel bends, Vanjet clamps, and other critical fittings. We elected for 3.5-inch tubing for the supercharger to intercooler. Vibrant has an amazing selection of stuff, we were especially impressed by the quality of the tubing bends. There was literally zero deflection in the tubing.

With the VA Speed 388ci engine in place and the motor plate more or less in its final position, it was time to start mocking up all the tubing from our ProCharger to the intercooler and back to the engine. We're running a ProCharger F1R and a Dan Schoneck-designed reverse belt-drive.

Here is the Chiseled Intercooler mounted with the Vibrant hardware and proprietary Vanjet band clamp.

Our 388-cubic-inch LSX built by Virginia Speed arrived, and the challenge became shoehorning it beneath our Camaro's cowl. This was no small task.

In the interior of the car, we mocked up the Vibrant tubing, and Dean began playing the game of musical tubing... We were planning the entire time to build a removable panel inside the cowl so we could access the throttle body. Compared to a Mustang, the cowl area of an F-body is a complete mess for a supercharged or forced induction application.

We worked very hard on the ride height of BlownZ. This shows our lowered ride height, plus our new M/T wheels. Pretty sweet looking. We had some concerns about the fender to tire clearance but it turned out that under virtually any scenario there was no problem with clearance.

Wolfe's double sway bar and the Afco double-adjustable shocks installed. Due to the lowered ride height, we did need to use an Afco shock that was one-inch shorter than the factory extension length. However, Afco does make an F-body shock in the shorter configuration.

Our interior - and yes - it looks messy. When we bought the car, it had a factory column in it, and our short-ass driver couldn't reach anything - the pedals, steering, wheel etc. Building a removable race-style column was the easiest solution.

There just isn't as much room in an F-body engine bay as in a Fox body or late model Mustang, never mind a classic muscle car. Since our 388ci VA Speed LSX engine required a dry-sump, we needed to think pretty hard about where to put it. There is a lot going on in the front of the car - reverse blower drive, radiator, our fuel cell and pump, and the dry sump. We elected to trim out the inner fender and found a cozy spot ahead of the front wheel.

Probably the toughest part of this project has been the cowl area. Our LSX engine is within 1/2-inch of the factory location, yet you can see what a mess the lower cowl is. Remember in a factory LSX the engine sits part way under the cowl. Try to run a normal reverse-intake blower setup is just a disaster. This shows you how much cowl trimming is needed to get the engine in the car. We're building a very clean cowl plate and setup here, once it's done it will look almost factory.

Another shot of how difficult it is to build an F-body blower car without liberal use of the plasma cutter.

Kooks gorgeous 2-inch headers with AEM 4-channel wide bang 02 bungs. We'll be running 8 02 sensors on the car. These are stainless Kooks headers and they are a work of art.

We modified the Kooks headers to install a 4.5-inch collector. The merge collectors on the headers were amazing, but probably not optimized for a 1,300+ horsepower boosted engine. We wanted to get the exhaust gas out as efficiently as possible. Our header collectors weren't nearly as pretty as the factory Kooks merge collectors, but at 1.5-inches larger in diameter, they'll let more exhaust gases out more quickly.

Moser M9, Wolfe double sway bar, and Afco double-adj rear shocks all installed in the car. You'll notice we did quite a bit of work strengthening up the pan hard bar area and getting the geometry right.

Final mock up of the steering rack. This shows you our entire front suspension setup. We needed to move the steering rack from the way Spohn did it originally due to the dry sump pump. We added some a billet steering rack bracket from Chris Alston Chassisworks to help make the job simple and quick.

Making a car bite on a moderately-prepped dragstrip with hundreds or maybe thousands of runs worth of rubber laid down is one thing, but doing it on practically virgin asphalt is a whole other ballgame. However, a number of experienced street racers out there not only know how to get the power to the ground, but they also put the assembled crown in a frenzy with the hoops hanging high in the air. While it’s certainly a dangerous act on pubic streets no matter which way you slice it, there’s something intriguing about seeing a vehicle put the nose in the air in an environment where such a thing simply doesn’t and isn’t supposed to occur.

As an ode to those that can hook anywhere, we’ve compiled a list of ten of the best wheelstand videos on the street, which we’ll present in two parts. These are shown in no particular ranking order, as we’ll simply leave it to our readers to decide which one they feel is most impressive. Before we get to the videos, however, the obligatory disclaimer:

DRAGZINE FEATURES VIDEOS FROM THE INTERNET AND IS INTENDED FOR A MATURE AUDIENCE. DRAGZINE DOES NOT CONDONE THE ACTIVITIES PERFORMED AND DISCOURAGES ANYONE FROM ATTEMPTING THEM. ENJOY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gg3wxS1LeU

This one is sure to get every red-blooded, obnoxious import-hating car guy (or gal) fired up. How the “Bowdown” Camaro did it was really irrelevant in this particular race. The only thing that truly mattered was that it drug the little Honda up and down Main street. That goal was accomplished, but just for some pure style points, the Camaro hikes the nose in the air with authority and disappears into the darkness, while his poor, deflated opponent pushes in the clutch, tucks his tail back between his legs, and calls it a night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwe5tt55cyw

With their high center of gravity and their relatively short wheelbase, decently powered Jeep’s are notorious for being able to hike the front wheels if you really know what you’re doing from a dig. Now, we’re not particularly sure what this Jeep is packing other than the obvious fact that its a V-8, but it certainly isn’t anything close to stock, and there’s no telling how quick it might be or how far those hoops might hang if the driver were giving it more than a half-hearted effort for his interested onlookers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpm-eiu-Pu8

Hey, we never said this was limited only to cars, and besides, a golf cart drives in traffic just fine. Don’t ask us how we know that.

Virtually any backwards hat-wearing twentysomething dressed like an Affliction model with a sport bike above 500cc’s can do a wheelie, and if we included every great motorcycle wheelstand on the internet, this would be a top 1,000 rather than a top 10. But let’s see them do it with a golf cart.

If there were ever a “sleeper” in the ranks of golf carts, this might be the one. No 20-inch rims, no lift kit, no flashy paint or chrome, and no annoying stereo system. Just a ratty old run-of-the-mill golf cart that just happens to have a Yamaha motorcycle motor where the wimpy electric motor used to be. According the video details, this peppy cart was built for the large sum of $0 using parts that “came from his barn.”

Despite the weight of not one but two adults onboard, this sweet beer…err golf bag carrying ride drags the bumper down the driveway like nobody’s business and the top speed on it probably just as impressive. This is one way to get in a quick 18 holes after work, we suppose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2fVg-I71-8

This epic matchup is between a pair of very stout cars that probably have no business being on the street: one a first-gen Camaro spraying the sauce and the other a supercharged Nova. right out of the gate, the Camaro heads toward the stars and comes crashing down onto the oil pan, bringing a premature end to what might’ve been a good race. The style points counts for something right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-tOcu7c4M

Someone is in an awfully big hurry to get to the supermarket or pick the rugrats up from soccer, but groceries certainly aren’t the only thing this wagon is hauling!

We wish we knew more about this Malibu wagon and what it had for power, but nonetheless, it’s one bad ride and it makes us want to go find a wagon to murder out. Although clearly a popular racing spot judging by the parallel tracks of rubber, psuedo burnout boxes, and perhaps even a little homegrown “track” prep, the wagon was obviously showing off for the crowd and the camera, but if your street car could pack the wheels for a good 60-80 feet, you’d toot your own horn too.

Keep it here to DRAGZINE was we bring you part two of the greatest wheelstands on the street, and if you have a favorite wheelstand video that wasn’t included here, share it with us at feedback@dragzine.com.

The video begins by focusing on the late Dick Landy and his Dodge Pro Stock. Landy was one of the early factory Chrysler drivers and was not afraid to experiment. In the late ’60s, Landy raced an altered wheel base Dodge that looked so different that onlookers would often comment that it was a “funny car.” This would end up inspiring an entire drag racing class known as—you guessed it–the Funny Car class. When the NHRA Pro Stock class was created in 1970, Landy quickly became the favorite. Landy continued to race in a variety of classes retiring in the early ’80s.

On the video, the Sox and Martin Plymouth ultimately claimed the pro stock race win in the finals driven by the late Ronnie Sox. Sox ranked 15th on the NHRA Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000, primarily for his mastery of the four speed. He won five NHRA Pro Stock Championships and was the last man standing in over 59 events.

It was also interesting to see Danny Ongais in a fuel dragster. Ongais was the 1965 NHRA AA Dragster Champion, also known for his long Cart career. Often referred to as the “Flyin’ Hawaiian,” the native Hawaiian Ongais found success in multiple forms of motorsports. In 1977 he raced in six Formula One races before moving into Indy cars, then achieving status as a Cart star in the ’80s. These three legends have inspired many bench racing discussions over the years and if history is any indication, will be the topic for years to come.

Official Release:

LIGHTWEIGHT NEXTEK DUAL VALVE SPRINGS FROM MANLEY

The valve train experts at Manley Performance have developed a series of new compact, lightweight dual valve springs with open pressures up to 1300 lbs. that can be used in lieu of larger diameter triple springs. By reducing the active mass by up to 30% they provide improved valve train control and higher RPM potential.

These latest additions to Manley’s NexTek line are made from an ultra clean, high tensile strength material to achieve the desired pressures, while the dual spring design reduces friction (which generates heat) resulting in greatly reduced load loss. They also have a higher natural frequency, which adds to valve train stability. Additionally, a Super Finished multi-step surface enhancement significantly improves fatigue strength.

Reducing the diameter of the springs also enables the use of smaller, lighter valve spring retainers—which also promotes higher RPMs. The springs have been extensively tested on the Spintron, dyno and race track (including supercharged nitro-burning engines) and proven highly effective and durable.

NexTek valve springs are part of Manley’s NHRA Major Sponsor contingency award program for 2012. For additional information as to the various spring sizes and load ratings call Manley’s tech reps at 732-905-3366 or visit www.manleyperformance.com. A copy of the new 2012 Manley catalog is available online, or a hard copy can be purchased for $5 (for $10 you get a catalog plus a Manley T-shirt). Remit to Manley Performance, 1960 Swarthmore Ave. Lakewood, NJ 08701.

Features:

• Made of ultra clean, high tensile strength material
• Feature open pressures up to 1,300lbs
• Can be used instead of larger diameter triple springs
• Reduces the active mass by up to 30%
• Part of Manley’s NHRA Major Sponsor contingency award program for 2012

Of course, the Livernois ZL1 is heavily modified and is pushing 707 horsepower and 680 pound feet of torque to the rear wheels thanks to the following combo of components:

• Livernois Motorsports In-House CNC LSA Cylinder Heads
• Livernois Motorsports Stage 2C High Lift Camshaft
• Livernois Motorsports LSA Head Studs (Available soon)
• Livernois Motorsports Exclusive Heat Exchanger (Available soon)
• Livernois Motorsports Solid Supercharger Coupler
• Livernois Motorsports Supercharger Pulley
• Livernois Motorsports Exclusive Steel Idler Relocation Bracket w/ Metco Pulleys (Available soon)
• Livernois Motorsports Spec’d Injectors
• Livernois Motorsports Dual Fuel Pump Upgrade
• Precision Industries Converter Built to Livernois Specs
• Metco Oversize Crank Pulley Ring
• Innovators West Oversize Balancer
• Rotofab/Livernois Cold Air Intake (Available soon)
• Stainless Works Longtube Headers & Connection Pipe
• Hardened Pushrods
• NGK TR6 Spark Plugs
• 160 Degree T-Stat
• GM 90mm Throttle Body
• Bogart 17” Wheels w/ Slicks & Skinnies
• Livernois Motorsports Dyno Tune

No doubt about it, that’s an extensive and impressive list of modifications, but there are a few impressive facts that come from what all Livernois didn’t change. The car is still its full-weight mammoth-self, weighing in at 4,295 pounds with the driver. Amazingly, the car also ran sub-10’s with a 100% stock suspension!

As for the story of the 9-second pass, who better to tell the tale than the man who was behind the wheel; Livernois’ own Rick LeBlanc:

The first pass off the trailer today, the car went 10.14 at 138 MPH. Many of my launches were from just above idle and it was like a bracket car with several 10.0X-10.1X passes at 138-141 MPH.

Our tuner Dan Millen was at the track with me all day logging each pass and getting more and more aggressive after each pass, so I’m sure the power was quite a bit higher than what we saw on the dyno. Dan got pretty aggressive with the tune, and on the last pass he told me to leave as hard as I could off the converter. We made up our mind that no matter what we were going 9’s on this pass!

I did the burnout, staged, then got focused. I didn’t worry about my reaction time (it was horrible as you can see) and I put it on the converter until it felt like it was going to roll forward, and then let it rip. I knew at the end of the track it was a good pass when I saw 145 mph on the heads up display. We finally did it, running a 9.87 at 142 MPH!

I wouldn’t hesitate to daily drive the ZL1 with these mods, minus the slicks of course. I do plan to head back to Milan on the stock wheels and Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials to see what it will run on 20’s.”

We would like to thank GM for building an awesome car, Rodger’s Chevrolet, Milan Dragway for the great track, Innovators West, Metco, Mickey Thompson Tires, Precision Industries, Rotofab, Stainless Works, and all the technicians at Livernois Motorsports!

The gloves are off in the battle for ZL1 supremacy, and we can’t wait to see who will fire the next shot. But for now its congrats to the team at Livernois on having the fastest ZL1 around!

For the last month or so, we’ve heard rumors that the NHRA will be hosting a special SuperCar Showdown-style race at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis later this month, with the latest report coming from the Class Racer forum. Just like the ADRL’s new series, the special race is supposed to feature factory race cars from Ford and Dodge in a heads-up, no breakout competition. Although the NHRA race will certainly not be called the SuperCar Showdown, it is expected to be similar in premise.

According to the latest rumor, the special race will take place on Friday of the U.S. Nats with eliminations starting early in the day. This would allow the specialty race to compliment the popular HEMI Shootout that night. There has also been talk that the SuperCar-style race could also be held on Saturday.

No official announcement has been made by the NHRA on the rumored race yet, but if they’re going to pull it off, there is no better place to do it than the biggest and most prestigious drag race in the world. With the U.S. Nats coming up in just a couple months, we expect the NHRA to either confirm or deny the rumors any day now.

Featuring Aeromotive’s popular 340 lph Stealth Fuel Pump, this is the perfect fuel cell for your big horsepower needs. The internal pump is extremely quiet with an OEM style configuration capable of supporting 700+hp. Additionally, the fuel cell provides several performance advantages, such as cool operation, even in harsh driving conditions, achieved through always having the pump submerged with innovative baffling, and space savings.

The ease of installation for the fuel cell is also unbeatable with no pre-pump plumbing necessary. All you have to do is strap in the cell, hook up your wires and lines and be ready to drive; no welding or drilling required. Featuring a natural aluminum finish, this fuel cell will look good in any vehicle.

A bit more budget-friendly than Aeromotive’s A1000 and Eliminator fuel cells, the 340 Stealth Fuel Cell will save you space, time and money on your build project. And don’t forget, you can choose from 6-gallon, 15-gallon and 20-gallon cells to equip any application with the proper amount of fuel.

For more information about applications and retailers for Aeromotive’s 340 Stealth Fuel Cells, visit Aeromotive’s website.

How many times have you been walking through an automotive museum and wish you could take one of the masterpieces home?  Now you can!

Originally built by Don Kirby, John Butera and Nat Quick for the Castronovo Race Team (Phil and Fred Castronova) out of New York, the replica Custom Body Enterprises “Utica Flash” Fuel Funny Car based on a 1973 Dodge Challenger body has been on display at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Glendora, California for the past two years and was recently listed on eBay.

The car in its current state took two years to restore to its 1973 condition and was done so with a lot of input from one of the original owners, Fred Castronova.  Attention to detail was of the utmost importance and it showed in the final product.  All the colors on the current version match the original from 1973, including the paint, lettering, stickers and the powder coated chassis.  The current power plant is a Keith Black 484ci just like it was back in the day. There were a few liberties taken in the reconstruction, including a 6 point roll cage instead of the 4 point cage and a fabricated chromoly non-floater rear-end housing with Strange 40 spline axles.

Originally it was tuned by Phil Roberts and driven by Tom Prock, father of Jimmy Prock who is the crew chief for John Force Racing’s Robert Hight. With Tom driving the Utica Devils was quite successful in 1973 running consistent low 6 seconds at 235 MPH and won the New England F/C Nationals, Super Stock Magazine Nationals, New England Dragway F/C Tourney and Grand American F/C Eliminator.  Primarily rebuilt for shows and the occasional Cackle Fest, it has been only started twice.

If you want to own a piece of history here is your chance, but don’t hesitate as the auction ends on Wednesday, May 16 at 12:09 PST.

Still, she and Arlene Johnson didn’t mind their little boys, Billy and Rusty Glidden and Kurt Johnson, playing with one another. And one day not too long ago, Etta Glidden was looking at the journal she kept during Bob’s heyday, and she found a reminder that she and Arlene Johnson were quite the rebels back in the day.

Although she said she couldn’t remember what their issue was that day so many years ago, they had something they wanted to say and they demanded an audience with NHRA founder Wally Parks. “Arlene and I got together and stormed the tower. We were hot about something. We talked to Wally and got it off our chests,” Etta Glidden said. She laughed. “I think, ‘Oh my gosh — I did that?!’ Sometimes I can’t believe I took the initiative.”

She described herself as “not particularly competitive,” yet as a young mother, she raced locally and won nine trophies in three years. Her own racing days ended when Bob Glidden had an accident. His injuries were minor, but the crash had a major impact on her. Said Etta, “Someone had to stay alive to raise the kids.”

That was a different era, when women weren’t allowed in the pits. So Etta Glidden said she decided to help Bob be successful, working on his car alongside him. (After all, they dated just one month before they married more than 40 years ago, and their first of three dates was at the movies. The other two were long nights fussing with his race car. So although she knew how to get the sanctioning body’s attention, she was happy in her supporting-actress role. “I’m not a chief. I’m a warrior,” she said.

Arlene Johnson is handy with a wrench, too. She learned how to service husband Warren’s race-car tires, change a battery and work on a carburetor — not a huge stretch for a farm girl from Minnesota. But she also adapted to technology and soon contributed to the team effort by interpreting data. She took her unofficial duties seriously, for son Kurt Johnson said he remembers not having time to eat breakfast at home and eating his cereal, using the dashboard of the family sedan as his table.

By modern standards, women might be sad to know that Arlene Johnson concluded, “I kind of stay back where I feel I belong.”

Shirley Muldowney’s trailblazing in the sport is legendary, but few recognize that she was a mother with not only parental responsibilities but also a full-time job away from the racetrack when she defied the status quo by beating the hot shoes of her day and winning championships. She recalled how she had one more special consideration after February 1958, after the arrival of son John.

“He was barely out of diapers when we began racing at a local strip, eighth-mile,” she said, adding that she and husband Jack Muldowney “both hated to leave him with his grandmother when he was really little. He would cry his eyes out when we didn’t take him with us. Finally, it was just the three of us — every time we went to the track. John loved being there right from the first day. I have the most wonderful picture of him — still in a diaper — standing in front of my 1940 Ford Coupe. He’s holding a wrench in his hand which is almost as big as he was then.”

So while her life might have seemed glamorous — and it certainly was adventurous — few realize that she, too, felt the pull of motherhood.

Today’s female racer can have it all.

Many mothers have drag raced, including Top Fuel drivers Rhonda Hartman-Smith, and Rachelle Splatt and Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Stephanie Reaves.

But Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria, in the Tequila Patron Toyota, is the lone mother among current NHRA professional racers.

And the former Top Alcohol Funny Car team owner from Topanga Canyon, Calif., insists she is equally skilled at packing nine-year-old-daughter Isabella’s school lunch as she is packing the parachutes for her 7,000-horsepower, nitromethane-burning Tequila Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car.

“Mom’s at work when she’s at work. But when I’m at home I’m 100 percent home with her and I make her breakfast,” single-mom DeJoria said about her juggling act. “I pack her lunch. I take her to school, I pick her up from school. I make dinner. I’m a total, normal, 100-percent mom.”

Naturally she’s aware her job description and schedule aren’t necessarily mainstream or like those of Isabella’s friends’ mothers. But it seems normal for the two of them.

“Mom happens to work all weekend long and I’m home during the week,” DeJoria said.

DeJoria said she tries to bring her daughter to the races as much as possible. But, DeJoria said, “I don’t want it to interrupt her schoolwork, because education is the No. 1 thing, especially now that she’s older and there’s more work. If she misses a day, she’s so behind. So I try to be really careful, even though I bring the (home)work with me. I try to be fair and keep her on a good, regimented schedule.”

That DeJoria is breaking into the NHRA’s professional ranks when her daughter is older and a little more self-sufficient is coincidental. Mom attended Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School when Isabella was about two years old. “It just kind of worked out that way,” DeJoria said.

“Right now, I’m very much in that seat, and I plan to be here for quite awhile,” she said. “I love the fact I’m a mother. But if I were only a mom or only racing, I don’t think I would feel as complete as I do now, having both.”

Last fall, she had made her debut at Dallas and was scheduled to skip the Reading race. By the time she got to Las Vegas, she was champing at the bit to race again.

“I really wanted to be at Reading. I’m a racer through-and-through. It’s so hard being away from something I love for three weeks,” DeJoria said. “I absolutely wish I could’ve been there. I don’t want to watch it on TV. I want to be out there with my team!”

That fear factor always seems to be lurking for racing mothers. DeJoria has a different approach.

“In life there’s a lot of risks we take. Anything can happen, really,” she said. “Do I want to be really safe all the time and hide from danger? No. I want to go and experience life to the fullest in every way. And I tell [Isabella] that, too: Go experience life. Go have fun. Respect things for what they are, but don’t be fearful of trying new things.”

To do the opposite, she said, would send the wrong message.

She simply is like millions of other moms, mindful of directing her daughter in safe, healthy, and constructive habits.

“I try to keep her away from screens — Computer, phone, TV, any kind of screens,” DeJoria said of her boundary-setting. “She needs to be outside, playing, like all kids. And we need to be outside. It’s a positive thing for all of us.”

In her free time from the racetrack, she and Isabella ride their bicycles, go to the beach, and take hikes, among other activities. And that is what keeps both of them grounded.

Sometimes the mother-daughter schedule gets last-minute changes, and when that happens, DeJoria knows Isabella is in the care of family For example, DeJoria stayed at Atlanta Dragway the day after the Summit Southern Nationals and worked on her 60-foot times and reaction times in four test passes. Then she dashed out to Dallas at the end of the day to engage in her first Tequila Patron television commercial.

Dividing her attention between racing and motherhood, she said, “can be a challenge. But I love a good challenge. Life is a challenge. I love my daughter. I love racing. We make it work.”

No matter how much racing customs change and the sport evolves, one thing is certain: Every mother has her own style and carries it out in her own special way.

Official Release:

BRODIX Introduces the BB-3 XTRA O

BRODIX now has a 24º oval as-cast big block head. The BB-3 XTRA O has a newly designed 335 cc oval intake port and CNC ported combustion chambers. The head flows 420 cfm and comes standard with 119 cc combustion chambers, 2.350/1.880 valves, CNC blended bowls, CNC matched ports, and honed guides. Standard rockers may be used with this head. The “Oval 335” is the perfect fit for the budget-minded racer looking for the latest in cylinder head technology.

Features:

• Newly designed 335cc oval intake port
• CNC ported combustion chambers
• Head flows 420cfm
• Can be used with standard rockers
• Perfect for the budget-minded racer

But Chris Cruz’s 2011 Mustang GT, built by Evolution Performance, is just such a car. With just over 1,000 rear-wheel horsepower and 1,070 ft-lbs of torque, Cruz managed to take his monster Mustang down the drag strip in 8.99 seconds, breaking into the 8’s for the first time.

With a full interior and a racing weight of 3,900 pounds plus the driver, this is no stripped-down drag car, but a true street car that can be driven to and from the track. If more impressive, Chris made his 8-second pass on the stock (though heavily upgraded) six-speed automatic transmission.

But the real heart of this Mustang is the supercharged 5.0 engine. With a 4.0 liter Whipple “Crusher” twin-screw supercharged cranking air at 24lbs of boost into the engine, this 5.0 engine has had the volume cranked up to 11. Even more impressive though, this run was done with the stock cylinder heads and camshafts. After a series of successively lower and lower 9-second runs, Chris’ Mustang finally broke through to the 8′s with an 8.99 @ 153 mph.

Madness? No, this is just another 8-second street Mustang. Check out the long list of goodies Evolution Performance dropped into Chris’s Mustang, and you’ll see why it’s now one of the fastest Mustangs in the whole country.

• L&M Engines Built 302 CID 5.0L 4V Diamond Pistons, Manley Pro Series I-Beam Rods, TSS Billet Oil Pump Gears, ARP Main and Head Studs (Stock Production Heads and Cams)
• Factory 6R80 6-Speed Automatic Transmission with Circle D Transmission Upgrades (Exedy Stage 2 Clutches)
• Circle D Specialties Pro Series Billet Torque Converter
• 4.0L Whipple “Crusher” Twin Screw Supercharger @ 24lbs of Boost
• Ford Racing 10-Rib Upgrade
• ATI 20% Overdrive Damper
• RJ Machine 10-Rib Supercharger Pulley
• 205lb Fuel Injectors
• Return Fuel System
• Ford Racing Super Mono Blade Throttle Body
• JLT Performance “Super Big Air” 142mm Cold Air Intake
• JLT Performance Billet Oil Separators
• Afco Dual Pass Heat Exchanger with Fans
• American Racing 1 7/8 Longtube Headers with 3.5″ Collector and Off-Road X-Pipe
• Dyno 3″ Bullet Catback Exhaust System
• Steeda Upper Control Arm and Mount
• Steeda Billet Lower Control Arms
• Steeda Tubular Radiator Support
• Evolution Adjustable Panhard Bar and Brace
• Black Weld RT-S Wheels with Mickey Thompson ET Drag Slicks
• Cervini’s 4″ Cowl Hood
• E85 Pump Gas
• Custom Dyno Tuned By Jon Lund of Lund Racing

As we all know, the LS1 engine under the hood gives these fourth-gen Camaros plenty of power potential. But if you don’t upgrade the suspension along with the engine, you may end up shearing off not one, but BOTH wheels when you launch hard at the drag strip. That’s exactly what happened to the driver of this ‘02 Camaro in the next video.

With a 400 horsepower 346 engine backed by a Moser 9-inch rearend, one would think this Camaro would be all set for drag racing. But with stock shocks that had seen at least 100,000 miles, severe wheel hop was apparently a problem.

As soon as he punches it, the rear tires start bouncing out of control, and the car barely makes it off the starting line before one, then both rear wheels completely sheer off the lug nuts. Simply put – we’ve never seen anything like this before.

The driver blames the axles and acorn-style lug nuts, though an old, beat-up suspension is just as likely the culprit. Luckily, the driver’s brother came through with replacement hubs, and this Camaro was back in action before the end of the day…though they made sure to go easy on the launch this time.

But every now and then, the need arises to kick back, relax, and bring some hilarity to drag racing, and that’s just what the Buick faithful did last weekend during their annual TurboBuick.com Nationals, held at North Carolina’s Piedmont Dragway.

In addition to the pile of heads-up and index categories for Buicks of all walks (although primarily the supremely badass turbocharged GNX machines), the promoters put on what they’ve termed a “tag team” race, in which competitors launch off the starting line, bring the vehicle to a complete stop, and perform a good old fashioned Chinese fire drill. Once back in the vehicle, they drop the tranny in gear and take off to see who can reach the stripe first.

Thus, this is a drag race not just of horsepower, but a small bit of physical ability as well. Next thing you know, we’ll have racers training and conditioning for these little side races.

In the days before the popularity of pro-touring, gearheads would build muscle cars solely for the drag strip. Known as pro-street, the trend was about taking a car and making it as wild as possible, utilizing mountain-like big-blocks and compressing massive amounts of air down the chambers through the use of a roots-type supercharger, all the while maintaining at least some streetability. The trend took the country by storm and held the title as the thing to do from the late ‘70s through most of the ‘90s.

Thankfully, times have changed and now it seems that everyone wants to take corners more than just race in a straight line when it comes to building the street machine of today. However, it’s pleasing to see that there are a few holdouts among us and Mike Ramsey is one of those gentlemen.

Mike’s been restoring classic Camaros and Novas for years but until now, never undertook a Chevelle project. It was his wife actually, who convinced him to find a ’68 Chevelle to build for her as she has been a fan of the car since she was a teenager.

Amazingly, Ramsey found this legit Super Sport example sitting in a field sans drivetrain. Having restored nothing but matching number cars in the past, Mr. Ramsey was ready to try something new. After gaining his wife’s approval, Mike set about his project by tearing it down to its bare essentials and set the empty shell onto a body rotisserie.

