Thanks to our coverage partners at DragStory.com and Mark Walter, we present to you the live video feed from the latest X-treme Drag Racing League event.

Steve Torrence looks at the NHRA's Mello Yello Drag Racing Series as a three-part exercise.
 
"I [separate] the season into thirds: you've got the first third, the middle, and the end," the Kilgore, Texas, owner-driver of the Capco Contractors Inc. Dragster said as he prepared for Race No. 8, at Heartland Park Topeka.
 
"The first and the end are very similar in conditions. The middle is drastically different with the track temperatures and the heat and the weather," he said.
 

When Dean Goforth launched his Jerry Haas-built '09 GXP on its fourth Extreme Pro Stock qualifying pass last month at Bristol (TN) Dragway, it left hard with its best 60-foot performance of the weekend, but things turned sour in a hurry for the 67-year old from Holdenville, OK.

By a hundred feet out the car had suddenly veered from its left lane to strike the right guardwall nearly head on before recrossing the track to hit the left wall even harder. With no tire shake, no warning, Goforth was mystified by the car's suddenly out-of-control behavior that crew chief Brian Self initially suspected could be traced to a broken wishbone in the rear suspension.

For Jeff Mitchell, who along with Larry Pearce and David Hubbard, owns the X-Treme Drag Racing League (X-DRL), this weekend's Bash in the Bayou at Belle Rose, LA's  No Problem Raceway is already shaping up to be a landmark event for the fledgling eighth-mile racing series.

"My expectations are to have a good, safe race; the track guys have been working for days now so I know we're going to have a good track," Mitchell said Thursday afternoon as he watched the pits fill up from a second-floor suite in the No Problem tower. "We're looking for a car count somewhere around 95 to 110 and we're hoping to put two- or three-thousand folks in the stands and put on a good show for everyone involved."

Last year at the third annual K&N Spring Fling 20s presented by Sparco held at the famed Bristol Dragway, over 450 of the best racers from all over the United States and Canada made this one event the place to be if you’re into big time, high dollar bracket racing.
 
The success of this event over the years has led to this year’s opening day race, FTI-sponsored Warm-Up Thursday to host over 500 racers competing for the $12,500 winner’s share of the purse.

One of the biggest names in drag racing is heading south to race one of the sport’s most iconic race cars, the L.A. Hooker Outlaw Nitro Funny Car, at Sydney Dragway November 23, 2013.

L.A. Hooker is a tribute to one of the first American funny cars to ever be brought to Australia, and was driven by some of the biggest names in the sport at the time - Jim White, Dale Pulde and Australian’s Bob Shepherd and Graeme Cowin.

Capps will pilot the new iteration of the car in a proposed new nitro drag racing tour, masterminded by one of the original drivers and one of Australia’s most famous drag racing names, Graeme Cowin.

“I can’t wait to get down to Australia and race the L.A. Hooker,” commented an excited Ron Capps.

FireIce, the industry's most efficient fire gel for firefighters, has partnered with Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Sean Bellemeur beginning with this weekend's NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

Bellemeur, 31, will now drive a FireIce-branded Chevrolet Camaro after completing an agreement between Bellemeur Motorsports and GelTech Solutions (OTBQB: GLTC), the parent company of FireIce.

"The fact that representatives from FireIce approached my dad and I about joining forces was a real compliment," Bellemeur said. "It was nice to see that our team and our program is attractive and that someone like Michael Cordani (GelTech CEO) and FireIce want to become partners. That was flattering.

Tony Pedregon Racing and Herzog Contracting Corp., specialists in heavy/highway and railroad construction, announced they will partner for the NHRA Kansas Nationals May 17- 19.

The team is enthusiastic about having the longtime sponsor back on board for the eighth race of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Thanks to our coverage partners at DragStory.com and Mark Walter, we present to you the live video feed from the Spring Fling event in Bristol, Tenn.

Kalitta Motorsports has a long history of success at Heartland Park Topeka and Alexis DeJoria, driver of Team Kalitta’s Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry nitro Funny Car, hopes to keep the tradition alive this weekend at the 25th annual NHRA Kansas Nationals.

DeJoria, who has already raced to two semi-final appearances this season and has picked up bonus points along the way for being among the top qualifiers, sits in the No. 10 spot on the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship points list and hopes a successful weekend will help solidify her team’s spot on the elite list. “We’ve been bouncing between the last few spots and it’s very close with less than five points separating myself, [No. 11] Bob Tasca, and [No. 12] John Force. The Funny Car class is extremely competitive this year, so we really need round wins this weekend to help bump us up on the list a bit, and give us the points advantage,” she said.

Del Worsham is not afraid of change, and during the past three seasons of his NHRA career, the California native has completed a job trifecta that would enhance any racing resume. In 2011, Worsham won his first Top Fuel title, then surprised everyone by retiring from being a wheelman to join Kalitta Motorsports in 2012 as crew chief for Alexis DeJoria. After one season out of the driver’s seat, he finds himself back in the saddle, piloting Kalitta’s DHL Toyota Camry in the Funny Car category this weekend at the 2013 O’Reilly Auto Parts SpringNationals.

While getting back in his own driving groove, Worsham is also adjusting to a new and unfamiliar role, one of Junior Dragster teacher to twin daughters Katelyn and Madelyn, both 11-year-old rookies. A recent conversation found him discussing his role both as a dad and driving instructor.

Glen Gray, NHRA’s Vice President, Technical Operations, in an interview with Competition Plus Wednesday, addressed the fines levied against Pro Stock drivers Greg Anderson and Rickie Jones Tuesday following the Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Anderson was fined $5,000 and penalized 10 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series championship points for removal of safety equipment (lifting of helmet shield), which is prohibited from the time the vehicle leaves the starting line until the vehicle is on the return road as outlined in the 2013 NHRA Rulebook, Section 2, page 1.

“We found out about that with his in-car camera,” Gray said about Anderson lifting his helmet shield. “We look at video a lot of times and we noticed that the helmet shield was up during the run. Actually when we went back and looked it was up in three runs.”

Gray also said Anderson’s wasn’t being singled out for this infraction.

Perhaps it was at Heartland Park Topeka last season when Allen Johnson first realized that winning an NHRA Pro Stock world championship title was in the realm of possibility for his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger team.

Johnson ran the table at that event, claiming the No. 1 qualifying position, earning nearly every bonus point available and then powering through eliminations to take the victory, dusting four-time world champ Greg Anderson in the final round.