Jose Gonzales  (Marvin T. Smith photo)

On Tuesday we told you about Travis and Braydon Davis taking the PDRA Pro Extreme Motorcycle and Top Jr. Dragster championships, respectively.

The other 2017 PDRA (www.pdra660.com) champions are: Mike Recchia (Pro Extreme); Jose Gonzales (Pro Boost); Tommy Franklin (Pro Nitrous); Cary Goforth (Extreme Pro Stock); Dillon Voss (Pro 632); Dwayne Silance (Elite Top Sportsman); Mark Malcuit (Top Sportsman 32); Matt Cooke (Top Dragster); and Amber Franklin (Pro Jr. Dragster)   [11/30/17]

Mountain Motor Pro Stocks have been nomadic for the better part of a decade, switching from one organization to another and even starting their own, but now the class has found a home with the PDRA. With a singular series focus and a full tour to run in 2017, the class regained strength and solidarity this season.

“The [Pro Stock] program is all back in the same group again with the PDRA,” Goforth emphasized. “We had 18 cars at Richmond. We're all one big group again, which is what I think we should always strive to be. The class is gaining strength.

“I'm happy there [at the PDRA]. I want the PDRA to know we're truly grateful. When Jason Scruggs told us we could come back if it didn't work out with IHRA, I thought that was a pretty bold and humble statement, even if you're made of solid gold. This is good racing. Even if a quarter-mile sanction came back and had a lot of opportunity, I just don't think I'd go for it. You're going to have a hard time dragging me away from this [PDRA] deal. I think most people in the class are of the same thought from what I'm gathering. We [Pro Stock racers] may not always get along, but it's kinda like my brother. You better not say anything bad about him, but by God I can say whatever I want. We're still a family. We don't always get along, but we're always there for each other.

“We've had our differences, but we're back to being more of a family again and I could go for some of that. I've been in the middle of some of these deals and I'm not saying I was right in every situation. I'm not saying I was wrong in every situation. We owe the PDRA more than words can say. I want them to know how grateful I am. This is where we need to be. That Richmond event - the atmosphere was really good there. There was a lot of cars. There were fans. The motorhomes were three deep across. The atmosphere was just awesome. That's the thing I love about racing. You just felt something there.”

While the future is bright and certain for Extreme Pro Stock, Goforth’s own future isn’t quite as clear. After partnering with Higgins Trucking this season for a one-year deal and selling off the car and trailer, Goforth isn’t sure their family-owned Dean’s Casing Service will be in a position to jumpstart the program again.

“We really don't know what next year is going to look like, but we're going to try our best to be out here,” Goforth explained. “Things are probably as good as they were for a lot of years. I realize that. My dad is not too prideful enough to know that to do this he either needs to have a partner or he needs to scale down or completely do away with it. We've got some thinking to do, some adjusting to do. We sold the car to Dwayne and Debbie Higgins. If it wasn't for them we'd have been on the sidelines this year. It's not a split or anybody fighting or anything like that. They wanted to go a year and they experienced that. I think they want to focus on business. There may be a possibility we could buy the car back. Tomorrow's a new day, so we're just going to keep fighting, clawing and scratching and hopefully get back out there.

“The competition is getting so good right now I don't want to miss out on next year. There's some good things coming with everybody and that's what Pro Stock is all about - good, close, tight racing, competition and points battles.”  (Marvin T. Smith photo)   [11/30/17]

Ivan Sansom caught this spectacular view of a storm heading for the track at the 2017 European Finals. You can be sure that DRO European correspondents Sansom and Rose Hughes will bring you great coverage of all the big 2018 races at Santa Pod and throughout Europe.

England’s Santa Pod Raceway has released their 2018 schedule of events. A couple of drifting events will run in January, but drag racing will get under way in February with a Run What Ya Brung race.

Highlights of the season include the annual Festival of Power on March 30-April 1, the Nostalgia Nationals on May 12-13, the Main Event on May 25-28, the European Finals on Sept. 6-9, and much, much more.

See the entire schedule here.  [11/30/17]

The FAST E7 Programmable Ignition delivers the kind of power and precision required when dealing with the high compression, high RPMS and power adders used in today’s racing engines. The capacitive discharge ignition provides up to 160mJ and +/- one-half degree of timing accuracy. The powerful spark is matched to a multi-strike function below 3,000 RPM. Features two adjustable rev limiters, one for high RPM engine protection and one that can be used while staged and waiting for the green light. Completely encased in soft urethane for protection against vibration and moisture. Adjust the timing features of the E7 with the FAST I-COM™ software. The easy-to-use interface allows you to create a custom timing curve for your engine, adjust a single stage of nitrous timing retard, and set up to 20 degrees of automatic start retard.   [11/30/17]