Once the old paint was sandblasted off, Ramsey decided to do it right and simply replace every body panel that was not up to his standards. That meant ordering new sheet metal through Ausley’s Chevelle Parts. Once the initial body work had begun and the new panels had been collected, the Chevelle was sent off to the body shop.

With the shell out of the way, this allowed the build to focus all of its efforts on the rest of the car’s crucial components. Ramsey started by cutting two-thirds of the rear of the frame up to allow the adaption of a four-link suspension. He then called upon a built, Ford 9-inch rearend stuffed with 35-spline rear axles, 4.33 Richmond gears, and a Moser spool to handle the power he had planned for the old Chevelle.

Yup, this badass A-body packs a 572ci. big-block under the hood, courtesy of the boys over at GM Performance parts (GMPP). If that wasn’t enough, Ramsey decided that no real pro-street car can be complete without a blower.

So, if one supercharger is good, he figured that two would be better, and that’s exactly the reason why the Chevelle has a pair of Vortech V-7 YSi blowers forcing compressed air into the Rat’s Holley HP Race Series carburetor.

The 572 also benefits from a Comp Cams custom grind camshaft, Callies Dragonslayer crank, Dart Big Chief heads and Jesel shaft rockers. Backing this monster of a plant is a TCI TH400 with a 6,000 rpm stall JW Performance torque converter, while a custom aluminum driveshaft spins that 9-inch in the back.

The fruits of all of Mike’s efforts rewarded him with a grand total of 1,320hp at the rear tires and 995 lb-ft of torque to the 15-inch Weld Wheels. We caught up with the Ramsey’s Chevelle on the Vortech Superchargers blog website; which also happens to feature the company’s power steering unit, BV57 Bypass Valves, and pulley system from the forced-induction company. We think it looks amazing, and would like to see more of this SS in the future.

With the Indy area being a hot spot for assorted styles of racing it's no wonder there are some interesting cars at the events. This Mustang GT 500 ran the 9.0 index class.

At the end of 2010, discussions began for a new heads up series at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis with the first event held May 13^th 2011. After having a successful year the event was set to move to Saturdays for the 2012 season but was abruptly cancelled earlier this week after an increase in rental fees and expenses less than a week before the opening weekend, dashing the hopes of many area racers ready to travel for the event this weekend, and for the season.

The series runs eight classes: Outlaw Pro Mod, Ultimate Dragster, Limited Street, True Street, Pro Bike, 9.0 and 10.0 index and Open Comp for a well rounded event.

Left, Sheldon Bissessar was a regular in the Ultimate Dragster class. Previous rules had the rails running on 10.5W's but have allowed the tire of the racers choice for this year. The Outlaw Pro Mods were also one of the feature attractions of the Indy Rage series.

There were some rule changes for 2012 including closing the gap between the “True Street” class rules and X275 and allowing full size rear tires In Ultimate Dragster, along with some other tweaks. As it stands now, the series is looking at area tracks to move the show to with Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis and Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky. showing interest, but as of this writing, there will be no event this weekend according to event organizers. You can check for further updates on the Indy Rage Facebook page. We all hate to see things like this happen in our racing community and hope they’re able to get this one set for the rest of the year and beyond.

The latest big news comes from Autoblog Green, which reports that an electric motorcycle team run by Shawn Lawless has broken the 200 mph barrier in the quarter-mile.

The Lawless Rocket is an all-electric motorcycle, and this weekend it was ridden by none other than Top Fuel Motorcycle legend and all-time record holder Larry “Spiderman” McBride to a top speed of 201.37 mph in just 6.94 seconds. This run came after a series of successive runs that came closer and closer to the 200 mph barrier. The just-under-7-seconds run makes the Lawless Rocket the quickest EV in the quarter-mile.

There’s plenty of competition for title of world’s quickest EV though, from the Killacycle to Lightning Motors, all of whom are chasing the same records as Lawless. As for the four-wheeled competitors, there’s an electric Camaro, an electric Beetle, and an electric Datsun, among many others that are vying to be the fastest, and quietest, drag racers in the world.

Official Release:

Trend Performance unveils world’s first hard-tip self-lubricating pushrod

Warren, MI: Trend Performance has introduced what they believe to be the world’s first self-lubricating 5/16in hard-tip competition pushrods. While their lower ends, those that engage the lifter seats, remain unaltered their upper ends now feature self-lubricating tool steel tips hardened to 60Rc. Both upper and lower 5/16in diameter ball ends are formed with a 210-degree radius at the end of a 1-5/8in taper to provide proper operating clearance around the rockers as well as in the lifters and lifter bores.

Engineered to overcome degradation troubles on the upper ball of high-revving high-powered engines, these new hard tip pushrods are now available in the following diameters: 7/16in, 1/2in, and 9/16in. Their wall thicknesses are 0.125in or 0.165in; 0.125in or 0.165in or 0.200in; and 0.200in respectively. Prepared in a satin finish over a precision center-less ground surface and laser-etched to the customers’ request, Trend’s hard tip pushrods are available in any length-usually 6.000 to 13.000 inches.

Trend’s hard-tip announcement of their latest ball-ball pushrods follows last year’s introduction of their BZ pushrods. By engineering a phosphor-bronze insert in its upper cup, the BZ brought an end to similar galling troubles in ball-cup-style pushrods.

In the 1990’s, pushrod wall thicknesses were increased to combat deflection caused by increasing valve spring pressures. Later their outer diameters grew. Today many believe the chief threat to their longevity is caused by deficiencies in modern lightweight lubricating oils. But the reality is that the competition pushrod is battling on a host of hostile fronts.

Four valuable tips to improve valve train performance

1. Pushrods set between lifters and rockers with contact surfaces rougher than 1RA expose the pushrod to potential ruinous abrasion. Always inquire about the surface finishes of the parts that operate in conjunction with your pushrods.
2. Pushrod balls bound in tight cups will eventually fail. Always ensure they have sufficient operating clearance.
3. High narrow-seat loadings generated by setting a pushrod in a V-cup compared with the more desirable radius cup further impairs the pushrod’s longevity.
4. Note: Increased rocker ratios and higher engine revs generate greater stress on pushrods. These factors also increase surface speeds on the ball.

Ed Pink says:

“We spend more time measuring and checking than we do putting the engine together. With pushrods, checking ball-and-seat dimensions is good working practice. It ensures the clearances are correct and everything fits right. Often we apply some machinist’s bluing on the ball of the pushrod and check its fit to the rocker arm cup. For years, I have used Trend pushrods and piston pins. I know of none that work better.”

Features:

• Upper ends feature self-lubricating tool steel tips hardened to 60Rc
• Both ends formed with a 210-degree radius at the end of a 1-5/8in taper to provide proper operating clearance
• Engineered to overcome degradation troubles on the upper ball of high-revving high-powered engines
• Available in three different diameters and any length

Commisso, driving one of the supercharged 1968 Camaros that was previously campaigned under Roger Burgess’ R2B2 Racing umbrella, rattled the tires not far off the startling line during the first session of Pro Modified qualifying, setting in motion a devastating incident around half track that happened incredibly quick.

The near head-on impact at about half track (330-feet) sent the concrete “jersey” barriers scattering away from their former position. The impact also burst both the oil tank and the fuel cell situated in the nose of the Camaro, creating a massive fireball. As you can aimgine with such a viscious hit, not only did both tanks rupture, but both exited stage left entirely. Some of those in attendance have commented that the heat from the short-lived fireball could be felt all the way up in the grandstands.

The ADRL’s videography team had their cameras rolling and captured the entire incident from a couple of different angles. Fortunately for them – and especially for cameraman Grinner Hester, who was nearly turned into roadkill after narrowly avoiding Lizzy Musi’s Camaro in the now-famous crash in Bristol – this one happened well outside of their personal space.

Considering what chassis builders are able to do with tweaked race cars these days, we wouldn’t be so quick to call Commisso’s machine junk. As others will agree, the Pro Modified landscape wouldn’t be quite the same without the Toronto, Ontario-based racer in the field.

Tony Schumacher gave Steve Torrence a hearty embrace Sunday afternoon at Atlanta Dragway after their final-round showdown at the Summit Southern Nationals.

It almost seemed less of a congratulatory hug than it did a welcome. Schumacher put his frustration aside and seemed to welcome Torrence to the elite level of the National Hot Rod Association’s Top Fuel class that has exalted him, injured him a decade ago, tested his mettle on innumerable occasions, and at the moment confounded him.

As Larry Dixon watched Torrence and Schumacher pull to the starting line, the three-time champion correctly remarked that “on paper, this looks like David versus Goliath” but assured the fans that was a deceptive notion.

To some not used to hearing Torrence’s name as much as Schumacher’s through the years, this pairing might have looked like a mismatch.

Schumacher was seeking his 68th victory, Torrence his first.

Schumacher was making his 114th final-round appearance, Torrence his first.

Schumacher was racing in his fourth final of the season in the U.S. Army Dragster. Torrence was driving in only the 10th race with his family-owned Capco Contractors Inc. Dragster.

Schumacher had the deep resources that multi-team, personnel-heavy Don Schumacher Racing could offer. Torrence had a talented and loyal brain trust and crew, but he could count them almost on one hand. Moreover, Torrence’s team — brand-new in every respect, down to the tools and shop floor mats they had to buy when they formed just about one year ago, after this very event — still was breaking into its routine.

All they really had in common was that neither ever had won at “Georgia’s House of Speed.”

But Torrence, drag racing’s “Little Engine That Could,” drove his car to the line like he had been there 1,000 times. And he had no reason to be scared. He was the No. 2 qualifier that weekend to Schumacher’s No. 1.

They launched, and Torrence had a far easier time of earning his first victory than he had imagined. His 3.893-second pass at 320.66 mph on the 1,000-foot course was plenty quick and fast and more than enough to hold off Schumacher, who smoked the tires early and finished with a 4.913, 169.44 showing.

Torrence, who turned just 29 years old April 17, didn’t even seem quite sure what to do or say or where to stand when he climbed from his Capco Contractors Dragster at the top end.  He did tell Schumacher, 42, that he had been watching him race for 20 years. And still, Schumacher was gracious.

Truly, Torrence didn’t spend much time practicing a big winner’s speech. He was too busy assembling his dream team and making sure they and he were prepared to compete and behave professionally. And after all, it was just one year ago, at this very race, that Torrence drove his last race for Dexter Tuttle, then announced he was stepping from the cockpit just long enough to prepare his Brad Hadman-built dragster the right way and hit the ground running.

He did that at Dallas last September and raced at Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Image courtesy: NHRA/National Dragster

“I like controlling my own destiny,” Torrence said, remembering his days at the racetrack with dad Billy, who was in Atlanta to share the moment with his son who had beaten cancer as a teenager. “Growing up, I wanted to drive a Top Fuel dragster, just to drive one.”

He said he wasn’t sure he ever would, “let alone have a family-owned team. Now I’m out here doing this — winning races and living my dream because of him and because of all the guys that have worked their tails off every day at Capco Contractors. They got us out here. To be able to go to the shop in Indy [Brownsburg, Ind.] and say, ‘This is all our stuff’ . . . nothin’ beats that.”

Well, winning does.

“This was one unbelievable weekend,” Torrence said after denying Schumacher a chance to snap his winless streak at 29 races and finally master the muggy mysteries of Atlanta Drag way — which had heated up to nearly 140 degrees in temperatures that topped 90 degrees. He said it would take awhile for the sense of accomplishment to sink in.

“[Crew chief] Richard Hogan, Bryan Shipman, and everyone on this whole team worked their tails off. It was hot and the track was hot – but it was good. It was a tricky situation and my guys prevailed, and we got that win for Capco and Torrence Racing. I could not be happier.

“I never in my wildest dreams would have expected to be here as a family-owned, one-car team and come out here and run the way we are,” he said.

On closer examination, Torrence was not a long shot. He was the No. 2 qualifier, slower only to Schumacher’s track-record 3.815-second elapsed time but the only other Top Fuel driver in qualifying to turn a 320-plus-mph pass. Besides, Torrence had qualified first at Charlotte and second at Houston (and third at Phoenix, back in February). So he already had served notice that he was going to be the threat he had hoped to be.

“We set out this year to be competitive, be able to run well and do the best we possibly could,” Torrence said. “We brought the car out for three races last year, and it ran fairly well. And then we came out this year and ran well, and we felt we had a competitive car.”

He was right. That’s why he scrambled the dynamics of the Top Fuel class that has seen Don Schumacher Racing’s Spencer Massey and Antron Brown and Morgan Lucas dominate the first six races.

This victory validated Torrence, the kid from Kilgore, Texas, and Hogan, who last won with Melanie Troxel in a dragster. Torrence heads to Topeka for the May 18-20 Dollar General Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka in fifth place in the standings.

Schumacher, salved by gaining the points lead, saw his perturbing winless streak extend to 30 races.

“There’s a lot of racing left, and we’re not going to settle for being runner-up all of the time,” Schumacher said. “We will bring home some trophies this year.

“It’s always a good thing to be leading the points,” he said. “But to be honest, it would have been better to be leaving here with the points lead and a win. People say you can’t have your cake and eat it, too, but I’m one person who wants that in the worst way.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” Schumacher said. “This is not over by a long shot.”

He and crew chief Mike Green and the team remained Monday at Atlanta  to test a new version of the Army Dragster. “If all goes well, we will roll it out in Topeka in two weeks. I have full confidence that wins are right around the corner for the U.S. Army team.”

That would be the positive news. The unpleasant news is that he just discovered he has one more serious contender for championship to deal with in Steve Torrence.

Race promoter and accomplished competitor Dave Hance, who has fielded a race car in virtually every doorslammer category in the sport at one time or another, revealed this week that he’ll be returning to the Outlaw 10.5 ranks with a new (to him) race car out of the New York Motorsports table.

Over the weekend, Hance purchased and picked up the beautiful Fox body Mustang previously campaigned by car owner Ron Schlessinger and driven by Larry Wood in the Notheast before being parked in favor the pair’s stunning new C6 Corvette.

“It will be an uphill battle considering all the great teams currently in Outlaw 10.5,” said Hance.

Hance has been rather bashful on the message forums in regards to his expectations, because if we know Dave as well as we think, he’ll do whatever it takes short of burning the thing to the ground to run up front.

Hance last competed in Outlaw 10.5 in the mid-2000′s in one of the early 2005 Mustangs.  Since that time, Hance has made history with the first six-second Outlaw Drag Radial pass and last fall, clicked off his first five-second pass in his ’57 Chevy after years of trying. Hance indicated that both the Radial car and the ’57 are currently for sale.

It’s certainly going to be an interesting season with a hungry racer the likes of Dave Hance, among others, in the Outlaw 10.5 game.

Jason Lee, the reigning NMRA Drag Radial series champion, has come out swinging in his title defense this spring, earning wins at the NMRA and NMCA season openers in Bradenton and the NMRA/NMCA All Star combo race in Atlanta to begin the year undefeated in both series.

With the third event of the season, the 12th annual Downs Ford Motorsports NMRA Nationals being held at the always-quick Maryland International Raceway, career best performances were ripe for the picking, and the Maumee, Oh. based racer took full advantage.

Wasting little time in solidifying his dominance in the Drag Radial category, Lee uncorked a record-breaking pass of 7.372 seconds at 190.19mph from his Strange Engineering-backed ’86 Mustang in the very first round of qualifying at MIR, and although he struggled in the remaining two sessions on Saturday, Sunday brought a return to sub-record territory, as Lee took backed up his provisional record pass with an even quicker 7.369 in round one.

In the second round, Lee one-upped himself just a few thousandths more, clicking off a 7.361 at 190.54. When all was said and done, the Strange Engineering racer had lowered his own elapsed time mark by more than .015-seconds from the previous mark of 7.523 set in Bradenton just two months ago. A mighty impressive performance for a 275 drag radial-equipped ride.

For more information on Strange Engineering and their extensive product line of driveline and suspension components, log on to strangeengineering.net.

Official Release:

Hellwig Big Wig Air

Part Number 6109

Hellwig Products Co., Inc is expanding their Big Wig Air Bags. The newest addition to this family is part number 6109 for 2005 to 2010 F250 & F350 Single Rear Wheel 4 Wheel Drive Super Duties; is the largest air springs on the market. With up to 3″ more free height, these air springs have more air volume to provide ride quality and performance that can’t be beat with a large load in the bed. Hellwig’s new 6109 kit only requires 60 psi of air pressure to level the vehicle while most kits require 90 psi or more. Lower air pressure provides a better spring rate for ride quality you can feel. The larger air springs also provide better off-highway performance as the air springs in this kit will extend up to 15″ for articulation that can’t be matched.

This kit features Hellwig’s trademark bulletproof bracketry with a lifetime warranty. For the ultimate tow package upgrade with Hellwig’s Big Wig Sway Bars to give you more control in towing and hauling situations.

Features:

• Largest air springs on the market
• Feature up to 3 inches more free height for better air volume and ride quality
• Kit only requires 60psi of air pressure to level the vehicle
• Provide better off-highway performance
• Backed by a lifetime warranty

Check out Hellwig’s website for more information on this and any of Hellwig’s other Load and Sway Control products at www.hellwigproducts.com, 800 367-5480 or 559 734-7451, 16237 Ave 296; Visalia, Ca 93292.

There’s a reason that we don’t run cars on paper, and that’s because an infinite numbers of variables come into play on a racetrack.

Jason Lee, the perennial favorite and dominating force in the NMRA Drag Radial category, had qualified No. 1 with a new series and personal best 7.37 that was more then two tenths ahead of the next closest qualifier and, by all measures, has the race in the bag.

But apparently, someone forgot to tell that to Brian Tuten.

The Lexington, S.C. racer, whose ’91 Ford Mustang was built by Dave Zimmerman and company at Team Z Motorsports, qualified No. 4 at a respectable 7.74 and used consistency rather than the ‘wow’ factor to press through eliminations. Tuten recorded a 7.69 in round one to turn away Keith McLaughlin and a 7.70 to defeat Andrew Willingham in round two to advance his way into the final.

Lee, meanwhile, had only stepped up his game, recording new national record laps of 7.369 and 7.361 during the first two rounds. This seemed to be Lee’s race, but once again, someone forgot to tell Brian Tuten.

In the final round runoff, Tuten grabbed a slight advantage out of the gate in his burgandy-colored Fox body and kept a nose out on Lee all the way to the strip, clicking off his best run of the weekend at 7.65 to Lee’s right-there 7.66. Running them on paper wouldn’t be near as exciting,

Tuten’s potent Mustang features a Team Z Motorsports 25.5 chassis, with a Team Z chromoly K-member, A-arms, upper and lower control arms and anti-roll bar, along with a Team Z-fabbed 8.8 rear housing with IC lower brackets.

To browse the Team Z Motorsports catalog or to learn more about the services that they offer, log on to teamzmotorsports.net.

Twenty-two years ago, while cruising in a pickup truck that he will only identify as a “hoopty,” Kevin Sievers spotted a ’70 Cougar on the side of the road and nearly locked up his brakes to stop and look at it. Upon talking to the owner, he learned that the car was originally from Arkansas, and while it had traces of Arkansas dirt on it, it had no rust.

“I bought it and drove it as a daily driver,” said Sievers, who lives in Livonia, Michigan, with his wife, Laura Sievers, and has been a dynamometer technician at Ford Motor Company for twenty years. “It had the original 351 cubic-inch engine with a two-barrel carburetor and automatic transmission, and at the time, my job was wiring telephone systems and I would pack the trunk of the Cougar with wire and a collapsible ladder and go to work. I drove it for one year and then I took it to Detroit Dragway, where I ran a 15-flat the first time out and blew the transmission the second time out.”

In addition to pulling the transmission for repair, Sievers and his dad, Phillip Sievers, pulled the engine and gave it a bump in compression from 10.5 to 1 to 13.5 to 1 with pop-up pistons and made it a 358 cubic-inch engine with four-barrel open-chamber heads and an Edelbrock Torker four-barrel intake manifold. When that was said and done, he netted a thirteen-second timeslip. After making tweaks the following four years, the engine eventually carried him to 11.8-second passes at Detroit Dragway, where he was bracket racing and where he got his first two wins. Wanting more, he gave his converter to A-1 Performance Trans and Converters to be worked over and the result was an 11.20 timeslip.

In 1999, Sievers hired Chris Holbrook of Holbrook Racing Engines in Michigan to build a 514 cubic-inch engine topped with Trick Flow heads, which propelled the car to 9.20s.

“The engine was a stock-block 460 that was punched out to a 4.44 bore and 4.150 stroke crank,” said Sievers. “I ran that combination for three years and then Milan Dragway in Michigan started a heads-up program, and in that program’s All-Motor class, at the first race, I ran 9.48, in 2003. It was slower than I had been running, but we had to add a couple hundred pounds per the rules. We were in the middle of the pack and I wanted to step it up.”

Step it up he did, in 2007, when he again commissioned Holbrook to build a 638 cubic-inch engine, with a CNC Motorsports all-aluminum block and IDT Eliminator heads and collected a series of 8.2-second timeslips.

“I like the sound of a nice, crisp high-compression naturally-aspirated engine,” said Sievers. “I continued to run in Milan Dragway’s All-Motor heads-up class and I went to the NMRA and NMCA Super Bowl in Illinois and made exhibition passes there instead of entering the race, because I was running Q16 fuel and that wasn’t permitted.”

A few years ago, because Sievers eventually switched from a Cubic Flow Modifications’ 1600 CFM  single carburetor to two Cubic Flow Modifications’ 1150 CFM carburetors  —  which were not permitted in Milan Dragway’s All-Motor heads-up class — and began running the Cougar in Milan Dragway’s Outlaw 10.5 heads-up class. With the switch from the single carburetor to two carburetors came 100 more horsepower and low 8-second timeslips.

“On the dyno, we made 1250 horsepower with a single carburetor and 1320 with dual quads,” said Sievers. “I tried to get sponsorship, but I couldn’t find anyone willing to help because it was a ’70 Cougar and Ford dealerships said ‘We don’t sell ’70 Cougars anymore,’ so at that point, since I had the car for twenty-two years, I thought it was time for a change.”

He sold the Cougar, which had been known as Cat Scratch Fever, two years ago to a buyer in Maryland, after removing from it the engine, transmission, front suspension, wheels, tires, gauges and fuel system, and he also sold his super-clean ’67 fastback Mustang. Helping him to stop lamenting how he had “sold the farm” for his next project was the acquisition of a 2010 Mustang as a body-in-white from Ford Racing in early 2010 and he wasted no time before taking the car, nicknamed Stranglehold, to Billy Gilsbach at Gilsbach Racecraft in Michigan for some chassis magic.

“We had talked about doing a chassis for the Cougar and for aerodynamic reasons, I thought it would better to do a new car,” said Sievers. “I was thinking about doing a Fusion, but I couldn’t get a body-in-white Fusion. After dropping the body-in-white Mustang off at Billy’s shop, my friend, Joe Kabara, and I would go there to do some grunt work, like grinding off the spot welds and removing as much weight as we could. It was a good learning experience for sure, because I had never done anything like that. I had no idea it was going to be that involved. Billy built the chassis and put it on his jig and he and the guys did their magic on it.”

While the Mustang wears the same front struts, brakes, wheels, tires and rack and pinion that were on the Cougar, Gilsbach fabricated a 9.5-inch rearend for it with a Strange center section stuffed with 3.90 gearing and Strange axles. The rear suspension boasts Santhuff coilovers and a custom anti-roll bar by Gilsbach. Weld Aluma Star beadlock wheels in back are wrapped in Mickey Thompson tires, as are the American Racing Torq Thrust wheels in front.

“We were going to do some carbon fiber but we found out how much it was going to cost,” said Sievers. “Every panel on the car is factory except for the hood. It had steel fenders and doors, and the rear quarter-panels were never cut. It has the stock deck lid, stock front fascia, stock grill and it has the chin spoiler by Classic Design Concepts. For the rear fascia, we took two of them and made one. It has stock taillights and headlights, and they all work. Well, maybe the blinkers don’t work, but I don’t need those, right?”

While the engine that’s in the Mustang is the same one that was in the Cougar, it was taken to Holbrook to be freshened up with new rods and rings, and it was honed and the block re-decked. It sports the same solid roller cam, which is in the .900-lift range, and 16.75 to 1 compression. Seievers also runs Spaghetti Menders wiring. He wanted the same combination he had in the Cougar, but he also wanted to work with it to see what kind of power he could get out of it. For people who were used to seeing Sievers under the hood of his car picking and choosing which jets to put in his carburetor, his switch to fuel injection managed by Big Stuff 3 came as a surprise.

“When I bought this car, I was looking more toward the future, and I figured we could start playing with fuel injection now and get a handle on it,” said Sievers, who adds that the build of the Mustang would not have been possible without the help of Billy Gilsbach and his colleagues at Gilsbach Racecraft, Chris Holbrook of Holbrook Racing Engines, Ford Racing, Ford Motor Company, Varsity Ford, J and H Performance Transmissions, Tom “Musky” Stiles, who built the headers, Dennis Ridgeway Enterprises (DRE), Aeromotive Fuel Systems, Weld Racing, Strange Engineering  and Santhuff’s. He also wants to thank Ron Lange from RAD Coatings, who powder-coated a plethora of parts on the car, as well as the chassis; Tom Pearson for wiring the car, Blaine Ramey who shares a trailer with him, Kevin Cody, who checks the car over at the track and his wife, Laura Sievers and his dad, Phillip Sievers.

Fresh out of the shop, Sievers took the Mustang to a track rental at Milan Dragway on August 4, where he ran an 8.13 at 165 mph to the 1000-foot, and the following night, he entered the car in Milan Dragway’s Outlaw 10.5 class and posted a series of 8.0′s. While he endured a first-round loss at his first race, he progressed to the second round at his next Milan Dragway Outlaw 10.5 effort with a 7.92.

“When I got back to the pits, everyone was yelling and hooting and hollering,” said Sievers. “I thought I won Indy!”

After that, he ran 8.01 in Super Street 10.5W at the NMCA race at Milan Dragway and 7.99 at a Passtime event, also at Milan Dragway, and proving that the car is easy on the eyes is the fact that it won first place in the Pro Stock category at the Meguiar’s 60^th Detroit Autorama in February.

Sievers soon will work with Motorcity Solutions on a weight reduction program for the car in the form of carbon fiber products, and for the ’12 season, he plans to enter some Milan Dragway Outlaw 10.5, NMCA Nostalgia Pro Street and other races.

While he refers to his crew as the “Benny Hill Crew” when things in the pit area are less than orderly, he’s happy with how the car has run so far, but that doesn’t mean that he’s done tuning, for he has his eyes on the mid-7′s and doesn’t plan to stop until he gets there.

It appears the turbo camp in the ADRL is about to gain another charter member, as the El General Racing team pairs up once again with Proline Racing on this brand spankin’ new ’69 Camaro fresh out of the Jerry Bickel Race Cars shop in Missouri.

These are the first photos of the new Camaro, which looks to be well on its way to completion.

The lightweight new Camaro will be powered by an Alan Johnson 481X powerplant built by Proline with a pair of hairdryers out front. Gonzalez and company hope to have the car complete by the end of May and on-track for testing in early June.

“Our goal is to the be the first turbo car in the 3.70 range and then first into the 3.60′s,” Said Gonzalez. “We know it will take some time, but I think the whole team is committed to achieving this goal.”

Photos courtesyJose Gonzalez/El General Racing

“I”ll be trying to get better and better each day, as I’ve only been driving turbo cars since October. I’ve gotten comfortable inside the car pretty quick; of course that’s because of the great team at Proline, the great tuning of Steve Petty, and my entire crew. Those guys have made my job pretty easy with their hard work and experience.”

The Florida-based El General team, with driver Jose Gonzalez at the controls, teamed with Eric Dillard, Steve Petty, and the crew at Proline last fall with a new engine combination and the move paid dividends immediately, as Gonzalez rode Petty’s tuning prowess all the way to the Blown Pro Mod crown at the Shakedown at E’Town in convincing fashion with the teams’ first five-second run.

With Proline in their corner, no doubt that Gonzalez and El General just might make a little noise (no pun intended) in Pro Extreme.

When modifying your Mustang, some people say that the V8 is the only way to go when it comes to making a high-performance track car. Sometimes you can’t help but wonder if they’ve heard of these new and improved Mustang six cylinder making 305 hp while still getting over 30 miles per gallon. Almost seems to be too good to be true, but it’s the truth and it’s definitely good.

It feels good to shut up some of those high and mighty 5-liter owners when the V6 outperforms some of the V8s present. This 2011 Procharged 3.7-liter V6 tears up the quarter mile in a super impressive 11.11 seconds at 124 mph. According to the Facebook page, besides a Procharger, this Yellow Blaze bad boy features C&L Induction, BBK Long Tubes, BBK Cat, X-pipe connected to Magnaflow Cat-back exhaust, and an SCT SF3 flasher. The owners, Central Florida Motorsports, tests and develops aftermarket products for the 3.7-liter V6 Mustang. They are the fastest to date in a 3.7-L V6 Mustang, with American Muscle not far behind with their V6 the first to reach the 11′s.

