VOLUME XX, NUMBER 4 - APRIL, 2018
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EDITORIAL
Editor & Publisher, CEO Jeff Burk
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Nostalgia Editor, Brian Losness
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European Correspondent, Ivan Sansom
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Cartoonists, Jeff DeGrandis, Kenny Youngblood
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Arend ignites ‘California Hustler’
Don Nelson, the owner of the California Hustler nostalgia funny car, has been ...
[05/08/18]
Women lead the nitro way at Atlanta
Just ahead of Mother’s Day, the ladies topped the winners of the NHRA Southern Nationals ...
[05/07/18]
Winners named at .90 series ...
This Mid Atlantic .90 Association began its season April 28 and 29 at Jersey’s Atco ...
[05/04/18]
‘Mr. Dirt’ takes ‘new AHRA’ win ...
The American Hot Rod Association made its grand return to actual ...
[05/01/18]
Cruz, Enders, Savoie and Torrence ...
Cruz Pedregon got his 36th career win on Sunday, but the last NHRA national ...
[04/30/18]
That’s a Corvette?
YouTube personality Cleetus McFarland is bringing his world-famous “Leroy the ...
[04/27/18]
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AGENT 1320
Tommy Gray is always a fan favorite with his Undertaker persona. Gray missed the PDRA season opener, lacking an available car after selling his graveyard-themed Corvette. His new 2018 Corvette Pro Mod is being built by Jerry Bickel, but won’t be done for several months.
“The new car was supposed to be done last month, but now it won’t be ready until August,” Gray said. “We sold the old car to a guy in Alabama. I ran an ad the other week on Facebook saying I needed a car. I had a few offers, but they weren’t good cars. So, the guy that bought my old car called me and asked if I wanted to buy my car back. We had to completely redo the whole thing, wiring and everything. We got it done Friday night of the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod race.”
The previously owned Corvette is now ready and Gray will return to the PDRA schedule in time for his home stop on the tour, the North-South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway. Gray hints that there could be some good news forthcoming for the team, enabling them to run the entire season. [04/20/18]
Kindness General Contractors (KGC) will have its primary graphics on the Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car during this year’s NHRA SpringNationals in Baytown, Texas. The special edition color scheme represents a new sponsor that joined the team at the start of the season as an associate and has grown into a primary role for this weekend’s race.
“Jim Dunn and his team worked a lot of hours at the Las Vegas race to get the car sorted out,” said driver Jim Campbell. “We made a solid low 4-second pass at 300+ mph during the Four-Wide to hold off strong competition just to get in the field. We are looking forward to increased performance this weekend at Houston, and are thankful for great sponsors like KGC that want to grow their relationship with the team.”
The KGC logo has been on the wing of the Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car since the Winternationals, and this weekend will take highlighted positions on the sides and hood of the nitro car. KGC is a full service general contracting firm designed to manage and facilitate a complete range of construction projects including commercial buildings and industrial facilities. [04/20/18]
“I didn’t start off today driving that well,” said Bogacki, “but it came around for me. And I think I like this place.” [04/20/18]
Gateway Motorsports Park’s new drag racing points series – the VP Racing Lubricants Mid-America SuperCar Showdown – will launch on Friday, April 27. The program that is designed for drivers and teams who may not fit in the current track bracket points championship series, providing an alternative racing program and more opportunities to win.
The show will be headlined by the heads-up racing action of the Missouri Outlaw Shootout, Missouri Street Cars and Outlaw Street Motorcycle classes. Elapsed times and top speeds will not be displayed on the scoreboards; only a win light will be displayed.
Other classes are two full-body eighth-mile index classes (6.0 and 7.0), two index motorcycle classes (8.88 and 9.50) and four Jr. Dragster classes (13.90, 11.90, 8.90 and 7.90). In addition, Call-Out Grudge racing will be held from 10:30 p.m. to midnight with no time shown, a win light only.
