With heavy rains in this weekend’s forecast, the IHRA has rescheduled the event. State Capitol Raceway in Port Allen, LA, now will host the Summit Sportsman National Championship race on Aug. 24-27.

Thursday will be a test-and-tune session with three separate races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Next on the schedule are double races on Aug. 18-20 at Memphis International Raceway in Millington, TN, and Empire Dragway in Leicester, NY.  [08/01/17]

Fiscus/Klugger Racing (FKR) had an event to remember at the 12th Annual Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL, last weekend. When a hurt engine threatened to take driver Josh Klugger out of the competition, fellow racer Mark “Woody” Woodruff saved the day with an incredibly generous gift – his car.

Klugger, who hails from Ocala, Florida, had started the weekend out by running his Racecraft-built, 526 ci Pro Line Racing 481X-powered, twin turbo radial tire FKR ’93 Ford Mustang in NMCA Mickey Thompson Radial Wars. Going into the event, he was positioned second in the championship points standing and hoped to improve to number one.

At first, things seemed to be going well as Klugger clicked off a 4.081 at 192.44 mph hit during the initial qualifying session on Friday afternoon and wound up fourth. During the second session that evening, though, the engine chucked a connecting rod out through its oil pan.

The Missouri-based Woodruff then purposely, voluntarily disqualified himself from the race and gave his twin turbocharged, 522 ci Sonny’s Racing Engines-powered ’10 Corvette ZR1 to Klugger to drive instead.

With just one qualifying session left on Saturday, Klugger still had a shot. He heeded Woodruff’s advice on how to drive the car since had never even sat in it before, and used the third qualifier as a semi-shakedown run to get a handle on what to expect in eliminations.

Admittedly, Klugger was still a little nervous being in a car which wasn’t his and that he wasn’t familiar with, but committed to giving it his best shot. Paired with Ziff Hudson in round one, Klugger unintentionally left the line a fraction of a second before the green light signaled and was suddenly out of the race for real. Nonetheless, he completed the run to get more seat time and gather data, and the numbers that were logged were surprisingly promising. Plus, he maintained his position in points.

“I am eternally grateful to Woody for his selfless act. Letting me drive his car so that I could defend my spot in the championship run was incredible. People like him are once-in-a-lifetime friends,” noted Klugger, whose story quickly became the hot topic at the track. “We’ve got plans in the works and will be back better than ever.”  (photo courtesy NMCA)   [08/01/17]

MAHLE Aftermarket will host its next Facebook Live event on Tuesday, Aug. 8, at 8 p.m. EDT – the second in a series of events intended to engage with and educate technicians. The event will feature shop owner and television personality Bogi Lateiner, co-host of Velocity channel’s All Girls Garage, as well as MAHLE Original® gasket expert and training manager Bill McKnight.

Following the successful launch of the MAHLE Facebook Live event series in June this next event will focus on gasket issues, including best practices in maintenance and installation tips for engines in European makes and models.

Facebook followers are encouraged to submit questions and topic suggestions in advance of the event. Bogi, along with Bill McKnight, will also address questions from live viewers in real time. Questions may be submitted in advance at the Facebook event page (MAHLE Original Gasket Facebook Live with Bogi European Vehicles) in the discussion section. [08/01/17]

The makeup date for the Southwest Heritage Racing Association at Paris Dragstrip is Saturday, Aug. 5. With dry weather and below average temperatures forecast for the weekend, the track should be in great condition.

Championship points are at stake in all classes with only two events left to earn points for the Alkydigger NE Shootouts.

The Old School Bracket classes only, will have another race to make up a rainout. They will be at Denton, TX, on Saturday, Aug. 19. (Wes Ramsey photo)   [08/01/17]

The Nitro Express ’57 Chevy may have been one of the most successful race cars around Australia at Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car events, but at last year’s Springmount Raceway meeting near Cairns, the result wasn’t what driver Rick Gauci was hoping for. However, this weekend, Gauci and the black beast are looking for redemption.

Gauci comes into the Queensland race on Sunday, Aug. 6, in hot form, with the Nitro Express Chevy taking wins at the last three Aeroflow events.

When asked about the turnaround in recent form, Gauci explained, “It’s been a combination of problem-solving with a great crew chief and the best crew members, combined with making the right calls on race day.”

“I believe we have always had a great race car but we have got better as a team and we have seen that translate into the on-track performance. Hopefully we can show that improvement on the track in Cairns!”

Gauci and Nitro Express will be joined by a full field of Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars as well as two wheelstanding funny cars and a huge list of support racing categories.  (Michael Walker photo)  [08/01/17]

Last year Maple Grove Raceway raised $10,000 for Make-A-Wish during this promotion. Tommy Johnson Jr. and the late Terry Chandler are at left. (Maple Grove Raceway photo)

Maple Grove Raceway is teaming up with Tommy Johnson, Jr., NHRA driver of the Don Schumacher Racing Make-A-Wish Dodge Funny Car, to make local children’s dreams come true. Every year the organization raises money to grant the wishes of children diagnosed with a life threatening medical condition.

This year between August 16th and September 1st Maple Grove Raceway will donate ten dollars from every adult ticket sold to the Dodge NHRA Nationals, which will be held September 21-24, to Make-A-Wish. All dollars raised during this promotion go to the Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia Make-A-Wish Foundation.  [08/01/17]