Most companies seem to put all of their focus on the 5-liter V8 when it comes to providing aftermarket performance parts for Mustangs. However, it looks like the V6 is making quite the name for itself at the track. Thanks to people like Central Florida Motorsports and AmericanMuscle.com, we can have faith in buying aftermarket performance products for the V6 underdog.

What do you think of this V6 making 11.20 seconds in the 1/4 mile?

On the flip side of the coin, however, the grudge scene is where you’ll find drag racing in its purest of forms.

There are no dial-ins, no elapsed times, no speeds, and very few rules that are often negotiated by the competing parties. Aside from the use of electronics to start the race and end the race, this is old school Main Street drag races on a closed course.

On Main Street, nothing says you can’t cross the centerline, and in this particular race, the lack of any such rule was the difference between winning $10,000 and going home with empty pockets.

We’re not sure who the drivers were in the match captured in this clip by the crew at 1320 Video during the King Of The Streets (KOTS) VII at Great Lakes Dragaway in Wisconsin, but the result was one of the oddest outcomes of any drag race we’ve ever witnessed, and clearly floored everyone in attendance. Suffice it to say though, none were more shocked than the crew of the car in the near lane that lost 10,000 bones on this wild drag race that they had in the bag.

When that kind of money is on the line, you never lift.

The clip seen above is part of a full length DVD that 1320 Video will be producing on KOTS VII, so if you want to see more, click over and pre-order yourself a copy.

As a former series champion, the winningest driver in ADRL history (tied with PXM’s Ashley Owens at 13 wins), and the driver with the most career final round appearances in series history (18), Billy Glidden has had plenty of great moments since bursting into the Extreme 10.5 category in 2008. But on Saturday night at Maple Grove Raceway, he had perhaps one of his finest hours to date.

Glidden, the popular and outspoken second-generation racer from Whiteland, In., has spent much of the last two-plus seasons getting his tried-and-true nitrous oxide combination kicked around by the likes of Dan Millen, Chuck Ulsch, Alan Pittman, Grant McCrary, and others.

But at the ADRL’s Northeast Drags II, Glidden let it be known that enough was enough.

Glidden put his Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels-backed Ford Mustang in the third slot in qualifying at a 3.996 and then turned up the proverbial wick in eliminations, disposing of Dan Myers in round one with a 3.93 and Alan Pittman – who was undefeated on the season – in round two with a stout 3.883.

In the final, Glidden drew his old nemesis Chuck Ulsch and his screw-blown ’68 Camaro that had started from the pole with a 3.90. In vintage Billy Glidden form, the Mickey Thompson Mustang rocketed out of the gate with an .020 advantage and lit the scoreboards ahead of Ulsch with Glidden’s career best performance: a stunning 3.862 at 192.63mph. The boards on Ulsch’s side flashed a 3.855. Ol’ Billy had stolen one.

For more information on Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels and their leading tire and wheel products, like the 33×10.5W tires and Pro-5 Drag wheels used on Billy Glidden’s Ford Mustang, visit mickeythompsontires.com.

Although the American Drag Racing League’s wild new SuperCar Showdown division has only completed its third event, Chris Holbrook will admit it seemed to take forever to enter the winner’s circle. The popular Michigan racer finally hoisted an ADRL SCS trophy in front of a cheering fans after winning the ADRL’s Northeast Drags II presented by Penske at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania.

Holbrook beat previously undefeated Bo Butner on driving skill alone in the championship round which, for the third straight event, featured a pair of new supercharged Ford Mustang Cobra Jets in a wheelstanding duel which drew raves from spectators. Holbrook’s victory was the first in series history to be determined by a better reaction time. Holbrook’s silver “Instant Action” Ford clocked 5.88 seconds at a top speed of 119.17 miles per hour in the eighth-mile distance to stop Butner’s quicker 5.82-second run at 118.78 mph.

“To win due to a starting line ‘holeshot’ is the ultimate thrill for a driver”, said an elated Holbrook during the trophy presentation surrounded by his wife, sons and team members. “To finally beat Bo Butner was just as big for us. That’s something we thought we could do at the first two events but Bo has just been unstoppable. Winning another title for Ford is just awesome”.

In fact, the entire event played out almost exactly opposite of the first two races in the series. Beginning with the ADRL’s season-opening event in Houston, Texas, Holbrook’s Mustang had produced the quickest elapsed time of each race and also recorded the fastest speed of each program. Holbrook set the ADRL World Records for ET and speed, (5.75 seconds, 120.33 mph), but fell in the final round to Butner at the Houston race and lost in the semi-final round to fellow Ford Mustang campaigner Ray Skillman at the second SCS battle in Bristol, Tennessee.

Holbrook was the very first driver to submit an entry to the new The SuperCar Showdown features open competition among production vehicles from all automobile manufacturers worldwide with engines, chassis and even tires remaining in factory trim. His Holbrook Racing Engines emporium in Livonia, Michigan, worked closely with the Ford Motor Company in the development of the new supercharged 5.4-liter Cobra Jet engine. In fact, Holbrook’s late father, Carl, campaigned one of the first of the original Cobra Jet Mustangs in 1968.

“Our research and development program has centered on the SuperCar Showdown series. It’s really our main focus”, explained Holbrook. “I mentioned before the season ever started that Jesse Kershaw and Brian Wolfe of Ford Motorsports took this new class very seriously and I can promise you they’re even more intent on winning here now. My own longtime sponsor, Varsity Ford in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is equally committed to this project since they are a Cobra Jet dealership and to win this for them is very gratifying, as well”.

Holbrook’s road to the winner’s circle began as had the first two races in the series. In the very first qualifying session, Holbrook clocked 5.83 seconds at the fastest speed yet recorded for the SCS division, 120.97 mph, to earn the top qualifying position. However, Butner stole the pole spot only minutes later with a run of 5.828/118.08. Incredibly, Holbrook returned in the second qualifying session to knock Butner from the  top of the qualifying list by one solitary thousandth of a second with a run of 5.827.

On raceday, Holbrook clocked winning runs of 5.83/118.69 and 5.85/118.59 en route to the championship bout. Butner, whose white Cobra Jet Mustang competes with a Holbrook Racing Engines-constructed powerplant, kicked his day off with a 5.86/118.33 effort but was later nearly upset by another competitor with a better reaction time. Past National event champion Leonard Mattingly of Kentucky, at the wheel of Louisianan Jeff Teuton’s Southland Dodge-sponsored V10-powered Dodge Challenger SRT Drag Pak, recorded the best reaction time in SCS history, (0.015 seconds), and forced Hoosier Butner to streak to the quickest run of the race, 5.80 seconds, to barely pass the Dodge and secure a berth in the final round.

Holbrook, a past Pro Stock World Champion, and Butner, a previous sportsman division World Title holder, knew driver’s reactions would play a key role in the final contest but even Butner was stunned by Holbrook’s brilliant start. “No driver wants to lose on a holeshot”, said Butner, “but I can honestly say, if I was going to lose to anybody, I’m glad it was Chris. This way, it was an all-Ford final round for the third straight race so we all came out of it as winners”.

The next event in the 2012 SuperCar Showdown Series will be the American Drag Racing League’s Gateway Drags IV presented by CarSafe Automotive Repair Protection at Gateway Motorsports Parks in Madison, Illinois, on June 1-2.

Senior wouldn’t just build performance products mind you, rather he would use them himself. Three weeks before Pearl Harbor and the start of World War II, he was clocked at the speed of 121.42 mph in his ’32 at Rosamond Dry Lake. But during the war Vic Sr. would stop building performance products and used his machinist skills for the war effort.

Vic Sr.

In 1949 Vic Sr. moved into his first purpose-built shop on Jefferson Blvd. At 5,000 sq. ft. it was equipped with a small machine shop, repair bays, engine dynamometer, a small stock room and office space. Throughout the 1950′s Vic Sr. would continue to set speed records and the Edelbrock name flourished.

But in 1962, at the age of 49, Vic Sr. would sadly pass away from cancer. His name and company would be passed on through his 27 year old son Vic Edelbrock Jr. Flash forward to 2011, and the Edelbrock name has become one of the most recognizable names within the performance industry. Their distribution center alone now covers over 65,000 feet.

Recently we got the opportunity to sit down and talk with the 76 year old Vic Edelbrock Jr about a variety of topics:

powerTV: Your father started the Edelbrock name, but what kind of man was he? How did he influence you and your work ethic?

Vic Edelbrock: “(laughing) Ha, well he would only say it once, and you better take note of what he said. He was German and he was very well liked by everybody, if he liked you then you had a real friend. He passed away at the age of 49 in 1962, I was fortunate because of the friends he had were really loyal to me, and really helped me get through that period.

He had an excellent mind for automotive engines. He only went to school to the ninth grade, because his fathers grocery store burnt down in Kansas, and he had two older brothers and they all had to go to work to support the family. But my father read a lot, he read a lot of books about the internal combustion engine.

A lot of his automotive experience came from the farmers who would buy a model-T, and they would want someone to pick it up for them and bring it to their farms. Of course there were no highways, there was just “dirtways”, so parts would just fall off the Model-T because of the roads. He was forced to be mechanically inclined to pick up the pieces and put them back together. So that was the start of him being able to work with his hands.”

PTV: Your father was very involved within dirt track racing, specifically midget racing, how did he get involved in dirt track racing?

Vic: ”When everybody came back from overseas, people wanted to see cars race. Because midget racing was going on before the war, it just continued after the war. You could go opening day to Balboa Stadium in San Diego where the Chargers use to play football, and if you won opening night which was always on memorial day weekend, you might come home with $15,000 in your pocket. The stadium would hold 32,000 and they would sell every seat.

My father got into midget racing before the war, then after the war he bought a regular car that had a frame rail in it that they called a “rail job”. Then Frank Kurtis designed a modern midget that was a very good looking car, that we happen to have it, and it is fully restored back to it’s original condition. My dad bought it new in 1946, it was number 7 of the Kurtis Kraft machines.

Midget Racing really grew out of Southern California, then moved to northern California before it moved to west. He eventually moved to racing Jalopy’s because more people wanted to see more cars crash. And if you raced a midget, you didn’t want to crash your midget because of how expensive it was to repair it.”

Edelbrock still has the original Ford V8 Kurtis Kraft Midget

PTV: Yeah well that and if you crashed back then, your chances of walking away were very slim.

Vic: ”Oh of course, they only had a lap belt. And then you had drivers like Rex Mays who didn’t believe lap belts. He was killed at Del Mar which was a horse racing track back then. But there is a photo of him that you can find where he’s upside down and he’s coming out of the car. It’s a really scary sight.”

PTV: How did your father come up with the idea to use the Flathead Ford?

Vic Sr. with Vic Jr.

Vic: “Well, it was never built as a performance engine. Obviously, it was built for low cost. In 1919-20 Henry (Ford) was making 2 million cars a year. So, he was busy making parts!

I don’t know how my father exactly came up with idea. I do know that he bought the ’32 roadster, that was the family car, I was born in ’36, and he bought that around the same time. It had a flat head in it, and of course he started playing with that. At the time everyone was using the 4-cyclinder inline Chevrolet engine. They really turned their nose down on the flathead.

I don’t know why he picked it up, obviously he probably didn’t like the idea of the 4-cylinder and wanted more cylinders and his only V8 option at the time would of been the Flathead Ford

Three weeks before Pearl Harbor, my dad had a roadster that almost went 122 mph. They didn’t have cylinder heads back then, Ford made a small combustion chamber engine design for cars sold in Denver and high altitudes to get a little more performance out of them. My dad would take those and screw around with the combustion chamber, and he ended up using methanol because he could get the compression up.

But when he went 122 (mph) people forget that the right hand would be on the steering wheel, but the left hand would be through the steering wheel pumping on a pressure pump. We still have that car.”

PTV: Really? How many cars do you have at Vic’s garage right now?

Vic: “Oh, probably around 35.”

PTV: Is their one car that stands out above the rest?

Vic: “My Dad’s roadster is everything, but the midget also means a lot. It has the original trailer, and my dad used to tow it with a Woody. Which my wife always wanted one of her own, so we bought one and restored it. Now we have the original midget, trailer, and a restored Woody which really mean a lot.”

PTV: Speaking of racing, Edelbrock is extremely well known throughout the performance industry, but it seems like the past 5 years Edelbrock has been focusing a lot of time at the motorsports arena.

Vic: “We have, mainly in the cylinder heads. When we started our cylinder head program back in 1992, I didn’t get in to the racing stuff where everyone was, instead I got into street performance. But we have really put an effort over the past 5 or 6 years to build strictly race application cylinder heads. A year ago at PRI we also introduced a brand new manifold design, which set the record books and we feel that the industry has changed because of it. We have the capabilities to make some very complicated pieces, and ensure that there is no shrinks or pulls in the castings.

Also, we are very fortunate to have Dr. Rick Roberts who studied at Cal Tech, and actually went to work for IBM when he got out of school. But luckily he was a car guy, and he couldn’t get away from the car industry. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years and are continuing to have a lot of fun.”

PTV: What is Edelbrock’s involvement with the new NASCAR EFI System? 

Vic: “Our manifolds have all been changed, but NASCAR mandates where all the nozzles are placed on the manifold. We are already the official manifold of NASCAR, and while we are still making our manifolds, we are not on any Fords this year. But we are on Toyotas, GM, and Dodges.

We are the only independent manifold manufacturer that has been approved for NASCAR use outside of the OE manufactures. We are really proud of that. A lot of teams are still manufacturing the manifolds in-house, but what they are finding is that we can do it at almost half the cost.”

PTV: We got to listen to Dr. Rick Roberts at this year’s AETC and he said that he still uses a CAD system when designing cylinder heads. But he said it was amazing to think that 30 years ago we were doing this with a T-square. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the manufacturing process during your time building the Edelbrock name?

The biggest thing that has happened to the manufacturing process is the entire CNC process. It has allowed us to make cylinder heads at 1/3 the cost if we didn’t have these machines, and as of right now, we have over 90 CNC machines.

We are also vertically integrated so that everything is under one roof. We have very sophisticated equipment to measure our aluminum and make sure that it doesn’t have gas in it. Aluminum is the most gas filled metal there is, and you have to get that gas out of there. We closely monitor that and keep it in check.”

PTV: What advice would you have for someone that is wanting to work within the performance market, and become someone like Dr. Rick Roberts?

Vic: ”It depends on what their knowledge is, if they are a real gearhead, and know cars then they might not have to go to school. But if you’re not, and you need a little education, then I suggest you go to the various schools out there. Edelbrock is involved with the Ohio Technical College, which has the Edelbrock academy. They teach about using Edelbrock products, and how it can mean a job for you.

There is a real need for installers and programers across the country, but you need the education. Some of the schools like NTI, or Wyotech have great job placement aids also. Having the education really helps put you to the next level, take cylinder heads and camshafts, how many people know what overlap really is?

You take the camshaft, manifolds, cylinder heads, and that’s your induction system. That’s what’s responsible for NASCAR going from a 355 engine, say 20 years ago that only put out 650 horsepower to a 355 that puts out 900 horsepower today.”

Vic Edelbrock Jr. today

PTV: Speaking of NASCAR, one last question for you, what’s the biggest problem facing NASCAR today? What do you think needs to change?

Vic: Ha, well the restrictor plate!… I think right now, the racing at Daytona looks like two grasshoppers mating! I was very upset when I saw the first race at Daytona, I made a phone call to Jerry Cook of NASCAR who is a close friend of ours. When he called me back, after a couple of days I said, “what in the hell are you doing!” I mean this is ridiculous.

But now they are feeling it even more from the public. The public doesn’t like it, the racing is very boring. So I think they have to make some changes to where they are able to go back and draft the proper way, three or four in a line. The cars need more power to be able to slingshot like they did back in the old days. It might mean smaller engines.

Daytona is the biggest race of the year, when people watch it now, people fall asleep in the middle of the race. Once they bring that around, I think that will help improve not only Daytona and Talladega, which helps the whole atmosphere.”

At 76 years-old, Vic Jr. shows no signs of slowing down. For that matter, neither does Edelbrock as a company. 2012 is shaping up to be another great year for the historic company, and with a ton of new products for the performance and motorsports markets, it might be a year they soon don’t forget.

NHRA Funny Car driver Ron Capps had enough troubles as April began, and news of his crew chief doing a disappearing act in Las Vegas was no April Fools Day joke. He missed the cut for the SummitRacing.com Nationals there.

A month later, by May 6, at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals in Atlanta, Capps had transformed into a winner again. And he and his new crew chief and team had accomplished what no one else in the class could do: stop John Force Racing’s impressive winning streak.

The story of Capps’ extreme makeover from disappointment-riddled underachiever back to championship contender is a bit of a meandering plot.

The NAPA deal with Don Schumacher Racing in 2008 reunited him with Ed “Ace” McCulloch, who had helped engineer his Funny Car success with Don Prudhomme’s Snake Racing after their Skoal funding dissolved. When McCulloch stepped away from the daily grind, John Medlen came over from John Force Racing and lent his considerable expertise. Then Tim and Kim Richards returned from retirement, and Capps again appreciated their veteran viewpoints.

But the victories had tapered off, and this year’s March 31 failure to qualify at Las Vegas ignited some interoffice politics that resulted in the Richardses departing the team. So Capps once again faced a crew chief change.

“It’s a little like starting the season over,” Capps said.

On one hand, that sounds like a blessing, for a fresh start erases emotional baggage. However, with that comes the reality that the rest of his rivals were moving forward, not stopping to wait for him to catch up. And that put Capps, already uncertain about why he was having trouble with his Charger’s performance, in limbo a bit.

Who would Don Schumacher hire to step in and work with the popular, versatile Capps, who revels in the history and the romance of the sport? The answer was just a hauler away.

Rahn Tobler got the nod, as team owner Don Schumacher shook up his personnel and swapped driver Jack Beckman’s and Capps’ crews. Capps and Tobler began their journey at Charlotte, and they have clicked from Day one. Capps qualified No. 2 and advanced to the final round at each of their first three races and at that third event, at Atlanta Dragway, they hit the jackpot.

That was no surprise to Capps, who had predicted it. “I have no problem saying we’ll be in the winner’s circle soon” he said right away. “That’s a fun position to be in as a driver.”
Capps gave a wire-to-wire performance Sunday on the 1,000-foot course at Commerce, Ga., in 4.166 seconds at 303.91 mph against top-qualifier Robert Hight’s 4.399 at 273.44 in the final. Hight had won four of this year’s seven titles — the ones teammates John Force and Mike Neff didn’t grab.

It was Capps’ first victory since last Halloween weekend at Las Vegas.

“I feel so confident with Rahn Tobler. He looks down the road and plans so far ahead. The way the car is running now I’m confident how well it will run at the end of the year in the Countdown to the Championship,” Capps said.

“We had a rough spot back in April when we didn’t qualify for the Las Vegas race, but I knew good things would happen when Don [Schumacher] decided to move Rahn Tobler over to our team as crew chief,” he said.

“I’ve always admired Rahn and what he’s accomplished,” Capps said. “It’s a good feeling to look out the window and see Rahn Tobler and know the car is going to go down the track. He’s the type of guy that you won’t get a lot of really, really highs or really, really lows.

“I’ve learned so much from listening to him already,” he said. “He’s made me a better driver, and I think helped restart my career. This is such a great team. I’m having so much fun it’s unbelievable. It is so much fun to get in the car and know it’s going to be a hot rod.”

The feeling is mutual.

“What can you say about Ron? He’s a veteran driver,” Tobler said. “I knew when I came here, and Jack was a great driver and we were good together, [but] I knew when I came here I certainly wasn’t going to lose anything in the driver department. We are working well together. All these consistent runs, it’s nothing without the crew. It’s all of those things together that make it work.”

It could be a bigger money-maker, too, for this victory guaranteed Capps one of eight spots in the $100,000-to-win Traxxas Shootout that will debut this September at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.

Naturally, the new pairing required some adjustments, but it went as seamlessly as possible.

“It was a big transition at Charlotte with the team,” Capps said, “because they wanted me to do some things differently like how we warm the car and do a burnout. Rahn and I sat down and I asked what he wanted me to do as a driver. We sat down and went over exactly what he wanted to do, things he wanted me to do and it’s been a fun challenge. It has been fun, but the best part is seeing Don Schumacher smiling.”

Capps said, “The hardest part for me was when somebody yelled “Ron (or Rahn)” in the pit area. Tobler and I would look every time.” Another tough task was learning the names, and nicknames, of his new crew members. He even admitted to looking up the team website online and trying to memorize names with faces.

But he’ll never forget them now, neither them nor their first three races together — and certainly not the weekend they were able to produce at Atlanta.

Images credit: thekneeslider.com

With a heavy heart we report that Elon Jack Potter, better known to gear heads the world over as “EJ Potter The Michigan Madman” died on April 30 in Ithaca, Michigan at the age of 71.

EJ gained recognition in the drag racing world for pushing extreme to the limits. He built a number of V-8 powered motorcycles known as “Widow Makers.” EJ not only built the monsters bikes, he traveled to drag strips throughout the country in the ‘60s and ‘70s making thrilling and crowd-pleasing quarter mile passes. His fabricating prowess was not limited to wild bikes, however. He also built a variety of high-horsepower machines, from pulling tractors and jet powered three-wheelers to a couple of Allison V-12 powered Dodge drag cars.

Many of us have sat in the garage with a group of friends dreaming up wild creations, but EJ was the one who would spark up the welder and build his. Anyone lucky enough to have seen EJ in action was treated to a unique experience. His legacy will be those experiences he gave us and the legendary stories that will unquestionably be passed on for generations to come.

The first time I experienced EJ Potter I was nine years old at the Hillsdale (Michigan) Fair Grounds. EJ was there with his tractor called “Double Ugly.” It was powered by two Allison V-12s and was old and  rusty. For a young menacing boy, I wasn’t interested in it. But when EJ hooked it to the weight sled and hit the throttle, I became an instant fan. It was loud and sped all over the track, with dirt flying everywhere in its aftermath. Looking back, it was an awesome sight that made EJ a super hero to me. Shortly afterwards, I was told the story of EJ’s Widow Maker bike at Onadaga Dragway in Michigan. The Widow Maker was a direct drive, so EJ would fire the small block Chevy with the bike on a stand, causing the rear tire to lift off the ground. He would then rev it up and kick the stand out, launch forward with the rear tire smoking and continue down the track burning rubber all the way. At least that was what was supposed to happen. This time he was unable to shut it down and ended up in the woods. He was able to miss the trees and seemed completely unshaken. Stories like that are what drew me to drag racing. EJ and his dare-devil builds will be truly missed.

image credit: NMRA/Race Pages

During an interview last fall with JPC Racing point man Justin Burcham, the Ford Mustang drag racing aficionado led on to his interest in what was then a proposed new category known as Coyote Stock that the NMRA was pondering implementing for 2012. Fast forward several months and the Coyote Stock category has already been contested twice on the season.

While Burcham hasn’t been involved in the class from the get-go at Bradenton, he made his presence known last week in testing leading up to the NMRA event at his home track of Maryland International Raceway.

Burcham and longtime JPC customer Joe Marini, who regularly competes in the NMRA Modular Muscle category and was the first to break into the nines with a naturally-aspirated 5.0L Coyote last November, have teamed up to field a new Coyote Stock entry using Marini’s second Mustang.

Burcham recently purchased a Coyote Stock-legal 5.0L engine from Ford Racing and paired it with a pro-shifted Tremec TKO600 transmission and a McLeod clutch, along with other modifications including Metco lower control arms and JPC’s upper control arm, BMR front suspension, and a host of other additions.

Last week Burcham reeled off an 11.07 at 122 miles per hour in the car formerly powered by a 318-inch stroker, and with a rear gear swap and a couple of other changes in the works following the test.

Burcham concluded qualifying second with an 11.08 behind class leader Joe Charles and his 10.93 and downed Shane Stymiest in the opening round, 11.12 to 11.34, before falling to Charles in the final, 10.82 to an 11.04.

Dan Cerio while competing at a sled event in 2010.

What was to be a day of celebration as the U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich. opened its 50th anniversary racing season turned somber on Saturday when sled racer Dan Cerio of Manlius, N.Y. was tragically killed in a racing accident at the conclusion of a run.

According to news reports based on eyewitness accounts and those of the Alleghan County Sheriff’s Department, Cerio, just 22 years of age, hit the right side guardrail at the completion of an elimination round pass at an estimated 170 miles per hour. Cerio’s sled then ricocheted to the left retaining wall, ejecting him into a grassy area. Deputies were dispatched to the scene at 9:16 p.m.

The opening day of Lane Automotive bracket racing featured the AmSnow Outlaw Sled Series for modified snowmobiles competing on the asphalt quarter-mile. As described by local racers and fans, Cerio came from a family of snowmobile enthusiasts and was a highly-skilled and accomplished snowmobile rider and racer on a number of terrains. Like many of the sleds that compete on asphalt, Cerio’s machine was a purpose built racer intended for high speeds.

Track General Manager Jason Peterson released the following statement on the track’s Facebook page: “It is with great sadness to report that Dan Cerio succumbed to injuries during eliminations after he hit the guard wall at the completion of his run this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

In an interview with Michigan Live, fellow snowmobiler Jeff Kerridge, who was in the lane opposite of Cerio, recalled witnessing “a large amount of white smoke” trailing from his sled as the pair neared the finish line before Cerio spun at an estimated 45-degree angle into Kerridges’ lane.

According to Kerridge, the impact was “extreme.”

Cerio was a 2008 graduate of Fayetteville-Manlius High School and had spent much of his life around high-performance off-road vehicles; from snowmobiles to four-wheelers, motorcycles, and the like. He and his family were regular competitors at the ESTA Safety Park Dragstrip in Cicero, N.Y. He is survived by his parents Dan and Therese Cerio, a brother, Nicholas, and a sister, Stephanie Cerio.

Information from Michigan Live and The Post-Standard contributed to this report.

Longtime Pro Stock racer Robert Patrick Jr. claimed his first victory in the ADRL on Saturday night in just his second start in the Pro Nitrous division to highlight the series’ second visit to the scenic Maple Grove Raceway.Read More >>

Mickey Thompson Tires Monday Morning Race Report

ADRL: Same Day Event Coverage on DRAGZINE. Robert Patrick Jr. claimed the Pro Nitrous crown at the Maple Grove Raceway on Saturday night in just his second start, downing No. 1 qualifier Burton Auxier, who slowed, in the final round. In Pro Extreme, Mick Snyder drove his ’63 Corvette from the pole to the winners circle, edging Tommy D’Aprile in a great drag race, 3.64 to 3.69. In one of the most titanic matchups all weekend, Billy Glidden laid down his quickest pass to date, a 3.86, to down the heavy-hitting Chuck Ulsch in the Extreme 10.5 final. For complete, detailed results from Maple Grove, click over to Drag Race Central.

NHRA: Event Recap on DRAGZINE. Steve Torrence claimed the first professional win of his career on Sunday in his upstart, family-owned dragster under traditionally hot and muggy conditions in Atlanta, denying Tony Schumacher and extending his lengthy winless drought in the Top Fuel final, 3.89 to a tire-smoking 4.91. Meanwhile, in Funny Car, Ron Capps became the first driver outside of John Force Racing to claim a victory this season, turning back Robert Hight in the final by a 4.16 to 4.39 count. Greg Anderson and Eddie Krawiec also scored in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, respectively. For news and notes from Atlanta,visit Competition Plus, along with Drag Race Central for complete race coverage.

NMRA: Tim Essick put down a great 6.65 in the Pro Outlaw 10.5 final on Sunday at the Maryland International Raceway to claim the title at his home event, downing Mike Murillo and his off-pace 7.69. In Super Street Outlaw, John Urist used a crushing 7.02 in the final to turn back Andrew DeMarco, Charlie Booze Jr. cruised to the Hot Street title over Max Gross, and Brian Tuten took Drag Radial honors over new class record holder Jason Lee in a tight 7.65 to 7.66 matchup. For complete coverage from the weekend, including photos and video, click over to the NMRA Digital.

IHRA: Bill Evans ran the table in Pro Fuel Dragster at the IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam in Baton Rouge, La. over the weekend, claiming wins over Cherissa Smallwood on Saturday and Robin Samsel on Sunday. Likewise in Nostalgia Fuel Altered, Mike Hilsabeck claimed both days, downing Ron Maroney – who has been on a tear all season – on Saturday and Kyle Hough in Sunday’s show. Nitro Harley ace Jay Turner also swept the podium in the two-wheeled category. Brad Thompson and James Day traded blows in Prostalgia Funny Car, with Thompson earning the win on day one and Day in their second matchup. For detailed recaps from the weekends festivities at State Capitol Raceway, visit IHRA.com.

NHRA Division 6: Jason Rupert claimed the Nostalgia Funny Car title on Sunday in the NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho as part of the NHRA Division 6 season opener. Rupert recorded a great 5.78 to the 6.04 of John Hale. Shane Molinari’s red-light in the Top Dragster final handed the win to Tom Clark, while the Top Sportsman final went much the same, with Larry Demers collecting the hardware on Jim White’s foul start. In the best final of the day, Brad Burton drove to the Stock Eliminator crown in a come-from-behind effort to down Steve Wann by just 0.0046 seconds. For a recap of the weekend in Boise, click over to NHRADiv6.com.

