Laughlin testing his Pro Stock at Phoenix last week. His new radial tire Vette will also carry Speed Society livery. (Ron Lewis photo)

After racing at the NHRA season opening Winternationals this week, Alex Laughlin will head for South Georgia Motorsports Park for next weekend’s Lights Out 9. He bought a C6 Corvette from Marty Robertson and will enter the Radial vs. the World class. [02/09/18]

John Force Entertainment will be releasing a ten-episode web series to the John Force Racing YouTube page on Friday, Feb. 9. The series, titled “Force”, follows the four-car team throughout the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Season offering behind the scenes views of the Force family.

When John Force Entertainment began filming in 2017, they had no idea they’d be chronicling the team’s path to a pair of world championships.

“We planned to do this project and started filming behind the scenes at the beginning of the 2017 race season,” said Ashley Force Hood, President of John Force Entertainment. “The fact that we ended the season with two world championships was luck for us. Our goal was to provide our fans with some entertaining and informative content that gives them an honest look at what it takes to go after a NHRA Championship while competing in the family business. Our double win was icing on the cake.”

Fans will be able to watch all ten episodes at here free of charge.   [02/09/18]

Two years ago the Summit-backed Ken Black team of Jason Line and Greg Anderson dominated the NHRA Pro Stock ranks. Last year the other teams caught up with their performance and KB teammate Bo Butner won the championship. So, what happens this year?

The goal is to keep the championship trophy with team owners Ken and Judy Black, but Line and Anderson hope to win the trophy for their sponsor, Summit Racing Equipment, which is celebrating their 50th anniversary in business.

"You never like to lose, and obviously getting that close is a tougher loss than if you had lost by a hundred points," admitted Anderson, who was the Pro Stock champ from 2003-2005 and then again in 2010. "But it really doesn't matter. If you lose, you lose. It hurts more when it's just a small amount of points like it has been the last couple of years, but at the same time, it tells you that you can still do it. You still have a great chance. I'm just going to keep digging, and I'm not going to back down until I get that championship back."

This will be Anderson’s 20th season behind the wheel of a Pro Stock car.  (Ron Lewis photo)   [02/09/18]

KB Racing will supply engines to Pro Stock driver Deric Kramer, who made the switch from Mopar to a Chevrolet Camaro in the off-season. We’ll have a look at his car and many more on our Facebook page over the weekend from photographers Ron Lewis and Pam Conrad. (We miss you, Marshall.)   [02/09/18]

Tim Wilkerson will ride his Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang into the 2018 season of NHRA's Mello Yello Drag Racing Series with No. 8 on the window, marking the 13th time that the seasoned Funny Car driver has finished in the top 10. Last season, he was one of just two independent drivers to finish in the top 10 alongside multi-car teams that had the benefit of mountains of shared data and large budgets.

Wilkerson experienced an uncharacteristic year in 2017 and walked away winless despite a couple of final-round finishes. As one would expect, he is planning to rectify the situation and has targeted where to begin.

"I think my biggest challenge is consistency, but last year I would get off-track trying to be real fast," said Wilkerson. "If I can get back to being focused on taking it round-by-round and run-to-run, I'll do a better job. I was sitting at my desk staring at runs all winter, and I could see a trend on what I did wrong. It was really interesting to look at it that way.

"I don't know if I'm just getting older, but I've gotten to the point that it's more important for me to do it right than it used to be. I used to have this crazy drive of just being able to do it, but now I want to be able to do it right all the time. It bothers me when I don't.” He added, “The good thing is that I have a lot of friends out here, and we talk. If I ever get upside down or lost, I can get advice from anybody I ask, and that makes me feel good. Especially because this is going to be the toughest year we've had in a long time. There are a lot of full-time cars now, and they're all quality cars. I'm real excited for this year. I think we have something to prove."  (Ron Lewis photo)  [02/09/18]

Terry McMillen’s AMALIE Motor Oil EXTERMIGATOR team spent the short off-season making NHRA-required chassis changes to the Top Fuel dragster. The team also revamped its supercharger program and made several improvements to the race program that included advances in the braking system developed in partnership with PFC Brakes.

“We had our best season ever last year and we really want to build on that,” McMillen said. “We invested in pre-season testing this year and I think it will pay big dividends out of the gate.”

This year McMillen and crew chief Rob Wendland decided to take part in the spring training test session at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. It didn’t take long to realize that the changes made in the off-season were going to make a difference as McMillen clocked his best 60-foot time ever and tied his best speed in a 3.79-second run at 327 mph.  (Ron Lewis photo)   [02/09/18]