The Paschal brothers had him surrounded, but Lenoir, North Carolina’s Jake Woodring managed to overcome the odds Saturday, March 30, and win the biggest share of the purse at the ATI Performance Products Top ET Challenge at Rockingham Dragway.

Driving a black dragster largely devoid of signs and decals, Woodring outlasted more than 150 rivals to secure a $17,000 payday before track officials canceled Sunday’s final day of racing because of weather issues.

The fact that three of the four cars in the Saturday semifinals belonged to either reigning Carolina Coalition Champion T.G. Paschal of McLeansville or his brother Michael, both multiple winners at The Rock, obviously didn’t bother Woodring.

He used a .019 package (a .011 reaction time and a 4.588-second track time against a 4.580 dial-in) to force T.G into a breakout foul in the semifinals and when he wound up facing him again after a sibling showdown in the other semi, he got a free ride to the big money courtesy of a foul start.

As a result of Sunday’s rainout, the last big winner of ATI weekend was New Jersey veteran Chris DePascale who won Saturday night’s Gamblers Race, beating Thursday race winner Gary Ingold in the final.

Like Paschal, Ingold fouled away his chances in the final, going red by .002 of a second.  For DePascale, a two-time NHRA national tour winner in Super Street and the Super Street runner-up at the 2015 NHRA New England Nationals at Epping, NH, it was just the tonic to make the trip home a little less tedious.

DePascale beat Megan Lotts, daughter of Friday race winner Daren Lotts, in the semifinals while Ingold was dispatching Tanner Gray of Hope Mills.   [04/02/19]

Jason Harris is the 2018 PDRA Pro Nitrous champion.  (Roger Richards photo)

The Professional Drag Racers Association Road to the Finals begins this weekend at the first of eight races on the 2019 PDRA Tour, the PDRA East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech, April 4-6 at GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson, NC.

Entering its sixth season, the PDRA will debut its new “Friday Night Fire” and “Main Event” formats. The all-eighth-mile drag racing series restructured its daily event schedule over the offseason in an effort to give fans more of what they want. PDRA Friday Night Fire will kick off at 6 p.m. with back-to-back qualifying sessions for the PDRA’s professional classes. The Main Event begins Saturday at 4 p.m. with pro eliminations and the completion of sportsman eliminations.

Race officials are keeping an eye on the forecast, specifically rain showers Friday, and will adjust the schedule as needed.

“We’ll do what we can to get ahead of the chance of rain on Friday,” said Tyler Crossnoe, PDRA race director. “We’ll pay attention to the forecast and do whatever it takes to get the race in on Saturday night.”  [04/02/19]

After an impressive run at Gainesville, Clay Millican is now only three rounds out of second place in the NHRA Top Fuel standings. Going into this week’s Four-Wide event at Las Vegas, Millican has added event sponsor Denso Spark Plugs as his primary sponsor for the event.

In addition, he will carry signage for the B.R.A.K.E.S. organization on his dragster. B.R.A.K.E.S. founder Doug Herbert, himself a former champion drag racer, will be Grand Marshal of the event.

Millican began the season with the return of his crew chief, Mike Koeber, who together had won many IHRA championships, but who had been away from the sport for several seasons, along with a whole new crew.

“I knew it was going to be okay,” said Millican. “There were plenty of naysayers to hiring a guy who has been out of it a while, but we were confident. There was no question in our mind Mike Kloeber was going to be able to win rounds.”

After struggling the first couple of events, the team turned things around at the Gatornationals and finished runner-up.  [04/02/19]

Steve Torrence  (Ron Lewis photo)

Steve Torrence won the NHRA Top Fuel championship last season, winning 11 events along the way, but so far this year has been disappointing. In the first three events, his best has been a runner-up finish at one event. Still, the Texas native is third in the Top Fuel points, followed by his father, Billy, in fourth place.

Billy has already won an event this season (Phoenix). (Ron Lewis photo)

The two Torrences will take to the Four-Wide track this weekend, hoping to both get to the final round. Steve won the inaugural Four-Wide at Las Vegas last year and holds the LVMS track record for speed at 333.33 mph and the event record holder for ET at 3.720 seconds. [04/02/19]

Quaker City Motorsports Park in Salem, Ohio, has signed a multi-year renewal with the IHRA. Under the ownership of Norm Fox and through the work of the staff led by his son A.J., over the last eight years there has been a massive amount of work done at the quarter-mile drag strip and the rest of the property.

“We repaved the shutdown and return roads all the way to the staging lanes up to the water box,” Fox said. “When we initially purchased the track one of the first things we did was to install the concrete walls. We re-did the track surface in the first couple of years and we’ve made improvements every year since from concession stands to the souvenir building. More recently, the restrooms were redone and a big thing last year was getting showers put in. We focus on improving every year.” [04/02/19]

Race your Gen III HEMI Challenger, Demon, Hellcat, Charger or Jeep for free with NMCA. Dodge / Mopar will comp your entry (car and driver) so you can enjoy the incredible performance of your modern muscle car in a fun, safe environment…the racetrack. Dodge / Mopar and NMCA make your racing experience easy and fun with hands-on step-by-step instruction.  Nine different categories with awards and prizes for all levels of performance.

Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA, will be the host of the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals, the second stop on the NMCA schedule, on April 4-7. The All-Star Nationals is only one of two events where you can witness National Muscle Car Association and National Mustang Racers Association action the same weekend.

The NMRA/NMCA All-Stars event features special All-Star classes, including the Street Outlaw, Sealed Crate Engine, and Open Comp Shootouts, and hosts the season opener of the Chevrolet Performance Challenge Series. [04/02/19]

Zoomie Header Covers from Good Vibrations Motorsports are designed to cover the ends of Zoomie headers to prevent debris from getting inside and potentially inside the cylinder heads. Minimizes potential warpage by limiting the amount of cold air traveling up your exhaust tubes hitting hot valves after a run. Will work on up to 2.5-inch Zoomie Headers. Fabricated from USA sheet metal aluminum and highly polished. 2.75” wide by 20” long. [04/02/19]