NHRA Division 5: Shaun Vincent’s foul start in the Competition Eliminator final handed the victory to Pat Nahan to lead the winners at the NHRA Division 5 opener at the S.R.C.A. Dragstrip in Great Bend, Kan. on Sunday. Matt Jenkins (Super Stock), Nick Seibert (Stock), Terry Edwards (Super Comp), and Jeff Lopez (Super Gas) were also among the winners. For an event recap from Great Bend, visit NHRADiv5.com.

IHRA Division 1: Sportsman hitter Anthony Bertozzi collected the Top Dragster title in the Pro-Am Tour division opener at the Richmond Dragway in Virginia, defeating Wesley Washington Jr., while Calvin Butler drove to the Top Sportsman win over Kent Sessoms. Corey Manuel (Quick Rod), Tommy Corbett (Super Rod), and Mark Young (Super Stock) were among the day two winners. Visit Drag Race Central for complete qualifying and eliminations coverage.

The Weekend Winner Circle

ADRL Northeast Drags II presented by Penske – Reading, Pa. Mick Snyder won Pro Extreme on Saturday night at the Maple Grove Raceway in a great drag race with Tommy D’Aprile to join Robert Patrick Jr. – who earned his first series victory in Pro Nitrous – Billy Glidden, and a host of others in the winners circle. EVENT WINNERS Pro Extreme: Mick Snyder Pro Nitrous: Robert Patrick Jr.  Extreme 10.5: Billy Glidden  Pro Extreme Motorcycle: Eric McKinney Pro Modified: Mike Castellana Extreme Pro Stock: Dean Goforth SuperCar Showdown: Chris Holbrook Top Sportsman: Chris Forman Pro Junior Dragster: Morgan Benfield Click here to view more results >>

Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals – Commerce, Ga. Steve Torrence and Ron Capps broke the stronghold on the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories on Sunday, as Torrence claimed his first professional victory over a hungry Tony Schumacher, while Capps became the first driver outside the John Force camp to claim a victory this season. EVENT WINNERS Top Fuel: Steve Torrence Funny Car: Ron Capps Pro Stock: Greg Anderson Pro Stock Motorcycle: Eddie Krawiec Super Stock: Drew Skillman Stock: Drew Skillman Super Comp: Ed Richardson Super Gas: Billy Upton Super Street: Jeff Money Top Dragster: Nick Folk Top Sportsman: Jeffrey Barker Click here to view more results >>

Ron Capps raced to his first victory of the season Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway and ended John Force Racing’s season-long stronghold on the winner’s circle in Funny Car.

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Kraweic (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Capps, who used a consistent string of 4.16-second runs to take his 34th career victory, outran Robert Hight in the final round, who was trying to give JFR its seventh consecutive win of the season. Capps’ Napa Auto Parts Dodge Charger posted a 4.166 second run at 303.91 mph to take the win, while Hight’s Auto Club Ford Mustang trailed with a 4.399 at 273.44.

“We love those guys,” Capps said of Hight and his team. “[Crew chief Rahn] Tobler and Prock went to dinner here not too long ago. They’re good friends, and Robert and I are good friends. We had dinner last night and watch the UFC fight. I told them at the other end, ‘You guys bring everything I got out when I have to race you.’ I got so tired of hearing about Force [Racing] winning every race. I got tired hearing about Robert. I love him but I got tired of hearing about him on this race streak. I tweeted when they gave Will Power the first quarter Driver of the Year thing. That’s a pretty stout group of guys voting for that thing — I mean it’s Mario Andretti, ‘Snake’ [Don Prudhomme] — and it irritated me that they didn’t give him that, but I told him, ‘I’m tired of hearing about you winning.’ I know Tobler’s the same way. We go up there, and it brings everything we’ve got to race those guys, so to beat them was huge.”

Capps also beat Daniel Wilkerson, Matt Hagan and Jeff Arend to advance to the final, the 73rd of his career. It is the third-straight final round appearance for Capps since Tobler joined his team.

“This is such a great team, and right from the get-go in Charlotte, the first run reminded me how fun it can be to race again,”  “I was starting to just get a little frustrated and wondered if maybe I wasn’t as good as I used to be when I was younger. It just got very difficult. When Don [Schumacher, team owner] made the move and put me with Rahn [Tobler] and John Collins, I’m telling you it was just unbelievable. I’m having so much fun right now. I’m the luckiest guy in the world to be driving this car.”

Torrence earned his first career Top Fuel victory and in the process denied Tony Schumacher from finally getting a victory at Atlanta Dragway, the only track on the circuit where the seven-time world champ has yet to win. Torrence covered the distance in 3.893 at 320.66 in his Capco Contractors dragster while Schumacher’s U.S. Army dragster lost traction early in the race and finished in 4.913 at 169.44.

Torrence, who qualified second, used a bunch of 3.8-second runs to cruise through eliminations, knocking off J.R. Todd, Bob Vandergriff and Brandon Bernstein along the way to his first career final.

“It hasn’t really even set in,” said Torrence, the 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster national champ in the NHRA Lucas Oil Series. “We’ve been working our tails off since last year at this race. This was the last race that I raced with Dexter [Tuttle] and we set out to start our own team. To kind of start the new team and get the first win here, that’s a big deal for us. We’re 10 races into this new team. Richard Hogan [crew chief], I’ve got all the confidence in the world in that guy. I told him from day one that he’s my guy, and I’ve stuck with it. This car has run really, really well. My driving, I’ve been practicing, and the seat time of just making passes in a good car has really helped me a lot. Getting this first win, it’s unbelievable. To do it here at Atlanta is awesome. This is a great racetrack. It just hasn’t caught up to me yet. Hopefully, this is the start of a lot of really good things.”

Anderson raced to his third Pro Stock win of the season with a reaction time advantage, holding off hard-charging teammate Jason Line at the finish line. Anderson took his 73rd career victory with a performance of 6.649 at 208.26 in his Summit Racing Pontiac to hold off the quicker, but losing Summit Racing Pontiac of Line, which finished in 6.618 at 209.62.

“We’re very happy as a team [about the Summit cars reaching five Pro Stock finals this year],” said Anderson, who beat Greg Stanfield, Steve Kent and Allen Johnson in earlier rounds. “It’s great to have three Summit cars in the semis. That doesn’t happen too often with multi-car teams. It just tells you that everybody is rowing the boat in the same direction and pulling their load. That’s what I’m the most proud of – assembling this team and instilling in them that it doesn’t matter which driver wins.

“It all goes back to what Ken Black does for this team. We just want to dig harder and harder every day because that’s what he is doing, going to rehab and trying to get back to walking, and he’s darn close. When you see that, you don’t want to let the man down. You want to make him proud. And when he gets back to the race track full-time, we want our cars to be running at their best.”

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, defending world champ Krawiec took his second victory of the season, outrunning first-time finalist Michael Ray. Krawiec powered his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to a winning run of 6.905 at 195.53 to hold off Ray’s GottSpeed Racing Buell, which finished in 7.036 at 187.94.

Krawiec advanced to the final with early round wins over Michael Phillips, Karen Stoffer and Shawn Gann. It was Krawiec’s 13th career victory and second at Atlanta Dragway.

“We are just trying to get a handle on the motorcycle and working on getting it to leave well, and I think we did that this weekend,” Krawiec said. “It ran awesome and I’ve got a killer motorcycle right now.”

Qualifying Recap

Robert Hight will lead John Force Racing’s quest to earn its seventh consecutive victory to open the season in Sunday’s final eliminations at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Sr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also will lead their categories into tomorrow’s eliminations as No. 1 qualifiers at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Hight, who has won four of the first six races in 2012, claimed his fourth No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday with a leading performance of 4.104 seconds at 308.35 mph in his Auto Club Ford Mustang. Hight teammates John Force and Mike Neff won the other two races to give the JFR team a stronghold on the winner’s circle this season.

“There’s a lot of cars that are bunched up there,” said Hight of the 43rd top qualifying effort of his career. “It’s going to be a tough, tough race tomorrow. I’m excited for it. You’re going to see a lot of close, side-by-side racing. When you win a race like this, it’s a little more special. You probably are going to need a few breaks along the way because anything can happen in this heat.”

Hight, a two-time Atlanta Dragway winner, will race Bob Bode in the opening round of eliminations. Hight teammate Neff, winner at last week’s event in Houston, fell victim to the tricky race conditions produced by track temperatures nearing 140 degrees and failed to qualify. It was Neff’s first DNQ since Dallas 2008.

Hight said he and crew chief Jimmy Prock went back to a baseline tuneup on the final qualifying attempt to prepare for what may be similar conditions on race day. The move was even more necessary once the team saw Neff’s Castrol GTX Mustang drop a cylinder and miss the 16-car starting lineup.

“[Prock] said, ‘We have to make a run down the track in 130-degree-plus track temperature,’ because we didn’t have that yesterday,” Hight said. “It was middle 120s. He said, ‘We’ve gotta go.’ I’ll be honest with you, I think the right lane is probably the preferred lane, so to run a .15 in the left lane there, that was a statement.”

In other first round pairings in Funny Car, No. 2 qualifier Ron Capps will race Daniel Wilkerson, Bob Tasca III will meet Johnny Gray and one of NHRA’s best rivalries will resume when two-time world champ Cruz Pedregon will meet 15-time world champ and seven time Atlanta Dragway winner John Force.

Schumacher took his first No. 1 effort of the season and 68th of his career in Top Fuel with his Friday track record time of 3.815 at a speed of 322.58 in his U.S. Army dragster. Schumacher, winless since Oct. 2010, has yet to win at Atlanta Dragway, the only track on the circuit where he has not visited winner’s circle. Schumacher will face journeyman Pat Dakin in the first round.

“We’ve got a great race car,” Schumacher said. “That last one, we just freed it up a ton to get down the racetrack, probably way over center. Being the No. 1 qualifier, we’re going to go out there and at least have a chance to run where we want to run, what lane we want, and all those good things that come with it. I’ve been saying all along we’re not going to go out and have any easy rounds, but at least it’s our choice when and what lane. We’re going to win one of these things. We’ve got a great car, a great team. We’ve just had terrible luck. If we go out and get a little luck, it will turn. It always does. I look forward to starting a winning streak tomorrow.”

In other Top Fuel first-round action, second qualifier Steve Torrence will meet J.R. Todd, third qualifier Shawn Langdon will face Clay Millican, and series leader Antron Brown will meet Doug Kalitta.

Defending Pro Stock world champ Line was the only top qualifier to improve his performance from Friday, powering his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP to a 6.607 at 209.04 to take his fourth No. 1 of the season and 28th of his career. Line will meet six-time world champ Warren Johnson in the opening round.

“It was obviously hotter out here today, but the NHRA crew did a great job,” Line said. “For a race track that was this hot, I’d say that their preparation work was phenomenal. We just tried to make good, safe runs today, and we feel very good about going into tomorrow’s eliminations. Our crew has done a great job all year long. I told [NHRA announcer Alan] Reinhart at the end of the track after the last run that I feel bad because I don’t think that I’ve held up my end of the deal. I’ve struggled to maintain the intensity it takes to be the best in this class. But I feel good about things now, and maybe this weekend will end up being a big turn-around for us.”

Several strong first round meetings are set in Pro Stock as No. 2 qualifier Allen Johnson will face four-time world champ Jeg Coughlin, series points leader Greg Anderson will meet Greg Stanfield and veterans Mike Edwards and Larry Morgan will race in a Pontiac vs. Ford showdown.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Arana Sr. earned his second-straight No. 1 of the season and 19th of his career with his Friday run of 6.894 at a track record speed of 193.82 on his Lucas Oil Buell. Arana will race Joey Gladstone in the first round.

“I really have to give credit to NHRA and the Safety Safari for doing an excellent job this weekend,” Arana said. “We still have to learn how to tune our bike for the warmer weather.  We’re going to use this data for the upcoming races because this is the beginning of the summer with the heat. I think that my bike is tapped out right now. I’m getting as much out of her as I can get.”

The Mallory FireStorm is the perfect performance ignition system to ignite the fire for your performance car passion. Being released in phases, the first Mallory FireStorm component has officially hit shelves with single and multi-channel CD ignition boxes now available for the ignition management system, with LS and HEMI boxes and accessories coming this summer. These boxes available with Street or Pro software feature four customizable applications, making it perfect for any kind of driver.

Suiting your specific application is what the Mallory FireStorm is all about, and that’s why the ignition system features multiple coil control. This allows you as a driver to upgrade the system from a single coil application to a Coil-on-Plug setup.

In addition to conforming to your needs, the Mallory FireStorm can keep you out of a pickle. With the Street or Pro software, the FireStorm ignition boxes feature built-in diagnostics and sensor monitoring. Get a heads up when something is off and have the ability to limp your car home even if one of the sensors fails.

The Mallory FireStorm Ignition System has a fully programmable launch mode, 3D cylinder timing and advance tuning technology all wrapped into one, giving you the best bang for your buck and an ignition system you can fully count on. Pair it with over 70 accessories launched by Mallory, and your car will be driving to the beat of its own drum in no time.

to learn more about Mallory Ignition, log on to malloryperformance.com.

Discovered on eBay is this original “King of Beasts II” BB/A altered that was built back in 1966 by David Tucker, Larry Richard, and Doug Willey. At the time when King of Beasts II was built, race cars were put together in garages or barns with welders and torches.

King of Beasts II was raced from 1966 into the late ’70s and at some point was sold to a gentleman named Billy Wallenty. From 1978 through 2000, it sat in its original race form before being retrieved, purchased, and stored away once again. It’s nor – or was, rather – being offered at auction in its original race form. With a high bid of $11,099, the auction didn’t meet the reserve price.

It appears to have a 23-T Ford body and a hand-built square tube chassis. The power comes from a 1957, 392 cubic-inch Hemi with an Isky custom ground camshaft and a pair of “zoomie” style headers. The Hemi is topped with a nostalgic fuel-injected Edelbrock GMC-style 6-71 blower. The transmission is a Chrysler push button torque-flight. The vintage spindle mount front wheels are not equipped with brakes, which leaves the stopping duty to the rear drum brakes and the parachute.

Anyone who has ever shoe horned themselves into the tiny cockpits of these vintage monsters realizes these cars are not for the faint of heart, but boy, do they ever look fun!

After a rain-shortened opening day of qualifying on Friday, it’s time to set the fields here in Reading and crown some champions. With only a small chance of precipitation in the forecast and highs peaking in the 70′s, it should make for a great day of racing. As always, keep your browsers tuned here for all the days activities!

Special thanks to presenting sponsor Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels.

The ADRL starting line crew has just completed scraping the first 50 feet of the starting line. Next will be the traction compound. With weather currently cool and sunny, expectations are for a stellar day of performances. Qualifying will begin today at noon sharp. It's a chamber of commerce weather day here at Maple Grove's Northeast DragsII, so stay tuned for updates throughout the day with accompanying photos and results.

Brandon Switzer of Switzer Dynamics, studies data before making the tuning call for Jim Laurita's 1970 Pro Nitrous Camaro. The duo posted a #2 qualifying 3.872/193.93 effort in last ditch session and will face Rickie Jones in rounds 1.

John Bartunek and crew Ed and James Cook accept the Best Engineered award prior to final qualifying Saturday. John sits #14 in Pro Nitrous, and will face Robert Patrick Jr. in round 1.

Jim Laurita warms up his 1970 Pro Nitrous entry. He sits #2 in final qualifying.

Pat Musi, daughter Lizzy, and Grinner the videographer share a laugh in the pits. The running joke was that Lizzy after 2 races is more famous than her dad Pat. Lizzy is the video sensation after her Bristol crash.

Morning work saw the Brandon Pesz crew replacing hoses this morning.

Mad Mike Recchia and crew ready for the final session of qualifying for Pro Extreme. Unfortunately his best effort in Q4 wasn't enough to make the field. "The hemi engine we're using this year is a whole new animal compared to the wedge of 2011.

 

Jeff Naiser hangs the chute and sits #2 in Pro Mod after Q3 with a best of 3.893/191.46 He meets Pete Farber and his 1969 Daytona in round 1 competion

Mick Snyder earned the #1 spot in Pro Extreme on this pass. He ran 3.644/207.53 as a career best,John Stanley slides in his own oil, making the field at #15, but after his second engine of the weekend expired, it is unlikely the team will return for the opening round.

Elijah Morton made the Extreme Pro Stock field on the bump with a 4.142/173.49 pass. He will face #1 man John DeForian Jr. during the opening round. Less than .07 seconds seperates the Pro Stock field, so there could be several upsets during the day.

Todd Tutterow earned the #3 spot on the Pro Extreme class sheets. He meets Terry Leggett to begin eliminations.

Dan Millen and Tommy D'Aprile both made the Pro Extreme field. Dan at #8 and Tommy in the #6 slot. Dan runs Bubba Stanton and Tommy meets Todd Martin,as both will have lane choice to start the day of class eliminations.

Alan Pittman gets suited up for a pass in Extreme 10.5. He will start #2 in the 6 car field.

Left, John Stanley slides in his own oil, making the field at #15, but after his second engine of the weekend expired, it is unlikely the team will return for the opening round. Dan Myers of Ramona, CA sits #4 in Extreme 10.5. His 1957 Chevy's best of 4.042 will see him oppose Billy Glidden during round 1.

Billy Glidden is #3 for Extreme 10.5 eliminations. He has lane choice against Dan Myers. His wife Shannon is shown taping the run during Friday's action.

Qualifying Notes

Pro Stock- John DeFlorian Jr. works at Jerry Haas Race Cars as a chassis man, built his 2012 Camaro in house. He earned the #1 spot at the end of 3 sessions here at Maple Grove with a 4.074, and then stepped up in round 1 and unloaded a winning 4.05. All round the wins kept coming in the left lane as run after run the winners recorded 4.10 times defeating 4.11s. When John finished his run, everyone knows who’s the man to beat. John D!

Extreme 10.5- A very short field of 6 cars made the show, as they are spread between Chuck Ulsch’s #1 at 3.903 to Lamar Swindell Jr.’s 4.191.  According to class racer Todd Moyer part of the reason for the decrease in numbers is economics. “Just the cost in diesel fuel to get from Texas to Maple Grove and home is $2300. Add in entry fees, crew fees, and our new crew chief Joe Oplawski, and I have $4000. invested just this weekend. Some of the guys that run our class just couldn’t afford the trip.”

Pro Extreme- 22 cars made qualifying laps at the event, as Neal Wantye anchored the 16-car qualified field  at 3.831/192.47. He matches up wth #1 Mick Snyder, who ran a career best in Q3 of 3.644 and took the #1 spot from Frankie Taylor. Taylor was hoping for mid-.60s out of his blown Corvette, and got it. He didn’t expect the car to go as quick during Q2, and maybe didn’t expect Mick to step up either.

Pro Mod-Mike Castellana sits atop the 8-car field at 3.845. During round 1 against Rickie Smith, Mike powered by Smith, who developed issues and coasted across the line. Castellana recorded a stellar 3.876 for the win and faces Edward Wilson in round 2.

Pro Nitrous-Burton Auxier scored his #1 on Friday, and withstood the best efforts of Jim Laurita and Robert Patrick Jr to name a few.  Burton has a 3.825 to his credit.

Round 1 Eliminations

Pro Modified

Extreme Pro Stock

Extreme 10.5

Pro Nitrous

Pro Extreme

Round 2

Pro Mod- Mike Castellana continued his winning streak, taking the measure of E Wilson as Wilson’s Willys neared the centerline and wisely shut off. Mike faces Mike Janis in the final round, as his opponent Jeff Naiser shook and shut off also.

Castellana has the candles lit at the finish line. It's his race to win.

Pro Nitrous- Auxier over Halsey in a close one, Mathis broke on the line, handing a win to Bob Rahaim, Jim Laurita in a stunner over Shannon Jenkins, and Robert Patrick Jr over Stan Allen.

Patrick Jr. takes the win over Stan Allen 3.841 vs 3.857 during round 2 of Pro Nitrous

Extreme 10.5- Chuck Ulsch ran 3.859 on his bye-run. Alan Pittman lost reverse, giving BIlly Glidden a solo. Glidden ran 3.883 to set up a hoped for phenomenal final round, with Ford vs Chevy.

Pro Stock- Doug Kirk over Cary Goforth, as Cary’s motor sounded off note at mid-track. Dean Goforth over Pluchino. Brian Gahm over Schorr.

Frankie Taylor makes it to the finish in 1st gear over Brandon Pesz as the trans on Taylor's Vette doesn't go into high gear.

  

Jason Scruggs crew loads up the Corvette after a disappointing first round exit to Brandon Pesz. Pesz shook and shut off for the win after Scruggs was backed off the line with an oil leak.

 

Pro Mod semi final action had Edward Wilson's 41 Willys get sideways while getting into a power wheelstand. Wilson had to abort the run at the 100 foot mark, allowing Castellana to advance to the class final.

The opposite side of the Pro Mod ladder had Mike Janis advancing over Jeff Naiser's troubled Camaro. Janis put a 3.907 at 193.16 on the board.

Burton Auxier is out on Bob Rahaim in a battle of Pro Nitrous Camaros in the semis. Auxier's .014 light shows how large an advantage he had by the time both racers reached the tree. Burton extended that lead at the finish line by a 3.815 to 3.823 count and advance to the final vs. Patrick Jr.'s Mustang

Final Round Photos

Extreme Junior Dragster finals.

The agony of defeat as family of Extreme Junior Dragster reacts to the win light coming on for Morgan Benfield.

Extreme Pro Stock final round has Robert Patrick Jr. side by side with Burton Auxier before the tree. Burton had engine problems immediately after the tree, while Robert shook extremely hard. Patrick Jr. was able to turn on the win light in an ugly run, but good enough to return Ford to the winners circle.

Pro Extreme final round saw Mick Snyder holeshot Tommy D'Aprile by a .026 to .032 count. Snyder's winning stats were 3.648/207.46

Mick Snyder's crew reacts to winning the Pro Extreme final.

Chris Holbrook has his game face on prior to winning the Supercar Showdown.

Chuck Ulsch is .020 seconds behind at the tree in the Extreme 10.5 final round against Billy Glidden. Billy used the holeshot and a 3.862 pass to score the victory. Glidden said even qualifying was difficult for the team, but his raceday driving pulled him through. Billy Glidden takes the Mickey Thompson flagship Mustang to the winner circle in Extreme 10.5.

Pro Mod final was Mike Castellana take the win over Mike Janis. In a classic Ford vs Chevy match, the Camaro was the quicker car, despite Janis' holeshot advantage at the tree. The Camaro scored the win with a run of 3.847/195.42, just off his record Low ET/ Top Speed pace of 3.845/195.48.

Pro Extreme Motorcycle winner Eric McKinney(far lane) take the win over Ron Procopio.McKinney also earned low et and top speed honors from the #5 starting spot.

Extreme Pro Stock runner up Brian Gahm was making up Dean Goforth's .047 starting line advantage, but came up 3 inches or .029 seconds short.

Top Sportsman final round Chip Forman claiming the victory from the #4 starting position and outrunning Ray Bamond in the final.

Final Eliminations Results

Pro Extreme

Pro Nitrous

Extreme 10.5

Pro Extreme Motorcycle

Extreme Pro Stock

SuperCar Showdown

Top Sportsman

Pro Junior Dragster

Case in point is this jaw-droppingly monstrous wheelstand carried out by Outlaw Drag Radial racer Buck Walker in his turbocharged ’88 Chevrolet Camaro.

This death-defying acrobatic stunt captured by the crew at Motor Mania TV occurred at last month’s Holcomb Motorsports Spring Outlaw Civil Wars at the Rockingham Dragway, as Walker squared off with Tony Ridenour in the second round of eliminations. As these cars often do, the front end of the Camaro went nose-up like an airplane on take off just beyond the 60-foot clocks and what looked to be an interesting two-wheel hike to the stripe got a little interesting when the air underneath the car took control.

Unlike others before him in the same precarious situation – at least one of which went fully over backward – Walker was able to corral his mount in without hitting anything; albeit with what was most assuredly some damage in the undercarriage and soil in the drivers seat. Despite the wheelstand and climbing on the brakes to get it tamed down, Walker still tripped the clocks at 5.14-seconds at just 113 miles per.

If any wheelstand is deserving of a perfect 10 from the judges, this is the one.

The first pair out since the renovations on the new Showtime Dragstrip.

The property was purchased several years ago by the state with plans to extend the connection of interstate through to the Bayside Bridge, which crosses the western portion of Tampa Bay. The poor economy had the state without the funds to get the project done and it has been under lease to operate the dragstrip since then.

As we reported last year, the State put the property – including operation of the circle track – up for bidding. Local circle track racer and business owner Robert Yoho won the bid with backing by Q Auto & Injury Attorneys and together with his crew and many other racers and friends lending a hand, has gotten the facility turned around and back in running shape.

For now, the track is making due with this temporary track sprayer to apply the traction compound. There's still other equipment needs that will be addressed shortly.

One new addition is Joto's Pizza now having a presence on the ground on the first floor of the tower. No more waiting, unless they run out. There's also a full concession stand on the pit side and snow cones for a tasty treat.

The office and tower have been renovated along with the spectator bathrooms. A new Accutime system is in place and new concrete walls to 660-feet, with plans to extend the walls and timing to run 1000-feet in the future. Back in the day, Sunshine did run a full quarter mile but the starting line was back further and, frankly, cars were slower then. With the  1000-foot surface they will be an NHRA-sanctioned track.

Last Sunday the track held a car show and swap meet and Wednesday May 2^nd was the first test ‘n tune session. Of course in this short time there is still much work to be done around the property, but the good news for area racers is that it’s back to racing in their backyard.

Tim Bohart had the unfortunate distinction of being the first car to crash. He hit the wall near the tree after getting crossed up on the burnout. Sad to see an old classic damaged like that; there's always someone to be the first though and we're glad he was okay.

Wednesday’s session was cut a bit short due to rain and a car versus gaurdrail incident, but there was a good turnout to see what’s been going on there with about 25-30 cars o habdand a lot of familiar faces. Several of the staff under the prior management was hired back, including long time announcer Hasley Hood, starter Todd Moroni and track prep man Darren Burns. Darren’s return has many racers pleased as they’re sure he’ll do his best to get the surface in proper order.

Due to the shortened session yesterday and the need for more rubber on the track and getting things going smoothly, another session was run on Thursday with a Street Wars from 8pm to 2am Friday night and racing this Saturday as well. The track has an active Facebook page where they update information daily as well as a website which is still under construction.

Check out some photos from the Showtime opener after the break.

National Hot Rod Association racers no longer are in early-season mode. One-third of the campaign has passed, and as this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway approaches, they’re talking about mid-season conditions (usually meaning hot, sticky, greasy racing surfaces) and looking forward to the Countdown to the Championship that starts in September.

This event, No. 7 on the 23-race Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour, will complete the first back-to-back segment of the season.

So far no one can crack the John Force Racing code in the Funny Car class. Force’s Winternationals victory and Mike Neff’s triumph last Sunday at Houston book-ended Robert Hight’s four consecutive wins in the first six Full Throttle Drag Racing Series events.

However, Hight said at least half a dozen Funny Car drivers are capable of winning any given weekend. “You look at the level of competition and it is never been higher in Funny Car,” he said. “We have four strong Funny Cars at JFR. The Don Schumacher Funny Cars have been in the hunt all season. Jeff Arend had a great car in Houston, plus you add Cruz Pedregon, Bob Tasca III, and Tim Wilkerson and on race day your battle starts in the first round.”

In the Top Fuel division, the knot at the top is almost as tight.

Morgan Lucas continues to dog the Don Schumacher Racing dragster trio of Antron Brown, Spencer Massey, and Tony Schumacher. Lucas won at Gainesville and Houston and has four No. 1 qualifying positions in six races. DSR mates Antron Brown and Spencer Massey have been swapping the points lead, and Brown has it now, along with one victory. Massey has three Wally statues this year.

But Lucas is the lone driver preventing his DSR counterparts from taking the top three spots in the standings. While the Countdown to the Championship fields won’t be complete until Labor Day, his constant presence at the top of the heap is symbolic of the smaller teams jousting against the mega team resources.

The Houston winner in his GEICO/Lucas Oil Dragster still is marveling that in the most recent race he qualified No. 1 and ran low elapsed time of every round on race day — for the first time in his career. He said he’s stoked because “we’ve definitely hit the hot part of the schedule and our car is still really stout.” He loves Atlanta Dragway, for it’s where he scored his first professional victory in 2009.

Could this be the weekend in which Tony Schumacher, the most successful driver in Top Fuel history, finally gets his first Atlanta victory and halts his winless streak at 29 races? The U.S. Army Dragster driver has been runner-up here three times, including at last year’s visit. Still, he’s fourth in the standings, 37 points behind leader Antron Brown.

