Wilkerson has high hopes for new chassis at Seattle

Last season at Seattle, Tim Wilkerson was out in the first round and credits that to simply "being greedy" for speed. This year, hot off a runner-up performance last weekend in Sonoma, the driver of the Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang is in a different mind-frame.

 

"I'm tired of getting beat that way, and we're really trying to a better job of that now," said Wilkerson. "It looks like we'll have some pretty hot conditions there in Seattle this weekend, and that's very unusual for that place. It's a tricky racetrack, anyway, but last year we ran like a house of fire [in qualifying]. We made some really good runs, and I'm really happy to be going there. But we'll see. We'll fight the weather and see what we can come up with to get down that track.

 

"Right now one of our biggest challenges is the John Force Racing cars. I don't know what we're going to do with them; when the sun goes down, those guys are brutal. But qualifying and racing them are a different story. They haven't figured out how to make their super-fast cars consistent yet, but that's a great group over there, and they're going to – then it's going to be ugly. I'm going to have to figure out how to be four- or five-hundredths quicker, or just figure on running the best I can and hoping that what happened in Sonoma happens a lot."  (Stephen Justice photo)  [08/03/17]

New Product of the Day

 

FTI Redesigned Powerglide Direct Replacement Drum and Kit

FTI has released a lightweight Powerglide direct replacement drum and drum kit. This new design fits perfectly in place of a factory Powerglide drum while carrying a larger 8-friction clutch pack. Not only does FTI’s new direct drum allow builders to no longer rely on the factory drums they have been forced to work with, it also offers a 17% reduction in rotating weight over the factory drum, equating to over 4 pounds in dead weight. In addition, changes were made to the billet steel clutch hub within. Also available as a kit that comes with .060” red race material clutches and new performance steels. Topping off the kit, each drum includes a new heavy-duty spring retainer, heavy-duty retainer snap ring, HD flange plate retainer, new performance springs inside the redesigned FTI lightweight direct drum, FTI billet piston, and a new FTI billet steel clutch hub.  [08/03/17]

Mike Coughlin anxious to try out improved National Trail track

While his brother, Jeg Jr. is in Seattle trying for a Pro Stock win, two-time Division 3 champion Mike Coughlin will spend this weekend at Buckeye Fuel Wars at his hometown track, National Trail Raceway in Hebron. The race is the fourth North Central Division event in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

 

"We can't wait to race this weekend at our favorite track of all-time," said Coughlin, who hails from the Columbus suburb of Delaware, Ohio. "My brothers and I literally grew up at National Trail and now all of our kids have fallen in love with the place, and many of them race here also. There's no place like home, and this is home for us.

 

"The JEGS pit will be busy," Coughlin said. "My son Clay and (crewman) Dave Ruack's son Michael will be joining the action in their Junior Dragsters so hopefully we'll be bringing home a few trophies.”

 

Coughlin added, "The new owners of National Trail have made some considerable improvements and it's exciting to see so much life being breathed back into this track. We're all ready to race."  [08/03/17]

NMCA goes to Norwalk, adds first Thursday Test & Tune

The 16th Annual Honeywell Garrett NMCA All-American Nationals, featuring the Chevrolet Performance Challenge Series, brings out some of the best race teams in the country for a giant field of heads up and index drag racing on Aug. 24-27.

 

All of this action on the drag strip is combined with a weekend that includes TV stars from Discovery Channel’s Street Outlaws on Saturday, an all-domestic car show on Saturday and Sunday along with a huge Manufacturers’ Midway and more.

 

Starting with qualifying on Friday, watch the stars of NMCA in classes like VP Racing Fuels Xtreme Pro Mod, Mickey Thompson Radial Wars, ARP Nitrous Pro Street, Edelbrock Xtreme Street, VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw and more. The Chevrolet Performance Challenge Series brings out the LS-powered monsters of Wiseco BoostLine Connecting Rods Drag Radial, Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center, Holley EFI Real Street, along with three additional all-GM classes.

