Veteran photographer Ron Lewis caught Leah Pritchett’s explosion (above) and the body panels torn off Scott Palmer’s dragster (below) during the weekend.   [09/17/18]

Ken Singleton (shown) drove his TA/FC to the A Main win at the Funny Car Chaos in Denton, TX. John Hale in his “One Bad Texan” AA/FC was runner up. (Jamie Shores-Fraijo photo)

The B Main was won by Keith Jackson, seen here at the Havana, IL, Funny Car Chaos.  (Scott Bessee photo)   [09/17/18]

There were 47 Victory NSS cars for the series’ final event at the Monster MuscleCar Weekend Race at St. Louis.

In his first Victory NSS race, Mike Schaefer took his 1968 Hemi Dart to the Winners Circle.  (Dennis Mothershed photo)

The Championship went down to the wire and Jim Hagenhoff in his “American Muscle” Plymouth claimed the crown by less than one round over Dennis Spurgeon. Hagenhoff has raced with the series since its inception and this is his time as Champion. He is also the first Victory NSS series champion to have not won a points race, but his consistency throughout the season paid off.  [09/17/18]

Series director of the Victory Nostalgia Super Stocks is Chris “The Flying Butcher” Schneider. He also regularly is at the wheel of a BB Funny Car and drove at the Monster MuscleCar Weekend at Gateway.

Needing to upgrade his license with the added horsepower of John Troxel's new “Brutus” Mustang, Schneider made the mandatory license passes, finishing with a strong 7.18 at 187 mph. This is the fastest run of his career but he notes that there is much more left in the tune up of the Brad Anderson Hemi-powered flopper. Troxel and Schneider look for consistent 7.0 passes in 2019 as they compete with the Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit.  (Jeff Burk photo)   [09/17/18]

A tip of the Agent’s fedora goes to Rick and Jinx Vesco who own the Land Speed Record car, "The Turbinator II".

Driver Dave Spangler (shown) went 482.169 mph on Friday and 483.123 Saturday morning for a two-way average of 482.646 as the new high MPH record for the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association (USFRA).

While this is a new record for wheel-driven cars, it's not an official "World Record" as the FIA was not on sight, sanctioning the event. But this is now the fastest wheel-driven run on the Bonneville Salt Flats.  (Tom McCarthy photos)   [09/17/18]

US 131 Motorsports Park repeated as champions at the IHRA Division 5 (Thunder) Team Finals held over the weekend at their home facility. US 131 captured the team title 51-38 over Muncie Dragway which finished runner-up for a second straight year.

The competition included tracks in the Midwest and Canada: Bunker Hill Dragstrip, Central Illinois Dragway, Cordova International Raceway, Eddyville Raceway Park, Grand Bend Motorplex, Great Lakes Dragaway, Mid-Michigan Motorplex, Onawa Racing and Events Complex, Osecola Dragway, St. Thomas Raceway Park, Ubly Dragstrip, US 41 Motorplex and Wisconsin International Raceway.

Main Event

Top: Marty McKinney (Muncie) .003 RT, 6.34 Dial, 6.35 ET, 105.16 mph def. Grant Zimmerman (Cordova) .016 RT, 6.42 dial, 6.42 ET, 105.29

Mod: Donnie Hagar (US 131) .022 RT, 6.40 dial, 6.40 ET, 107.14 def. Rich Perdue (Ubly) 6.03 dial, 6.02 ET, 113.32

Street: Steve Mesik (US 131) .025 RT, 8.20 dial, 8.21 ET, 80.73 def. Jordan Wilhelm (Muncie) red-light

Junior Dragster: Evan Mulcher (US 131).038 RT, 9.10 ET, 69.09 mph def. Mason Osborne (Great Lakes).090 RT, 8.03 ET, 77.21 mph

Team Captains Race: Mark Krumanaker (Muncie) .031 RT, 11.16 dial, 11.24 ET def. Lindsay Sarauer (Great Lakes) .029 RT, 9.72 dial, 9.84 ET

Friday’s Gambler’s Race

Top: Steve Riggins (Muncie) .040 RT, 7.03 dial, 7.06 ET def. Todd Strefling (Osecola), .050 RT, 4.95 dial, 4.94 ET  (IHRA photo)

Mod: Stan Jones Jr. (US 131) -.005 RT, 5.99 dial, 5.97 ET def. Nathan Schroeder (Cordova) 1.009 RT, 6.07 dial, 6.06 ET

Junior: Mason Osborne (Great Lakes) .021 RT, 7.97 dial, 8.09 ET def. Peyton Gortney (Osecola) -.082 RT, 7.92 dial, 7.93 ET

Sunday’s Gambler’s Race

Top: Lane Ledford of Stanton, Mich., ,029 RT, 4.87 dial, 8.36 ET def. Jace Deering of Clinton, Iowa, 1.003 RT, 6.85 dial, 6.85 ET

