Zach Meziere missed the first two races of the K&N 890 Series earlier this year, but he made up for that absence by sweeping the next two events at Auto Club Dragway, defeating Charlie Waggoner and Matt Fischle in the final rounds.

Quarterfinals of the third race of the season opened with Las Vegas racer Greg Hicks defeating Marty Clevenger, Waggoner used a .001 light to beat Matt Fischle, and Meziere got a bye. In the semifinal, Hicks red-lighted against Meziere, and Waggoner had a bye. The final round was decided at the starting line, with Waggoner drawing a .004 redlight and Meziere getting the win.

Sunday’s quarterfinals saw Matt Fischle defeat number-one qualifier Justin Rebrovich, Glenn Kern beat Dave Meziere, and James Warden red-light against Zach Meziere. Meziere advanced to the final with a semifinal win over Kern, and Fischle soloed to the money round.

The Sunday final round was as tight as one could expect, with both racers logging 8.908 elapsed times, but Meziere (far lane) pulled off a double weekend win with a .003 light to a .016 for Fischle. (Mindy Crandall photos)

The K&N 890 Series resumes June 23-24 at Auto Club Dragway.   [05/02/18]

Tuesday, May 1, began at Galot Motorsports Park with a Test & Tune session for the K&N Spring Fling followed by an elite 32-car field in the Super Tuesday Racetech/American Race Cars Dragster Shootout where both the winner and runner-up receive a new dragster.

After two rounds of eliminations with eight racers left for the quarterfinal round, it was Kevin Heffington all the way in from Washington state, Jeff Serra, Jake Woodring, former ‘Fling winner Shane Maddox, Mia Tedesco, another ‘Fling winner in Don Hansen, Timmy Miller and Cameron Manuel.

In the semifinals Tedesco turned on the red-light by -.001 to move Heffington into the final, while Serra and Woodring battled it out, with Serra seeing the win light on in his lane.

And for the first final of the week, Heffington left the line first in relation to his dial-in, but it was Serra with the reaction time advantage and the win light. For his win, Serra chose to leave with the Race Tech dragster, while Heffington gets to go back home to Washington with a new American Race Cars dragster.  [05/02/18]

Last year, Cottrell won the Nightfire Nationals' Tater Baker consolation race at the Idaho facility.  (Brian Losness photo)

This weekend Firebird Raceway in Boise presents their 48th annual NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor, the second leg of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series for the nitro funny car class.

Points leader and 60th Good Vibrations March Meet winner Bobby Cottrell in the Austin & O’Brien Northwest Hitter Camaro is on a three-race winning streak, having won last year’s California Hot Rod Reunion and the recent Tucson Dragway Reunion race over Tim Boychuk.

Among those sitting out the Ignitor will be Heritage Series regulars Steven Densham, Dan Horan, Ryan Hodgson and last year’s winner, Jason Rupert.

Boise’s own Brian Losness will be keeping track of the action for DRO.    [05/02/18]

The Agent hears that NHRA will dust off their long-mothballed Sunday morning NHRA Today show as part of the lead in to FOX Sports 1 coverage of the Southern Nationals from Atlanta Dragway. Here’s hoping future broadcasts of the FS1 Mello Yello drag racing series event show will contain a little less fluff and more drag racing.     [05/02/18]

The victory last weekend in Charlotte – his first since the 2014 season – has Cruz Pedregon riding high heading into this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals Powered by Mello Yello at Atlanta Dragway.

The victory in his Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry sent Pedregon to eighth in the loaded Funny Car class and solidified his place as fifth in all-time Funny Car victories, giving the 36-time event winner a jolt of confidence heading into Atlanta. Having turned some of the early-season progress into a victory was significant and now Pedregon hopes to keep those good vibes going as a busy three-race stretch finishes up.

“Our performance has been a lot better than we’ve shown,” Pedregon said of his 2018 season. “The pressure I’ve been feeling, even though the car is on the upward swing, we were 11th in points and falling, and the guys in 10th were moving away. With all the good feelings I’ve had as far the car’s performance coming around, being consistent and qualifying in the top half, we still didn’t have anything to show for it. (The win) is a great feeling.

“This might be the best, sweetest victory of my career,” Pedregon continued. “I’ve been fortunate enough to drive some good cars and win a lot of races, but this one here, it’s big man. It’s huge. I thought I was maybe destined to not win again. I don’t want to do this unless I’m competitive. It’s a lot of work and what motivates me is having a good-running car that people respect. (Winning in Charlotte is) like going back to my first win.”

Pedregon praised the work of crew chief Aaron Brooks, who came on board in 2017. Both have persevered through a variety of struggles, and Pedregon also added the talents of Glen Huzar to the fold in 2018. The trio has worked together well to open the season, and Pedregon believes the team can continue to move forward.  (Chris Haverly photo)  [05/02/18]