“What I find interesting,” Schumacher said, “is that, even though we haven’t won a race, we are still very much in the hunt. We’re less than two rounds of racing behind Antron in first, which is pretty amazing. Wait until we start putting some victories in the bank.”

Steve Torrence is steadily improving with his family-owned dragster and could shake up the status quo just one year after stepping from Dexter Tuttle’s ride. Shawn Langdon also appears to be on the verge of breaking from his dry spell in the Al-Anabi Dragster, and his rookie teammate, Khalid alBalooshi, is getting more laps and inching closer to making an impact like he made in the Pro Modified cars.

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson has been the points leader all season, but the class has seen five different winners in six races. Anderson is the only repeat winner, but Jason Line, Mike Edwards, Allen Johnson, and Vincent Nobile also have had a turn in the winners circle.

Erica Enders has been threatening all season long and just might be annoyed enough to plow through four rounds without an incident this weekend for her first victory. “I feel like we keep getting gypped,” the Chevy Cobalt driver said. “My guys work really hard, and I’ve got a great car and a great team. But stupid stuff happens. But you know what? It’s going to come together. The tables will turn. We’re going to keep at it for as long as it takes.”

Meanwhile, Anderson and Line are itching to debut their new Chevy Camaros, which won’t happen this weekend. Greg Stanfield continues to fight with his new Camaro.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle class has run just twice, but the Harley-Davidsons — despite a mandatory 20-pound addition — are dominating. Eddie Krawiec won the season-opening Gatornationals, and Andrew Hines claimed the Wally last week at Houston.

Image courtesy: NHRA/National Dragster

GEICO Suzuki rider Karen Stoffer perhaps said it best: “Every weekend seems to be a little different with the Pro Stock bike class. You never know who’s who in Whoville. You’ve got all these weight rules and no R&D on some of the Suzukis and huge R&D on some of the Buells. It’s always a mish-mash, and you never know what you’re going to come up against.”

Consider competitor Jerry Savoie and his Mark Peiser-tuned White Alligator Racing entry. He has a Suzuki and a Buell and plans to switch them, depending on the weather and track. This weekend he and Peiser said they’ll likely go with the Buell.

The team took two new ZL1’s with them to the drag strip; both an automatic and a manual. At the track they bolted up a set of 18” Mickey Thompson drag radials on Z06 wheels to the silver automatic trans car, and a stet of 20” Nitto drag radials on stock ZL1 wheels to the red manual trans ZL1. However, all we are told about the times is that racers using drag radials on the ZL1 will likely find themselves running faster than 11.49, at which point the NHRA mandates a 5-point roll cage must be installed. So, they say that the high 11-second time slips were created with the ZL1′s stock Goodyear tires.

In the end, the silver automatic ZL1 ran the best time of the two, with an 11.93 at 116.95 MPH. The red manual transmission car was just a tick behind with an 11.96 at 117 MPH. Tony Roma, Camaro ZL1 Program Engineering Manager said after the test, “The ZL1 is great at everything and we’re very proud of that. You can take it to the drag strip and run 11-second quarter-miles all day long. You can also take it to a road course, where it’s balanced, handles well, and does exactly what you want – including lapping Virginia International Raceway’s Grand Course in under three minutes – and yet the ZL1 is sophisticated enough to use as a daily driver. It’s a supercar you can drive every day.”

Your eyes are not deceiving you here, ladies and gentleman. What you’re looking at really is a Geo Tracker – you know, that abomination you would’ve gladly chosen riding the bus over driving in high school – with the Pro Street treatment. Sort of, anyway.

The very premise of the automotive hobby has been the endless creativity and enguiniety revolving inside the minds of gearheads, and while deterring anyone from creating what they’ve dreamt up goes completely against the code of automotive enthusiasts, just because you can build it, doesn’t necessarily mean you should.

This ’92 Tracker, according to the seller on eBay, “is a totally awesome ride and I get people snapping their necks everywhere I go trying to get a look at it and thumbs up all over the place.” Much of the information seems to point out the relative lack of technical understanding by the owner, but the jist of it is that a mildly-bult 305-inch small block Chevy has been shoehorned under the hood, with an Edlebrock Performer intake, Edelbrock carburetor, and other entry-level performance parts.

With a Ford 9-inch housing under it, a 10-point roll cage, and tubs with 15×15 Weld Wheels wrapped in some big street radials out back, this thing is definitely one of a kind, but that’s about the only selling point it has in its favor.

Between the motorcycle-esque wheelbase, the seeming lack of any front brakes, and welds on the roll cage that Stevie Wonder might’ve performed, this Geo is better served with a visit to the crusher than finding a new home.

Official Release:

NHRA ADDS VP’S C9 TO APPROVED FUEL LIST

Expect More Power Than 110 in S/SS

SAN ANTONIO, TX -VP Racing Fuels today announced the addition of its new C9 unleaded formula to the NHRA’s Approved Fuel List. “C9 is an impressive new fuel that will outperform the standard 110 fuels available in the field, including our own,” said Jim Kelly, VP’s Director of Race Fuel Sales. “It’s a non-oxygenated formula that in dyno tests made 4-6 more HP and torque than the 110 baseline. With an octane rating of 96 (R+M/2), C9 is ideal for Stock and Super Stock applications with compression ratios up to 11:1.”

Track tests in the Northeast on the quarter mile and on oval tracks showed C9 will have an immediate impact on performance regardless of the type of racing. Notably, it was recently selected as the Spec Fuel of the ACT American Canadian Tour and Castrol Series in Canada. In addition to the performance gains seen on the ACT tour and in stock and super stock drag cars, ethanol-free C9 is an ideal fuel for improving performance in crate engines as well as competition quads, motocross bikes and sleds. Because C9 is ethanol-free, it can be of particular benefit in marine racing applications.

“Racers with lower compression ratios who are currently relying on the standard 110 fuels should really give C9 a look,” Kelly added. “It’s a product we are particularly proud of—it makes more power without a high price tag.”

C9 is available through VP’s extensive dealer/distributor network and factory direct, contacts for which can be found online at http://www.vpracingfuels.com/vp-racing-dealers.html. Tech questions regarding C9 can be directed to VP’s Technical Support staff.

DragTech@vpracingfuels.com; 812-878-2026

OvalTrackTech@vpracingfuels.com; 302-521-1767

In addition to racing fuels, VP’s product line includes SEF Small Engine Fuel, an ethanol-free fuel formulated specifically for 2-cycle and 4-cycle portable gas-powered equipment; PowerMaster hobby fuels for R/C racing; and fuel handling accessories. More information about VP’s products is available online at VPRacingFuels.com, SEFfuels.com and PowerMasterFuels.com.

Highlights:

• New C9 fuel outperforms standard 110 fuels with an increase of 4-6hp and foot-pounds of torque
• Carries an octane rating of 96
• Ideal  for Stock and Super Stock applications with compression ratios up to 11:1
• Provides an immediate impact on performance no matter what type of racing you’re doing
• Recently selected as the Spec Fuel of the ACT American Canadian Tour and Castrol Series in Canada
• Perfect for other applications, including crate engines, competition quads, motocross bikes, sleds and marine racing applications

In the heyday of Stock and Super Stock racing, the big question wasn’t whether you had a stick or an automatic, but whether you rowed the gears on the floor or on the column. But as technology in automatic transmissions and torque converters has closed the gap in performance with the manual and clutch combos, and the classes have sadly morphed into glorified bracket racing eliminators, the sticks have gone the way of the Dodo bird in favor of a field almost entirely comprised of automatic-equipped cars.

Just because that’s the way it is though, doesn’t mean we have to like it.

Both watching and hearing a high-winding Stocker or Super Stocker bang through the gears and hop with every gear change down the quarter mile is one of the most exciting things in all of drag racing, and it’s got to be two-tons of fun to drive!

This video, captured from the passenger side door of NHRA Super Stock racer Bobby Fazio’s SS/L ’64 Mustang, shows Fazio rowing through the gears of the four-speed aboard his 289-powered Pony car.

If the sound of this screaming small block doesn’t get your blood pumping, you just may have accidentally stumbled upon the wrong hobby.

Don Schumacher Racing announced Wednesday that Top Fuel crew chief Mike Green will pay the $5,000 fine the National Hot Rod Association issued to him Tuesday night.

The NHRA fined the U.S. Army Dragster tuner for making a derogatory comment to an NHRA official during last weekend’s O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston.

Don Schumacher Racing will not appeal the fine and said in its statement that it “will not provide any further comment on the matter.”

The punishment was the first involving a sanctioning-body official since John Force was given a $10,000 fine in September 2009. In that case, Force bumped official Kurt Johnson during an altercation with fellow Funny Car driver Tony Pedregon at Indianapolis.

It brings the total amount of fines levied against DSR since 2006 to $135,000.

In 2006, DSR paid $20,000 because Tony Schumacher’s Army team (under Alan Johnson’s guidance at the time) disobeyed the starter’s orders to shut the car off before a qualifying run in the final race of the season at Pomona. Before that, Ron Capps was counterpunched with a $10,000 fine after hitting teammate Whit Bazemore.

In April 2008, Don Schumacher paid a $100,000 fine for using nitromethane from an unauthorized source.

The NHRA on Tuesday cited Green for violation of  participant-conduct rule 1.3.1, found on page four of the 2012 NHRA Rulebook. Green had to pay the fine in full before he would be allowed to participate at any future NHRA events.

The sanctioning body allowed DSR and/or Green to appeal the fine (according to section 1, pages 18-25 of the 2012 NHRA Rulebook). Green will be working in his regular capacity this weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway at Commerce, Ga.

Fortunately, in this video filmed at Steve Morris Race Engines, the engine itself came away unharmed in the instantaneous explosion that no one, even Steve himself, ever saw coming.

The bullet seen here on the dyno is a 572 cubic inch big block Wedge Chrysler, sporting s Keith Black engine block, Brodix B1 cylinder heads, a solid roller cam, and topped with an Holley EFI Dominator with a Mike Moran-prepped fuel injection setup. Out front is a pair of F2 ProCharger’s featuring Morris’ own Provolutes.

This monster belongs to Darryl Johnson, who had it built last summer to power his ’71 Duster in the Unlimited category at HOT ROD Drag Week.

In the video, the abrupt failure doesn’t give a lot of indication as to what went south, other than the fact that it looked expensive. But the pictures tell a thousand words, as you can see the driveshaft on the dyno severed in two from the incredible stress it’s undertaken from one 2,000-plus horsepower dyno pull after another. According to Morris and Johnson, no damage was done to the engine when the driveshaft failed, which is certainly good news for both parties, bur rest assured they’d both rather not perform any fireworks shows like that one again.

The Ford Street/Strip DUI Distributors from Performance Distributors make getting optimal spark power a breeze. With a high-performance Dyna-Module, high-voltage coil, and performance-tuned advanced weights and springs all in one unit, you’re engine gets 50,000 volts shot right to your sparkplugs with just one 12-volt hot wire.

The high-performance coil lets you gap your spark plugs to an amazing .055 inches while the module allows that coil to give you a longer spark duration. This means near complete combustion of your fuel mixture and a better performing engine.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the weight and spring assembly in the Street/Strip DUI is dialed in with your vehicle and engine in mind, giving you a precise timing curve customized for your setup.

Add that to the vacuum advance that will keep your plugs cleaner longer and give you improved gas mileage, and you’ve got the optimal fool-proof ignition system for six-cylinder, small-block or big-block Ford. Rated for 7,000rpms, its ideal for your daily driver, off-road vehicle or street rod build.

The Ford Racing DUI Distributors from Performance Distributors take the technology and performance of the Street/Strip DUI and ups it to the next level. Rated for 9,000rpms, this one-piece ignition unit features the Racing DUI Coil, which gives you a longer spark duration and allows spark plug gaps to be set between .050 and .055 inches.

With the Ford Racing DUI, you’ll never have to waste time or money changing points out after every race like with point-system distributors, nor will you have to worry about cross fire thanks to the DUI’s wide in-cap terminal spacing.

Perfect for drag racers or circle track competitors, the Ford Racing DUIs from Performance Distributors are available with or without vacuum advance and for many popular Ford powerhouse engines.

Whether you’re looking to improve the performance of your daily driver or take your Ford-powered race car to the next level, Performance Distributors has a DUI Distributor for you. For a complete list of Ford Street/Strip and Racing DUI applications, visit PerformanceDistributors.com.

Official Release:

BRODIX Introduces the LS Compatible Small Block Series

BRODIX delivers the industry’s most durable replacement for the LS style cylinder heads with the introduction of the BR  small block series. The BR 7  is an out-of-the-box version that comes standard with 71 cc combustion chambers, bowls blended, and intake ports matched. The STS BR 7  is a 100% CNC ported version that flows over 375 cfm. The BR 7 and the STS BR 7 both utilize a 12° valve angle and 2.204 / 1.614 valve combination. The STS BR 7 273  flows over 415 cfm with a 71 cc combustion chamber and 2.250 / 1.614 valves. The BR 7 series heads accept all standard LS components and share all of the legendary BRODIX features including: easily repairable A-356 virgin aluminum alloy and the strongest deck surface in the business.

Features:

• Durable replacement for the LS style cylinder heads
• Comes in several versions
• BR7 comes standard with 71 cc combustion chambers, bowls blended, and intake ports matched
• STS BR 7  is a 100% CNC ported version that flows over 375 cfm
• The STS BR 7 273  flows over 415 cfm with a 71 cc combustion chamber and 2.250 / 1.614 valves
• BR Series heads accept all standard LS components

For car builders that really want that ultimate custom look, a complete set of custom designed gauges really highlight the interior of any car. Auto Meter, the company that has a complete line of instruments for just about any car enthusiast’s personal tastes, has recently opened up their custom shop to the public.

The first place someone’s eyes fall when they look into the rolling piece of art you’ve created is the gauges. The one piece of the interior you, as a driver, spend the most time looking at is the instrument cluster. When done right, instruments can compliment the character of your vehicle. Tie it all together and it can be the difference between a finshed masterpiece and a casual weekend project.

The Auto Meter’s custom shop offers several basic options to get you started, then you are only limited by your imagination, or your custom car project’s theme, to create your masterpiece in the custom shop’s configurator program.

According to Auto Meter’s Joseph Mills, “we were getting more and more requests to do “one off” and custom instruments. While we’ve always worked with our customers to provide them the exact product they needed, there were limitations in what we could do and the process wasn’t as easy as it should have been. Well that ends now. We’ve built what we think is a pretty awesome way to create and buy exactly the instruments that your project needs. We’ve constructed this site from the ground up using some of the most sophisticated software available to give you the quickest and easiest way to visulaize and build the finest instruments in the world, in the exact style you want.”

Let’s assume that you want to color match the gauges to your car’s paint. The Custom Shop Configurator currently has an option to have you paint the dial, pointer and retainer yourself if you’d like to match these exactly to your vehicle. When you order with this option, Auto Meter will automatically send out three of each of the components for you to paint and send back for screening and assembly. The online program has a color wheel tool which allows you to match an infinite amount of colors for visulaization purposes. You can imagine it, design it, then see it on the screen.

You may be wondering how long it takes to get your custom designed gauges. According to Auto Meter, you can expect each gauge set to be custom built to your specification and shipped out within 4-6 weeks of the initial order.

Before he started his own National Hot Rod Association career, Jeg Coughlin Jr. watched older brothers John, Troy, and Mike drag race.

Even at age 13 or 14, he noticed that they would discard their elapsed-time slips.

“A lot of times you’d find the time slip crumpled up in the corner,” the four-time Pro Stock and 1992 Super Gas champion said. “I’d find myself unraveling it and checking it out and seeing why something happened — and then trying to spin it around, saying, ‘How could that run have turned out to our benefit?’ Whether you won the round or lost the round, there’s a lot of information there.”

So Jeg Coughlin, who’s nothing if not meticulous, has gone on the offense following his second failure to qualify this season. And he said he thinks Houston, where he DNQ’ed last weekend at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals with his JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger, just might be where he turns around his new program.

His preparation for this weekend’s Summit Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway started back at Royal Purple Raceway at Baytown, Texas, Saturday night.

“We had a team meeting Saturday night, and we all decided to stay and test Monday in Houston,” Coughlin said. “Jerry Haas, who built the car, and Adam Lambert from Penske stayed with us to help. We basically decided to start the test with a clean sheet of paper and see what we could do.”

(Never too far from the drawing board is “Pop” Jeg Coughlin Sr., who always is standing by with sage advice. “He’s probably the most valuable crew chief out there,” his son said. “It’d be hard for money to buy that. He doesn’t get ruffled that often. He’s very prepared, very logical. He has been instrumental in my achievements.”)

The JEGS team went over the small-but-key details, deciding to focus on improving the launch and concentrating on the suspension, shocks, springs, and weight transfer. Despite a less-than-ideal racing surface at that point, Coughlin said he saw improvement.

“We started with 1.02-second 60-foot times and progressively got better each run, which was really encouraging,” he said. “The track was deteriorating a bit from race day, but we still learned a bunch that I think we’ll be able to take with us to Atlanta. I’m hoping we will look back at this test at some point in the future and say, ‘That’s where it all started.’ ”

Seeking his 53rd Pro Stock victory and 69th overall in NHRA competition, Coughlin said this latest go-’round in the class has been an eye-opener.

“It has taken a little more time than I would have guessed. Having a brand-new team (except for engine gurus Roy Simmons and Nick Ferri), we expected some adversity, but I’ll admit it’s been tougher than I thought it would be,” Coughlin said. “But we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and this team.”

Before Coughlin traveled to Houston, he was trying to shake a DNQ at Gainesville — the third race of the season — that seemed especially baffling in light of his runner-up finish at the Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., that opened the 2012 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour.

His strategy at that point, he said, was “don’t screw with what we did well and fine-tune what we didn’t do well.”

In general, Coughlin said, “There are literally dozens and dozens of opportunities you have to maintain your Pro Stock car for the next run. There might be 60 things on the checklist. And probably 80 percent of the time, it’s going to be these five [crucial parts in play] and the other 20 percent it’s going to be these 55. You typically spend most of your time on the five it’s likely going to be. The 80 / 20 rule definitely is in effect. The Pro Stock car is a huge Rubik’s cube, no question about it.”

So, too, is this situation in which he has found himself. A mediocre 4-4 elimination-round record that includes a couple of first-round defeats is about as distasteful to him as a dirty, cluttered room in his house. It’s totally out of character for a racer who has a 477-222 career mark and has won more Pro Stock rounds than anyone but Bob Glidden, Warren Johnson, and Greg Anderson (who have a combined total of  20 championships).

“Everyone on the team has won multiple championships,” Coughlin said, “so we’re used to getting better results. They’ll come. We just need to be patient.

“We’re getting our program up to speed,” he said. “We haven’t shown a lot of brilliance with our performance on the track. But our goal is to put together a team capable of representing our company, challenging for race wins, and challenging for the Full Throttle Pro Stock championship. Those are pretty high-end goals, and I feel like we’ve been successful at that model.”

The ultra-competitive Coughlin even competes with himself, saying, “Our goal is to meet and exceed those goals. We need to be falling into our groove. That’s what it’s going to take to get in this championship.”

He needs to make big strides but recognizes that involves baby steps again. So right now, he’ll be content to make the show at Atlanta, where he won in 2000 and 2010.

Boy, if this wasn’t a sight for sore eyes in our mailbox as we arrived in the office this morning.

The shapely chunk of billet aluminum that you see before you is a spy photo of the prototype of the new lightweight billet lock-up torque converter that Neal Chance Racing Converters has been developing over the last several months. As the rumor goes, this innovative new converter tips the scales at just 30 pounds and has the lock-up capacity to handle the nitro-burning, supercharged Hemi in a Top Fuel Dragster or Funny Car.

As the Neal Chance team revealed last week, the lock-up converter and Rossler Transmission project has already undergone and continues to undergo top secret testing.

Only time will tell what the exact specifications are on this new converter and what effect it will have on the competitive landscape of our sport, but we can assure you that you’ll want to keep your eyes and ears tuned here to DRAGZINE as more information becomes available.

For more information on Neal Chance Racing Converters and their current offering of record-setting converters for everything from powerful street cars on up to 3,000 horsepower Pro Modifieds visit racingconverters.com.

During the off season, Taylor revealed his intentions to try a turbocharged combination in an effort to reduce operating costs. He and the rest of his team spent much of the winter preparing and testing the combination that featured a pair of Bullseye Power turbochargers. Said Taylor in December, “It’s exciting and hopefully it will be something different. I’m going to try my approach and see if I can make it work. If it does work, it would be pretty cool. Hopefully it will be a good deal.”

When the rubber met the road however,Taylor and his team were unable to get a competitive handle on the all-new combination, and the former Pro Extreme champion and current class elapsed time record holder failed to qualify at the seasons first two races in Houston and Bristol, eliciting the need for change while more time can be placed on the testing and development of the turbo formula.

“I have not given up on the turbos as I think they will be fast.  We just need more time to test,” said Taylor. It killed me to not qualify in the last two ADRL races. Me and my team expected more out of the performance side. We are going back to what we know for now.”

Taylor’s turbo engine combo will be placed in the ’52 chevy of Richard Patterson that’s curently on loan to the Taylor team, and testing is planned to ramp up over the next month in hopes of a return between the framerails of Taylor’s Corvette this summer.

The popular driver from Dickinson, Tex. set the national record – a blistering 3.581 – at the Reading event lay May.

At first glance, John Force and Kenny Bernstein appeared to be thrust continually on the same stage for decades in some techno-twisted version of “The Odd Couple.”

And it has been hard to tell whether they’re hopelessly different or intriguingly alike. They appear to be a little of both. Either way, they seem to be linked to one another.

Along with NASCAR legend Richard Childress, they’ll be inducted together on Thursday evening into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega, Ala. Tony Stewart, 2011 Driver of the Year, and 2011 ARCA champion Ty Dillon also will be recognized.

“This is unique for me, to share the stage with a guy like Childress, a heavyweight in NASCAR,” Force said. “But to be up there with Kenny Bernstein, a guy I’ve always respected and admired and loved and raced with — a guy who ran the first 300 miles an hour . . . It’s great.

“It’s just unique, not to accept it for me and for my race teams but for my sponsors and the fans. And that is the accomplishment for NHRA: another stepping stone, to move us up that ladder to where we want to be.”

Image courtesy: NHRA/National Dragster

Bernstein agreed, saying, “It’s great for the sport, great fro NHRA drag racing. I’m very honored to be there with John. That’s kind of the icing on the cake, for me. John’s so important to our sport. And he has such an outstanding record. To be there with him, that’s really second to none.

“Richard Childress just happens to be a very, very close friend of mine, and I’m glad to be there with Richard. That means a lot to me.”

Force recalled the time he attended the induction ceremonies at Talladega (in 1996, when he was the first drag racer to be named Driver of the Year in all of American motorsports) and met Dale Earnhardt.

“It was just an unbelievable feeling to have him reach out and shake your hand,” he said. “Those guys are my heroes, too, but I’ve got heroes out here in drag racing.”

He named Bernstein and Don Prudhomme and said, “I love these guys. They were the stars I grew up watching. To get inducted with the greats who are going to be there, it really is quite an honor. It’s very humbling to get a chance.”

Both Force and Bernstein understand humble, for both came from modest backgrounds.

Force arguably bears more scars from growing up in poverty than he does from the polio that struck him a toddler.  He tells stories about growing up in California with his siblings in a trailer so tiny that “honest-to-God, you could sit on the toilet and shower at the same time. I slept on the couch, so I had to wait for my parents to get done watching Johnny Carson before I could go to sleep. And we didn’t have big Thanksgivin’ turkey dinners where everyone got around the table. It wasn’t ‘The Waltons.’ ”

Bernstein’s environment wasn’t as Spartan, but as a grade-school boy he learned to sell and present merchandise in dad Bert’s department store in Lubbock, Texas. “Everything was precise. If you weren’t selling, you were fixing the stock,” he said. “It was instilled in me from the time I was seven or eight years old.”

So both were self-starters in drag racing.

Bernstein is famous for using common sense and a show-and-tell approach to landing a marketing partnership contract with Budweiser that didn’t run its course until the end of the 2009 season. That 30-year marketing marriage was the longest in motorsports history, surpassing STP’s 28-year sponsorship of NASCAR king Richard Petty. Bernstein and the Prudhomme – Tom McEwen dynamic duo ushered in the era of Corporate America’s involvement in racing.

Bernstein began racing seriously in 1966, on the Texas Pro Fuel Circuit, supporting himself by selling high-fashion women’s wear. Later, he juggled his own NHRA driving career with managing his teams in IndyCar and NASCAR and for seven years operating 17 Chelsea Street Pub restaurants that employed 2,500 workers.

Force morphed what he called “a big, dumb ol’ truck driver” (because he used to pay for his racing habit by running a long-haul route) to entrepreneur extraordinaire. He owns, among other ventures, four Brownsburm Ind-headquartered Funny Car teams that have swiped every single victory this season, a Top Fuel team, and The Eric Medlen Project that’s dedicated to race-car safety technology. He also owns John Force Entertainment — complete with editing bays, filming studios, and a theatre — in his former shop at Yorba Linda, Calif.

Said Force, “It ain’t like I was a billionaire who walked in here and said, ‘I’m Howard Hughes, and I want to race.’ I had nothing’ — flat nothin.’ ”

He landed his first big sponsorship when he ran out of gas in Denver, down the street from the Jolly Rancher candies office, and begged executive Bob Harmsen for money to buy gas to get to the next race. He charmed Harmsen into a deal that lasted eight years and really introduced Force to the drag-racing world.

Bernstein always is neatly groomed, clothes pressed, every hair in place. Force often has been a hot mess of facial stubble, helmet-head hair, wearing firesuits with grime ground in so deeply that even the most professional dry-cleaner has to concede defeat.

Bernstein measures his words and uses precise grammar. Force spills out his heart, whatever is in it, whenever the spirit moves him, to whomever will listen. He often jabbed Bernstein, saying of their racetrack row of haulers, “Kenny has a big, fancy mansion. But he never gets to see it. He has to live in my trailer park every week.”

Bernstein is a walking Rolodex, while Force mangles names in a way that seasoned comics would envy. Bernstein is controlled, Force excitable. Said Bernstein with a laugh, “He’s hyper and upside-down on everything all the time. I’m hyper and upside-down half the time. So there’s a difference.

“We do a pretty good job at being the straight guy and the funny guy. We can get going pretty good,” Bernstein said. “John’s obviously a pretty smart guy, underneath all that farce that he puts out. He kind of acts like he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, but he really does.”

Image courtesy: NHRA/National Dragster

Bernstein always accommodated his sponsors and fans with grace but is private. Force acts as if he’s a best friend to each person in the grandstands — that’s why fans line up 10-deep or more at the rope line in his pits every second he isn’t on the track racing.

“He’s overloaded,” Bernstein said of Force. “He has a hard time telling people no. You can’t tell John a lot of advice. You can give it to him, but he won’t take a lot of it. Sometimes you wonder if you aren’t talking to that wall. I said, ‘There are only two issues that I’ve told you about several times, and you always forget them. Are you making money? And are you having fun?”

Entertaining the fans and media with outrageous yarns and crazy-talk, signing autographs with grand theatre never was Kenny Bernstein’s shtick. But it’s right in Force’s wheelhouse. “That’s my lifeline. That’s what makes John Force tick. This is my home,” Force said.

“And this is where I’ll go out. We’ll never have no big retirement party — ain’t going to do none of that. When I can’t cut it anymore, I’ll just leave. I’ll step over the fence and I’ll just be gone one day — if I don’t fall over dead,” Force said. “That’s how I want to go, because I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Bernstein has a soft side, too, and once said, “A lot of people misinterpret me. I care about people and I care about the sport, and I care about everything very deeply.”

They clearly love their children. Bernstein watched carefully when Ashley Force (Hood) began her racing career. “He doesn’t want to have anything happen to his daughter,” Bernstein said. “I don’t want to have anything happen to Brandon — don’t misunderstand me. But it’s different. I think that’s bothered John a lot. I think one flag goes up with a boy-kid and two go up with a girl. I just think he’s worried to death that he’s going to hurt his little girl. And that’s heavy. That’s heavy stuff there.”

He knows the anguish he went through — not to mention his return to the dragster after his first retirement to satisfy sponsor obligations — when Brandon Bernstein was injured midway through 2003.

Force said he doesn’t see any differences between himself and Bernstein. But Bernstein said, “We’re a lot different. We’re a whole lot different.” History can decide.

For right now, they both can agree, as did the voting panel for the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, that Bernstein and Force are among the industry’s greatest treasures.

Official Release:

ARP ADDS 18 NEW RING COMPRESSORS

Automotive Racing Products, Inc. has added 18 new bore sizes to its line of tapered ring compressors, bringing the total to 119. These include 77 SAE sizes that range from 3.552″ to 4.750″ and 42 Metric models from 75mm to 95.5 mm.