Mod: Jordan Wilhelm of Delphos, Ohio, .001 RT, 6.76 dial, 6.77 ET def. Donnie Hagar of Clark Lake, Mich., .032 RT, 6.41 dial, 6.42 ET

Junior: Kenzie Lieferman of Comanche, Iowa, .206 RT, 8.00 dial, 7.99 ET def. Howard of Battle Creek, Mich., -.101 RT, 8.90 dial, 8.91 ET   [09/17/18]

Bunker Hill Dragstrip in Bunker Hill, IN, has been named the IHRA Division 5 Track of the Year. Founded in 1956, the track is Indiana’s oldest continuously running dragstrip. The 23-acre property was bought in 2016 by Adam Confer and his wife, Stacey.   [09/17/18]

Clay Ricketson of East Aurora, NY, scored two class victories on Friday night at Lancaster National Dragway. Ricketson grabbed the win in McGard Mod ET and then took top honors in the special Heads-Up 7.50 Index class presented by Slim Stang Racing.

It was the next-to-last night of the season for the Franco’s Pizza Friday Night IHRA Drag Racing Program and drivers looking to go as many rounds as possible to score the maximum amount of points. Ricketson started the night second in McGard Mod ET points with teammate Dale Eckert as they trailed Jeff Kerl & Keith Banas by 50 points.

Ricketson’s final round matchup in Mod was almost a heads-up race as he and his opponent Ben Haight had nearly identical dial-ins. He got a break when Haight broke out by one ten-thousandth (.0001) of a second to pick up his first win of the night.

The Heads-Up 7.50 Index class typically runs on Tuesday night, but was added to the Friday night program following the cancellation of the last Tuesday night program of the season. Ricketson met Keith Kraemer in the final, and once good fortune was on his side as Kraemer tripped the red light to hand the win to Ricketson.

Keith Cleveland of Cheektowaga, NY, became the 12th different winner of the year in Top ET. Cleveland held off Ken Babiak, Jr. in the finals to score the win. There has been only one repeat winner in Top this season with just one week remaining. Mike Swinarski scored his third win of the year in Top 8 Eliminator. Swinarski picked up the win after his opponent, Bill Bigham, broke out in the final round.

The TNT Super Series made their final visit of the season to Lancaster. Pat Boniferro of Niagara Falls, Ontario, met veteran Mark Herbold in the finals of the 7.00 index class. Both drivers left the starting line with nearly identical reaction times, but at top end Herbold broke out by .007 seconds as Boniferro ran a 7.003 to get the win.

Mike Peters of Angola, NY, padded his Hebeler’s Sales Bikes & Sleds points lead with his second win in a row and fourth overall in 2018. Peters defeated Lucas Salemi for his fourth triumph of the season.

Mason Fix of Amherst, NY, clinched his third-straight track title in Tread City Tire Street with his fifth win of the season. Fix cemented his championship run with a four-race win streak that will continue into the final night of the season. He beat Daniel Knab in the final round to keep his unbeaten streak going.

The Franco’s Pizza Friday Night IHRA Drag Racing program is off next week as the Lancaster team of 45 racers is headed to Keystone Raceway Park near Pittsburgh, PA, for the IHRA Team Finals.    [09/17/18]

The Agent noticed that Traxxas, maker of radio-controlled vehicles, has a promotion going on where the winner of the Traxxas Top Fuel Experience could get a $10,000 Traxxas RC Shopping Spree or a ride-along with Larry Dixon. There are only seven days left to enter at here.    [09/17/18]

Greg “Jake” Jacobsmeyer had a pretty good car and a bit of luck at the Funny Car Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI, on Sept. 8.

The St. Louis driver and his Allstar/Hot Shots Dodge Challenger Nitro Funny Car team qualified third in the Round Robin event, meaning that he just missed being in the final round. Then the bit of luck made its appearance as Mike McIntire’s “McAttack” suffered engine damage and could not make the call for the final. Jacobsmeyer was in.

In the final his opponent, Mike McElwee in “Buzzy’s Nitro Bomber” had to pedal after the car went up in smoke. Jacobsmeyer crossed the line in 5.745 seconds at 251.40 mph for the win.    [09/17/18]

Aeromotive has hired Johnson Barrick as the company’s new sales manager. Barrick reports directly to Aeromotive Vice President Jeff Stacy.

Barrick's experience to date has been in event management for Belmont University, the Air Force Academy and the University of Texas, San Antonio. Johnson most recently served as dual sales manager for Concord Hospitality in San Antonio working directly with the Director of Sales developing and implementing sales forecasts and proposals for both government and corporate markets.

“I attended my first drag race four years ago and fell in love with the sport.” says Barrick. “While my professional background has been in collegiate and professional sports, after attending my first drag race, I was hooked. Aeromotive is at the very pinnacle of product development for the race market, and I am excited to take on this new challenge.”   [09/17/18]