Other dates for the VP Racing Lubricants Mid-America SuperCar Showdown are May 18, July 3, July 27, Aug. 31, Oct. 5 and Oct. 26. [04/20/18]
Steve Torrence is hoping for his second straight win.
Billy Torrence will make his third start of the season at Houston this weekend along with his son Steve. Fresh off the Four-Wide win at Las Vegas, Steve has never won in his home state of Texas, although he has runner-upped the last two years.
“We’ve been racin’ in California, Arizona and Florida,” said the just-turned-35-year-old point leader, “so it’s great to get back in Texas. Houston and Dallas are the only two home games for us, so we’d really like to finally win one. We’ve been to the finals a lot, but we’ve never hoisted the trophy – not yet, anyway.”
The elder Torrence will be driving the dragster he took to the semifinals at Phoenix before out-qualifying his son two weeks ago at Las Vegas. [04/20/18]
Houston’s Royal Purple Raceway is also the home track of Erica Enders and she’s hoping to put her racing slump behind her with a win.
Enders posted back-to-back Pro Stock wins there during her championship seasons in 2014 and 2015. Enders and her Elite Motorsports team haven’t found their footing in their Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in 2018, and the 22-time event winner is hopeful that turnaround can happen this weekend.
“Hopefully we can make a turn in Houston,” Enders said. “We’re either stubborn or we have zero quit. For a year and a half, we’ve fought to get better. We’re not making excuses, but it’s just been an uphill climb. We’re not pleased with where we’re at, but there’s not any quit in any of us. Really, half the battle is believing and I’m optimistic about what’s to come. Regardless of performance, our team is going to dig deep and work hard, and that speaks volumes about their character.” [04/20/18]
[04/20/18]
Williford Racing dominated Pro Street last year winning all four XDA 2017 events. Can they repeat?Xtreme Dragbike Association
Since their announced return in December, Chris and Jason Miller have been working non-stop to put together an extremely organized program at some of the best tracks on the East Coast. With the new season comes new tracks, rules changes, purse increases, and $120,000 in contingency funds.
One of the most exciting changes for the 2018 in the XDA is the new E.T. points system. Now, racers that run well all year will make the Top 10 in points, and the racer that went the most rounds all year will be the Champion. This will reward the ET racers that are consistently winning rounds every event.
The Street ET class will also take advantage of the new E.T. points system. This sportsman class is for street-legal motorcycles only and is great for new riders that are looking to get into the sport.
Also, the XDA will be taking the Top Sportsman winner (5th round) and advancing him into the 6th round of Pro E.T. to take a shot at an additional $3,000. Now every Top Sportsman racer has a chance at $3,000 in Pro E.T. on Saturday, $3,000 in Top Sportsman on Sunday, and an additional $3,000 in Pro E.T. on Sunday for a total of $9,000 in just one weekend.
The 2018 XDA schedule is:
April 27-29: Maryland Int’l Raceway
May 18-20: Atco Dragway
June 22-24: Virginia Motorsports Park
July 27-29: Maryland Int’l Raceway
Aug. 24-26: Virginia Motorsports Park
Sept. 21-23: Maryland Int’l Raceway [04/20/18]
Drivers Antron Brown, Bo Butner, Tanner Gray, Tommy Johnson Jr., and Leah Pritchett are scheduled to join Greg Walter, Executive VP of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chris McGee, VP of Community Advocacy for Coca-Cola Consolidated, and Cabarrus County city and town mayors and public officials. [04/20/18]
Dart Machinery continues the evolution of the Small Block Ford platform by releasing the all new Iron Eagle Pro block. Designed for maximum competition, the Iron Eagle Pro block is the ideal foundation when using large turbos, large blowers and heavy nitrous applications. This new superior strength 220 BHN cast iron block features a revised priority main oiling system, Steel 4-bolt main caps with upgraded ARP main studs and can accommodate a variety of machining options for virtually any racing application. [04/20/18]
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