ARP’s ring compressors are CNC machined from 6061-T6 billet material and feature a true radius to compliment each individual bore size. This serves to efficiently compress the piston rings as the piston assembly is pushed into the cylinder. The compressors feature an O-ring relief, which allows it to seat squarely on blocks with or without O-rings.

Durability is enhanced through Type 3 anodizing, assuring a long service life, and the bore size is prominently engraved on ARP compressors in 3/4″ tall numbers for easy identification.

With all of these features ARP ring compressors have become a favorite of many leading engine builders the world over. For a complete run-down of all available sizes for 2012 see New Products section of the company website, www.arp-bolts.com, or call the ARP tech line at 800-826-3045.

Features:

• 18 new bore sizes of tapered ring compressors
• 77 SAE sizes and 42 Metric models
• CNC machined from 6061-T6 billet material
• Features an O-ring relief
• Durability enhanced through Type 3 anodizing

During Cecil County Dragway’s Outlaw Street Car Shootout on Saturday, Martin’s record-setting ’68 Camaro – packing big cubic inches and nitrous for power – got away from him and took a hard slap to the opposing guardrail on the passenger side of the car.

Martin’s mount went immediately right at the hit toward the gaurdrail, and despite doing all that he could to lift off the throttle and reign it in, the new surface at Cecil County proved too dicey and the momentum carried the car across the track, where it ended up facing back toward the starting line. Martin was uninjured in the incident and we certainly hope the damage was largely cosmetic.

Martin had had great success in his familiar Camaro, recording the quickest nitrous Outlaw 10.5 passes in competition at 4.23 seconds in the eighth mile and 6.52 seconds out the back, with a personal best of 4.143 seconds at 175 miles per hour in testing.

Like the rest of the heads-up doorslammer community, we wish Michael and his team a quick return to action with a race car that’s good as new.

Competitors in the series will be greeted with some new changes to the points and payout systems as compared to previous seasons. In 2012, the racers will now have a structured payout setup, and thus will know their expected payout prior to entering an event. A positive aspect of the WCOPMA is that the series pays down to the first round loser. The last three seasons, the amounts of the payouts varied, but now they’re set up in a structured format to relieve some anxiety from the racers.

There will no longer be bonus points for attending a higher number of races – although this was never a determining factor at the end of the season. As it stands now, the the top three drivers in the final points battle will now receive bonus points for their accomplishment.

This season, all those new record runs (ET and MPH) that are sure to be set will now require a one percent backup during qualifying or eliminations. For the record to qualify, it will need to be backed up at the same event, and racers who do so will now receive twenty bonus points for the new “official” record.

Big name sponsors like, Hoosier Tires (West), Redline Synthetic Oil, The Goodguys Rod and Custom Association, and the addition of the new racers, the West Coast Pro Mod Association is assured to have another exciting and successful year with its new payout and points structure.

Hubbard on the way to his first to the .20's - 4.28 @ 179 MPH run. Photo Courtesy James Sisk.

The first official 4.2X run was a 4.283 at 179.95 MPH and was then backed up with a shocking 4.267 at 179.50 later that night. After that performance Friday night Hubbard went on to capture the Drag Radial elapsed time record, running a 4.275 at 179.64 in the final qualifying session as the No. 1 qualifier in Patriot Performance True 10.5.  Not to be outdone, Kevin Fiscus put the Hurricane Performance twin turbo Mustang on kill, running a 4.278 at 187.27 during the test session Friday, making his run the quickest and fastest for a legal Outlaw Drag Radial car.

A fine pair here for sure. On the left is Hubbard's best run, down a good eight MPH from the twin turbocharged Pro Line Racing 632 of Fiscus. Data like this really shows the difference in power and management of the different combos. I don't know about anyone else, but I look at these two tickets and just wonder what the numbers could be with a 1.10-1.11 sixy-foot? Photos Courtesy Bonnie Webb (Hubbard) and Pro Torque (Fiscus)

Kevin Fiscus and Josh Klugger told me earlier this year they were looking to be the first car in the .20's. While they were not the first, they did do it and are the fastest with a 1.19 60', 2.99 330', and 4.33 at 190.4 run. Photo Courtesy James Sisk.

Holly Springs runs their own TT5 rules which are similar to the Radial vs. the World regulations at the No Mercy events at SGMP, allowing backhalf 4-link cars to run together with stock suspension cars. On Sunday Hubbard made it to round three where he took a loss to Randy Westmoreland, slowing to a 5.94 to the winning 4.80 at 128 miles per. The final wound up with Steve Jackson and John Kolivas wading through the 32 car field with Kolivas getting a holeshot win as a pair of 4.52’s showed on the boards.

Moser Engineering’s own Bayou Boyz continued their winning ways in Texas as Britt Cummings drove his dragster to the Super Comp title at the Royal Purple Raceway, pushing fellow heavy-hitter Shannon Brinkley under the 8.90 index to claim the Wally.

In only its fourth time out, Cummings also wheeled his new C/SA Corvette to the final round with hopes of setting the table for a double-up victory, but gave up an .027 to .092 advantage out of the gate to opponent Hagen Gary and broke out by several hundredths attempting to take the stripe.

As a consolation, the Bayou Boyz earned the Best Appearing Car(s) award with their Pontiac Firebird and the new C5 Corvette, which features Moser’s new C5 Rear Sub Frame Assembly for Stock Eliminator-specific vehicles.

Also at Houston, sportsman and big-money bracket racing standout Luke Bogacki drove his brand new Corvette roadster featuring Moser components to its first national event win, as Bogacki took a slight edge at the tree and forced opponent Jeff Lopez under the magic 9.90 number.

In other recent on-track news out of the Moser camp, Cummings family patriarch Larry Cummings drove his SS/BM Chevrolet Cavalier to the Super Stock crown last weekend at the NHRA Division 4 event at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas over Pete Peery. Cummings nailed a stellar .004 reaction time in the final and came out on the winning end of a double-breakout drag race.

“It’s always great for the Moser Engineering team to get a victory,” said team spokesperson Britt Cummings. “But it’s even more special for Dad to win, especially with his first on the NHRA tour. It would have been icing on the cake to see him and Slate in the final, but it was an incredible win for our team nonetheless.”

For more information on Moser Engineering, it’s products, and the championship-winning racers who use them, log on to moserengineering.com.

Official Release:

TOP DRAGSTER PACKAGE FROM SPITZER RACE CARS

Greenfield, IN – Highly respected SFI builder Spitzer Race Cars has introduced a 2012 series chassis for the increasingly popular Top Dragster class that incorporates enhanced car features and options, plus attractive package pricing. Base price for the car, which includes a carbon fiber body and wing, is $14,950. It is built to SFI 2.5C specifications (6.00 to 7.50 quarter-mile elapsed times).

Driver safety and comfort is a primary focus of the revised design, with cage widths of 21, 23 and 25 inches offered, as well as special “kick-out” in the seat that provides extra elbow room. The standard wheelbase is 272″—although it can be extended to 287″ depending on the customer’s choice of engine and driveline. It is a fast-reacting “hard tail” design and a proven 6.0-performer with appropriate power. A special high velocity “lump” wing and several different elements are offered for higher speed cars (up to 230 mph). 4-link models are also available.

The carbon fiber body, seat and wing are manufactured in-house at Spitzer Composites and included in the base car. A wide variety of aerodynamically designed air scoops are available options. Many other options are offered, up to an including a complete “roller.” Spitzer Race Cars is responsible for building many event and championship-winning race cars—including many in Top Dragster.

Full details can be found on Spitzer’s newly revamped website, www.GoSpitzer.com , or available by calling 317-894-9533.

Features:

• New design focuses on driver safety and comfort
• Offered with cage widths of 21, 23 and 25 inches
• Built to SFI 2.5C specifications
• Many upgrade options available

Ricky Gadson and his Monster Energy Drink-backed Super Sport Kawasaki ZX14. Image credit: K&N Filters.

In a report issued today by the Wall Street Journal, the Coca-Cola Company, which has the Full Throttle Energy Drink brand that serves at the title sponsor of NHRA championship drag racing as part of its vast portfolio, currently is in talks to acquire the Monster Beverage Corp. – makers of the popular Monster Energy Drink brand. Per the report, Cola-Cola, the world’s preeminent soft drink maker, is interested in expanding its presence in the growing energy drink market, and with sales of $1.7 billion last year and expected growth of 17% this year, Monster certainly provides that presence.

The Full Throttle brand reportedly hasn’t performed up to par with the leading energy drink brands, which include Monster, Red Bull, and Rockstar.

The Coca-Cola Company and the NHRA partnered in 2001 with the company’s POWERade sports drink brand, and in 2009 transitioned to the Full Throttle Energy Drink brand as the title sponsor of the world’s premier drag racing sanctioning body. Coca-Cola and the NHRA last year re-upped their agreement though the 2013 season. When the current agreement between the NHRA and Coca-Cola concludes next season, it will mark one of the longest-running sponsorships in sports at 12 years.

The acquisition of the Monster Beverage Company by Coca-Cola is pure speculation at this point and hinges on a number of make-or-break factors, and as such, the very thought that Monster Energy Drink could eventually be tied to NHRA drag racing is even deeper-rooted speculation, but we can all certainly dream of such a scenario where a highly visible and globally-recognized brand is involved in big league drag racing.

Monster sits second in the fledgling energy drink market share to Red Bull – albeit a distant second – and targets a young core demographic of college students and young adults that drag racing desperately needs to get out to the races.

Monster Energy is already involved in a wide range of major sports arenas, including two-wheeled dirt and asphalt, action sports, water sports, off-road and rally racing, and even drag racing with motorcycle racing standout Ricky Gadson.

Sophomore Pro Stock ace Vincent Nobile successfully defended his Houston title on Sunday to earn his first victory of the season. He was joined on the winners podium by Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Mike Neff (Funny Car), Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle), and Danny Rowe (Pro Modified).

Read More >>

Mickey Thompson Tires Monday Morning Race Report

NHRA: Event coverage recap on DRAGZINE – Second-generation Pro Stock ace Vincent Nobile edged fellow young gun Dave Connolly – in just his second start this season – in a spectacular final round in which Connolly was second off the starting line with an .011 reaction time. At the stripe, Nobile’s 6.595 was just enough to outrun Connolly’s right-there 6.604. Morgan Lucas, off to the hottest start of his career, qualified atop the Top Fuel field and marched his way through eliminations, where he claimed his second victory of the season over new points leader Antron Brown. Mike Neff kept the unbeaten streak alive for John Force Racing in Funny Car, defeating a slowing Ron Capps in the money round. Also remaining unbeaten were the Vance & Hines Harley Davidson’s despite carrying an extra 20 pounds of lead per recent rule changes. Andrew Hines left nothing on the table in the final, nailing a perfect .000 light that Hector Arana Jr. – who ran a quicker 6.886 – simply couldn’t recover from. And in Pro Modified, No. 3 qualifier Danny Rowe ran a great 5.96 to turn away Kenny Lang in the final round for his first win of the season. For complete weekend results, visit NHRA.com, along with Competition Plus for all the news and notes from Houston.

NHRA Division 3: Jared Dreher collected the opening round of the NHRA North Central division Lucas Oil series in Top Alcohol Dragster at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis on Sunday, recording a 5.55 in the final round as opponent Ken Perry had engine troubles and slowed. Dreher was joined by perennial favorite Frank Manzo, who qualified No. 1 and ran 5.75 – his slowest pass of the weekend – in the final to defeat a slowing Brian Harvanek. Competition Eliminator champ David Billingsley and foe Bo Butner were both dead late in the final round, but it was Billingsley’s quicker -0.545 under the index pass that made the difference in a race decided by just 15 inches. To check out complete results from Indy, log on to Drag Race Central.

IHRA Division 9: Greg Slack was first off the starting line and closest to the dial in the Top Dragster final at the IHRA Pro-Am Raiders Division 9 event at the Rockingham Dragway on Sunday, earning him his first class title over Joe Flynn. In Top Sportsman, Don Rudd benefited from a foul start by Tim Lawrence to claim class honors. The Stock Eliminator final was worth the price of admission, as P.W. Hilling put together a .005 light and a 6.23 on a 6.20 dial, while opponent Terry Taylor was second off the line but closer to the target. The result was a margin of victory for Hilling of roughly 5 inches. Visit Drag Race Central for all of the weekend coverage from Rockingham.

PSCA: Mike Maggio recorded a great 6.04 in the Pro Street finale to the claim the PSCA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Maggio defeated a slowing Rod Burbage. Matt Rhoades earned the win in Outlaw 10.5, defeating Gary Soulages in the final, 7.12 to an off-pace 16.60. Rich Hoyle’s 4.88 was enough to down Allen Stewart’s 5.09 in Extreme Drag Radial, and Jason Kenzevich ran a 5.67 to edge out DJ Reid’s 5.69 in Outlaw 8.5.

MIRock: Mac McAdams defeated Ryan Schnitz in the Pro Mod final at the MIRock Fast by Gast Spring Nationals at Maryland International Raceway on Sunday, running a 4.16 to a right-there 4.24 aided by a huge holeshot by Schnitz. In Pro Street, Joey Gladstone cranked out a 7.00 in the money round to easily defeat a slowing Rodney Williford, and Johnny Dobrin edged David Merks in a tight 7.88 to 7.93 Real Street finale. For in-depth coverage including results and photos from Maryland, visit DragBike Live.

The Weekend Winner Circle

O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals – Baytown, Tex. Sophomore Pro Stock ace Vincent Nobile successfully defended his Houston title on Sunday to earn his first victory of the season. He was joined on the winners podium by Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Mike Neff (Funny Car), Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Danny Rowe (Pro Modified). EVENT WINNERS Top Fuel: Morgan Lucas Funny Car: Mike Neff Pro Stock: Vincent Nobile Pro Stock Motorcycle: Andrew Hines Pro Modified: Danny Rowe Top Alcohol Dragster: Jim Whiteley Top Alcohol Funny Car: Jay Payne Super Stock: Doug Baumgardner Stock: Hagen Gary Super Comp: Britt Cummings Super Gas: Luke Bogacki Top Dragster: Rob McKinley Click here to view more results >>

PSCA MagnaFuel Las Vegas Nationals – Las Vegas, Nev. The always-tough Mike Maggio put together another winning weekend in Pro Street at the Las Vegas Nationals on Sunday, highlighting the winners list at the third event on the 2012 series schedule. EVENT WINNERS Pro Street: Mike Maggio Outlaw 10.5: Matt Rhoades Outlaw 8.5: Jason Kenzevich Extreme Drag Radial: Rich Hoyle Hot Street: Anthony Valentino Wild Street: Russ Delia Jr. Super Street: Randy Kersey Open Comp: Mike Nordahl Mustang Madness: Justen Spencer Street Muscle: Kevin Houmard Quick Street: Glen Copley Mean Street: Scott Parsons Street Challenge: Rick Hatch Top Comp: Daniel Henderson Bracket 1: Ryan Mangus Click here to view more results >>

all images credit: DragBike Live

The illustrious Pro Street Motorcycle six-second club, which only gained its first member last fall and its second a few weeks later, doubled its membership over the weekend as a pair of Pro Street riders powered their way to the magical mark during the MIRock Fast by Gast Spring Nationals at the always-quick Maryland International Raceway.

During testing on Friday prior to the opening round of qualifying, Rodney Williford rode his Williford Racing turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa to a lap of 6.97 seconds, setting the stage for a record-setting day of qualifying. Proving the run was no fluke, Williford clocked an even quicker 6.95 at 204.73 miles per hour during the second session to officially enter his name into the six-second club as the third rider to accomplish the feat. Williford also recorded a personal best 6.941 in the first round of eliminations.

Fellow Pro Street frontrunner Joey Gladstone poked and prodded at the six-second zone all weekend long, qualifying third with a 7.03 and running 7.06 in round one and 7.11 in round two. But in the semifinals, opposite of Bud yoder, Gladstone cranked off the first “six” of his Pro Street career – a 6.994 at 211.23 miles per hour – to become the fourth member of the exclusive club. Gladstone put an exclamation point on the big run by winning the event over Williford, but no doubt the six-second time slip was the highlight of his weekend in Maryland.

Pro Street bikes are street legal, 68-inch long motorcycles without wheelie bars pushing 600 horsepower to the ground on a DOT tire.

For complete results plus photos and notes from the MIRock event in Maryland, click over to DragBike Live.

As a partner to the powerTV network, we’ve spoken at length about the products that Lemons Headers produces and even joined forces with them to create and install a set of their headers on our Project All-Air Camaro last year.

The folks at Lemons, headed up by Dan Lemons himself, took their brand to the social media giant that is Facebook earlier this year to expand their reach to current and potential customers. Through their new Facebook portal, Lemons Headers has been able to share a look at their many customer cars utilizing their hand-made headers, while providing those very same customers a place to post videos and photos to show off their Lemons-equipped rides.

The Lemons Headers Facebook page can be viewed by visiting facebook.com/Lemonsheaders. We’d like to see their number of fans go through the roof, so click on over and hit the “LIKE” button at the top right of the page.

To learn more about Lemons Headers and the impressive headers that they produce, log on to lemonsheaders.com.

Monster Motors and COMP Cams just keep churning out mega Mopar monster motors to satisfy all your horsepower cravings. While they mostly build and modify 440s, strokers and Old and New Gen Hemis, they can push the performance limits of any engine you throw at ‘em. CPGNation fills us in on the story.

Founded in Lansing, MI, Mike Ware and buddy Chuck Senatore became known around town for building a wicked fast 9 second Duster and before long they started getting requests to build rods for other people. The guys realized that opportunity was knocking and in 1989, Muscle Motors was born filling a niche in the Chrysler performance market that no one was currently catering to.

Since then, they built their own machine shop, Mike Ware became the sole owner and Muscle Motors became legendary among the Mopar crowd. They haven’t been resting on their laurels either. Check out their recently introduced big-block “King Krate” engine and a soon to be debuted small-block version.

These fire breathing torque monsters pump out over 900 and 800 respectively and you can fill ‘em up with pump gas at the local AM/PM. Don’t let the “Krate,” name fool you either. These are engines are fully customizable to any configuration you could possibly dream up.

Partnered with COMP Cams since 1997, Muscle Motors uses COMP Valve Train products exclusively. Check out their websites and see what they got cookin’.

Mike Neff continued John Force Racing’s dominance in Funny Car as he raced to his first victory of the 2012 season Sunday at the 25th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries at Royal Purple Raceway. With the win, Neff gave John Force Racing its sixth consecutive win to open the season.

Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Vincent Nobile (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also earned victories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event near Houston.

Neff powered his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang past Ron Capps’ NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T in the final round of eliminations. Neff’s 4.239 second pass at 301.67 mph was too much for Capps, who hazed the tires in the Texas heat and clocked a 4.476 second pass at 211.79 mph.

“This whole race was one of a kind,” Neff said. “To not be qualified until the last session and then have a wacky couple of rounds today was a nail-biter. Racing Jim Head, my old buddy, it took so long for the Tree to come on. I never let go of the brake but I blipped the throttle. Thankfully, I was staged shallow so I didn’t red-light. I looked down and saw green so I legged it and then it smoked the tires. It was a total mistake on my part as a driver and a crew chief.”

Neff struggled during qualifying and made it into the 16-car field during the final qualifying session in the heat of the day Saturday. That tune up proved to be what the JFR driver needed throughout Sunday’s eliminations as he beat first round foe Head, top qualifier Cruz Pedregon and defending event winner Jeff Arend en route to his seventh career Funny Car victory.

Neff is currently second in the NHRA Full Throttle point standings behind his JFR teammate Robert Hight, who saw his four race win streak snapped with a semifinal loss to Capps.

“That was a heck of a string he had going,” Neff said about Hight. “That’s hard to do in Funny Car or any class for that matter. I’m just glad I could keep the string going for John Force Racing. I feel pressure but that’s just the business we’re in. We’re a top team and we were built on winning. I feel it, but I don’t get pressure from John or anyone else. Just myself.”

In Top Fuel, Lucas proved that he is a championship contender with his win Sunday as he posted low e.t. during each round of eliminations. The GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster outran Antron Brown’s Matco Tools dragster in the final round with his 3.848 second pass at 320.81 to Brown’s losing 5.894 second pass at 117.05 mph.

“I’m just as proud as can be for this race team, the whole GEICO pit area, and my parents (Forrest and Charlotte),” Lucas said. “Just to be able to go up to the starting line on race day and feel like you can beat anybody is a feeling that I’ve never had before. This is probably the first time in my career, Top Alcohol Dragster included, that I’ve ever had low e.t. of every round of eliminations.”

Lucas started from the No. 1 qualifying spot for the fourth time of the season and the win moved him to third in points. With the runner-up finish Brown took over the series points lead.

Nobile earned his first Pro Stock win of the season by outrunning veteran driver Dave Connolly in the final round. Nobile’s 6.595 second pass at 210.14 in his Mountain View Tire Dodge Avenger edged Connolly’s 6.604 second pass at 210.41 mph in his Alamo Iron Works/KLR Group Chevy Cobalt to claim his second consecutive win in Houston.

“It’s an amazing feeling [to win this event two years in a row],” said Nobile, who beat Greg Stanfield, Larry Morgan and Mike Edwards to advance to the final. “In the semis, we actually had to swap motors in that short amount of time [before the final] and the crew did it with now flaws and everything was perfect. The crew produces a really fast race car. I owe it to all of them. My dad taught me everything I know about driving a race car and drag racing period.  This win is a win for the both of us. He never won a Wally because he never had the power. But now we’re doing it both together.”

Nobile’s win moved him from fifth to third in the series standings.

Hines used a perfect reaction time to beat sophomore rider Hector Arana Jr. in the final round in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Arana’s 6.886 second pass at 196.33 mph on his Lucas Oil Buell was quicker than Hines’ 6.905 second pass at 194.52 mph on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson, but Hines won the race on the starting line.

“I knew I’d need a good light, but I wasn’t expecting a .000,” Hines said. “I’m lucky I didn’t roll in an eighth of an inch more or I’d have red-lighted. We had to add 20-pounds so I figured I’d need to win on a holeshot in order to have a chance, especially after he [Hector Jr.] ran that 6.84 in the semifinals.”

Hines has won this event three years in a row and he is now the series leader in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

“I knew this was the 25th anniversary of this race so I really wanted to win that silver Wally,” Hines said.

No. 3 qualifier Danny Rowe earned his first NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by ProCare Rx victory of the 2012 season Sunday at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway.

Rowe’s Sterling Bridge ’68 Chevy Camaro powered to a winning performance of 5.969 seconds at 244.43 mph in the final round of eliminations to beat Kenny Lang’s pass of 6.043 seconds at 238.51 mph.

Rowe defeated Mike Knowles, Troy Coughlin and Danny Walsh in earlier rounds en route to his first final round appearance of the season.

Qualifying Recap

Top Fuel driver Morgan Lucas raced to his fourth No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the 25th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries at Royal Purple Raceway.

Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were No. 1 qualifiers and will lead their categories into Sunday’s 11 a.m. elimiantions at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event near Houston.

The GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel team ran low E.T. of the event during Friday evening’s qualifying session and the 3.772 second pass at 327.74 mph held up as the No. 1 qualifying position throughout Saturday’s warm weather conditions.

“We were real fortunate that the Friday night session ran a little late for us, and we got the conditions to run that big number [3.772],” Lucas said. “We also had the opportunity to test a little bit [with the hotter temperatures] today, but for tomorrow we’ll put the car back to where we know it can run well. We obviously have a good handle on the car and can make it run consistent 3.80s.”

Lucas will start from the No. 1 position for the eighth time of his career and will face No. 16 qualifier Troy Buff in the opening round.

No one in Funny Car was able to better Pedregon’s Friday pass of 4.103 at 305.29. The Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry will start from the No. 1 position for the second time this season and 47th time of his career. He will face No. 16 qualifier Gary Densham in round one.

“Thankfully we made two good runs yesterday because we dropped a cylinder on both runs today,” said Pedregon of his eighth career No. 1 qualifying effort at Royal Purple Raceway. “The good news is that we stayed No. 1. I’m already thinking about race day.”

In Pro Stock, Johnson held onto the No. 1 spot through Saturday’s qualifying efforts as no one was able to outrun the Team Mopar Dodge Avenger’s Friday evening pass of 6.545 at 211.73.

“Our motto in the Mopar camp is ‘consistency’ and I think we’ve accomplished that this weekend,” Johnson said. “We weren’t quite as fast as we wanted to be, but we were just a hundredth off. I think tomorrow will be a knock-down drag-out, but the Mopar Avenger team is ready for that. Everybody has their winning hats on and we’re learning how to win.”

This is Johnson’s second No. 1 of the season and 20th of his career. Johnson will race Shane Gray and his Tire Kingdom GXP Sunday morning.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Lucas Oil rider Arana set low E.T. of the weekend during Saturday’s final qualifying session when he posted a performance of 6.850 seconds at 194.86 mph and secured his first No. 1 of the season and 18th of his career. Arana’s Lucas Oil Buell teammate and son Hector Arana Jr. is qualified second in the 16-bike field.

“We just worked hard,” Arana said. “We know the Harleys are fast, but we can’t think about them. We just keep working and the results show. I was happy when I ran but I felt even better when my son [Arana Jr.] was No. 2.  We keep tuning on the bike and little by little it’s getting better. We’re making excellent runs and that’s what’s giving us an edge.”

No. 3 qualifier Danny Rowe advanced his Sterling Bridge ’68 Chevy Camaro to the second round of eliminations and was among the first-round winners Saturday in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by ProCare Rx portion of the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway.

Rowe’s 5.951 second pass at 244.92 mph was too much for first-round opponent Mike Knowles, whose ’68 Camaro lost traction almost immediately and coasted across the finish line at 11.413 at 78.30. Rowe will face Troy Coughlin in round two Sunday. Coughlin defeated Leah Pruett to advance.

Defending event winner and No. 1 qualifier Mike Castellana was upset in the opening round of eliminations by Steve Matusek. No. 2 qualifier Rickie Smith also lost in round one to Donald Walsh.

Other second-round pairings include Brad Brand v. Kenny Lang, Walsh v. Pete Farber, and Matusek will get a bye run.

Official Release:

Fel-Pro PermaTorque MLS Performance Head Gaskets Now Available for Expanded Range of GM LSX Engines

Southfield, Michigan…Federal-Mogul’s (NASDAQ: FDML) market leading Fel-Pro PermaTorque MLS performance head gaskets are now available for a significantly expanded range of performance engines based on the popular LSX block from GM Performance. Each of the new PermaTorque MLS head gaskets features the Fel-Pro brand’s exclusive LaserWeld stopper layer technology proven in NASCAR, NHRA and IHRA competition.

Federal-Mogul now offers 10 Fel-Pro PermaTorque MLS performance head gaskets for the LSX family of engines. Gasket bore sizes are 4.100” and 4.200”, with available compressed thicknesses of .041” and .053”.

“Our new PermaTorque MLS gaskets cover virtually any LSX-based engine combination producing up to 2,000 horsepower,” said Federal-Mogul Performance Gaskets Product Manager Ron Rotunno. “Professional and sportsman race teams and their engine builders have had tremendous success using these gaskets to ensure a reliable seal of extreme cylinder pressures and temperatures.”

Each PermaTorque MLS head gasket features the brand’s exclusive LaserWeld stopper layer, which helps maximize combustion sealing by precisely controlling the compression of each gasket’s layers. This helps reduce head lift, prevent gasket damage and ensure a superior combustion seal over a broader range of operating conditions.

“LaserWeld is the new standard in Sprint Cup racing,” Rotunno said. “This technology is another example of our ability to help engine builders anticipate and address the challenges associated with rising combustion pressures, temperatures and increased casting motion in each new generation of high-output engines.”

Developed with the insight and support of leading engine builders in NASCAR Sprint Cup and other leading racing series, PermaTorque MLS performance head gaskets provide the robust seal needed to contain extreme combustion pressures and temperatures common to naturally aspirated, turbo/supercharged and nitrous-equipped performance engines. Each gasket is composed of multiple layers of full-hard stainless steel, precisely engineered sealing beads and advanced polymer coatings to maintain contact pressure between the cylinder head and block despite the extreme horizontal and vertical casting motion encountered in many high-performance engine applications.

These benefits have been proven in thousands of miles of championship oval track competition and thousands of passes on drag strips across North America.

For more information regarding Fel-Pro PermaTorque MLS performance head gaskets, contact your performance engine parts supplier, visit www.felpro-only.com or write to: Fel-Pro Marketing, Federal-Mogul Corp., 26555 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, MI 48033. Complete application listings for Fel-Pro gaskets and other Federal-Mogul products are available online at the company’s free www.FMe-cat.com electronic catalog.

Highlights:

• 10 Fel-Pro PermaTorque MLS performance head gaskets now available for the LSX family of engines
• Features exclusive LaserWeld stopper layer technology proven in NASCAR, NHRA and IHRA competition
• The LaserWeld stopper technology helps reduce head lift, prevent gasket damage and ensure a superior combustion seal over a broader range of operating conditions

QA1 specializes in providing performance suspension components for the street rod, street performance, circle track and drag racing markets. For each of these specialty markets, QA1 puts out a unique catalog, featuring some of the best products and latest technology to help you get the optimal suspension performance no matter what the application.

