McBride has been working his way to 5.50. Here is his time slip from Rockingham last September. (Tom McCarthy photo)

Larry “Spiderman” McBride will begin his pursuit of another world record and another championship at the April 6-8 ManCup Spring Cup at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

The record holder ran a 5.61 last November and is ready to get into the magical 5.50-zone this season.

“You have to race the track. We just try to go out there and repeat. That’s all we were doing when we went 5.61,” McBride said. “Records come when you are not trying too hard.”

DRO Motorcycle Editor Tom McCarthy will be at the race and will give us the complete race story next week.   [04/05/18]

CIFCA Funny Car racer, James Maher. (Steve Parsons photo)

The Sacramento Raceway Funny Car Fever Nostalgia Reunion NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 7-8. Sacramento Raceway will host a test and tune session on Friday, April 6. The event was previously listed for April 6-7, which is incorrect.

The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series kicks into gear on Saturday with qualifying for all classes and early elimination rounds in the afternoon and evening. The CIFCA Funny Cars have a final qualifying run on Saturday followed by all three rounds of eliminations on Saturday.

Final eliminations for the NHRA Heritage Series classes are set for Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.   [04/05/18]

John Force won the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte in 2010 and hopes to do the same at the Las Vegas event.

Force will be running a special paint scheme at the inaugural west coast four-wide event. His PEAK Chevy Camaro will be branded with Boss Shops. Boss Shops is an industry leader in truck repairs from ASE certified technicians at 42 Boss Shop locations across the nation. Boss Shops teamed up with PEAK as a special celebration for the company’s 70th anniversary.

The Agent has to ask what are the odds on the body leaving the chassis at some point? (Just kidding, John.)   [04/05/18]

Anderson won the bucks in 2017.  (DRO file photo)

The K&N Horsepower Challenge at the Las Vegas Nationals rewards the winner of eliminations $50,000. If a driver wins the specialty event and the national event, he or she will earn a $25,000 bonus.

“It’s the coolest race of the year for me; I look forward to it,” said Greg Anderson, a six-time winner of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, including the past two years. “You don’t have to worry about points and all the things that go into national events. You’re just racing out there for cold, hard cash.”

In addition to Anderson, the other racers in the eight-car field are Bo Butner, Jason Line, Vincent Nobile, Drew Skillman, Tanner Gray, Erica Enders and Jeg Coughlin Jr. One thing is for sure: the winner will be driving a Chevy.  [04/05/18]

John Lombardo Jr. will have a new Murf McKinney Top Alcohol Funny Car to debut at this weekend’s Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas.

The reigning Central Region champion and team missed the Pomona and Gainesville events to finish putting the new car together. They then took it to a test session at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

“Rick Johnson, Chris Perl, and crew are known to take first-class race cars to the starting line,” said Lombardo. “Their efforts produce results as evidenced by nine wins in 17 races last year, including Vegas and Pomona in November. Our offseason has been a bit longer than normal, but it was extremely busy and productive.”  (Terry Bert photo)   [04/05/18]

Wilkerson at the Gators before the damage.  (Adam Cranmer photo)

After an explosion and fire in Gainesville damaged his Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang, Tim Wilkerson will have a fresh Murf McKinney chassis and brand-new carbon fiber body on his Funny Car this week.

Wilkerson, who has won the 2016 four-wide competition at zMax Dragway, is hoping that experience will help him this week at Las Vegas.

"We have a pretty good handle on that Charlotte racetrack, and I think that's why we've done pretty well at the four-wide race in the past,” Wilkerson said. “I don't know if that can translate to Las Vegas or not, but we're hoping to turn our woes around. I'm optimistic that we'll do good in Vegas. We need to do better, and we're hoping we're able to take the success we've had in the past with this format and bring it there."   [04/05/18]

In association with the Tucson Dragway Reunion, the United Nitro Funny Cars will bring their 260-mph show to the Tucson Dragway quarter mile with 5-second runs on April 13-14. The Championship is sponsored by Good Vibrations Motorsports.

The first leg of the five-race United Nitro Funny Car Championship has attracted Good Vibrations March Meet Champion Driver Bobby Cottrell in the Austin & O’Brien “Northwest Hitter” Camaro, six-time funny car Champion Jason Rupert, Steven Densham in the “Teacher’s Pet” Camaro, “Mr. Explosive” Mark Sanders’ Mustang, and NHRA record holder Matt Bynum in the “Nitro Nick” Camaro.

Also appearing are Canadian Tim Boychuk in his “Happy Hour” funny car, Wally Giavia’s “G-Men” Dodge, Bill Windham’s “Shakedown” Camaro, Geoff Monise in the “Quarter Pounder” Monza and newcomer Billy Morris in the “Problem Child” nitro funny car.   [04/05/18]