ADRL Extreme Pro Stock points leader John Montecalvo is unapologetic about getting it on with nitrous oxide this past weekend.

In fact, he’s quite proud of it.

“We were out testing at Maple Grove (Pennsylvania) during the NEOPMA (Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association) race and some of the guys there invited us to enter their nitrous Pro Mod class,” the Center Moriches, NY-based driver explained. “They may have wished they hadn’t, though, after we made it to the final round.”

In the final results from Cecil County Dragway and the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Rich McPhillips, Phoenixville, Pa., and Frank Manzo, Morganville, N.J., took home the wins in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car respectively.

McPhillips, worked his way through the field and ran 5.575 seconds at 253.95 mph in his final round victory over Mike Kosky, Cuddy, Pa.  McPhillips won over Arthur Gallant, Boxboro, Mass., and John Finke, Selkirk, N.Y., in rounds 1 and 2.

NHRA has announced that Tire Kingdom®, a leading brand of service centers for Florida-based TBC Retail Group Inc. (TBC), has signed a multi-year contract extension to continue its title rights sponsorship of the tradition-rich NHRA Gatornationals at historic Gainesville Raceway.

In addition to title sponsorship of the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, Tire Kingdom will be a national partner of the NHRA Youth and Education Services (YES) Program presented by the U.S. Army, utilizing its Tire Kingdom, NTB-National Tire and Battery®, Merchant’s Tire and Auto Centers®, and Big O Tires ® brands.  TBC Retail Group will also have a presence in NHRA’s Manufacturer’s Midway at a number of events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule throughout the year.

“After its successful support of this year’s Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, TBC Retail Group decided to extend and expand its relationship with NHRA,” said Tony Driscoll, vice president of sales and business development, NHRA.  “We are excited to have the TBC Retail Group brands associated with NHRA at the title rights level and within the NHRA YES program presented by the U.S. Army.”

If you check out the website for SIGRA ROLLINGSTOCK COMPONENTS, you will notice it’s a business that supplies parts and components for rail carriages. Company Director Geoff Gradden might spend his working days at the Penrith, NSW based company, but come the weekends he likes to play drag racing. with his own piece of rolling thunder. This mind-blowing 1959 Chrysler Saratoga is the latest Murray Anderson creation and is one of the wildest rides we have ever seen. Dragster Australia’s John Baremans was invited to an exclusive preview of the finished product.

Have you ever been smacked in the face with a dead fish? Well hold onto your hats because when Geoff Gradden’s new ride hits the strip, its going to have a similar effect.

We had seen some photos of the car on internet as well as in email around the beginning of the year, and were we excited? Oh yeah. From what we have been told the Saratoga is one of five, with Geoff’s version slated to be the first on the track, testing prior to the 2010 Fuchs Nationals. Geoff has no intention of running the car in Top Doorslammer in the foreseeable future. His home will be Supercharged Outlaws, but he may get his feet wet in the new Top Comp bracket at Sydney Dragway.

Team Mopar® NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series driver Allen Johnson used his downtime from NHRA Pro Stock competition to try his hand at a little road racing. The veteran straight-line pilot trained with experienced road racer Cindi Lux at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday, Aug. 20 in preparation for his upcoming stint as a celebrity driver in the Dodge Viper Cup Series.

Johnson, currently second in the NHRA Pro Stock point standings, got seat time in a Dodge Viper Competition Coupe during his practice session. He will take the wheel of a Mopar-powered Dodge Viper ACR-X in the Dodge Viper Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway on Sept. 11–12. If Johnson captures the win as the celebrity driver, his purse will be donated to benefit the charity of his choice.

Watch the drag strip action near the starting line in the new Quarter-Mile Courtyard at the 19th California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Automobile Club of Southern California. The 2010 California Hot Rod Reunion will take place Friday through Sunday, Oct. 15-17 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in McFarland, Calif. This year, the “Jungle Jim” Lieberman Funny Car team, and of course, “Jungle Pam” will be saluted with the Justice Bros. Car Care Products Reunion Spotlight award. Also, a 16-car Funny Car field will have fans glued to their seats as well as 2 Cacklefests: Saturday night push starts, Sunday static fire-up.

Drag racing has suffered another painful fatality.

Late Saturday afternoon, at Eddyville Raceway Park in Oskaloosa, Ia., popular Fuel Altered racer Tim Hay died from injuries sustained while racing in the World Fuel Altered Nationals. He was a two-time champion of the event.

Hay is survived by a wife of 23 years, three grown children and two granddaughters.

Hay was a veteran of drag racing having been involved in the sport since 1977.

John Kozak believes the value in a great sand blasting job is the ability to bring forth a worthwhile project from something discarded as rusted junk.

A racer never forgets their first crash. For Lima, Ohio-based sportsman racer Kathy Fisher, hers occurred on Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 8:52 PM.    

Fisher was competing at the NHRA Division 3 LODRS event at National Trail Raceway, just outside Columbus, Ohio, in her Dragon Racing Fuels/K&N/Ohio Crankshaft/Amalie Oil 1998 Boulton Dragster when disaster struck.  

“It had already been a very long, hot weekend,” reflected Fisher. “With everything from the golf cart dying twice to an open chute from another car snagging the wheelie bar on my husband Kevin’s Top Dragster while we were sitting at the top end. Then on top of everything else, my car was just not happy.”

Last year, Matt Guidera was doing what he loves – competing in the NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

Then on Sept. 5, Guidera’s world was turned upside down. Guidera, who was competing at the US Nationals in Indianapolis, was suspended by the NHRA for one year for failing to meet the requirements of the Substance Abuse Policy.

According to Guidera, he was issued the paperwork from the NHRA to take a drug test at 4 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 4. Guidera then had 24 hours to go take a drug test. Guidera showed up to take the drug test in time, but was unable to provide an adequate specimen sample in his allotted 24-hour time frame and as a result, the NHRA suspended him.