To help promote their products next year, QA1 is looking for cars to feature on the pages of their 2013 catalogs. If your car runs QA1 components you’re eligible to enter the company’s photo contest.

To enter, all you have to do is snap a good photo of your car and submit it on QA1’s Facebook page by May 25^th. Photos must be of your vehicle and can’t be submitted on someone else’s behalf. You must own the rights to the image you submit.

A number of photos will be selected for the catalogs, so make sure to give QA1 your best shot. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges and the owners of the cars chosen will get a QA1 t-shirt and premium bragging rights.

Be sure to get your photo in by May 25^th to qualify and vote for your favorite pictures to help the judges choose which cars they will use.

But what goes up must come back down, and Outlaw 10.5 ran its natural course and began to whither as racers moved on or moved out. But then something exciting happened – the class experienced a glorious revival that continues to this day, and despite the overflowing popularity of other doorslammer eliminators, Outlaw 10.5 remains one of the most relevant categories in all of drag racing.

This week a pair of the nicest machines to wear a set of 10.5W’s popped up on Al Gore’s interwebs for sale, and if you happen to be independently wealthy or sitting on a winning lottery ticket, there are no finer ways to go Outlaw 10.5 racing.

Danny Lowry, who has reportedly purchased the turbocharged Pro Modified Mustang formerly owned and driven by Coby Rabon, has his record-setting 1998 Mustang listed on the Proline Racing website for a cool $150,000 ready to rock. Not only do you get a sleek Bell Chassisworks-built rolling race car with double frame rails, Santhuff struts, a Bickel Pro Mod Floater rear, and the works, but a monstrous 670 cubic inch Proline bullet nestled behind a pair of Precision Pro Mod 94mm turbos. Lowry has pushed his flamed mount to a best of 4.18 at 186 miles per hour, so it’s certainly no slouch by any standards.

Also headed to a new home is the slick Super Street 10.5W first-gen Camaro of Floridian Jesse Violante, who debuted the sinister flat black ride in NMCA competition last spring after acquiring it from former owner Bryan Markiewicz. The ’69 Camaro, built in 2006 by Sheppard Race Cars, features original all steel roof and quarter panels, fiberglass doors, nose, and deck lid, Strange nine-inch floater rear, Santhuff shocks, a Racepak V300 and dashboard setup, and much more. Violante has the car listed on Racing Junk at $50,000 as a roller.

These are exceptional purchases that will put someone right into contention; but we certainly hope that their sale isn’t a signal that interest is waning again in Outlaw 10.5 just when things are getting good again.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the 80’s Malibu’s and other GM cars built on that platform and now racers are seeing the worth of these “smog era” cars, as there are still many decent and cheap bodies available to build without going down the me-too Mustang road. This fine example belongs to Jim Williams out of House Springs, Missouri and is fresh out of Dan Saitz’ Hyperformance Motorsports in nearby Fenton.

Evans based the build on a Dart Big M block and then filled it with a Callies 4.25-inch stroke crank and Oliver +.250 rods swinging Ross custom slugs for about 11:1 compression. The short block is topped with a set of Dart 325 CNC ported heads and a cast intake manifold sporting Moran Motorsports 550 lb/hr injectors and a Wilson elbow. Steve Morris, who has specialized in Procharged engines since 2003, spec’d the camshaft and provided the springs and other valve train parts.

Jim’s 1980 Bu features a 540 cubic inch big block Chevy built by Jim Evans and Rolla Competition Engines with the intent on reliable eight second power, for now. All photos courtesy Hyperformance Motorsports.

These days even if you don’t want to go “fast” you still want to be safe and many racers are opting to overbuild for future plans as well as resale value. For this, Jim took the Malibu to Sutton McGee’s Linear Custom Fabrication for the full 25.5 treatment. Note the fire system nozzle in the lower right of the above photo; you can’t be too careful and on board fire suppressant systems are required depending on elapsed time.

Left, the blower is an F-2 Procharger with an RCD crank support, the hub and additional machining by Williams’ brother in law Jerry Lohman. Right, Strange brakes all around get the car stopped quickly while a TH 400 and ATI converter select the gears and transfer the power. All this would not be possible except for the love and support of Jim’s wife Tiffany and children Brandon and Madison. Plans for the car include keeping it together for a year or so and swapping off these big Goodyear’s for some true ten five action in the Midwest.

The fuel system is an Aeromotive black belt-driven pump and accompanying regulator fed by a front mounted cell filled with M1 alcohol. The supercharger tubing was fabbed up at Hyperformance Motorsports and Dan will also tune the F.A.S.T. XFI engine management. The pair of 60 mm BOV’s are from JGS Precision based in Coos Bay, Oregon.

Just three years ago Kristen Dennis had only dreamed of one day becoming a professional racer.

After all, what would a mother of two from Magnolia, Texas – population 1,100 – do with a fast car and a big dream?

As it turns out, win. And win a lot.

Dennis finally decided to go racing three years ago when she started her own team and so far that decision has turned into one of the most unlikely success stories around. In just two seasons Dennis has compiled one NHRA victory and two IHRA Nitro Jam wins all in less than 50 passes behind the wheel. Certainly not a bad start for someone who has used the motivation of being told she can’t to go out and prove that she can.

“I knew I could do this no matter what anyone said. I have used the few people telling me that I couldn’t do this to motivate me more. They are the ones I am proving to that I can do it with my success as a driver and team owner,” Dennis said. “I certainly don’t take any of this for granted. I just have to push myself that much harder to prove that I can keep winning and not to let my team or the fans down.”

And Dennis didn’t just go for any ordinary old car for this journey. No, she decided to go a different route by diving straight into the power, speed and thrill of nitromethane. Dennis decided for her first ride she would get behind the wheel of a 4,000 horsepower nitro-powered dragster to guide her down the quarter-mile.

And so far, she has loved every minute of it.

“When I first made the decision to start driving and I got my license I was determined to do well,” Dennis said. “But as history will show there are plenty of people that have been doing this for 20 or 30 years that don’t have a win. To already have a few wins in so few starts is a blessing. It is certainly not something I am going to take for granted.”

Dennis got her first taste of drag racing success at an NHRA divisional event in 2010 in only her second career start, driving to a huge win in Dallas. One year later she followed that win with another trophy – her first as a pro – in her first career Nitro Jam start, defeating fellow-Texas native and eventual series champion Mike Manners to claim her first IHRA Ironman.

Now, with two years experience under her belt, Dennis is throwing her hat in the ring fulltime in Nitro Jam’s Pro Fuel Dragster category behind the wheel of her now-famous “Ladies First” dragster. And so far that campaign is off to a rousing start with yet another win earlier this year at the sold out San Antonio Nitro Jam, a win that has cemented Dennis as a certified “rock star” in her home state.

“Getting a hometown win was amazing and getting a win with my mom, both my kids and two of my oldest childhood friends put it over the top,” Dennis said. “I love being from Texas and I was able to bring that spirit to the race with me.”

Dennis visited the finals both nights at the San Antonio Nitro Jam, falling to former champion Bill Evans and the “Black Pearl” team on day one before sweeping day two and defeating Evans, using her career best elapsed time to pick up the win, a lighting quick 5.385, 276.92.

Not only was the victory bittersweet for the Texan, but the response afterward left her speechless as fans lined up for hours to meet her after the race.

“After the run we made our victory pass in front of the stands and there wasn’t a person sitting down anywhere. You just don’t get a response like that unless your last name is Force,” Dennis said with a laugh. “The fans followed us to the pits and the celebration began. I lost track of time and almost missed winners circle because there were just so many people waiting in line. It was surreal.”

Now Dennis and the “Ladies First” team will try to keep that momentum going at the Mardi Gras Nitro Jam presented by Domino’s Pizza May 4-5 at State Capitol Raceway. Dennis will battle Evans, Cherissa Smallwood in the “Nitro and Lace” dragster and Robin Samsel in the” Predator” in front of a rambunctious Louisiana crowd, an event she is very much looking forward to.

“I am definitely excited to see what the remainder of the season brings starting in Baton Rouge where they have some incredible fans,” Dennis said. “We couldn’t have done this without our current and past sponsors that have made it possible. Thanks to CleanBoost Oil, 801 Racing, Space City Hotshots, Glass Depot and Global Promotional Advertising.

“Hopefully with this win it will help bring on some additional sponsorship and support for our team. We have shown that we are competitive and of course we are having a lot of fun racing with the IHRA. Who knows where this thing will take us.”

Veteran TV commentator Bill Stephens was trying at a seminar to impress on National Hot Rod Association drivers that they use their on-camera opportunities to generate some excitement. He urged them to translate the passion they have for drag racing instead of lulling the viewers into some nicey-nice nirvana.

Stephens said many complain that John Force gets too much air time on ESPN broadcasts. But, Stephens said, “Maybe he’s giving them what they want.”

Jerry Archambeault, NHRA vice-president of public relations and communications, said one racer getting a lot of TV time because he’s intriguing, real, and emotional is Antron Brown. Deadpanned fellow Top Fuel driver Bob Vandergriff teasingly, “It’s because he’s black.”

(That he is a black driver, by the way, rarely enters anyone’s conversation about Brown. In drag racing — which for decades has been color-blind and gender-oblivious and has welcomed Hispanic and Asian racers, as well — the only color that matters is green.)

Brown giggled and high-fived Vandergriff.

And that is Antron Brown. He giggles like a schoolgirl and high-fives and hugs his competitors. He’s an undeniable favorite, even among his peers. But he has a kill switch he flips on when he straps into his 7,000-horsepower, nitro-burning Matco Tools / Aaron’s Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing. He’ll say, “We want to rip each other’s throats out and steal each other’s candy” at the starting line.

This father of three bubbles with joy almost nonstop about driving a Top Fuel dragster. His description of what it’s like inside the cockpit is detailed and riveting.

“The best way I can describe a Top Fuel car launching,” Brown said, “is that when you’re sitting inside that cockpit, it’s going, ‘Puh, puh, puh, puh and it’s rocking back and forth and side to side. Once you hit that throttle wide open, the butterflies extend fully and it gets all that nitro in there. You feel this sensation in your belly getting really light and you feel yourself  floating up.

It floats you up at first where the tire hooks up and the car just curls up and you feel yourself going backwards and back and back. Then all of a sudden it feels like somebody hit you in the back with a sledgehammer. BOOM!” Brown said.

“Then all of a sudden you feel this rocket taking off, and just when you think you’re at your wits’ end because you can’t see and your vision gets tunneled at 150 feet, then all the power comes in and the clutch engages, and you go from being like this [sitting up straight] to being like this [forced down into the seat] where your head is down and your eyeballs are trying to roll into the back of your head,” Brown said.

“Everything’s going shaky, blurry, blurry, shaky, blurry, then all of a sudden it just clears up and you get beamed through this tiny hole like you’re in Star Wars, and you just went into warp drive. Then, before you know it, you’re hitting the parachutes and you’re at the end of the run. Intense, crazy, but we live for it every day.”

Brown can describe it that way because he has something almost as extreme to which he can compare it. He spent 10 years in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. He is the only NHRA professional competitor to make a transition from the bike class to Top Fuel competition, and so far he has 16 victories in each.

He got his start in the NHRA pro ranks with funding from five-time NFL Pro Bowl star Troy Vincent, the former President of the NFL Players Association (and current Vice-President of the NFL Player Engagement Organization, which enables players to be better citizens through personal growth and career development).

But the central New Jersey native, who passed up a college track scholarship from Long Island University, always had yearned for a shot in the Top Fuel class. His life took a detour through Miami and has wound up in the world’s auto racing capital, Indianapolis.

Today Brown is seeking his first championship and is a constant threat to the establishment. Actually, long before this fifth season in a dragster, he has become the establishment. DSR colleague Spencer Massey has dominated with three victories in the season’s first five races, but Brown won at Phoenix (Race No. 2) by beating seven-time champion Tony Schumacher. The trio has passed around the points lead, hogging it for DSR.

Already Brown has exceeded 400 elimination round-wins — no small feat, considering Schumacher is closing in on 600 and he has competed in 97 more Top Fuel races than Brown. But Brown pooh-poohs any comparison, despite being 8-2 against Schumacher, and three of those eight victories coming in final rounds.

“I’m just trying to catch up,” Brown said. “I’ve got 16 Top Fuel trophies. That man’s got 67. I’m just trying to catch up. They’re an incredible team, and you have to step up against an incredible team.”

With crew chiefs Mark Oswald and Brian Corradi tuning, Brown is stepping up against all of them. He hasn’t lost a first-round match-up in 31 events and has advanced to the final round in four of the season’s first five races (and was runner-up three times to Massey). Baytown, Texas, sportswriter Randy Cunningham put it this way: “Seeing his name across the elimination ladder has got to cause guys to just say, ‘Really? Seriously? What time is my flight home?’ ” . . . OK, all but maybe Massey.

As for the DSR dragsters not sharing the wealth right now, Brown said, “We have three strong cars, and we bow out against each other. That’s what really helps raise the bar at Don Schumacher Racing. We have a good, fun competition with each other, and that’s what pushes us to new levels to race with the other guys, because they’re coming, too.”

What Brown said he wants to do is be prepared for a brutal battle this fall when the six-race Countdown to the Championship begins. It might sound a bit early to be thinking about that, but hardly a day has passed since last November — when Brown missed out on his first series title — that it hasn’t been on his mind.

This early fortune is “a real huge statement for us, and we feel good,” Brown said. “But this is just a start. We all know it’s not how you start but how you finish. We came up short last year, and we want to keep on plugging away and overcoming adversity so we know what to do when that Countdown starts [after Labor Day].”

Image credit: NHRA/National Dragster

Brown is willing to work for what he wants. When he uprooted himself and moved to Miami to join Team 23 (for Vincent’s uniform number), he said, “In my mind, it was no time for failure. I moved away from New Jersey. I had to grow up. I had to grow up fast to actually take drag racing to that next level, where it was more than just a love for the sport, to where it was a job. But to be successful, I had to sacrifice some things in my life. And that was one of the things I had to sacrifice, being with family and friends, and put my whole focus on racing to get to that level to be competitive and win.

“I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work, and I’m a workaholic,” Brown said. “People say I have a lot of natural ability, and I probably do. But I do know that my work — the effort that I put into my work habits — I put that at a high level. I never underachieve — I always overachieve. You’ve only got one shot in life. When you have that shot, you’ve got to give it everything you’ve got.”

Brown said an added advantage was that his team “believed in me. So that gave me strength. I kept my head down and kept digging and digging. I wanted to be the best driver I can be.

“My deal is that there are more than 20 teams in Top Fuel, more than 25 in Funny Car, more than 30 in Pro Stock, and more than 30 in Pro Stock Bikes. There’s only one champion each year,” Brown said. “So what sets the difference from a team that wins the championship from a team that doesn’t? Everybody wants to win a championship, but it’s few and far between the drivers who put in the work that’s necessary and put their heart and soul in to make it happen. There’s a lot of people who want it. But what are they going to do to break away from the pack to make that want into reality?”

Vincent’s influence surfaces even today.

He used to ask Brown, “If you want to be of championship caliber, what are you going to set aside? What are you going to do different? What are you going to sacrifice?”

Said Brown, “It goes far beyond sacrifice. You’ve got to go out there and give it all you have. Every second we’re on that racetrack, we’ve got to give it all that we have. You can’t leave nothin’ behind.”

When Brown won the February Arizona Nationals at Phoenix, he said he found his thoughts drifting back to his days as a youngster in New Jersey, where his family raced at the sportsman level, mostly at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown and downstate at Atco Raceway.

“I remember as a kid underneath the bleachers, playing in the sand, and saying, ‘Man, I wish I could race one of those nitro cars one day.’ It’s a big dream for me, where I came from.”

Drag-racing fans would be smarter to keep an eye on where Antron Brown is going.

Here’s a sneak peek look at Anderson’s beautiful new Summit Racing Camaro out of the paint booth and receiving the final touches. If there were ever a body that demands the discontinuation of hood scoops, this is the one.

EARLIER:

Summit Racing team drivers Greg Anderson and Jason Line took advantage of an open weekend in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule to visit their sponsors’ McDonough, Ga. headquarters for Saturday’s Super Summit 2012 open house, where the pair of Pro Stock stars not only signed autographs and spent time with fans, but publicly unveiled the paint schemes that will adorn their new 2012 Chevrolet Camaros that are expected to debut later this season.

Anderson, a four-time Pro Stock champion, and Line, the reigning and two-time class champion, have traditionally fielded identically-painted race cars, but that twill all change when the Camaros hit the track, as Anderson will wheel the red Summit Racing machine, while Line pilots the blue team car.

Images courtesy: Summit Racing Equipment

“I’m excited by our move to the Camaros,” said Line. “For the first time in my Pro Stock career I’ll finally be driving a real muscle car, and I think the fans are really going like our new look, which is completely different from anything else we have ever run. It’s going to be fun to reveal the paint schemes to everyone as part of Super Summit this weekend, and even better when we get our Summit Racing Camaros out on the racetrack.”

Anderson is already off to a strong start to begin the season, advancing to the final round at four of the five events and capturing his second win of the season last weekend at his home track in Concord at the Four-Wide Nationals.

The popular bonus races-within-a-race are contested in Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. The top eight or sixteen qualifiers who run closest to the 8.90, 9.90, or 10.90 index during qualifying and who have entered the shootouts prior to time trials/qualifying will advance to the shootout eliminations. Entry for the shootouts is $20 and remains optional. The purse in each eliminator will again be based on the number of entries in the category, with 40% going to the winner, 20% to the runner-up, and 10% to each of the semi-finalists. The remaining 20% is donated evenly between DRAW (the Drag racers Association of Women) and RFC (Racers For Christ).

Over the past several seasons, the Super Eliminator Shootouts at North Central Division races have raised thousands of dollars for these two distinguished organizations.

In addition to the standalone Super Eliminator Shootout events, NHRA North Central Division races this season will also feature qualifying for the NHRA Moser Engineering Sportsman Shootout, which will consist of a divisional points series that will qualify racers for a special head-to-head runoff for competitors in Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Top Dragster, and Top Sportsman at the JEG’S NHRA Northern SPORTSNationals.

For more information on these Moser Engineering bonus programs or to check out their vast array of popular driveline components, log on to moserengineering.com.

We found a great example of this phenomenon on some cool vintage video at the YouTube website.  It features classic drag racing action at the old San Gabriel Dragway with a soundtrack of a song called “Chevy Shut Down” by the Jaguars. The video is fun, familiar, and shows a little slice of Americana in a time gone by. It also shows a stage in the evolution of both hot rodding and music which continues into tomorrow.

Hot rodding is a journey, not a destination. At some point in time, it will be our images that are looked upon as “the good old days.” The video records of our events as well as the audio used to enhance those experiences will not only tell tales of history, they will also convey the cultural connections that we have with future generations of enthusiasts! What type of music do you think will be set to our video records that will be produced in 40 years?

With the infiltration of the sleek new Chevrolet in Pro Stock on the horizon, it would seem that the tried-and-true Pontiac GXP’s days are numbered.

Shane Gray, driver of the Service Central Pontiac, is one of several competitors in the class who commissioned the construction of one of the brand new machines for the 2012 season – this one from Jerry Haas Race Cars in Fenton, Mo.

Following the recent NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at the zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., Gray took his first whiff of that glorious new-car smell when he put the first shakedown laps on the sticker-less new Service Central Camaro. On its first full pull to the quarter-mile, the Camaro recorded a 6.64 at 209 miles per hour.

Despite a very successful first test session in which the car “felt pretty good,” Gray and company have postponed its official debut in NHRA competition while additional laps are run to gain valuable data and sort the new combination. In the meantime, Gray will head to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals at the Royal Purple Raceway in Houston this weekend aboard his trusty Pontiac.

All images credit: Shane Gray Motorsports on Facebook

“We want to get a couple more days of testing in with the Camaro, so we’ve decided we better stick with old faithful for now,” said Gray. “The Camaro showed good potential, but we just don’t know the car well enough yet, and we want to be comfortable with it before we take it to a race. It’s tough to wait, but we want to do this the right way.

“For now, we will work with the tools that we have and see what we can make happen in Houston with our Service Central Pontiac GXP – that car is as comfortable as an old glove, and that racetrack has been good to my family in the past. I was with my dad [Service Central Funny Car driver Johnny Gray] when he made the first run over 200 mph in a Comp Eliminator A/Dragster there back in 1993, and it’s always special to go back to where something really exciting happened. You just feel like anything is possible.”

Gray has qualified the Service Central machine at all five races thus far in the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle series and has two round wins to his credit. Gray qualified 13th at Houston one year ago and fell in the opening stanza to Jason Line.

Top Fuel racer Spencer Massey recorded an advertisement last year for sponsor FRAM that in the NHRA community has become as quotable as Burger King’s “Where’s the Beef?” tagline or Dana Carvey’s smug “Church Lady” zinger “Well, isn’t that special?”

In the commercial, Massey, who prides himself on being quick at the Christmas Tree, encourages fans to come to FRAM’s display on the Manufacturers Midway and try the simulated electronic starting device. “Come on down and see if you can beat MY reaction time,” he invites . . . at least a dozen times a day on the racetrack scoreboard screen.

Before that, Massey punctuated every interview with the phrase “I’m lovin’ life!”

Now he has a new motto. After winning the April 15 Four-Wide Nationals final at Concord, N.C., the Don Schumacher Racing driver said his objective was to “try not to beat ourselves. That’s been kind of our motto lately, not to overpower [the track] and beat ourselves. If we can go A to B, hey — they’ve got to beat us. They’ve got to outrun us.

That’s a reasonable slogan. But he’ll be the only one not trying to beat Spencer Massey.

Beating Spencer Massey is the one thing every Top Fuel driver wants and needs to do right now. The Prestone/FRAM Dragster driver has won three of the season’s first five races and will carry a 13-2 elimination-round record into this weekend’s O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway at Baytown, Texas.

It’s the place that launched Massey’s Top Fuel career — the day after the NHRA event there in 2008. So the Fort Worth native might have some added incentive to keep his mojo alive.

“Our goal always is to try to win the trophy, and our plan is to do that by winning rounds,” Massey said. “We go up to the starting line every time, playing it smart and not doing anything to hurt ourselves. But we’re never complacent. We should learn something every day and always try to get better.”

Oh, he’s getting better, all right — better than he did the time before and better than his competitors.

Take, for example, his performance at zMAX Dragway in the most recent race.

Massey rewrote his national speed record at 332.18 mph during eliminations. By itself that was a startling feat — 322-plus miles an hour. But even as he rode up the return road following his victory, Massey saw Graham Light, NHRA’s senior vice-president of racing operations, and shouted out to him, “Don’t slow us down!” Said Massey, “I want to go faster.”

But what made Massey’s Four-Wide performance so monumental was that his speed mark came after Tony Schumacher had become the first ever to run 330 mph on a 1,000-foot course. About 10 minutes after Schumacher’s plateau, Massey topped Schumacher’s 330.23-mph speed with a 330.55. In the final round, beating closest opponent Tony Schumacher in the four-abreast format, he posted the 332.18.

(Schumacher, runner-up who then had to drag a 28-race winless streak to Hosuston), delivered the news to Massey. “He was just as ecstatic as our crew guys,” Massey said. “And trust me, Tony wants to win. It has been way too long since he’s been in the winners circle.

“I wouldn’t have even guessed it,” Massey said of the feat. “We were just trying to go down the racetrack.” He said crew chiefs Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara might have been trying to hit a 332-mph speed but if so they never told him.

“That just tells you how awesome this Prestone/FRAM team is working with Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara,” Massey said.

In 2008, Massey had a “regular gig,” driving Gene Snow’s A/Fuel dragster in NHRA competition. At close friend and veteran owner-driver Mitch King’s urging, Massey made a few runs the day after the NHRA Houston race that year in King’s Bexar Waste / Sunset Cove / La King’s Confectionery Dragster and earned his Top Fuel license.

Within 20 days, he had won the IHRA opener at San Antonio and the second IHRA race of the season, at Rockingham, N.C.

The following week, he got back in Snow’s A/Fuel dragster in NHRA competition and won the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway to lead the standings in both the IHRA Top Fuel class and the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster category.

That, he said at the time, “is beyond my wildest dreams right now. I keep on telling people that, then something else good happens and it just gets better.”

It got even better, for NHRA legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme signed him to a contract before the year was out. Massey won the IHRA championship, then began his NHRA Top Fuel career in 2009 — and won the Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award as NHRA’s top rookie.

He sat out a year and, as he still does to this day, worked on the crews of racing friends. He came back with Don Schumacher Racing last season and is hitting his familiar stride.

Now, not even a tornado, thank God, has been able to touch Massey lately.

His buddy Mitch King lives in Galveston, Texas, and King’s old-fashioned ice cream parlor and candy store on the historic Strand there took a direct hit from Hurricane Ike. In the past few weeks, Massey’s area of Texas has been trying to recover from the effects of vicious tornadoes. Massey escaped the devastation that took place in the Dallas / Arlington part of the Metroplex, but the truck stop where he regularly washes his motorhome and fills it up wasn’t as lucky.

“It was my Petro that was on all the news where the big rigs were flying around,” Massey said. “We were lucky that it didn’t hit Fort Worth. Everybody is all shook up. It’s really sad about all the homes and businesses that were lost. At least no one was killed. I’m just happy to wake up in the morning and be able to wiggle my toes . . . let alone drive a race car.”

So Spencer Massey not only is a formidable force in the Top Fuel class, right now, his perspective and his gratefulness makes him among the class of the class, as well.

Based in Phoenix, Ariz. and one of the leading high performance brake manufacturers in the racing industry for 43 years, Baer Brakes will provide contingency awards to participating drivers in all of the PSCA heads-up bracket/index eliminators that utilize Baers’ S4 calipers and sport the company decal on their race car. Winners in the heads-up classes who do so will earn $300 and runners-up $150, while bracket/index winners and runners-up will earn $150 and $50, respectively.

“Baer is very excited to be a contingency sponsor for all PSCA heads up and all bracket/index classes,” said Baer Brakes Sales and Tech Manager Bill Koppinger. “We have been in the pro-touring, road-racing, and off-road markets for some time. Now it’s time to showcase our new products with PSCA, the premier west coast drag association, and help its racers get their high horsepower cars to slow down safely once they cross the finish line.”

“It’s a point of price for the PSCA to partner with the best manufacturers in racing and Baer Brakes is another great marketing partner we can add to that list,” PSCA President Mel Roth said. “When organizations like Baer come onboard to not only make our sport safer, but to add monetary incentive, it makes PSCA more attractive to our fans. And at the end of the day, we’re here to entertain the best fans in racing.”

The Baer S4 calipers and brake packages feature a 4-piston design that mate to 11-inch slotted, drilled and zinc-plated, vented 2-piece rotors for a system that’s perfectly suited to drag racing and street/strip applications where 14- and 15-inch wheels are preferred.

For more information on Baer Brakes, visit baer.com or connect with them on Facebook.

The American Drag Racing League’s extremely popular new SuperCar Showdown category now has its first certified superstar. Indiana’s Bo Butner drove his supercharged Ford Mustang Cobra Jet to the winner’s circle at the ADRL’s Spring Drags III at fabled Bristol (TN) Dragway to earn his second title in the first two races of the new series. Ford Motorsports is now undefeated in the new SCS program after producing a another one-two finish with Mustang Cobra Jets and earning top performance honors at both ADRL SuperCar Showdown contests.

Butner, the past drag racing World Champion, met fellow Hoosier competitor Ray Skillman in the championship match of the sport’s only class to feature the world’s quickest and fastest production automobiles in national competition. Skillman, a seventy year-old grandfather whose racing career covers more than fifty seasons, became a crowd favorite when he defeated the fastest driver in the series, Chris Holbrook, in the semi-finals. Butner secured the victory by a full car-length over Skillman while clocking his third straight eliminations run of 5.8 seconds over the eighth-mile distance.

In fact, Butner’s white Mustang clocked three consecutive winning efforts varying no more than nineteen thousandths of a second with a best performance of 5.86 seconds and a top speed of 117.39 miles per hour. The Floyd’s Knobs, Indiana, campaigner thrilled fans with huge wheelstanding launches from the white Ford sponsored by his family’s Butner’s Auto Sales.

“This win means a lot to me and my crew but it’s really all about the Ford Motor Company”, said an elated Butner to fans during champion’s ceremonies at the renowned racing facility in the Tennessee mountains. “With the help of Brian Wolfe and Jesse Kershaw from Ford Motorsports, we made some changes in the gear ratios which produced even more performance than we had when we won the first race in Houston and accounted for those giant wheelstands the crowd loved so much. I know this car is fun to watch but I can promise you it’s a whole lot more fun to drive!”.