 

This is also the second stop for the Chevrolet Performance Challenge Series.

 

For the first time NMCA will offer a full Thursday Test & Tune (Aug. 24) open to All-American Nationals competitors.  [08/03/17]

400 Thunder releases 2017-18 Australian calendar

The Australian 400 Thunder series has released the 2017-18 schedule. Notable are that races will expand to include every mainland state plus the Northern Territory; new venues have been added; there will be stand-alone sportsman championship rounds at Springmount Raceway and Willowbank Raceway; and the sportsman points cap is confirmed at 200 points maximum prior to the Winternationals.

“We are excited at the prospect of taking 400 Thunder nationwide over the new season,” said 400 Thunder Chairman Tony Wedlock. There have been some minor delays in the release as we worked through some issues to ensure that the calendar works for all stakeholders, and by consulting closely with the racer representatives and the new promoters to the series I think we have a calendar and series that will provide the platform to drive the sport into the future.”

 

Wedlock added, “As we move forward into subsequent years, we aim to re-shape and improve the calendar.”  [08/03/17]

Quickest side-by-side motorcycle run in history

On Saturday evening, APE and Pingel Top Fuel superstars Larry "Spiderman" McBride and Dave Vantine treated fans to something unforgettable. The duo produced the quickest side-by-side run in the history of the sport with McBride clocking a jaw-dropping 5.74-second pass down the quarter-mile to Vantine's 5.81. McBride's 5.74 represents the quickest dragbike run on American soil, and the second quickest motorcycle pass in the world, behind only Peter Svensson of Sweden's 5.70 world record.

 

The run was just the second side-by-side five in the history of the sport. Both record runs have come at Maryland International Raceway. Overall, McBride finished the weekend with four runs in the five-second zone to secure the event victory over Vantine.

 

The IDBL series resumes Oct. 6-8 at Maryland International Raceway for the DME Fall Nationals, featuring Top Fuel, Nitro Harley and a huge Pro Street $10,000-to-win Battle Royale.  [08/03/17]

 ‘Night of Fire’ winner Spurgeon leads Victory NSS to Gateway SCSN

Randy Spurgeon was the Victory Nostalgia Super Stock winner at Cedar Falls Motorsports Park’s Night of Fire on July 15. Spurgeon purchased his 1965 Belvedere from legendary Super Stock racer Arlen Vanke and dedicated this race to Vanke because of his recent passing.

 

See all the results at here.

 

The Victory NSS racers return to action this Aug. 4-5 at the PSCA’s Street Car Super Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park. They will make qualifying runs on Friday evening and will run Eliminations Saturday afternoon and evening. (Scott Bessee photo)  [08/03/17]

 Mopar Hemi Challenge returns for 17th year at U.S. Nationals

Randy Spurgeon was the Victory Nostalgia Super Stock winner at Cedar Falls Motorsports Park’s Night of Fire on July 15. Spurgeon purchased his 1965 Belvedere from legendary Super Stock racer Arlen Vanke and dedicated this race to Vanke because of his recent passing.

 

See all the results at here.

 

The Victory NSS racers return to action this Aug. 4-5 at the PSCA’s Street Car Super Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park. They will make qualifying runs on Friday evening and will run Eliminations Saturday afternoon and evening. (Scott Bessee photo)  [08/03/17]

VOLUME XIX,  NUMBER 7 - JULY   2017

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The Australian 400 Thunder series has released the 2017-18 schedule. Notable are that races will expand to include every mainland state plus the Northern Territory; new venues have been added; there will be stand-alone sportsman championship rounds at Springmount Raceway and Willowbank Raceway; and the sportsman points cap is confirmed at 200 points maximum prior to the Winternationals.

The Australian 400 Thunder series has released the 2017-18 schedule. Notable are that races will expand to include every mainland state plus the Northern Territory; new venues have been added; there will be stand-alone sportsman championship rounds at Springmount Raceway and Willowbank Raceway; and the sportsman points cap is confirmed at 200 points maximum prior to the Winternationals.

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