On Friday, Nov. 15, the “Bloodhound” project car achieved a top speed of 562 mph during testing in South Africa. The team next will test in June when they plan to reach 600 mph on their way to the ultimate goal of 1,000 mph.  (Tom McCarthy photo)  [11/15/19]

Erica Enders is on the verge of her third world championship in Pro Stock (2014, 2015), looking to finish the job in style at this weekend’s 55th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

She takes a 92-point lead over Elite Motorsports teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. into the final race of the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs, taking full advantage of getting hot at the perfect time. She’s won two playoff races in her Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, earning the 150th win for females in NHRA history along the way.

“Momentum is huge in this sport,” Enders said. “At the beginning of the year, we had some pretty deep valleys and we had to claw our way out of them. (Team owner) Richard Freeman has put us in position to do the best we can. Peaking at the right time is crucial. We’re going to go out to Pomona to win the race. We’re going to dig deep and I’m excited about the opportunity.”  (Ron Lewis photo) [11/15/19]

SEMA is now accepting applications for the 2020 SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund for students preparing for careers in the automotive aftermarket industry.

The SEMA Memorial Scholarship program offers financial assistance of up to $5,000 to help foster the next generation of automotive aftermarket industry leaders and innovators. Scholarships are available in a variety of categories, including accounting, sales, marketing and engineering.

The program also grants loan forgiveness awards for employees of SEMA-member companies who have completed a program of study at an accredited university, college or vocational/technical program within the United States.

Applications for the program will be open until March 1, 2020. To view eligibility requirements, visit www.sema.org/scholarships. [11/15/19]

1967 All American Racer, Gurney Eagle F-1 Race Car. Private Collection. Photo: Peter Harholdt.

Legends of Speed is the first major exhibition of racing cars presented at Phoenix Art Museum. Open now through March 15, the landmark exhibition features more than 20 legendary cars by Maserati, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Ford, and more, an unprecedented collection of cars driven by some of the greatest drivers in the history of racing, including A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, and Stirling Moss.

Inspired by the success of the Museum’s 2007 Curves of Steel, the first art exhibition to explore the impact and influence of streamlining on American and European 20th-century automobile design, Legends of Speed will again bring a standout selection of historic cars to Phoenix, this time featuring legendary racing cars. The first of its kind in the Museum’s history, the exhibition, which will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, will feature cars from the 1910s through the 1970s.  [11/15/19]

Featuring a whole new graphical interface with a revised vertical tabs menu, a selectable dark theme, selectable shift light segments, a performance timer for measuring 0-60, ¼-, ½-, one-mile times and more, the latest updates to DashDesign2 (v2.1.11) from AEM Performance Electronics combine exciting new features and multiple improvements for the best user experience. Additional highlights include a ToolTips feature that appears when hovering over a function, adding custom Tags to easily identify layouts and pages, the ability to click-place gauges vs. having to drag-and-drop them, and a new file type that allows you to save a single screen for importing into layouts and sharing.  [11/15/19]