Skillman, whose philanthropy is as well-known as his huge chain of Indianapolis auto dealerships, only qualified fifth in the field but was impressive through eliminations and shocked Butner with a sizeable reaction time advantage in the championship battle. “It was a thrill to get back to real side-by-side drag racing”, said Skillman. “I had more fun than I could ever explain. The ADRL treats us as professionals in this new class and the fans were just wonderful. This was our first SuperCar Showdown event but we’ve already revised our schedule to compete in the majority of the series”.

Skillman drove the blue Mustang of his son, Bill, in the race but was joined in competition by his grandson, Drew, in a white Cobra Jet team car which qualified second in the field behind performance standout Holbrook, whose Michigan-based Varsity Ford-sponsored Mustang again led all qualifiers with the quickest and fastest run of the event by accelerating to 118.98 miles per hour in just 5.82 seconds. Drew Skillman lost in the semi-finals after the closest race in series history, clocking 5.87 seconds at 118.53 mph to Butner’s slightly quicker 5.86/117.39 with only 8.31 feet separating the two Fords at the finish line. The SuperCar Showdown features open competition among production vehicles from all automobile manufacturers worldwide with engines, chassis and even tires remaining in factory trim.

The Bristol event included the first female driver in SCS competition in the form of crowd favorite Randi Lyn Shipp who piloted the V10-powered Dodge Challenger SRT of Louisiana veteran Jeff Teuton. Shipp qualified fourth in the field at the helm of the Southland Dodge-sponsored machine but, despite a reaction time “holeshot”, fell to Holbrook in the opening round of eliminations.

The next event in the 2012 SuperCar Showdown Series will be the American Drag Racing League’s Northeast Drags II presented by Penske at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania, on May 4-5.

The team at CJ Pony Parts, one of the most well known names in the Ford Mustang enthusiast community, has laid out its plans for a pair of high-profile new builds utilizing matching “Gotta Have It Green” 2013 Ford Mustang GT’s that readers will be able to engage in and follow along with as they arrive and undergo their respective transformations.

Known as Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race, the two Mustangs will serve two very different roles for CJ Pony Parts. The Street version has been optioned with a plethora of creature comfort and entertainment amenities, including an automatic transmission, an LCD Message Center, SIRIUS satellite radio, leather seats and leather wrapped steering wheel, a Shaker sound system, heated seats and mirror, a glass roof, and much more.

Computer renderings of Gotta Have It Race (left) and Gotta Have It Street.

Gotta Have It Race, meanwhile, will come as a base GT Coupe with a manual transmission, 300A equipment package, Recaro Cloth Sport Seats, and a rear spoiler delete. The goal with this car is to construct the quickest and fastest naturally-aspirated 5.0L Mustang in the world.

Both cars, on order from Hoffman Ford in Harrisburg, Pa., are expected to arrive in the coming days and both will head straight to the upcoming NMRA Ford Nationals at the Maryland International Raceway, May 4-6, where they’ll compete in the Super Stang category. The goal for Gotta Have It Race is to break the track’s stock engine record, which currently stands in the neighborhood of 11.3-seconds at 120-122 miles per hour. From there, the unmistakably green Mustang will head to the dyno and gradually begin its ascent in performance potential, which will no doubt reach the 10′s, the 9′s, and beyond as the project progresses.

Official Release:

Wilwood Offers New Adjustable Reverse Mount Pedal Assembly and New Forward Mount Pedal Assembly

If you are building a racecar, street rod or Pro-Touring vehicle you should be aware of Wilwood’s new Adjustable Reverse Mount Pedal assembly or the new Forward Mount Pedal Assembly that combines the brake and clutch pedals together in one unit. The Reverse Mount Pedal Assembly positions the master cylinders inside of the firewall, while the Forward Mount Pedal Assembly positions the master cylinders outside of the firewall. Both units feature an all aluminum frame and forged aluminum pedal arms with ladder style construction. The frame and the pedal arms are Platinum-E coated for protection and an attractive appearance. The pedal pads are of a special adjustable lightweight design that allows fine-tuning of the pedal location and clearance. Also included with the assembly of your choice are the mounting studs, hardware, clevis and pivot pin balance bar that are designed to provide smooth and accurate settings of the brake pedal bias. The balance bar can be set and locked down with the jam nut, or attached to a remote cable for quick on-track adjustments. The units provide a 6.25 to 1 ratio on both clutch and brake pedal.

Highlights:

• Combine the brake and clutch pedals together into one unit
• Both units feature all aluminum frams and forged aluminum pedal arms with ladder style construction
• Lightweight pedal pad designs allow for fine-tuning  of pedal location and clearance

Mike Neff dominated in the NHRA’s Funny Car class last year during the so-called “regular season.” However, his championship efforts imploded once the six-race Countdown to the Championship started.

If the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang driver can get everything lined up correctly, he could become the first in 38 years to win an NHRA Funny Car title as both driver and crew chief.

Maybe his plan was to pour on the coals once the playoff starts, sort of take the reverse approach.

But that’s not really the case. Neff has set three goals for himself as the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour moves this weekend to Royal Purple Raceway Park at Baytown, Texas, for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals. And they involve winning races right now.

Neff reached the finals at the first two races this season and lost first to boss John Force at Pomona, Calif., then to John Force Racing President Robert Hight at Phoenix. His reward was to lead the standings after Phoenix and Race No. 3, at Gainesville, Fla.

One thing he wants to do is atone for his mistake in the final round last year at the Houston-area racetrack. But in the bigger scope of his plans, Neff — who slipped only to No. 2 in points — wants to win for several reasons.

First of all, he has said for weeks that he wants to earn a berth in the inaugural Traxxas Nitro Shootout. The bonus race, sponsored by JFR colleague Courtney Force’s Mustang sponsor, will be part of the Labor Day weekend’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. So far the only two qualifiers for the $100,000 top prize are Robert Hight, who has won the past four events, and John Force.

Neff said he would love to keep it “all-John Force Racing, all-Castrol, all-Ford, all the time.” But the team has “only” four cars eligible. Actually, he was being a bit silly  there, for he simply wants to qualify for it.

To do that he must win, be the points leader after the Brainerd, Minn., event, and he knows it likely will take a victory or two for that to happen — or be voted in by fans. And as both crew chief and driver, he enjoys taking matters into his hands, literally and figuratively.

Second, he just wants to win at least once before the Countdown. What racer wouldn’t?

Thirdly, not to win at least once early in the season would be to waste the most consistent car in the class. With statistics in his favor, he knows he could.

His Mustang has made just one uncharacteristic pass down the 1,000-foot course in 12 competitive tries this year. His average for those 12 runs, even with a 4.959 two weeks ago at the Four-Wide Nationals at Charlotte, is 4.176 seconds. No one else comes close, not even points leader Hight, who has averaged 4.369 seconds in 16 race-day runs.

To do that and fulfill his fourth reason for wanting to win soon, Neff wants to remember to stay healthy physically during race day.

Last year, he got over-eager at the starting line and disqualified himself with a red-light foul. Looking back, he realized he let the notorious Houston humidity and his own inattention to his body’s needs decide his results.

“I just didn’t take care of my physical self. I got to the final, and my brain was just not all there. I just wore down and made a mistake. That’s the long and short of it,” Neff said. “I asked myself, ‘Why did I do that?’ I realized I hadn’t eaten anything, and then I got dehydrated and chugged some water. Then I popped some aspirin.”

This time Mike doesn’t want to be like Mike — not the Mike of the 2011 Houston final, anyway.

This year he’s wiser and even more focused.

So far no one — though Jack Beckman, Johnny Gray, and Cruz Pedregon have taken decent stabs at it — has broken the JFR chokehold on the Funny Car class. So far — with Hight No. 1 in the standings and Neff No. 2 and John Force No. 5 — Neff has gotten his “all-John Force Racing, all-Castrol, all-Ford, all the time” wish.

Now Neff wants to be a bigger part of that equation.

Saturday, April 14th at the Masterton Motorplex Fundraiser Meeting in New Zealand, native Tauranga, New Zealand-er, Ian Metz was the unfortunate driver of the Topolino Altered that ended up on it’s lid. Powered by a blown, big block, Metzs’ machine overpowering the track was not a problem. Out of the gate, in the video shot by Peter Isaacs, you can see the altered step out, and head for the center stripe right at the hit. Metz over-corrects it and jumps back on the throttle. The Altered then takes almost a direct line to the wall, flipping upside down in the process. Fortunately for all involved, this was very much a low-speed incident. Metz shuts the Altered down, and calmly waits for assistance. The lane does appear a little slick, but we as racers must know the limitations of our ride, for the sake of fans, competitors and ourselves.

The short wheel base and sheer power of the engines in these Altereds always have a way of putting on a show. Metz was not injured in this accident, and we’re sure that he’ll be back out there soon.

This weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas will mark the return of J.R. Todd to a Top Fuel dragster as Todd will pilot a second dragster out of the Bob Vandergriff Jr. Racing stable. Vandergriff has selected Kurt Elliot as the crew chief for Todd’s Total Equipment sponsored dragster. Total Equipment is a subsidiary of Vandergrift’s primary sponsor, C&J Energy Services. Vandergriff Jr. reports that Todd is onboard for a select number of events on the 2012 NHRA Full throttle Drag racing Series schedule. Todd and Elliot tested in Charlotte, North Carolina after the running of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals two weeks ago, where Todd was re-certified for Top Fuel competition.

Todd competed in the NHRA Top Fuel Class from 2006 through 2009 during which he made eight final rounds and took home the Wally six times. In 2006 Todd won the NHRA Rookie of the Year and with a victory in Denver and became the first African-American to win an NHRA Top Fuel Race. In 2007 Todd experienced an up and down year with multiple crew changes, but still finished in the top four in the NHRA points chase. In 2008 Todd bested, the at-that-time unstoppable Tony Schumacher to claim a victory in Dallas, but 2009 brought him limited success.

Given his past magic in the great state of Texas, it’s no surprise Bob Vandergriff Jr. picked Houston to introduce his new driver. Last year, after 17 years of trying, Vandergriff Jr. earned his first Top Fuel Wally in an emotional win at Dallas. Vandergriff’s single car operation has been a steady force in Top Fuel and the addition of a second team just may provide the edge to compete with the super teams in the sports’ premier category.

However, in the latest video from Redline their ZL1 sounds noticeably nastier, giving the impression that it isn’t quite so stock anymore. The ZL1 completely kicks down the door of the 10-second range, running a best of 10.32 at 134.79. For now, that is the quickest elapsed time that any ZL1 has turned in.

President of Redline, Howard Tanner, tells us, “The goal for the car was mid 10′s, so were really happy to see it go deep into the 10′s. Now we think that 9’s are within reach!” For now Redline is staying pretty tight-lipped about what all they’ve done to the car but they did tell us that the longblock of the engine is still completely stock, and we get the impression that it has a full array of bolt-on’s. Head over to Redline’s website for more info.

The ZL1 competition is in full effect, and the Camaros just keep turning in better and better time slips. Keep it tuned to LSXtv for all the updates on who’s got the baddest “Z” around.

Official Release:

LUNATI DIRECT PRESSURE FED MECHANICAL ROLLER LIFTERS

Exclusive “solid” roller design feeds pressurized oil directly to highly stressed areas of the valve train

Olive Branch, MS – Designed specifically for serious race engines requiring the finest in valve train components, Lunati’s Direct Pressure-Fed Mechanical (“solid”) Roller Lifters feature an exclusive design that feeds pressurized oil directly to the critical axle and wheel. This oiling ensures significant increases in durability and lifespan for one of the most highly stressed components in any racing engine valve train.

Each Lunati Direct Pressure-Fed Roller Lifter is manufactured from highest-quality premium steel, precision CNC machined to the most exacting tolerances, and heat treated for increased strength and wear resistance. Each lifter body is fitted with CNC machined, polished axles and wheels that are also heat treated for durability.

Lunati Direct Pressure-Fed Roller Lifters feature a vertical guide bar that precisely links two lifters together for perfect alignment and Lunati’s unique, heavy-duty rivets tie each pair together for race-winning reliability.

Lunati Direct Pressure-Fed Mechanical Roller Lifters are compatible with standard height and +0.300” increased height. Centered pushrod seat locators and 0.180” offset versions are available. Applications are available for small- and big-block Chevys, Fords and Chrysler applications.

Features:

•  Exclusive design that feeds pressurized oil directly to the critical axle and wheel
• Oiling ensures significant increases in durability and lifespan
•  Precision CNC machined to the most exacting tolerances
• Heat treated for increased strength and wear resistance
• Compatible with standard height and +0.300” increased height
• Available for small- and big-block Chevys, Fords and Chrysler applications

Figspeed, located in Las Vegas, Nev. will host the first of six XFI 101 and XFI Advanced Extreme courses slated for 2012 on May 5, offering gearheads interested in learning more about FAST’s revolutionary XFI units the perfect excuse to get away in Las Vegas for a weekend and even have a day to spare to get in some trouble in “Sin City.” After all, May 5 is Cinco de Mayo, and who wouldn’t want to party it up and learn the in’s and out’s of FAST’s XFI systems in Vegas?

In the XFI 101 course, attendees will discover tuning secrets for the new XFI 2.0 as well as the original XFI and classic FAST system and learn firsthand from industry leaders and the knowledgeable FAST technical support staff, all in a class designed for seasoned tuners and first-timers alike. Among the instructors for the course is fuel injection and XFI tuning wizard Brian Macy of Horsepower Connection.

The COMP Performance Group has afforded a special offer to PowerTV readers, who will save $50 off the regular registration fees when they use the promo code GOFAST.

To register for any class or to learn more about the renowned courses, visit www.efi101.com or www.fuelairspark.com. Upon registering, simply enter the promo code above and save.

Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding with shielding gas is one of the easiest and most popular methods of welding. (Photo from Lincloln Electric)

The skill of welding can take many years to perfect, but if you’re a regular Joe working out of your garage, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get enough “stick-time” to become an expert. The wide ranging choices of welding processes, welding wire and even the different shielding gasses is so large that the task of choosing the best consumables for the job can become confusing.

To help all of us “handyman” do-it-yourself restoration guys out, Lincoln Electric has developed a series of short videos that explains the selection process of different aspects of welding for the best chance at getting a solid weld. Our friends at Lincoln Electric alerted us to one of their most recent “How-To” videos: Shielding Gas Selection for MIG Welding.

Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding uses a continuous solid wire electrode for filler metal and an externally supplied gas to shield the molten metal from atmospheric contamination while it cools. The molten metal is very reactive to oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in the atmosphere, and if exposed to these elements, will produce a weak weld. However, when done properly, MIG welding can produce a very strong weld with a great weld appearance.

A properly made finished MIG weld has no slag and virtually no spatter. MIG welding may be used with all of the major commercially available metals, including low carbon steel, low alloy steel, and stainless steel and aluminum with potential for excellent success by a novice. This has made MIG welding one of the most popular choices with the DIY crowd.

MIG welding with gas shielding produces an electric arc that is soft and less likely to burn through thin material and is one of the easiest types of welding to learn. The forgiving nature of MIG welding allows the operator to be less precise in arc length and travel speed to produce a quality weld.

One of the key issues that an operator has to be clear with is the proper selection of shielding gas. As the Lincoln Electric video demonstrates, selecting the right shielding gas is not as difficult as it may sound when faced with the many options available. After picking up a couple of quick tech tips from the video, you’ll be welding like a pro in no time.

As part of their dedication to the racing community, COMP Cams has just signed on as the title sponsor for this year’s “Top 32 Shootout” at the .90 Nationals to be held at Numidia Dragway in Pennsylvania June 8^th and 9^th. This special race will run within the main event with Super Comp, Gas and Street racers competing for substantial payouts.

COMP Cams has been dedicated to performance and service for more than 35 years now, striving to give their customers the best high-performance products possible and leading the performance industry in technological development. As a result, COMP Cams is trusted by some of the biggest names in the racing industry.

From circle track to drag racing, COMP Cams has seen more champions than any other performance camshaft company and continues to produce superior results in power, reliability and fuel economy for all racers that use their products.

The COMP Cams Top 32 Shootout at the .90 Nationals is just another way that COMP is showing their dedication to the drag racing community. This special race will be held Friday June 8^th and include classes for Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Street competitors. The winner of each class will be awarded $1,000 and product gift certificates from COMP Cams and other companies from the COMP Performance Group family. Payouts will be given all the way back to 3^rd place losers.

Entry into the Top 32 Shootout is held on a first-come, first-serve basis with no qualifying. The entry fee for the race is $75 with the first round kicking off after a free test and tune for all participants.

It’s a sad state of affairs when the national news media (or even the local and regional media for matter) will only recognize the very existence of the sport of drag racing when there’s a “shock and awe” moment that comes at the painful expense of another. But that’s exactly the whirlwind ride that second generation racer Lizzy Musi is on this week after her harrowing ride on Friday night at the ADRL Springs Drags III in Bristol, Tenn.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FOX NEWS INTERVIEW

This morning, the 21-year old Musi, the daughter of legendary drag racer Pat Musi, was invited into the FOX News studios to discuss the incident and her racing career on the “America’s Newsroom” program. Despite her misfortune, Musi composed herself well in front of the cameras that piped her interview out to a global audience. In addition to the interview, footage of the incident was shown from previously unseen camera angles, where you can get a better grasp for how close Hester came to being hit by the out-of-control Camaro before he dove onto the racing surface.

Any media attention of this magnitude is a positive thing for our sport, but we’d certainly like to see our stars in the national spotlight for more positive reasons than negative ones.

Image credit: Racers For Christ

Reggie Burnette Sr., the family patriarch of the Burnette Racing family that was a familiar and welcome sight at NMRA and other all-Ford drag racing events across the nation passed away this morning in his hometown of Rougemont, N.C. at the age of 59.

Burnette Sr., a father of three, was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1983 and served as Chaplain for Racers For Christ’s Southwest region from 2000 until his passing. He operated Burnette’s Plumbing and Pipe, Inc. and was instrumental in creating the second generation of racing Burnette’s when got his son, Reggie Jr., involved in the sport in the late 1990′s.

Reggie Sr. himself competed throughout the last decade alongside his son in Open Comp, Modular Muscle, Brackets, and other categories in the NMRA. A surgical operation in early 2011 sidelined him for the season, but he remained a visible and popular figure as he cheered on his son and continued his Pastoral role at NMRA events.

They say the measure of a man after he leaves the earth isn’t how he died, but how he he lived; not what did he gain, but what did he give?

By these measurements, Reggie Burnette Sr. was a giant of a man. Burnette was a friend to everyone, and his presence in the racing community will be sorely missed.

Images: Brickshelf

The engine was built using LEGO Technic components, or basically LEGOs for adults. The whole idea behind the LEGO Technic line is to build real-life models that work and move just like their life-size counterparts. While LEGO Technic does offer build kits to create many functioning models, Bosman actually came up with the design for this engine on his own.

Three hundred hours and 2,862 parts later and the electronically controlled LEGO V8 was born. Complete with illuminated accents, this engine has everything from moving pistons and pulleys to spark plug wires, fuel lines and headers.

While it’s not quite as detailed as the world’s smallest 327cui small-block built by Jim Moyer, this LEGO engine is extremely impressive.

For being made out of LEGOs, this engine is extremely detailed

Surprisingly, Bosman has not kept his unique LEGO engine design top secret. He actually has a full parts list and step-by-step photo guide to help others build the same model. Sure, it’s not the real thing but if you can’t tinker on the real-deal, you might as well tinker on the next best thing.

Lingenfelter's "other ZL1"...

It must be nice being the guys over at Lingenfelter Engineering. Not only do they have an impressive array of vintage and modern iron to play with, but they get to design some of the latest and greatest components for today’s musclecars.

So while we were all a little depressed to find out that they missed their target of breaking into the 10-second zone the other day with their red ZL1, little did we know that they had an ace up their sleeve –a second ZL1!

The timeslip doesn't lie..

Yup, while the simple bolt-on Camaro just missed the elusive 10-second timeslip by a hair, their yellow ZL1, which benefits from similar modifications, plus a set of CNC ported heads, a low restriction air filter, an LPE GT9 camshaft, an even smaller pulley, and a 15% OD damper managed to pull it off.

The fruits of their additional efforts rewarded them with a dyno sheet reading, 722rwhp and 621 ft.-lbs. of torque, and the right to claim they are the first folks to put a ZL1 in the 10′s. The end result as of this writing is a 10.794 at a blistering 134.36mph in the 1320, while the boys keep tuning and tweaking the yellow Z for a better time and even more power.

Mickey Thompson Tires Monday Morning Race Report

ADRL: A flurry of competitors remained perfect on the season to highlight the ADRL’s first trip to the scenic Bristol Dragway in Tennessee over the weekend. Rickie Jones scored in Pro Nitrous when he downed Bob Rahaim in the final round for the second straight event, while Alan Pittman used a 3.85 to down “Triple B” Brad Brand in the Extreme 10.5 final. Bo Butner remained the only winner thus far in the SuperCar Showdown, spoiling Ray Skillmans’ series debut in the money round, and Mike Castellana recorded yet another ADRL victory in the Pro Modified division. Pro Extreme winner Jason Scruggs headlined victory circle, earning a great win in a 3.67 to 3.69 final round bout with Tommy D’Aprile. For complete weekend results, visit Drag Race Central, along with Competition Plus for news and notes from Bristol.

NHRA Division 1: Regional Event Recap. Reigning Top Alcohol Dragster national champion Duane Shields’ regional series victory highlighted the NHRA Northeast Divisions’ season opener at the Virginia Motorsports Park on Sunday. Shields used a great 5.38 to earn the win, as opponent Rich McPhillips had problems and slowed. Shields was joined in victory lane by Todd Veney, who edged DJ Cox Jr. in a great Top Alcohol Funny Car final, 5.66 to a quicker-leaving 5.69. For more weekend results, log on to NHRADiv1.com.

NHRA Division 4: Dick Maris headed up the list of winners at the NHRA South Central division meet at the Texas Motorplex outside Dallas, earning the Competition Eliminator title when opponent Rhett Fulton foul started. Larry Cummings downed Pete Peery for the Super Stock crown, and Jimmy Hidalgo Jr.did likewise in Stock Eliminator. Other winners included Gary Stinnett (Super Comp), John Salter (Super Gas), Dan Clary (Super Street), David Oenes (Top Dragster), Danny Leibham (Top Sportsman), and Benji Gibson (Sportsman Motorcycle). For event results, log on to NHRADiv4.com.

Fun Ford Weekend: Johnny Coleman earned the win in Extreme Drag Radial at the Fun Ford weekend event at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, running 5.22 to the 5.29 of Chris Alston in the final. Mark Washington was the victor in Outlaw 8.5, edging Jason Kenzevich in the final., 5.61 to 5.78. Other winners included Kyle Thorpe (Open Comp), Charles Sturdevant (Quick Ford), and Chuck Kheene Mustang Madness).

Spring Sportsman Challenge XX: Tony Virgilio ran dead-on his 4.50 dial in the JEG’S Super Quick final to down Robbie Freels, who was second off the line and ran further from the number in the final at the Gateway Motorsports Park. Don O’Malley took the Stock/Super Stock combo race, feating a red-lighting Larry Hill in the final, and Greg Gerakaris (Super Comp) and Larry Bernahusen (Super Gas) also collected wins at the NHRA national open event.

The Weekend Winner Circle

ADRL Spring Drags III – Bristol, Tenn. Rickie Jones, Alan Pittman, Bo Butner, and Mike Castellana all scored back-to-back wins to remain perfect on the season as the ADRL visited the scenic Bristol Dragway for the first time over the weekend. Other winners included jason Scruggs (Pro Extreme) and Cary Goforth (Extreme Pro Stock). EVENT WINNERS Pro Extreme: Jason Scruggs Pro Nitrous: Rickie Jones Extreme 10.5: Alan Pittman Pro Extreme Motorcycle: Japel Heard SuperCar Showdown: Bo Butner Extreme Pro Stock: Cary Goforth Pro Modified: Mike Castellana Top Sportsman: Aaron Glaser Pro Junior Dragster: Codie Nye Click here to view more results >>

NHRA Northeast Division – Dinwiddie, Va. Reigning Top Alcohol Dragster national champion Duane Shields’ victory highlighted the NHRA Northeast Divisions’ season opener at the Virginia Motorsports Park on Sunday. Shields used a great 5.38 to earn the regional victory, as opponent Rich McPhillips had problems and slowed. Shields was joined in victory lane by Todd Veney, who edged DJ Cox Jr. in a great Top Alcohol Funny Car final, 5.66 to a quicker-leaving 5.69. EVENT WINNERS Top Alcohol Dragster: Duane Shields Top Alcohol Funny Car: Todd Veney Competition Eliminator: Frank Aragona Super Stock: Lincoln Morehead Stock Eliminator: Don Pires Jr. Super Gas: Kevin Maupin Super Street: Brian Lee Baker Top Dragster: Bill Russell Top Sportsman: John Taylor Pro Stock Snowmobile: Scott Marsh Click here to view more results >>

At the Eastern Region opener at Virginia Motorsports Park, reigning Top Alcohol Dragster world champ Duane Shields put a disastrous start to his title defense behind him, outlasting a giant field for his first victory of the season. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Todd Veney drove Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream Impala to a close final-round win over D.J. Cox, 5.66 to 5.69.

Shields, who had gone up in smoke right off the line in the first round in each of his four previous starts this year, qualified No. 3 and ran down Jackie Fricke and Mike Kosky in the preliminary rounds and Rich McPhillips, who had dominated all weekend, in the final.

“The car has run well at every track we’ve been to this year – just not in eliminations,” Shields said. “It’s kind of hard to tune the thing when it only goes five feet, but we got it calmed down this weekend and finally got a win.”

Fricke, who won a national event at this track as a Super Comp driver, got the jump in round one, but Shields ran her down, 5.40 to 5.47. In the semi’s, Kosky, who closed 2011 with his first national event win since 1999, was off like a shot and seemingly had the race in hand when his fuel tank ruptured and Shields slipped past him, 5.41/268 to 5.61/253.

“I saw him almost all the way,” Shields said. “My car usually makes a charge at the top end, but I was already thinking, ‘I don’t know about this…’ because he was so far out there. Then he just disappeared and I shot by him.”

The final was over early when McPhillips, who ran slower on his worst qualifying run (5.33) than any other driver did on his best, went up in smoke a few hundred feet off the line. After qualifying No. 1 with a 5.31, McPhillips had low e.t. of the opening round with a 5.37 against two-time Division 1 champ John Finke and low e.t. of the semifinals with a 5.34 opposite Doug Foley’s close 5.39. He slipped to a 6.98 in the final while Shields streaked to a 5.38, his quickest run of eliminations.

“It really left hard that time,” Shields said. “I dropped a cylinder pretty early in the run and still ran a .38. McPhillips had been running so well all weekend that when I felt it drop that cylinder I was sure he was going to come around me, but he never did.”

Seventeen drivers attempted to qualify, and several “name” drivers missed the cut, including Chase Copeland, Dan Page, and 2011 Division 1 champion Karen Stalba, who broke behind the line on her final qualifying attempt.

In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Veney qualified No. 1 and set low e.t. and top speed with a 5.60 at 258.07 mph. “It’s great to win a race this early in the season,” he said. “I really owe Jay, tuner Tommy Howell, and our whole team for having this car set up perfectly all weekend. We overcame some problems and won some close ones – especially the semi’s and the final. Eric Lourie and I always seem to have good races, and D.J. is someone I have a lot of respect for. He’s really a good driver – most people just don’t know about him yet.”

Cox ran a strong 5.66 on his only qualifying run, which was his first run anywhere all year. He took out the automatic-transmission-equipped car of Wayne Morris in round one, 5.72 to 5.78, and recent Charlotte runner-up Dan Pomponio in the semifinals, 5.70 to 5.75, and left first in every round.

Mewshaw, who qualified No. 3 with a stellar 6.668 at 214.38 miles per hour, had worked his way through eliminations, opening the day with a lap of 6.67-seconds to defeat Mark Wells before an easy competition single when Steve George couldn’t make the call. That set up the match with LeFerriere that didn’t quite end the way Mewshaw would’ve preferred.

As you can see in the just-released video of the incident from the Motor Mania TV crew, Mewshaw was well out on LeFerriere’s machine when his bright yellow Pontiac made a move to the centerline that he’d be unable to recover from. Despite sliding through the traps sideways and on the brakes, Mewshaw still recorded a 6.82 – ahead of LeFerrieres’ 6.78 in the other lane thanks to a killer. 004 reaction time.

As reported by our own Rob Coassack in attendance providing coverage of the NMRA/NMCA All Star Nationals, damage to Mewshaw’s Trans Am appeared to be largely cosmetic and Mewshaw himself was unscathed other than a bruised pocketbook. A torn up race car is certainly nothing anyone wants to see even for their worst enemy, but fortunately, Mewshaw came away from the high-speed incident safely and that’s priority number one.

Our best wishes to Mewshaw and his team on getting back out there and chasing that second championship as soon as possible.