Bruno Massel and family celebrate the Comp win.

Kyle Fickler and family are all smiles.

The Agent was happy to note that NHRA color commentator Bruno Massel got the Comp win at Topeka and Kyle Fickler from Aeromotive Inc., took the Super Comp win. Congrats!

In Top Fuel Harley, Tii Tharpe, JTR, 6.313, 227.38 def. Bob Malloy, Buell, 7.391, 132.69. (Rick Shute/Auto Imagery photos)

See the rest of the Sportsman winners, including the Factory Stock Showdown at here.   [06/12/19]

Pacific Raceways will be the site of massive renovations and innovations in the next several years. The facility combines a 2.25-mile road course with a professional-caliber drag strip in Kent, Washington, just twenty minutes south of Seattle.

Soon to be known as Pacific Motorsports Park, the track and the grounds will enjoy roughly $2M in improvements. Additionally, the site will become home to the new Pacific Innovations Center. This development will entail nearly $25,000,000 in build-out of 200,000 sq. ft. of prototype manufacturing and garage space. The first phase of garages and mixed-use space range from 1,000 to 40,000 sq. ft. in size.

The first phase of development has already begun—the historic road course is getting repaved now, and the plan is to finish in three years. This fall, construction of the innovation center and motorsport park will begin. Though the plans for the future aren’t yet finalized, the later phases include a completely new and separate drag strip, a retail center, and additions to the motorsports club and innovation center.

The drag strip is host to the annual NHRA Northwest Nationals this Aug. 2-4.   [06/12/19]

Matt King came to the Gasser Reunion at Thompson Raceway Park eager to get some laps on the AA Gasser that he bought from Jim Oddy back in September. When he hit the throttle on the "Junkyard Dog" for the first time it would be the VERY first time! No test and tune, no practice laps, or even rides around the parking lot according to King.

Hall of Fame drag racing veteran, Jim Oddy, who built the ’34 Willys that dominated the Gasser scene with driver Junior Ward, had planned to help get the car set up and give Matt some advice and a bit of tutoring on getting off on the right foot. For some driving advice Jim brought along champion Pro Mod driver Fred Hahn who drove Oddy’s cars for many years.

At the Gasser Reunion King laid down the Low ET of 4.81 at 146 mph, only .06 off the record run of 4.75 seconds and a new Thompson track record for ET and speed in the AA/GS class. He lost in the AA Gasser final on a holeshot by “AA Al” Niespodzinki in “Caged Heat.”

For a look at many more cars from the Gasser Reunion go to here.  (Pat Donahue photo)   [06/12/19]

Twelve Nostalgia Top Fuel contenders will battle for victory at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, KY, at the 17th Annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance.

Nostalgia Top Fuel titans will mix it up with nitro-huffing Funny Cars and unruly AA/Altereds, and the event will conclude on Saturday night with the on-track convergence of historic nitro-fueled race cars and header flames known as the Cacklefest.

Julius Hughes will represent Hot'Lanta in his 426-powered “Atlanta Speed Shop” entry, and Tim Cullinan is heading in from the windy city in his Chicago-based "Irish Car Bomb." Tyler Hilton in the "Great Expectations," Joey Haas and the Mill Road Boys, and Gerald Hangey are all packing big-block Chevrolet power. The California contingent includes 2018 Season Champion Mendy Fry in the “High Speed Motorsports” car, Brendan Murry in the 426 Elephant-propelled "Running Wild," Jim Murphy in the "WW2" and March Meet winner Adam Sorokin in the small-block Chevrolet powered “Champion Speed Shop” dragster.

Jim Young and the Young Guns, Roger Lechtenberg in the “Nitro Bandit,” and Larry Gocha are heading in from the Midwest.

Gocha is shooting for an NHRA license in his new car after Mendy Fry, Adam Sorokin, and Jim Young signed off on his IHRA license at Cordova. The longtime drag racer and his crew hope to step it up at Beech Bend. He said: "Anything we go past qualifying is a plus!" Young helped Gocha get the former Western Hoist fueler together and also organized Nostalgia Top Fuel participation in a new “Open Fuel” 6.0 class, so those who don't make the 8-car Eliminations can get in a few more runs.

Longtime big block Chevrolet Funny Car racer Randy Walls is the event Grand Marshall. Walls will join Honorees including radio and tv announcer Army Armstrong, current Rockingham Dragway operator and former NHRA media professional Steve Earwood, racer and builder Richard Maskin, Top Fuel Drag Racing School founder and Funny Car racer Paul Smith, and 1972 Le Grandnational front-engine Top Fuel champ Art Marshall. A special Honoree Celebration and Cruise-In will kick off Friday, June 14, at 6 p.m. at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. Admission is free.  [06/12/19]

Three-time NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals winner Doug Kalitta heads to Bristol Dragway this weekend looking to set an important milestone. When Kalitta pulls his Mac Tools dragster to the starting line for Friday’s first qualifying session he will officially be competing in his 500th NHRA event. Kalitta, a six-time finalist at Thunder Valley over the years with his most recent coming in 2014, he has 45 career victories in 97 career finals.

He hasn’t won at Bristol since 2006, however, so he would love to make a return to winner’s circle.

“When you think about it 500 races, that is a lot of races,” Kalitta said. “I have been lucky to have a career this long and I have to thank Connie and everyone at Team Kalitta for all their support. I love strapping into this Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster and racing against some of the toughest competitors in drag racing. I tell people all the time that there is nothing more exciting than seeing a Top Fuel dragster make a perfect run at over 330 mph. The only thing better is sitting behind the steering wheel.”  (Ron Lewis photo)   [06/12/19]

The national education and advocacy campaign Your Car. Your Data. Your Choice. will be a major sponsor of the Clay Millican-driven Top Fuel Dragster for the upcoming NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN, June 14–16. The campaign is a co-sponsor with Parts Plus for the Straightline Strategy Group dragster.

The campaign’s sponsorship helps bring attention to an issue that has implications for car owners and drivers nationwide. Newer model cars today are equipped with advanced technologies that enable real-time, wireless transmission of data related to driver behavior, GPS location and vehicle health, including maintenance and repair information. As this technology advances, carmakers are locking in exclusive access to and control of car data, which could lead to greater inconvenience, greater cost and fewer options for repair and maintenance services for car owners.

Your Car. Your Data. (www.yourcaryourdata.org) is working to ensure car owners and drivers are empowered to take control of the data their cars collect. It’s their car, it should be their data. Providing drivers with control of their car data ensures their right to choose the price, place and person they want to provide repair and maintenance services.  [06/12/19]