More than 40 of the Victory Nostalgia Super Stock series racers are expected to contend for the Night of Fire crown at Iowa’s Cedar Falls Raceway this Friday and Saturday, July 19-20. This will be Race No. 4 of the six-race points series.

Tom Hoffman enters this race with less than a one-round lead over Dennis Spurgeon and Jim Hagenhoff. Spurgeon (shown) is flying high after his win at Eddyville, IA, while three-time series champion Hoffman and 2018 champion Hagenhoff have their eyes set on the prize. There is a large contingent of other racers close behind in the points looking to make a move in the leader board.

The classic Super Stockers will be making two qualifying passes Friday evening with the final qualifier early Saturday afternoon and continuing on to Eliminations during the big annual Night of Fire show in the evening.  (Dennis Mothershed photo)   [07/17/19]

Greg Carrillo will make his return to the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour at the Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals with a new Top Fuel dragster and the addition of Aaron Brooks to work with crew chief Glenn Mikres. Brooks formerly tuned Cruz Pedregon’s Funny Car.

The new Morgan Lucas Racing-built chassis is lighter than his old car. The Arizona-based team has added a six-disc clutch from CNCPE and Carillo says they also will be adding some compression.  [07/17/19]

The Agent notes that among the variety of entertainment offered at this week’s Mile-high Nationals, the NHRA will have a “No-Prep exhibition” on Saturday.

Is it the “wave of the future” in drag racing? See Brian Losness’s take on no-prep at News & Analysis.

A check of the entry lists for Denver shows 15 each in Top Fuel and Funny Car with 17 Pro Stocks and 20 Pro Stock Motorcycles heading for the mountains.  [07/17/19]

Jeff Jones (at left) was winner with Todd Martin as runner-up. (Randy Curtis photo)

The Lone Star State's own Jeff Jones earned his first Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Pro Mod Series (MWPMS) victory July 13, at Xtreme Raceway Park (XRP) in Ferris, TX, near Dallas.

Jones, who races a supercharged C7 Corvette alongside teammate and son Justin Jones in a similar machine, also shares the tuning prowess of crew chief Brandon Pesz with final-round opponent Todd Martin and his Tulsa-based '68 Mustang. Martin narrowly defeated Justin Jones in the semi-finals to reach his dad, who started seventh in the 16-car Pro Mod field before racing through Jeffrey Cummins Jr., points leader Aaron Wells, and Jim Sackuvich in the semis.

Martin got away first with a .031 light with Jones at .046, but the Imperial Construction Corvette quickly closed the gap and a classic door-handle-to-door-handle race ended at the eighth-mile finish line with a 3.70-second win for Jones over a 3.72 by Martin.

Leaving XRP, Wells held on to the MWPMS points lead, with Justin Jones remaining second, but Jeff Jones bumped up from fifth to third, followed by Sackuvich and Haney. The 2019 Summit Racing MWPMS season will resume Aug. 2-3, with its second visit this year to Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway, near St. Louis.

Also visiting XRP's winner's circle were MWPMS owner Keith Haney in the unique MWPMS Slammers class for Pro Mod non-qualifiers and first-round runners-up, Shawn Ayers driving for team owner and Philadelphia Eagles star Fletcher Cox in X275, Rudy Vedros with his first major event win in Top Sportsman, and Ron Scott in Top Dragster.    (Ron Lewis photo)  [07/17/19]

Austin Prock lit up the track at Joliet last month. (Ron Lewis photo)

While the race isn’t in Montana, it is in the Rocky Mountains, so there might be just a little extra pressure on rookie Austin Prock to get a win at this week’s Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

The newest member of John Force Racing hasn’t competed at the track outside of Denver, but he is confident that his team’s experience can help carry him through.

“The Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team is working hard and making the proper changes to the car to perform at its peak level at the Mile-High Nationals and I’m excited to get there and see what we can do,” said Prock. “My crew chief, Mike Green, has had great success there in years past along with some of my teammates, so I’d really like to add to that with my first win.”  [07/17/19]

Garlits (second from right), Muldowney (front row, third from left) and Beswick (front row, fourth from left) were among the inductees to Cordova’s Hall of Fame last year. (Scott Bessee photo)

Drag racing legends Don “Big Daddy” Garlits, Shirley Muldowney and Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick are returning to Cordova, IL, as Grand Marshals of the 66th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova International Raceway Aug. 23-25.

The three will participate in pre-race ceremonies on Saturday, Aug. 24, and will sign autographs for fans on Friday and Saturday.   [07/17/19]

MAHLE Motorsport now offers a 20° BBC Elite Sportsman PowerPak Plus Piston Kit. Designed to maximize HP for 20° aluminum big block Chevy cylinder heads capable of 1,200+ HP, this kit works seamlessly with the Brodix (BP, SR-20, BR), Dart Pro 1 and more, popular with high HP, high-load race series. MAHLE’s Sportsman Drag Series pistons are designed to add attention to drag race specific stress areas. The MAHLE PowerPak Plus Piston Kit is a race-proven piston assembly kit featuring lightweight pistons with a true slipper skirt, 2618 alloy forgings, dual coatings, lateral gas ports for increased ring seal, advanced CNC finished pin bore and forced pin oiling. Externally strutted and with profile and ovality geometries, the 20° BBC Elite Sportsman Drag Series PowerPak Plus Kit is sold complete with pistons, wrist pins, and circlips. Pistons are grooved for a .043, .043, 3.0mm precision ring set that also is available for purchase separately (standard or tension); all manufactured to exacting tolerances to ensure maximum performance with a longer life cycle. Performance coatings include a phosphate dry lubricant that is used to protect against ring micro-welding and pin galling during initial startup and break-in followed by MAHLE’s proprietary Grafal® anti-fraction skirt coating to reduce drag, scuffing, friction, cylinder bore wear and piston noise.  [07/17/19]